Business Women’s Week: Samantha’s passion for people

The first BizSpace wonder woman is Samantha Hill, our Head of People and Culture. Sam is in charge of keeping a smile on everyone’s faces and does a fantastic job in doing so. With her drive and passion for her role, she ensures each and every employee loves their job and the BizSpace environment is a happy place to work! So without further ado, please meet Sam.

What was your dream growing up?

My dream was to own a farm and run a livery stable full of horses. I was massively into horses growing up and was lucky enough to own my own horse from the age of 12 (I had been riding since I was 4, so it took me a very long time to convince my parents).

Owning a horse was a lot of fun and hard work waking up before school to go down to the yard and then getting my homework done so I could also go and ride my horse in the evening. It taught me how to plan my day and deal with very early morning alarms – something I am not so good at now!

Who do you look up to?

In the business world, I look up to Jo Malone, I love her story. She created some of the world’s most loved fragrances; she started creating scented products by hand in her kitchen which then led to the well-known brand, Jo Malone London. She then sold the business to Estée Lauder and now has set up Jo Loves. I love hearing stories of entrepreneurial women creating a business out of their passions just like Jo. On a personal level, I look up to my mum, she has and always will be wonder women in my eyes.

What is your superpower?

Other than drinking way too much tea in a day to function, I would say ‘getting things done,’ I live by ‘to do lists’ and you can be sure if there is an item on my to-do list, it’s getting ticked off asap.

What’s been the toughest challenge in your career?

My toughest challenge, I would say was to learn to push back and not to just agree with the director’s views.  In HR you often are the least senior person in the room and you have to give advice which people aren’t necessarily pleased to hear. You need to ensure you show you understand the business and provide options with clear pro’s and con’s, ultimately you won’t be making the final call but you need to ensure the person making the final decisions is well briefed so they make an informed decision.

What would you say to your 16-year-old self?

Believe in yourself, it’s not all about grades!!! I most certainly wasn’t the most academic person at school. I always tried my best but my grades didn’t always show that. I learnt it’s not all about grades but about how hard you work. I decided to go to university when my A-level results surprised me and I put in the hard work and got a 2.1 in Business with HR, since then I’ve achieved a Masters in HR while working full-time and now I am leading my own People and Culture Strategy here at BizSpace as Head of People & Culture.

What advice would you give to young women today?

Build women up, women have enough obstacles to face; we are stronger when we have each other’s backs. Having a strong network of women has always helped me when I am struggling with a project. I have a fabulous group of women who always help get me through to the other side.

Thank you to Sam for her words of advice for other business women out there! We are proud of our BizSpace family and the strong community we have built. It is important to showcase the talent that walks among our pool of staff and how they make up our brand’s name.