I’ve been at Global Brands for 3 years and I’m the Head of Corporate Marketing, Digital & PR. I’ve worked in marketing for about 20 years in various roles and industries. Having completed my degree a long time ago, I thought the world of education was finished for me.

However, after being with Global Brands for about a year, an opportunity came up to study a Level 7 Senior Leadership apprenticeship with Cranfield University. My manager and the people team were very supportive of me doing it, and it would make me the first to complete a Level 7 apprenticeship with the company. Having worked in marketing for so long, and being in my forties, a leadership course seemed like a natural progression in my career, and I was grateful for the opportunity.

At first, I found the course quite daunting as I would need to go to Milton Keyes for a week every quarter. Having a family, it was the first time I’d been away from my kids since they were born. On top of that was the unknown reality of further education at this level, and I did worry I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the course content having been out of education for such a long time.

My worries soon evaporated though as I started my first week at Cranfield. Almost everyone else on the course was in a similar position to me, and I’m glad to say that I have made friends for life from doing this course. The content itself was challenging, especially having to revise and sit an accountancy exam! But everyone at Global has been super supportive and made sure I had enough time to dedicate to my studies. The modules were really varied, from operations to people management and economics, but I could relate most back to the real-life working environment, so I used a lot of my assignments to look at issues that impacted Global Brands and have since presented these to members of the board.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend an apprenticeship at any age. I think the skills and knowledge I have developed through doing the course will add real value to my current role and any future roles I may move into.