In the 1990s she solely responded to a local need by setting up and running her own social enterprise, a voluntary organisation called ‘Bread of Life’, providing a three course meal, twice per week to the homeless from a location in the Highfields area of Leicester. In addition, the homeless were also given clothing, blankets and assistance in finding accommodation, at time when the idea of helping the homeless, was not a fashionable concept for individuals. Sandra coordinated support from donors and sponsors in addition to donating from her own limited resources. The project saw numbers between 30 – 40 people each night. During this same time she also commenced another project ‘Project Daughters’ working with others to offer support to women wanting to move out of the sex industry. Both of these projects were run whilst Sandra was in fulltime employment.
Sandra has in the past and continues to work in association with local schools, colleges and community centres; running after-school workshops for young people between the ages 8 – 16 including Creative Art classes: pottery, silk and glass painting and card making. She is a volunteer mentor at a local secondary school, supporting youth between the ages of 11 – 14 dealing with bullying and other issues that hinder achievement at school. She has also runs community and business workshops covering Assertiveness, Confidence, Presentation Skills, Management, Finance and Personal Development Courses, supporting the growth and start up of other local community groups and networks.
Sandra is totally committed to supporting people to reach their true potential and is passionate about working with women so that they too can choose to make the best of their abilities and opportunities. For the past two years Sandra has been Chair of the highly successful Leicester WiM group; held a seat on Chartered Management Institutes’ Regional Forum on behalf of WIM and in more recent months sponsored the start of two new WIM sub-groups in Derby and Nottingham respectively.
Sandra has worked within large public organisations such as Social Services and the NHS and private regional and international corporate companies in the Transport and Manufacturing in senior managerial positions. Sandra is credited with establishing and developing the first five day driver training programme in the transport industry, covering basic skills in literacy and customer service. This programme was nominated for an award by Route One Bus and Coach Industries Awards in 2006.
Sandra’s speciality in the business sector is providing help to business owners and senior management teams to take an objective and more creative view of how they can improve productivity, staff moral and motivation, through coaching, training and personal and team development, to improve effectiveness, creativity and performance.
In recent years Sandra has added to her list of clients, Business Link, EMDA, Lincoln College, Leicester City Council, as well as corporate organisation such as Terex, Arriva, Chartered Management Institutes, BraSense, Skills For Enterprise, Transformations, DeMontfort University, Enterprise Radio, Social Enterprise Coalition, NBV and East Midland Business, to name a few.
Sandra has an interactive, friendly and informative style of delivery that puts learners and managers alike at ease, but maintaining an entirely professional, results focussed environment. Sandra has written and delivered a vast range of training programmes, (some of which have been bespoke, whilst others were criteria based) – meeting the specific needs of the organisation, programmes and accredited criteria for qualifications awarding bodies’ standards.
Sandra is
- A Member the Chartered Management Institute (CMI)
- An emda Women’s Ambassador
- An East Midlands Business Champion
- An Associate member of the Institute for Learning (IFL)
- A Member of the Institute for Business Advisors (IBS)
- An Associate of the Charted Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD)
- Chairs the CMI Women in Management Network Group in Leicester & East Midlands
- A Myers Brigs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner
- An Associate Member with the European Coaching Institute (ECI)
In 2007 Sandra was awarded the Chartered Management Institutes (CMI) East Midlands Regional Presidents Award for Outstanding Achievement. Her love of people and seeing individuals succeed has earned her respect and recognition within various industries.
Sandra is also a motivational speaker and Coach and has worked on a number project for EMDA, Business Link, Chartered Management Institute, DeMontfort University and the Social Enterprise Coalition speaking on matters relating to BAME, Management, Business, Enterprise skills, Personal Development, Women and encouraging women into business, along with Confidence, Motivation and Networking.
In 2009 Sandra received another award from the CMI, the Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution and dedicated service to Women in Management East Midlands, and in 2010 Open Mind Coaching UK was Finalist in the Growth Enabler Professional Excellence Award.
