thought it was important that the population of contact centre staff had access to Team Leaders that all has something different to bring to the table. I transitioned into the role of Claims Supplier Account Manager, where I studied and earnt my qualification from the British Disaster Management Association (BDMA). Now imagine walking into meetings as a Black woman with this qualification, speaking the same language of building construction and restoration techniques when the majority of my peer group were white middle-class males. Me simply being in a room would turn heads. This wasn’t always a comfortable situation for me, but I used my work ethic, boldness and confidence to shine through and prove my ability to others, to rub out any preconceived judgements. Where am I now? I can honestly say that now, in 2025 I’m living my best ‘working’ life, I’m comfortable in life and within my role and have taken advantage of various opportunities to “Give back” and share my experiences with others to leave them with better insights and to encourage them. I’m very proud of what I have achieved over my 27 years in Insurance, I love working with people and building strong relationships both internally and externally. I’ve used my experiences to help create ‘safe spaces’ for myself and for others to have open and honest conversations to overcome challenges. I’ve naturally become a mentor to both my peers and senior management encouraging open dialogue around diversity and inclusion. I’ve spoken on stage to the Mortgage Market discussing the lack of diversity within the sector. I post regularly about my experiences on LinkedIn, keeping the topic alive. I’m part of our company’s Social Mobility Network, within this I work with a charity, going into schools, often in underprivileged and diverse towns and cities, talking to Year 12 students about my journey and supporting them in a programme of work that includes communication, networking, interview techniques etc. I’d encourage people seeking out Race conversations, ask the difficult questions to educate yourself, be open to learning, create safe spaces to understand cultures and beliefs, you don’t have to agree with them, but you need to have a knowledge of them to get by in this ever-changing diverse world. With more people of colour in senior positions, development conversations with the upcoming generations will be more relatable. They say, “people buy people”, I 100% believe this, stay true to yourself! Connect with Lesley on LinkedIn. 20 MORTGAGE NEWSLETTER
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