Karen is a business professional with over 20 years experience and a demonstrated history of working in the IT and services industry with organisations including Logica PLC, Ford Motor Company, The Law Society, Parity Solutions and BT. Karen is skilled in Business Strategy and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). She is a strong professional with a BSc in Business Computing from City University (GB).
Karen has led teams of all sizes and managed all types of projects including working on James Bond\’s, Casino Royale!
She is experienced in sales, marketing & operations at senior levels.
Tell me about yourself and where you come from.
I\’m the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Cande Consulting. We are a start-up with big ambitions, so no day for me is the same, I get involved in anything from project delivery, finance, human resources, IT, legal, health and safety and customer services. Recently I\’ve been building this website which has been a challenge because although I did Computer Science at Uni, I hadn\’t programmed since 1999!
My career did start as a computer programmer but I quickly found out that my skills really suited program management, I worked for large IT consultancies focusing on CRM and Marketing projects for many years. I loved being able to improve how people worked and understanding the inner workings of all sorts of businesses but I always felt that I wanted to make a change in the \”real\” world rather than a corporate one.
I\’m so excited to be working at Cande Consulting and the journey that we are on. I feel that many people are overwhelmed by sustainability and CSR, they see young people who naturally just \”get it\” but feel confused with no idea where to start themselves. I feel like we are bringing the gift of knowledge to these people and their organisations by demystifying sustainability/CSR via our skilled experts who will participate in the Responsible Futures Conference.
What changes have you made to your life with Sustainability in mind?
I was recently talking to an ex-colleague of mine who also works in Sustainability and he reminded me that when we met I drove a Porsche, he said I was always very apologetic about it, however at the time I wasn\’t really aware that the actions I took really had a big impact on the planet. I now drive a hybrid car and limit the journeys I make.
My husband and I are mostly pescatarian and we don\’t eat dairy. We use Mindful Chef a lot, I like that they are a B-Corp and they help us keep our food waste to a minimum. We are also lucky enough to have a Kitchen Garden and enjoy growing our own food.
I haven\’t drunk milk in many years and initially I swapped it for Almond milk but was horrified to find out how much water is used to produce it, so now I use Oat milk.
Our home electricity is supplied by Octopus Energy, and all of their tariffs are 100% renewable.
I try to buy less, I\’ve never been someone who enjoyed fast fashion and have many clothes and shoes that are over 10 years old. When I do need to buy things I like eBay, Wolf and Badger and Cult Beauty all companies that make it easier for me to make ethical choices.
What do you feel post-pandemic? What changes are you seeing?
I feel more aware of what\’s important to me and the environment around me.
I really missed not seeing my friends and family and now I won\’t let anything get in the way of me seeing them.
Like a lot of people before the pandemic, I liked \”stuff\”, the pandemic taught me that I could live without a lot of things, and that experiences are more important to me than possessions.
I\’m really blessed to live in the English countryside, I\’m surrounded by beautiful views, those that were painted by Constable and Gainsborough. I also have two Spaniels who I walk daily. The pandemic gave me the time to stop and really look at the views, to experience the walks as my dogs do; instinctively knowing that it\’s good for them, we investigated new and interesting sights, smells, and sounds. It boosted our natural hormone levels, reducing stress and promoting our mental well being.
I also feel that the pandemic showed us that when a lot of people get behind a problem and work on it miracles can happen. The fact that scientists were able to make a vaccine for a new virus within months was quite amazing!
Since the pandemic I\’ve seen a shift in people\’s views on a few things and I hope it continues.
People became closer to nature by walking, feeding birds, growing veggies and they are now questioning how pollution, pesticides, global warming etc impact these.
Everyone is more aware of mental health. Most people suffered some kind of mental health issue (stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness or isolation) and we are all a lot more comfortable talking about them.
People seem to be taking better care of their health, exercising and cooking more, working from home has meant we all have a bit more time to look after ourselves. People have relished their improved work-life balance and aren\’t going to give that up easily!
How do you relax?
As mentioned before, i\’m very lucky that I get to enjoy daily walks with my dogs, I find standing in a field looking at the view, breathing in the fresh air very relaxing. In fact today our walk was wet and windy and it was amazing how refreshed and relaxed I felt – albeit windswept!
My husband and I cook fresh meals together most nights, this is a gift as pre-pandemic he travelled extensively for work, so we both find our newish nightly routine of chopping, stirring and chatting about the day a great way to unwind.
What do you hope the next few years bring?
For me personally, I see Cande Consulting continuing to help more and more SME\’s access knowledge about Sustainability and CSR enabling them to make positive changes. We plan to take the conference across the globe, but will return back to Manchester each year to support business so they can continue to change and improve.
I hope to see an inclusive, sustainable and profitable global society where companies, scientists, governments and individuals work together for a common good, much the same as we saw during the pandemic.
What do you hope that the audience takes away from the conference?
From the time I started working on the conference the most important thing for me has been that the conference gives the audience things they can take-away and do. It\’s important to me that the conference is actionable. I\’ve been to many, many conferences over the years and i\’ve listened to some great speakers, but i\’ve gone home, the next day gone back to my day job and pretty much forgotten about what i\’ve heard. This conference cannot be like that.
This is why i\’m so excited about sessions like the Sustainathon.
Our audience are coming to our conference with some work to do (Sustainability and CSR) and we are going to show them the best ways to make a change.
I hope our audience go home with a list of 10 things to do, and know how to do them and what benefit\’s they\’ll bring to them, their organisation and their community or environment.
How do you continue to grow and develop?
My parents often joke that I never grew out of the \”Why?\” stage that all children go through. I have always been curious and keen to understand the world around me and this is still true.
I\’m a big researcher and if I don\’t know the answer to something, or if i\’m not happy with an answer i\’m given I\’ll keep reading and asking questions until i am.
One of the reasons I love our series \”Sustain Talks\” is that each week Sam and an expert talks about a different Sustainability or CSR topic, there is always something new to learn!
How do you generate great ideas in your organisation?
I think Sam, the team and I are very lucky that we bounce ideas off of each-other, we are all really passionate and excited about the Conference, Sustainability, CSR and helping as many people/SME\’s as possible.
Cande Consulting although only a fledgling company already has a culture of being community driven, fair, honest, innovative, open and caring. As new team members come on board we are always excited to hear their ideas, as our diverse back-grounds ensure we all have different viewpoints. We have regular Zoom team meetings to share ideas and progress, and an active WhatsApp group where we share ideas, ask for suggestions, and of course share our Wins!
Is CSR in everyone\’s job descriptions?
Yes.
As a new company it\’s been very easy for us to put things like this in place from the get go. We are fortunate to be able to do this easily and realise this can be more of a challenge for larger, perhaps multi-locational organisations; the conference can help.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is concerned with environmental, philanthropic, ethical, and economic responsibilities. Each member of our team takes pleasure in including aspects of these in their everyday life both work and home – we live and breath this.
For me this includes:
- Office Products – Paperless office or 100% recycled paper. Non-toxic inks in pens & highlighters and refillable ink cartridges.
- Cleaning Products – For many years i\’ve only been using ECO cleaning products, this started because I was uncomfortable spraying toxins around my pets!
- Electricity – Our home electricity is supplied by Octopus Energy, and all of their tariffs are 100% renewable.
- Food Choices – Meatless, avoiding the Dirty 12, reducing Food Miles, Locally Sourcing Food
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Working From Home
- Taking my own shopping bags
- Buying only what I will use
- Donating things I don\’t use any longer
- Buying products with less packaging
- Avoid disposable products
- Hybrid Car
- I have a monthly Direct Debit to three charities
- I have volunteered at a Barnados Children\’s Centre… and must look at restarting this now the pandemic is over
- Shop Ethically
- Use Ethical/Eco Beauty Products, re-usable cotton pads
- Practice Mindfulness
- Not using plastic bottles
What is your motto in life?
I think i\’ve lived by two motto\’s both given to me by my dad.
There\’s no such word as CAN\’T
You can do anything, but as a girl you have to do it better than the boys!