Melanie Raftery – Area Retail Sales Manager – Portmeirion Group
We caught up with Melanie after she attended the 90th OSS Academy to find out about the choices she'd made during her career:
Right now you’re facing lots of choices about your future and maybe in some cases you feel you don’t have any options at all. I can tell you that you do. With the right attitude you can achieve what you want to achieve.
Growing up I had a tricky upbringing. I felt that I had two paths I could follow. The one laid out for me where I had no hope of improving myself or my prospects or one that meant I would have to work hard for myself on myself.
Thankfully I choose the latter.
I recently attended a retail leadership programme known as the Academy and I’ll never forget the words of one of the speakers - Paul Anderson-Walsh (from The Centre of Inclusive Leadership). “I could let the past mistakes of others effect my life, or I could change the course of history for me and my family”.
I sat and listened to how he had turned his life around for himself and his family. Everything he said made perfect sense to me. The thing I didn’t understand at the time was why on Earth is this man telling us such personal information about himself to a room full of business people, this is not therapy its business.
After much reflection and conversations with one of my team members on the programme. It became so very clear. I think I had spent so long becoming the best version of myself and being very happy about that, that I had forgotten to share the other side of me with others. I also now know that my bad experiences can be used to help others and be a source of inspiration. I don’t have to keep proving myself, it’s ok to be human and have emotions, in fact people are far more likely to respond to the warmth that brings with it.
Growing up with dyslexia I had gone through childhood being told I wasn’t good enough, instead of letting this beat me, I tackled it head on. I worked harder and smarter than anyone else in the room and I proved at every obstacle in my way that I was indeed the RIGHT PERSON. This combined with a can do attitude has seen me excel in my career.
After working for 8 years in back office admin and Epos support management roles I was offered a great opportunity last year, as I was offered the Retail Area Sales position within the Portmeirion Group. I love my role and enjoy working with my team. Two of my shops have even hit record breaking sales, I was asked how I had managed it……… I simply made them believe …. THEY ARE THE RIGHT PERSON!
My advice to all those who are looking at careers and doubting themselves is that you can do it. You will find hurdles but these can be overcome if you take one step at a time.
For more information
If you’d like to find out more about retail careers please head to our website - www.rethinkretail.org.uk
Alternatively, if you're in retail and would like to develop your transformational leadership skills please use this link to find out more about the Academy.