Introducing Emma Finch #Internationalwomensday
Emma is the Managing Director of leading luxury lighting brand, Hector Finch. Read on for an insight into how Emma has got to where she is today.
What has your journey been like, what have been the highlights and the hard times?
I have worked since I graduated from university in 1984 and had some fantastic jobs before I became involved with Hector Finch Lighting. In my early twenties, I was Publicity Manager at Thames & Hudson, the art publishers, and met some incredible people and worked on some amazing publications. Having children in my thirties and juggling the demands of a growing business as well as a growing family was at times extremely challenging. When we first left London and moved to Shropshire I felt very isolated for a while as Hector was in London at the showroom most of the week and I was in a rural environment with young children and had few friends and not much of a support network. Fast forward fifteen years and the children are moving out and the business is thriving so I feel very blessed.
What one piece of career advice would you give to others?
The career advice I would give to others is try everything, you have nothing to lose and gain experience wherever and whenever you can. As a student, I cooked in private houses in the holidays and learnt a lot about people, pressure and priorities. If you don’t know exactly what you want to do turn your hand to as many things as possible and try to be friendly and relaxed but professional in your attitude.
This year the IWD theme is centred around #choosetochallenge what about our current social norms would you like to challenge to make womens' lives better?
I think that there is still far too much reliance on women’s role in the home and that there should be more of a balance regarding who stays at home with the children if they are sick or off school. The pandemic has shown this in sharp relief. Employers have to accept more often than not that the mother should be the one who misses work on these occasions and in these days of equality, it seems to me that this should be shared equally by parents. Now that so many women have learnt to juggle working from home, childcare and homeschooling I think we should be mindful not to take this for granted as it has put a huge strain on many mothers and many of them will be experiencing stress as a result