In August IHEEM welcomed new Events and Marketing Support Officer, Yasmin Brewer, who has joined the Head Office team after recently graduating from Havant and South Downs College, where she successfully completed a certificate course in Business Enterprise Level 3. She also has ‘A’ levels in Psychology, Criminology, and Sociology. After leaving Portchester Community School in Hampshire, she gained valuable work experience while working part time and attending college full time. Her work experience to date – and particularly a three-year spell in the retail and hospitality sector – has allowed her to gain confidence and skills in communication.
Working at the Holiday Inn Express in Gunwharf, Portsmouth, her main responsibilities included welcoming guests, and ensuring that customer expectations were met during their stay and helping to make sure that the hotel was kept clean and presentable. She said: “My part-time job was a great way to work on my confidence and communication skills, as well as to gain real-life experience to go alongside my learning”. While with the hotel group, she also worked as a Team Leader, and ‘front of house’, handling guest enquires and complaints. To date she says her business course has taught her a lot about diversity, marketing, and business administration – which is what gave her the confidence to apply for the Events and Marketing Support Officer Role.
When asked what particularly attracted her to IHEEM, Yasmin said: “I became interested in the job after looking on the Institute’s website and reading about its ‘vision’ and ‘mission’, as well its values and behaviours. After studying Business Enterprise, I know that having set values is key to the success of a business’s focus. When I saw that the Institute embraces innovation, diversity, and equality, the role really appealed to me, as I believe strongly in diversity, and I thus knew that IHEEM would be a great place to work. The fact that the Institute clearly looks after its members and staff also caught my eye, because I know I will be well supported and will learn a lot”.
She added “I love to put myself out of my comfort zone and enjoy meeting new people. Promoting the Institute’s events, and helping Melissa organise IHEEM conferences, is something I am looking forward to, as well as to becoming more of an active member of the IHEEM team, meeting members, and starting to put faces to names.
“Outside of work,” she explained, “I love to travel, to meet new people and experience different cultures, to see new places, and to try new food. I would love to be able to travel more in the future, and to see more of the world when it is safe to do so; I in fact used to live abroad. If I had to choose one thing I couldn’t live without, however, it would be my cat. I love animals so much, and I don’t know what I would do without them; they bring so much love, and I recommend getting a pet if you haven’t already.”