Meet Steph

From the age of about 13, I knew I wanted to be a Primary School Teacher, but I didn't want to 'waste time' at University to get there. Unfortunately for me, that was the only way in at the time, but that three year course and experience was one of the best things to happen to my personal social growth. University, along with weekends working in a local bar, forced me to come out of my shell and be open being a people person - something which makes what I do now so much easier (especially the networking!)

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Becoming a teacher meant organisation, planning, switching direction mid-lesson and spinning a hundred plates all at the same time, whilst also remaining calm. If you've ever tried to keep on top of a room full of children, I'm sure you can imagine just how chaotic that can be, with thirty-two of them overly excited waiting for the lunch bell whilst you're trying to forget that it's been four hours since you last had a loo break - channel the zen. Even so, the chaos and variety is something I'll always love about teaching, but the inflexibility of being a class teacher was something I decided I needed to move away from for my own health.

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From Classroom to Office Admin​

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Always wanted to be a teacher, trained as a teacher... what on earth do I do now!? - me in 2018. I looked at the skillset I had and realised that it was all very transferable for the world of office administration - so I started organising teams, planning events, supporting colleagues, directors and C-suite execs. From organising travel, coordinating deliveries, liaising with contractors and refilling the teabags (very important job), I found the office admin roles had the same amount of variety that teaching gave me, but with flexible holiday time - a week in Mexico outside of term time would have cost double what I paid for to go in June.

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Over the years, I worked across a variety of businesses - TV and White Goods manufacturers, Casinos & Bingo Halls, Power Tools manufacturers - and I became someone who kept everything moving behind the scenes (metaphorically - my dashing around the office was not so subtle sometimes). I made things more efficient, streamlined some spreadsheets, and became the go-to girl to 'Jazz it up a bit' or even just to change the font colour of three words in a document. Yes, that really happened. I'd often be supporting the team members that weren't even in the office building, and eventually I realised this is what a virtual assistant does.

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Making VA reality

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It became a dream - to set up my own business, create my own income in a role where, if I made it too efficient, I could just find more work rather than twiddle my thumbs. I've always loved organising and putting on events for friends, so I looked into the Event space and completed a Level 5 Diploma in Event Management - just as Covid shut everything down. Eventually, after one evening of clearing my friends inbox from 500+ emails down to 30, the dream became a goal and something I was determined to tick off my own to-do list... something I officially ticked off in May 2023.

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Things haven't always been the easiest ride, but my determination to succeed and love of learning has helped me build Steph VA into more than I could have imagined. I picked up other qualifications in Mental Health First Aid and Counselling Skills along the way - enabling myself to be the support for others that I once needed myself, but also very handy when clients just need to let off steam. I started off by supporting that one friend. 'Steph Sorts It' is what she always said each time we cleared the overwhelm. Now I'm helping more businesses than I could have imagine, all whilst turning up in my little turquoise car - it's been that colour since 2015, easiest thing to spot in a car park. Turquoise has always been my favourite colour.