Passion

My speech given in the summer of 2019 at a company event.

I was going to kick off by talking about how passion in Greek and Latin means ‘to suffer’, but that’s a bit dark for a summer party so…. I’ll just let you know what passion means to me.

It means not settling for mediocrity and caring about the quality of the work I do and the people I’m delivering it to. It means using the platform my parents gave me when they migrated to the U.K. in the 80s to build an even bigger one for my daughter. I want my daughter to grow up watching me get excited about the work I do and the people I work with. I want her to observe how much I care about creating value, how I champion those around me, how I brush myself off when I fail, and never stop being humble enough to learn.

Passion in women that look like me is often interpreted as angry, aggressive and emotional. Which is a shame, as the women of colour I know do phenomenal things when they are passionate. I’m inspired by the passion my sister shows for creating new innovative ideas to solve social issues, my mother’s passion as she cares for her foster children, my friend Sam’s passion as she navigates leading a product team for the first time. For me, passion means being an honest representation of a Black woman and my wider community everywhere I go, with my head held high and ready to do my best work.

I’ve been a part of audio network for almost 9 years now. My second interview was with Robert Hurst our co-founder. I was a bit nervous as I wasn’t on my A-Game for my first interview as I was suffering from a post Notting Hill carnival hangover, so really wanted to make a better impression this time. This was the first company I had interviewed with after making the choice to leave my prior job, so I wasn’t 100% convinced that I wanted this job. There is no one on this earth that can talk more passionately about accruals, balance sheets or P&Ls than Mr Hurst. I was both confused and in awe. All doubt left me, and I instantly knew that I wanted to work for him.

Moving to New York had always been on my bucket list, so when the opportunity came up in 2014 to work as financial controller in our NY office, I jumped up, waved my arms and said ‘me, me’. Then, reality set in. Yes, I’d be in a cool new city, but I’d also be leaving my incredible support network behind, moving to work in an office where I didn’t know anyone well, working under a general manager who probably thought I’d been planted as a spy (I had not), and worst of all, I would have to leave behind (albeit temporarily) the man that had just had the balls to propose to me! I went anyway. Passion means saying yes and doing the things that terrify me… Like talking in front of hundreds of people or moving away from your fiancé to pursue personal and professional goals.

I never had a clearly laid out career plan. I didn’t know where I wanted to be in x years’ time, I just knew I wanted to learn. My passion to learn, curiosity, and at times plain nosiness has given me the opportunity to grow and take on roles that I never would have anticipated when I first joined Audio Network. Passion for me has meant taking the leap and moving from finance, where I worked with a great team of people doing a role I felt confident in, to business operations where I’m in a team of one navigating a role that the company has never had before. Passion has helped me to counter the self-doubt or imposter syndrome that creeps in when things get rough.

My journey at Audio Network has been equally challenging, fun, frustrating and empowering and I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside some truly awesome people. Observing first-hand how the team embody the value of passion by caring deeply about what they do, obsessing over our customers, composers and artists, and taking time to acknowledge and celebrate each other’s wins, has been a joy.

So yes, on reflection at times my passion has felt like suffering. But mostly it has been a genuine privilege.

Thank you