Local Women in Business: Part Two
Inspired by International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, throughout March, here on the blog, we continue to celebrate some of our customers who run or own local businesses and discuss how the pandemic has affected them, both professionally and personally.
In part two of a five-part blog series, we talk to Sarah Cripps, Managing Director of Salad Skills. We first met Sarah at a networking group held at the Lighthouse restaurant in Kibworth. If you have read our first Women in Business blog, you should see how things tie in together!
Sarah is also the co-founder of Salad Skills, a company with over a decade of experience within the apprenticeship recruitment sector. Salad skills work together with organisations recruiting apprentices and sourcing training providers. It is a comprehensive service, working alongside the employer through each step of the recruitment process, from the initial advertisement to the final selection and enrolment. Salad skills also work with businesses to upskill their existing employees through apprenticeships.
And that is how we came to employ our first employee, Elisa. Sarah hosted a networking group (called Kress) at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Kibworth. After discovering how apprenticeships worked, she introduced us to Elisa, who joined the Respectacle team in our early days. Elisa was a perfect fit for our set-up at Respectacle Company.
We asked Sarah to tell us how Salad Skills faired throughout the pandemic. And, how she coped with the changes to both her working and personal life.
But first a few questions to get to know Sarah:
Favourite place in the world
That’s an easy one. My favourite place is home.
Favourite film
Eat, Pray, Love.
Favourite food
Now, that’s a lot harder to answer because I love all kinds of food. But I’ll go for street food.
Favourite colour
Purple
Favourite famous person who wears glasses
Jude Law in The Holiday
Famous person you would invite to a dinner party
I would never invite a famous person for dinner, sorry! I would be way too nervous and love the normalcy of having friends and family instead.
How did the pandemic affect your business?
We were actually very lucky and managed to grow the business over the course of the pandemic.
How did you adapt your business to cope with the covid restrictions?
For us it was easy to adapt because we could work from home
Did the restrictions affect you personally?
They did, but mainly for the better. I developed a podcast called Big Balance Theory. I also bought a house in Wales and relocated!
Has the effect of the last 2 years made you think differently about how you balance work and personal time?
Yes, hence Big Balance Theory Ltd as a new concept. Why do we say work/life balance?
A big thank you to Sarah for taking the time to answer our questions. Although the restrictions imposed on us all were hard to adapt to, it appears that unlike many other sectors of industry, Salad Skills adapted well to the situation and flourished.
The pandemic has had quite an impact on Sarah’s work/life balance. Not least inspiring her to make some big life changes. Sarah tells us that she also carried out research among businesses during the lockdown and learnt that many professionals were experiencing a new sense of balance in their working lives. This research led Sarah to produce a new podcast series called Big Balance Theory. Use this link to have a listen https://linktr.ee/bigbalancetheory
In episode two, Sarah talks to Karen, a journalist, podcast guru and BBC producer. She shares her new habits and her greatest fear as we emerge from restrictions. We also find out about the one book she couldn’t be without if we were faced with lockdown restrictions again.
