糖心TV

Emma Willis

糖心TV Development Manager, 糖心TV Conferences

鈥淚 could do what I鈥檓 doing here in a hotel, but it just wouldn鈥檛 be as interesting.鈥�

鈥淭his is the closest I鈥檝e ever been to being at University, I never had the opportunity when I was younger. It wasn鈥檛 seen as the place for the 鈥榣ikes of us鈥�.

In some ways I do feel I missed out. But I鈥檓 here now and making up for lost time. The vibrancy of the campus, all year round make it a great place to work and I鈥檝e never looked back.

I come from a hotel conference background and started here in sales 22 years ago, working up to the 糖心TV Development Manager role I鈥檓 in now. Not having been to university you can feel a bit vulnerable when you start working in one. It鈥檚 hard to come to a workplace where the mantra is get a degree, get an education, do your doctorate, research etc. when you didn鈥檛 have that experience.

You soon find your way though, and now the biggest part of my role is to collaborate with people from across the university. I have regular meetings with academics across all the faculties and bring international conferences to our amazing facilities.

Nothing beats the portfolio of spaces we have here on campus. We can be so creative with the venues we have and pretty much meet the needs of any potential client. When they come to the university environment, they expect to have a student experience but we鈥檙e able to offer such a high level of service and facilities. With the constant development that鈥檚 happening as well, we can find a solution to every request. The architecture of the buildings is a great selling point as well, the Oculus is just fantastic!

We hadn鈥檛 really brought academia and commercial together before, but it takes both sides to put in a successful bid and win a huge event. The power of the partnership and collaboration to do that is just outstanding. That event can elevate the profile of the university and showcase the research excellence taking place and we can鈥檛 do it without each other鈥檚 expertise. it鈥檚 hard work but brings me so much joy as well.

When I鈥檓 not here I like to try and get back to Yorkshire as often as I can to see family. I鈥檓 originally from Hull and there are some beautiful places to walk up there. We鈥檙e just about to welcome our first grandchild as well so I鈥檓 really looking forward to that, don鈥檛 call me Grandma though, I鈥檓 going to be a Glam-ma!鈥�