So Sally, tell us a bit about yourself?
I have quite a varied background and my career has taken me down many creative paths. One of which being working in advertising & marketing for 10 years, for a local newspaper and working my way up to Assistant Manager. At this time, I was able to learn some great skills around sales and promotions, business management, customer service and I was also able to get creative with advert design. After a career break looking after my baby daughter I worked with a photographer and picked up skills in portrait photography and photo editing. I have also completed college courses in web design, Photoshop and IT before my daughter started school.
It’s been tricky at times raising my daughter as a single mum, but now that Jess is 18, I can truly say that I loved this time with her and I’m really proud of the young woman she’s become.
I met Angus around 9 years ago and as we became great friends. We started working together around 7 years ago and it’s been an incredible journey so far at Yonda, seeing the company grow right from the start and seeing the brand and the business grow to what it is today. Both Angus and I are really passionate about the materials that we use in our wetsuits and trisuits and take great pride in the products that leave our premises in Huddersfield.
What do you love most about your job?
I love being involved with the design of custom kit and achieving great results for our customers. Our kit is second to none and is of fantastic Italian quality. It’s such a great feeling seeing the next generation of triathletes excelling and stood on podiums wearing our kit, knowing I have had a hand in making it.
I have the pleasure of supplying kit and liaising with such a lovely bunch of young people who are very dedicated. When they send us photos of them winning medals, it makes me feel very proud.
It’s also fun going to lakes in the summer, meeting our customers and helping get them into our wetsuits, ensuring that they fit properly and watching them take off into the lake for a swim. Many having never swam in open water before, with little confidence, and then they come out with beaming smiles. That’s a nice moment.
What's been the best thing about being at Yonda this year?
This year it has been great to see the business grow and the hype that is now building around the Yonda brand. We also moved into our new offices in Honley, Huddersfield which has been great for creating a space for athletes to come to us and see what we’re all about.
Being able to create relationships with talented young athletes has been great fun and has also led us on to building the Yonda Academy Scholarship (watch this space for more info on this!)
I don’t compete in triathlon myself but I am a huge sport fan and have followed triathlon for many years. So it isn’t just a job for me. Many weekends when competitions are on you’ll find me looking on Instagram to see who is competing, how they are doing and sending the odd message to say congratulations when someone has done well. The academies and development squads are the future of triathlon and they do a great job.
And what do you think the future will hold for Sally & Yonda?
There are so many exciting things in store for Yonda and I really can’t wait for what the future holds! We will always strive to get better and offer the best quality at a fair price. We have always said we don’t want to be the biggest wetsuit and triathlon brand, but we want to be the best (and I think that we are – but I’m biased).
We also want to keep pushing forward, offering more products as we go, improving the buying experience for our customers as well as offering second to none customer service. My opinion has always been that the after sales and customer service is hugely more important than the sale itself, and it is something I will always stick to. The future will also see the Yonda family grow so that will be exciting too!
Yonda has some exciting and great announcements to make in 2019 so watch this space and make sure that you follow us on Social Media!
Thanks for reading,
Sally x
