Up Close and Virtual

I have some big news, that I wanted to share with you personally, an important update regarding Up Close & Virtual. Sadly, I’ve taken the very difficult decision to pause my podcast recording. I’ve been handed the most fantastic opportunity with a long-term client, whose business I’m passionate about. However, with the increased responsibilities and time constraints so...

Robyn Greaves of Start Sort Scale joins me this week. Robyn is a full-time digital nomad and start-up founder. She spends her time travelling the world and collaborating with business owners to automate their processes and set them up to scale. She is passionate about giving people the freedom to work from anywhere and live life on their own terms. Prior to launching her business, Start Sort Scale...

I'm delighted to welcome Amy Goss of onethreefourcreative to the show this week. Amy is a creative freelancer and Virtual Assistant and was recently runner up in the Best VA Newcomer category at the UK VA Awards in 2023.  Having started her career at a creative design agency which specialised in Sci-Communications; Amy gained invaluable insights and experiences into how some of the world’s bi...

My first guest of 2024 is the lovely Amy Russell, a multi-award winning VA, with over 30 years in administration, HR and Office management. She manages a team of 15 based across the UK. Her passions are finding efficiencies within businesses and providing flexibility for her clients and team. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management and an accredited VA with The Society of Vir...

It was an absolute pleasure to have Caroline Marshall on the show this week. Caroline is the founder of a multi award winning Virtual Assistant Agency,  Upsource : a team of VAs who provide expert Virtual Assistance to Entrepreneurs, HNWs, Startups, Scale ups and SME’s. She launched Upsource in lockdown 2020: not sure of where she stood in her career, pregnant with her second child, having pr...

Sam J Hogwood from Escape From The City is my lovely guest on the latest episode of the podcast. After 20 years as an EA in London, Sam embarked on a new adventure as a VA in 2019. As her business grew, so did her love of writing. Sam's business evolved through the pandemic, and after training & working with a couple of fantastic copy coaches and mentors, she became a copywriter and researcher...

It was a pleasure to have Hana Gray, the founder of the The Office Management Group, on the show this week. The Office Management Group , is a unique, specialist consultancy and space for office and administrative professionals worldwide via an online Portal and Course, as well as the Awards and other initiatives. Underpinned by her core belief that offices and office personnel are the backbone of...

It was a pleasure to welcome the lovely Holly Copsey, founder of the award winning Virtually Priceless, to the show. Holly launched Virtually Priceless following a successful City career, where she was the right-hand woman to senior leaders in the financial services industry. Her background includes the roles of EA to the Global CEO of Barclaycard and for the Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group. She...

The lovely Bee Higgins joined me this week. Bee is a creative copywriter, content writer and messaging mentor for heart-led small business owners ready to express their unique magic with words. From 1:1 mentoring sessions, done-for-you offerings and her group membership, Bloom With Bee, there are a myriad of ways to work with Bee to attract kindred clients and nip copy and content overwhelm in the...

The award winning Joanne Manville is my guest this week and I was delighted to welcome her to the show. Joanne worked for over 10 years as an Executive PA and launched Joanne Manville Virtual Assistance in 2015. She had a very exciting few years, growing her business to include a team of specialist associates and winning UK Outstanding VA in 2019 and 2020. Drawing on her love of admin and organisi...

For this episode, I welcomed the inspirational Chela Hardy to the show. Chela Hardy of AskChela LLC is a former Executive Assistant who transitioned into a career as a Virtual Assistant in 2001 providing general administrative services to small business owners. Since 2008, she has worked in her business as a Virtual Author & Speaker Assistant, offering a specific set of services (including pub...

It's the first episode of Season 2 and we are back with the wonderful Lucy Everett - The Holistic Business Coach. Lucy Everett is The Holistic Business Coach and calls her approach ‘business coaching done differently,’ because she believes that the success of our career or business is underpinned by how happy we feel in our personal lives. Her coaching method is all about reviewing life & work...

I am thrilled to welcome an absolute powerhouse of the VA world, Amanda Johnson - Award-winning Virtual Assistant Coach, Trainer and Mentor, International Speaker, and proud Military Veteran. On her retirement from the military in 2012, Amanda launched her own VA business.. She now works primarily with those wanting to set up a VA business and those who want to grow an awesome and authentic b...

Episode 21 of Up Close & Virtual introduces you to Indiana Julian, a 'marketing minded VA'. I'm delighted to have Indiana Julian as my guest on the show this week. Indiana first worked as a VA during her university years and then transitioned into a variety of different roles in sales and marketing, before returning to work as a VA in January 2022. Since setting up Indiana Julian Con...

I can't believe we've reached Episode 20 of Up Close and Virtual! I was absolutely delighted to welcome Gwen Backhouse to the show this week. Gwen has been a Virtual Assistant now for nine years, with twenty-three years of experience in the business admin/PA industry. Now working with a team of associates, Gwen has won the top awards in the industry, and even made UK VA Awards history when sh...

For Episode 19, I welcome a very special guest, Jessica McBride, to talk all things ChatGPT and much more... Jessica McBride is the founder of Tech Savvy Assistant, a platform dedicated to leveraging technology to streamline administrative tasks. With over a decade of experience in the administrative profession, Jessica has garnered deep insights into the intricacies of the role and the potential...

For Episode 18 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA Business podcast, I was delighted to welcome Cara Birkett, of Miss B VA. Cara has been an Executive Assistant for 17 years and after being made redundant in December 2020, she opened her own Virtual Assistant business, Miss B VA.   Through Miss B VA, Cara helps Sales Professionals to grow their business by providing virtual assistance on th...

For Episode 17 of Up Close and Virtual, Jenny Lovell of Northern Star VA joined me to talk about her business journey and transition from a Personal Assistant and Internal Communications Specialist to a Virtual Assistant. Jenny Lovell is a Virtual Assistant and founder of Northern Star VA Ltd. With over 18 years’ combined experience as a Personal Assistant and Internal Communications Specialist. S...

I am delighted to welcome Julie Chandler of Intuitively Led for Episode 16 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA Business podcast. I had the pleasure of speaking with Julie Chandler, an intuition coach and business development professional. Julie is on a mission to help 10,000 women become intuitively led in their business, and she's here to share her insights on how to harness the power of the un...

I'm delighted to have Sarah Jane as my guest for Episode 15 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA Business podcast. Sarah-Jane is a highly experienced administrative support professional with over 35 years of experience in the industry. She has worked in some of London's top law firms as a legal PA, as well as in the C Suite for a large Japanese company. In the last 20 years, Sarah-Jane has worked...

We’ve reached Episode 14 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA Business podcast! This week I welcomed Tim Brown of Grosvenor House Practice, a well-established accountancy practice, based near Cirencester in the Cotswolds..   When I was beginning to lose faith in accountants, I was recommended to Grosvenor House and I’ve genuinely never looked back. I’ve learnt a lot from them and have d...

For this events special episode of Up Close and Virtual, I welcome Samantha Burton to the podcast. With Samantha’s eye for detail and organised nature it was no surprise that she carved a career in Events Management. Having achieved a First Class honours degree in Events Management with International Hospitality Management at University, Samantha immediately secured a job in a live events agency s...

For Episode 12 of Up Close and Virtual, the Katie-VA business podcast, I am delighted to have Emma Weir as my guest. Emma Weir is the Founder of Eban. She started her career in executive search in 1985, covering UK Equity Broking and all aspects of Fund Management. After establishing offices in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo for a boutique financial services executive search firm where she worked f...

Kay Lundy, Career & Wellness Executive Assistant & Coach, is my guest for Episode 11 of Up Close and Virtual. Kay coaches women over 50 who are exploring new career and lifestyle options but face challenges and invisible barriers to realising their future personal success. Harnessing more than 35 years of Business Assistant expertise and change across many industries and sectors, both in t...

Katharine Landale founded Bold New World Recruitment in 2019 which specialises in all hiring aspects for small businesses. She is particularly interested in helping experienced people back to the workforce who may have taken a career break. Before this, Katharine's career was in Investor Relations with Citigroup and BNP Paribas in London and during this time she has been involved with various char...