WearTalk
In each issue of Wear
Business, we sit down for
a cuppa and a natter with
a local business leader…
Name: Sharon Appleby.
Age: 51.
Born: Stirling, Scotland.
Lives: Low Fell.
Organisations and job titles:
Head of business operations at Sunderland BID (Business
Improvement District); director of Sunderland Business
Partnership; Member of the British BIDs advisory board.
When I was at school, I wanted to be…a
businesswoman – you could say that then!
I went to an all-girls school in Jesmond and
the geography teacher was also the careers
advisor. I will never forget my careers
interview when I told her I wanted to work
in business rather than be a doctor, lawyer,
accountant or something that the school
aspired to you being. She just switched off
completely at that point. My dad was an
entrepreneur and ran his own businesses
for more than 50 years and I was definitely
inspired by that.
The best career decision I ever made was…
apart from joining the BID, I had a brilliant
experience working in recruitment in
London and I got seconded to an American
investment bank in Canary Wharf in the
1980s to look after a significant number of
vacancies. That opened up so many other
opportunities for me.
The biggest change in my 20 years in
Sunderland...I think I have seen the best
and the worst of Sunderland over the 20
years I have worked in the city. Sunderland
was still very much a city in decline in the
early noughties, and breaking that cycle has
taken some time, but there is a real sense
of optimism here now – and huge change.
In the three years since I joined the BID, I
have seen a growing appetite for real change,
and a growing ambition, and it feels like a
new Sunderland is starting to take shape.
The will for positive change and progress
from the major stakeholders in the city is so
encouraging and the interest from outside
investors is hugely exciting. Everyone
working in the same direction is definitely
the biggest change that I have experienced.
Sunderland can bounce back from the
impact of Covid-19 by…Sunderland has a
really loyal and very proud population and
to be able to bounce back from Covid we
need every single one of them to take part in
the opportunities that are presented, to shop
locally and support our own businesses. We
have already seen a significant number of
people returning to the city centre, but we
need more. As a business community, we
need to make sure we are helping people to
access what they want and to make them feel
safe while doing it. We have so many exciting
projects on the horizon and as these start to
come to fruition we need people to support
them. We also need everyone, not just the
public, but business as well, to talk up our
brilliant city and to celebrate everything we
have to offer. And we need to create a new
environment where on-trend, new, up-andcoming
businesses feel comfortable to set up
and have confidence that the people will be
here to support them.
The best part of my job is…engaging
with so many brilliant organisations and
businesses on a day-to-day basis. Having a
hugely committed and passionate team also
makes it a real pleasure to come to work and
to take on some of the challenges we do.
The biggest downside of my working
life is…this period of uncertainty and
change, and the rate at which that change is
unfolding. The UK high street was already
in trouble and Covid-19 has accelerated this.
However, this will bring massive opportunity.
If I could change one thing about my
organisation...it would be more active
engagement from all of our levy payers. We
want to work with businesses, and great
things happen when we actively engage. We’d
love more businesses to work proactively
with us and help make this city a huge
success, as we look to emerge from the
pandemic on the front foot.
Four words to describe me are…just get
things done!
My business mantra is…give it a go, if it doesn’t
work at least you tried.
My greatest achievement is…my nine-year-old
twin daughters.
The biggest frustration I encounter in the
Wear region is…people talking the city down.
My favourite local charity is…Red Sky Ball
– it’s really close to my heart as my niece has
received amazing care from the children’s heart
unit at the Freeman Hospital from the day she
was born.
When I’m not working, I like to spend my
time…shopping, and with my family and
friends. Great friends are absolutely priceless
and I’m lucky to say I have a brilliant group of
them.
My guilty pleasures are…chocolate and
shopping.
The best holiday I ever had was…California
with my best friend, driving from San Francisco
to LA and staying with friends and family along
the way. We visited some very memorable
places like Lake Tahoe, the Napa Valley and
went nightclubbing in Newport Beach. I can’t
wait until my girls are a bit older so we can do it
again with them.
Not many people know this about me, but…
when I lived in London, I slept in a cupboard
under the stairs in my brother’s flat in Islington
when he was at home – which wasn’t very often
– so that I didn’t have to pay rent and I could
spend all of my hard-earned cash on enjoying
London.
In retirement, I’ll spend my time…travelling
with my husband and spending real time with
my daughters and their families.
wear.business – the voice of business for the Wear region | 27