INSPIRATEES
INSPIRATHREES
Peter McLean( DR Caswell)
1. |
Catherine Devereux |
2. |
Gary Dawson |
3. |
Yasmin Khan |
INSPIRATHREES
Ashley Tizard( Tascomp)
1. |
Sharon Lane |
2. |
Zoe Lewis CBE |
3. |
Jessica Williams |
Lucy Pittaway
( Lucy Pittaway) Another newcomer to the InspiraTees list says her late dad – Boro legend Willie Maddren – helped teach her resilience and compassion.
Willie, who made nearly 300 appearances for Boro before managing them between 1984-86, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 1995. He then became an inspirational campaigner for MND research, raising more than £ 200,000 before his death in 2000.
After receiving her InspiraTees certificate, Lucy reflected on how her late dad’ s mix of resilience and compassion helped mould her into the businesswoman she’ s become.
She said:“ To be an inspiring person yourself, you have to have been inspired by other people and see how they live their lives, how they contribute and how they give back – and my dad was one of those people.
“ He didn’ t have a big ego. It wasn’ t all about him – he was about doing what he loved doing to the best of his ability and inspiring others to do the same in their lives.
“ I was very proud of him for his footballing career but I was never prouder of him than when he battled MND for six years – that’ s why I will continue throughout the rest of my life to try and raise money and awareness.”
Afterwards, Lucy told Tees Business:“ I’ m absolutely thrilled and truly honoured – I really am grateful to get something like this. I don’ t see myself as being an inspiration at all! Maybe the people who voted connected on an emotional level with my art and that’ s meant something to them.”
Reflecting on a“ very tough year” in which her business closed three galleries and suffered 20 redundancies, Lucy said they had“ regrouped, pivoted and adapted.”
She said:“ An economic crisis impacts businesses a lot, particularly those in retail and selling a product that’ s a‘ nice to have’. So, it has been a tough year – we’ ve had to make cutbacks but as a small business, we can adapt to the changing climate.
“ But there’ s a lot of resilience in this region. Teesside people are very stoic by nature – but I was taught resilience by my parents.
“ As a young girl, I had to be resilient and I’ ve always been that way really. It’ s not about how hard you fall, it’ s about how quickly you get back on your feet and I think that’ s something we have to teach young people.
“ You are going to face adversity in life – that is just life, it’ s a rollercoaster, but the times that you get up time and time again are what shape you into the person you become.
“ You don’ t see it when you’ re younger – you just feel you’ re being hard done by but when you get older and look back on your life, you realise it was all part of moulding you into the person you are now, a person that can see things for what they are and think‘ look, it’ s just a phase’.
“ Sometimes hardship in your younger years can mould you into a better leader because you have more compassion and understanding for other people when they’ re struggling.
“ And you can see it when you’ ve been through it – you can identify it and offer more help and support.”
Lucy – who“ has an MD hat on” each morning before devoting her afternoons to painting – now has galleries in Yarm, Richmond, Brompton-on-Swale, Keswick and York.
And emerging from a challenging year, she says her business is up for the fight.
She said:“ We’ ll keep going – we’ ll keep battling on. We’ re not quitters at all. We’ ve restructured at head office and we’ ve got a fantastic group of people with a great skill set, a lot of drive and a lot of motivation – we are ready for the battle.”
Michael Poole
( Michael Poole) He’ s a big name on Teesside through his own estate agents, while he is also chair of trustees for local charity the Teesside Family Foundation.
Michael, who set up his own estate agency in 1994, said he was“ dead chuffed and very humbled” to win a top 30 place.
He said:“ I’ m very keen to support the communities that have built my business.
“ We’ ve been built on the back of a lot of clients that have supported us over the years and anything I can do to put a spotlight on organisations or individuals that give so much of their own time, it’ s great.”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 25