Vivian is an Inclusion and Diversity Consultant, supporting members to develop their inclusive culture to harness talent and lead to team success.

She has two Masters under her belt: MBA and Gastronomy. She has worked in hospitality and events management in the private sector and swiftly moved to the public sector NHS Scotland, where she spent seven years leading the Divisional Diversity and Inclusion Group and the Sustainability Project for the events team. She then joined the Business in the Community (BITC), and spent ten years at BITC managing multiple national programmes and projects, and looking after a portfolio of members to ensure their actions, and our actions had a real impact on people, community and planet.

What do you enjoy about your role at Inclusive Employers?

It is great working here, not a single day is the same. I enjoy working with members from different sectors and industries and being part of their inclusion journey.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

Life is never straight forward but I believe we can learn from the hurdles. My son has mild cerebral palsy and was called something distasteful at a birthday party because he was drooling. He was only four, but the comment hit him hard.

With his agreement, we wrote an e-book about him to raise awareness of the condition, which despite being the most common physical disability in childhood, it is often misunderstood. We read the book in the nursery and next, we are planning to launch a paperback version of it so that we can engage with more children and make education inclusive and disability much more accessible for our young future leaders.

What’s the best advice you have ever been given?

Michelle Obama, a very impressive person and she once said: “If we want maturity, we have to be mature. We have to model what we want.” I love this, and she also said: “If we want to be compassionate, we must practice compassion every day.” Wise words.

Tell us something about you that we might not know

I once volunteered for the Pope in the Vatican City and in Rome at the Great Jubilee in 2000, a celebration of mercy of God and forgiveness of sins, a global event which welcomed people from all over the world and from all religions and faith. An incredible experience, which I will never forget. I saw Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, and many other types of religious people at the Jubilee celebrating faith side by side, together as one.