Amina Anwar

I initially started at the University of East Anglia pursuing an education in Biological Sciences however, things do not always go to plan and after a year and half of commuting to Norwich, I decided I wanted to pursue a different career path and transferred to the University of Suffolk, where I felt at home straight away, as a previous college student at West Suffolk College. The campus, lectures and the teaching environment was exactly what I was used too and made me feel very comfortable. Not only that, I was able to continue in finding a part-time job to build my experience as well as manage my work load at University.

Choosing a combined honours degree opened up several career path options and allowed me to explore different areas of Business and Law. However, both became very relevant to the career I have since pursued. The University gave me the theory based knowledge which has been applied into my new role. Outside of the core modules, the University enhanced many skills by running workshops and inviting local Businesses to come in and share insights into their organisations which made students think differently. The lecturers also were very keen and passionate about students setting up their profiles on LinkedIn and preparing a professional profile for when we left University, a tool which I set up in University and since leaving have used in my everyday professional job, so if you are not on LinkedIn – I highly suggest it.

Since graduating in 2018, I took a risk and joined a start up Inside Sales Business – which only hired graduates. For me at the time, it was important for me to join an organisation which valued my degree. I knew very little about the industry however, the Managing Director had a great Sales training programme which I was taken through. Fast forward 3 years I have grown from within the graduate model and I am now the newly appointed Sales Performance Director for PACE. My role is to oversee the strategy that supports recruitment, hiring, training and the supervision of the Sales and Business Development teams. The support, training and development I have received over the last 3 years has transformed me from a young graduate into a business professional. My aim is to further coach, mentor and inspire the next future sale leaders by ensuring they have the confidence and experience to break down glass ceilings in the sales industry.

At the age of only 25, I have achieved an incredible amount and that all started from pursuing a degree and gaining invaluable skills and the confidence I needed to pursue a career professionally. I have still maintained a great relationship with the lecturers at the University and  I hope I can share my journey with future students.