Working at pro-manchester: First Impressions

By Katherine Barr

With meetings galore and a multitude of fantastic events, it’s safe to say that my first month at pro-manchester has been extremely busy!

For those of you who don’t know, my name is Katherine Barr and I’m the new Membership and Engagement Manger at pro-manchester. I joined pro-manchester at the beginning of May after previously working as the Business Manager for prestigious Swiss skincare brand La Prairie in Selfridges. I had decided to move out of the retail world, but still wanted to work in a people facing environment. pro-manchester seemed to be the perfect place to utilise my people and sales skills, all while helping to grow a business that I really believe in and truly delivers a fantastic service.

My first week started with a bang as I followed our Deputy CEO, Sam Booth around to all of her many meetings. It was great to hear first-hand about the history of pro-manchester and how much the organisation has grown and changed over the years. With such a diverse range of members, each meeting is completely different and I learn more each day about the ever-changing business landscape of Manchester. I have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with so many interesting people and sometimes I honestly can’t believe that I’m getting paid to have a chat! There’s always so much going on at pro-manchester and it took me a couple of weeks to understand everything that we can offer to our members. I definitely feel that I have found my feet now and I’m excited to get well and truly stuck in!

The team at pro-manchester are fantastic. They’ve been welcoming and accommodating from the get go. They’ve even dealt with my ridiculous questions, such as: ‘Do I come into the office on Bank Holiday Monday?’ Of course, the answer is no, but after working in retail for so long one can never be sure! Everyone has been more than happy to teach me everything I need to know to deliver the best product and service to our members and I’ve enjoyed every moment of learning! My role is extremely varied and I know it’s a cliché to say, but no two days are ever the same. One day I will be attending a delicious lunch event at a beautiful hotel and the next day I will be running around town trying to fit seven meetings into seven hours. There’s certainly never a dull moment! I’m looking forward to meeting many more of our members in the near future, be that at one of our fabulous events or a coffee meeting in Spinningfields.

Being the Membership and Engagement Manager at pro-manchester is a completely different challenge for me and I’m looking forward to seeing where the opportunity takes me in terms of my personal development. It’s a really exciting time for pro-manchester with a few new appointments in the office already this year. With Mel Hill as our new Comms Manager and Ilona Alcock as our Sector Group Manager, we are continuously expanding and diversifying not only our membership, but also our extensive events calendar. There are certainly great things on the horizon for pro-manchester!

If you’d like to arrange a meeting with Katherine, you can send her an email or call her on 0161 833 0964.