Next up in our 'Meet the Wrendale family' series we have Jess, our brilliant process improvement manager! We talked to Jess about why she loves working at Wrendale, we got to know all about her pets and even found out some of her favourite products...
I don’t want to be cheesy and say “the people” but it is the people! I think “family” can get used by a lot of businesses, but Wrendale really does feel like a family. Everyone is really keen and genuinely wants the best for the company, it’s incredible working somewhere where literally everyone is going above and beyond with everything that they do all the time. That makes it sound quite intense working here, which it can be and I wouldn’t want it any other way but we do have a lot of fun.
Wrendale has grown a lot over the past 10 years, so I’ve seen a lot of changes, the way the company has supported the staff in that time has been amazing. There’s a little group of us who have grown up with Wrendale now and our careers and roles have developed over the years and I like to think that we’re now part of supporting other team members to do the same.
I’ve worked here for just over 6 years, which makes me one of the oldies. I started on customer service, moved to manage the USA side of the business and now I’m the process improvement manager. Because I’ve done lots of different roles across the business, I moved into my current role as a way to fit all the different parts of the business together and plan how we can move each area forwards, I say my unofficial job description is to “stick my oar into everything”. Because of this, my role is very varied! Some days I can be in product meetings and others I can be deep into IT systems and excel sheets. I also sit on our strategy team looking at Wrendale’s long term plans and working out how we’re going to get there and then helping implementing those plans.
Am I allowed to say everything?! I was in the development meetings for this range over the last year or so and think it’s probably responsible for me wanting a baby! I have got the milestone cards on my desk already, just in case! I keep buying blankets too and then gifting them to other people, I met my little nephew last weekend and he was snuggled into his Wrendale blanket, it was so lovely.
We’re having a little girl and, although I’m not usually a really girly person, I love the Little Forest babygrows, Hannah’s artwork is perfectly suited to the style and the colours are perfect - they will be going into the hospital bag. My 7 year old wants to choose her first teddy to give her when she’s born and has his eye on Ralph the Labrador and Autumn the Fox – I suspect he’s hoping he gets to keep one!
A Cocker Spaniel, they’re complete busy bodies one minute and totally lazy the next - I think that fits me quite nicely. They seem quite daft but are so clever and I like that. My Cocker Spaniel is always somewhere warm and comfortable, I often look at him and think “you really do have the best life!”
Yes, I have a Springer X Collie called Wiggins - he’s completely tennis ball obsessed and has absolutely no loyalty to me unless he’s injured or wants to cuddle on the sofa, he is the best dog. I also have a working Cocker Spaniel called Lincoln who is very much my baby but I’m sure only wants my attention to annoy the other dog - as long as I get his cuddles though, I’m fine with that! We’ve also got 3 chickens; Amelia Egghart, Mary Henning and Greta Thunbird, Greta is a bit of a bully!
Keep your eyes peeled for more 'Meet the Wrendale family' blogs
If you would like to have a closer look at some of Jess' product favourites from the Little Wren collection, click here.