An experienced international communications professional and a writer, Vicky has worked in corporate PR, the arts, consumer lifestyle and the travel PR industries. The chance to have someone so skilled and experienced working alongside our Press team during furlough scheme was a wonderful opportunity.
For Vicky, it was an equally good experience and one, which she says has now altered her career choices.
In March this year, she was poised to join one of London’s most loved and well-known performing arts centres as Head of Communications, a job she describes as her ‘dream job’ as it combines charity (in support of disadvantaged young people) and the arts. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
The timing couldn’t have been worse as [with lockdown] the organisation had to close, along with many other performing arts venues in the country,” she said. “None of us saw this coming.
When her recruitment company got in touch looking for volunteers to help MDUK, Vicky responded immediately with a sincere ‘yes’! Someone who can ‘hit the ground running’, Vicky has helped the charity by interviewing and writing up the stories of several of the charity’s supporters.
She has been amazed by the strength and achievements she has heard first-hand from people living with muscle-wasting conditions.
What really stands out for me is the way people have faced up to adversity; whether parents coming to terms with heart-breaking news about their child’s condition or high achievers whose diagnosis has changed their life completely. I have interviewed people o somehow haven’t lost their extremely dry sense of humour.
Vicky added:
Since I started volunteering for MDUK, I know that whatever I do next, I want to work alongside the sort of people I have been with for the last five months. I have discovered a community of kind, selfless and considerate people who are brilliant at what they do and are working so hard to support people in a very professional way. The people I have met and interviewed embody the kindness, resourcefulness and positivity I think we all need right now.
We look forward to continuing to working with volunteers with professional experience to help us unite skills, knowledge and resources in the UK, so we can improve the quality of life for the people living with a muscle-wasting condition, and to bring treatments closer to reality.
For more information on how individuals and businesses can get involved with volunteering at MDUK, please visit: https://www.musculardystrophyuk.org/get-involved/volunteer-with-us/