Melissa Rambridge

CEO, Sweethaven

What has been your business highlight of 2022?

We've just had our Q3 planning session… Q2 has been a record quarter for us but the real highlight was when it was pointed out to me halfway through our day that four of the eight managers around the table were female. Furthermore, five of the eight of us have young families and therefore flex our working schedules in one way or another to try to best support both family and career. When I first started seven years ago, I was one of two females in the company - I'm as proud of how far we've come in developing greater diversity as I am of the record quarter the team has just achieved.

If you were ruler of your own country, what law would you introduce first?

Linked to the above, I'd introduce stronger government provision of financial assistance for childcare costs for parents wishing to return to work full-time! I read an article earlier this year that demonstrated how it requires a minimum £40,000 64 ChannelWeb.co.uk A-LIST 2023 salary to be able to afford to send two children to nursery in the UK and make a little profit! The same article reported that a salary of £60,000 would leave £36 per day after deductions. Isn't that insane? That was six months or so ago, so I imagine that threshold figure is even higher now.

Which channel or tech leader (outside of your own company) has impressed you most in 2022?

This is a tough one - there are so many! This might be cheating a little as it's a group of people, but the Network Group team never fail to astound me with their ability to bring together the channel community to lean on one another and resolve key industry issues with truly innovative thinking… the collective mentorship of the group has been invaluable for growth of both Sweethaven and myself as an individual.

If you had a warning label, what would it say?

Prone to extreme impatience!

What was your first job?

Waitressing at a local pub… it gave me an excuse to talk all day/evening to lots of different people… I loved it!

What was the last book you read, and was it any good?

How to Potty Train in 3 Days. Genuinely. I'm not sure I would put it down as a classic summer read but it was highly informative, and mildly terrifying.

What's the most important lesson you've learned from another business leader or mentor?

There are loads! My biggest learning curve has probably been around how to harness and meld my aforementioned impatience into a USP to drive business forward and, within this, learning the importance of channelling ambition and drive into measured action rather than frustration.

Who would play you in a movie of your life?

I asked my partner on this one and he responded worryingly quickly with: "Donkey from Shrek"…