I was always motivated to become a teacher. I studied Sports Development and Coaching, had various coaching and sport development roles. Completed my Teaching degree and became a qualified teacher. Working primarily in mainstream primary schools. Covid happened. Applied for the Tax Specialist Programme sporadically, took one stage at a time of the application. Eventually offered a position on the course and took one stage at a time till being promoted! All of my experience gained in applying for the TSP and completing new learning, I believed would make me a better teacher once returning to physical classrooms. But, I stuck out the TSP and enjoyed my work, salary, responsibility of my role and flexibility, that I've stayed around at HMRC for 4 years! (and counting). Now I've completed the course, I look out for new opportunities to support others, through mentoring, delivering presentations, and upskilling colleagues. It makes me feel like I am still connected to teaching.

I work with the Venture Capital Reliefs Team. Primarily, I Advance Assurance applications. These are a non-statutory service offered by HMRC for companies to seek assurance that raising funds through an issue of new shares, the company are likely to qualify under one of the relevant schemes. The investors are then able to claim the generous tax reliefs available (IT, CGT, IHT). I deal with the largest (up to £10,000,000) applications and typically the more complex applications. I provide technical advice to other caseworkers. Outside this I take on a variety of other work, such as delivering Autism Awareness presentations across HMRC; and, I volunteer for mentoring and other opportunities, such as working with local schools and universities/cross government schemes.

Fortunately, within HMRC, I have the flexibility to use my time how I wish. Alongside completion of my daily casework, I find the opportunities which provide me with good job satisfaction. I've come to terms with working till I'm nearly 70 - so how can I make these many years the most enjoyable? For me, it's taking on new challenges, looking to always learn and be challenged, taking on roles and responsibilities which give me satisfaction, and getting to continue to support others. I always make time for mentoring/conversations with others. In specific areas where I have lived experience, which I find challenging to discuss, I find these to the most satisfying pieces of work to engage in. If I can support an individual to have a better experience than I might have had when growing up/starting my career, then I feel proud to help. It's the main motivation for why I became a Teacher - I wanted the children I taught to have a more positive experience than I had. I wanted to give back, because of the few people I had around me that supported me - not everyone had these support networks that I was lucky to have, and that got me to where I am now.

I never thought I would get onto the TSP. I had to push myself out of my comfort zone to attend the assessment centres, take part in all of the activities. I continue to do so with my day job - I don't like presenting, but I do lots of it. It builds confidence and resilience. Rationalise what's the worse that could happen by trying something new, or taking on a new challenge. For me, with the assessment centre, if I didn't get accepted - so be it. I got good experience of interviewing. Met new and interesting people, and got free food from attending the assessment centre (back when they were in person). Once I told myself these things, I pushed myself out my comfort zone to attend the day. I had worked hard to get the invite, so although I wasn't confident in going and being myself, that's what I had to do and it worked out well. Take the set backs as opportunities to reflect, develop and learn from. Keep pushing through set backs and pushing yourself out of your normal comfort zone to be able to achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Prior to joining HMRC, my proudest (not necessarily my greatest) achievement was an award I won for my contribution to community sport. Whilst at University, I organised numerous charity events, competitions and social sports sessions. One of these social sessions being social football. I created the social sport session, which grew to the largest session on campus, with over 90 people attending a single session - baring in mind, the pitches we started with only had capacity of 20. It was a challenge to quickly think on my feet and accommodate those who attended. I was always pessimistic and didn't expect it to be as popular as it became. Thanks to growing numbers, I recruited and managed other volunteers. Created a female only football session. Ran regular seasonal tournaments with prizes. This is one example of the work I took on which resulted in this award being presented to me on my graduation. At HMRC, my greatest achievement is perhaps more grounded - achieving promotion from the TSP at the first and earliest opportunity available to me. I always hated exams and was never any good at them, so joining a programme full of exams might not have been the smartest idea. But I persisted through anxiety each time exam day came around, and I successfully passed every exam first time. I subsequently passed my milestones and university work first time, leading to achieving a First Class Hons Degree alongside promotion to G7.