Seventeen Years, Seventeen Birthdays and Hard to Imagine It Any Other Way

People stay in organisations for all sorts of reasons. For some it’s stability, pay or circumstance. For others it becomes something harder to define. Over time, it stops being only about the role itself and starts to be shaped by trust, support and the people around them. 

I’ve worked with Sian for 17 years. That length of time isn’t something I ever take lightly and it isn’t something I assume. Today is her birthday and yes, she will hate me mentioning this, but realising I’ve celebrated 17 of them with her genuinely makes me pause and smile. 17 birthdays. That still feels remarkable … and I’m stopping there for my own safety! 

This isn’t about loyalty as an expectation, or staying put for the sake of comfort. It’s about what happens when someone is given space early on, trusted to grow and supported without being managed into a corner. 

Sian didn’t arrive with a long-term plan. She had been working in recruitment as a head hunter in the advertising industry, but stepped away after the arrival of her daughter and spent 2 years focused on being a mum. When she joined us, she had recently moved to Bristol and was finding her feet in a new place and at that stage it wasn’t about a defined career path, it was about building a life and making connections. 

She came to us in a PA role and I still remember as Finance Director at the time, asking whether she had advanced Excel. Her answer was immediate and completely straight-faced “I don’t have basic Excel! but I have Google and common sense.” It told me far more than a spreadsheet ever could!  From early on, Sian showed an interest in the wider business and was trusted to explore it, and although social care was completely new to her, it gave her the chance to learn, take on more, and grow into the work. Over time, with learning and support, her responsibilities grew and the role evolved. 

Marketing wasn’t an ambition she brought with her. In 2008, digital marketing and social media were very different to what they are today. One of the additional responsibilities she took on was building and leading Evolve’s recruitment department, and as that developed, it naturally began to overlap with marketing. Sian has always liked to keep moving, she brings ideas, works to make them happen and takes responsibility for what she puts forward. Over time, that way of working shaped the role as much as the role shaped her. 

Today, Sian leads our marketing team and in her own words “Today I lead a team of marketing executives who support Evolve in sharing consistent, honest messages, that our homes are just that, homes, not institutions and that life can continue when living in a care home, and that working in care is a career people choose, not simply a job to pay the bills. This is something I’m incredibly passionate about.” 

Leadership wasn’t something she set out to pursue. It emerged gradually and organically. Even in her early years as a PA, it showed up in how she supported others, organised what needed doing, motivated teams and took responsibility when things needed owning. As Sian puts it “15 years ago leadership in general was much more management focused, which feels very different to leadership as we understand it now.” Over time, she grew into a way of leading that was far more about people than tasks, with a growing self-awareness about how she showed up and the impact she had on those around her. 

When I asked Sian what the culture here has felt like over the years, she didn’t hesitate. She shared ”our culture feels different, shaped by how people are treated, how decisions are made, and how much trust is given. People are valued as individuals, not just for the role they perform. Our office is made up of people with different personalities, backgrounds, faiths, beliefs, opinions and ages, but what we do share is a strong work ethic and a clear understanding that whatever role we hold, our work has a direct impact on the people we support in our homes. We work hard, but we also take time to laugh, enjoy each other’s company, and not take ourselves too seriously! Even as we’ve grown from a medium-sized organisation towards something larger, we’ve held onto that family feel – Friday takeaways, celebrating birthdays, noticing milestones and making time to genuinely see people.” 

What continues to motivate Sian is being part of how perceptions of social care is perceived. She’s spoken openly about how disappointed she feels when moments from our homes are misunderstood or judged, for example when she shared an image of a person living with a dementia finding comfort in a doll and that moment was met with negative reactions. For some, it can be seen as treating someone like a child. For that person, living in an altered reality, they may be a parent caring for a baby who means everything to them. Taking that away brings fear, panic and distress. What matters most is the person, their comfort, and their sense of safety.  It’s in moments like this that her passion becomes unmistakable, not abstract or performative, but rooted in protecting people’s dignity. 

Seventeen years on, Sian brings the same curiosity and straight-talk she always has. Time hasn’t softened that, if anything, it’s sharpened it … sometimes at my expense! 

So today, on her birthday, this is simply a thank you. Thank you for the judgement, the commitment, the humour and the honesty over the years. Thank you for the way she leads, the standards she holds and the trust she builds around her. I’m genuinely grateful for the time we’ve shared, and I hope she knows just how much that’s meant.