Hannah Russell

"In my current role, I lead a busy team and need to be able to communicate well both with team members and other interested people. We work with a wide range of audience groups (families, students, teachers, scientists etc) and I enjoy thinking about how to adapt what we're saying to each audience's interests and needs. This is my Communicator personality at work! I also enjoy presenting and writing, both to tell people about the fantastic activities we're involved with as well as influencing people to get on board with a new idea or to change their mind about something. I've always loved explaining complex ideas in simple ways and have had the opportunity to do this in roles throughout my career. This is where my Influencer personality is really helpful. Being a working parent means that I'm also pretty organised!"

"In my current role I am responsible for leading the outward facing work of the Biochemical Society. This covers a wide range of activities, including education, training, careers support, public engagement, policy, scientific conferences and communications & marketing. I love to support my team so we can achieve great things. I'm quite competitive, so am always keen to do my best and to bring out the best in others. I particularly like the strategic side of the job and also being able to see projects through to the end. I've been involved in several projects over the years that I'm really proud of and it's great to be able to look at an activity or report and know that I made it happen! I guess for me, the next step would either be to move into a similar role in a larger not for profit organisation or to move into a Chief Executive role for a small not for profit organisation."

"My best friend Rosie, who died of breast cancer in 2015 inspired me a lot. We were best friends for 28 years and she was a truly inspirational person. She taught me a lot about how to be organised and I definitely wouldn't have done as well in my qualifications or career without her support and guidance. In addition to my work at the Biochemical Society, I'm now Trustee and Director of a breast cancer research charity which was set up in her memory."

"As a busy working Mum, I don't have a huge amount of spare time! I love spending time with my two children, walking the dog and gardening. I'm a Trustee of a small cancer research charity and also volunteer in teaching science at my daughter's primary school. "

"As with many jobs, there are very few 'typical' days! I tend to have quite a lot of meetings with team members and our senior management team, which although they take up a lot of time, are a great way to find out how things are going, discuss new ideas and provide guidance and support. We have quite a lot of Committees with expertise in various fields that provide input and support to our activities, so I have quite a lot of meetings where I might be reporting back on our current activities, encouraging people to support a new idea or setting out our strategy over the next few years. As well as doing lots of talking, I often write reports and support team members to write reports, news stories, magazine articles, blogs etc."

"Secondary education (GCSE/O-Levels) Post secondary education (College, A-levels, NVQ3 or equivalent), A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. Vocational qualification (Diploma, Certificate, BTEC, NQV4 or equivalent) Undergraduate degree (BSc, BA, etc.) PGCE in Secondary science education Post-graduate degree (MSc, MA, etc.) MA in Biological Sciences (Oxford) A core management course as part of my training at Barclays "