Kara’s last employed role was as Head of Operations for an established and well-regarded hotel chain known for their “quirky luxury”. She focused on financial performance and increasing margins, as well as staff training, compliance and supplier negotiations. Prior to this, Kara worked in various General Manager roles within some of the New Forest’s loveliest venues and it is this operations management background that has given her a true passion for profit.
Kara thrives on the buzz of growing a business and exceptional customer service, and so it seemed a natural step to move into freelance business support so she can offer her exceptional skills to a wider variety of businesses and sectors. She aims to help smaller businesses to increase their bottom line by cost cutting, efficiency reviews and focused business development.
She joined The Passionate PA as a franchisee in August 2022 to embrace the opportunity of running her own business but with all the support we offer. Our whole ethos is about creating momentum and results for our clients and Kara has proved brilliant at both already!
Before joining us, Kara enjoyed a long and successful career in hospitality. From running hotels and pubs, to managing large-scale events and even a contract catering gig or two! She has a wealth of experience with increasing profitability in a traditionally tight sector.
She left university after studying Catering and Institutional Management and within 6 months had secured an Assistant Manager role. Working her way through the ranks, she eventually embarked on running her own business providing catering to a Yacht Club and maritime coastguard training centre. During these years, Kara was responsible for all elements of running her business and so she really understands the highs and lows – and everything in between!
She sold her business in 2002 and returned to management roles within pubs and hotels, building on her knowledge and experience further and developing a superb management style that sees her previous employees thanking her for their career opportunities to this day.
Between 2013 and 2015, Kara was keen to help struggling hospitality businesses so provided consultancy services to several clients who wished to improve their financial position. This work included project management of the changeover in PMS and EPOS systems in an 80 bedroomed 4* hotel, implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and working processes, providing industry specific training, menu costing with consideration of religious and allergy requirements, supplier negotiations and recruitment – lots of recruitment!
It’s also fair to say that Kara was the kind of consultant who led from within the team… if something needed doing, she was very likely to be found rolling up her sleeves and making it happen.
All this gave her such a great grounding for being a Passionate PA. With a keen eye for detail and commercial decision-making, she’s always full of energy and ideas. When she’s not working with Passionate PA clients, she can be found galloping across the New Forest as she’s an avid horse rider. And if she’s not riding, she might be rescuing dogs from Italy (see pics below!) and if she’s not doing that, she’ll be getting an adrenaline hit; following in her famous father’s footsteps as he was an exceptional racing driver taking a Class win in the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans.
