Sue Sherman Profile
“I don’t think I was a hero, just a
I took a loan out and did a law degree at Lancashire University.”
Incredibly, Sue went on to win a place on a Foreign Exchange Programme,
Kirby girl who doesn’t let things slip
spending a year in New York before coming home to find out she had
achieved a 2:1 law degree, with which she headed off to the bright lights of
London to become a barrister.
by without putting up a fight.”
Sue spends her days as a Children’s Care Procedures Specialist, which usually
means representing parents in care proceedings involving their children. Sue
says, “I feel very privileged to do the type of work I do, which although at
Sue says, “I went over the safety barrier and walked along the bridge to about times is harrowing, it is extremely challenging.”
10 feet from her. I said to her, “Do you know what my name is?” And she Sue’s role as a Director of Ampersand Communications is very much a silent
looked at me and I said, “It’s Sue,” and I spelt it for her while holding out a one. Setting up the company in 2001 with Emma Blackmore, Sue says it was
finger for each letter. their involvement in charity fundraising that led the pair to launch a media
“I asked her what her name was. She didn’t answer so I asked her to spell it business.
and she did. From then on in I knew she had let me in. I just continued to “It was obvious from our own attempts to access the skills we required for the
talk to her and not let her slip back into her closed down state. I eventually charities that there were few companies around who could provide the whole
got up right next to her and I knew the importance of not dragging her back, package of design, advertising and marketing.
because she had to make the decision not to jump otherwise the minute she “We saw a gap in the market and filled it. It has grown from Emma and me
was released from a unit she would inevitably go and try again. I put my using my dining table as an office to being one of the most successful agencies
hands out and said, “Do you want to warm your hands on mine?” She did. in the North West.”
And then I said, “Let’s go back to my car and warm up, put your arms around T_he current economic climate hasn’t affected Ampersand. In fact, Sue says it
my neck if you would like to do that.” And she did.” has helped them, “T_he current economic climate has forced companies to
Receiving the Woman of the Year Award for her heroic intervention in the take a hard look at themselves and ask the question, “How are we going to
M60 drama, Sue says of her newfound label, “It was all very odd, I know succeed in the market?”
people who save children’s lives everyday; neuro-surgeons, heart specialists, T_hat’s where we come in; brand positioning, web and advertisement
transplant specialists and they do not receive an award. campaigns are all fundamental in the survival of a company.
“It seems disproportionate that a life that is saved in the full glare of a ten “Look at McDonalds, they may have a multimillion pound successful
mile motorway tailback gets recognition. By the same token it was nice to be turnover but they don’t stop advertising and reinforcing their logo every
recognised but I don’t think I was a hero, just a Kirby girl who doesn’t let single day in every type of media. Whereas Woolworths not only over
things slip by without putting up a fight.” leveraged themselves, they didn’t have a positioning in the market. T_hey were
Winning the Woman of the Year Award came as surprise to Sue, who had competing alongside HMV for DVD sales and Marks and Spencer’s for
already won the Special Category Award at the 2008 bash. school uniforms. It didn’t help, I believe, that their brand and logo had never
“I was really thrilled and I didn’t expect it at all, in fact I was so convinced I been reinvented since the 1950s.”
hadn’t won I’d made half of my table go back to work so they ended up Aside from heroic motorway incidents and being a barrister, Sue supports her
missing it.” partner, Mark Wright, ex-Liverpool Football Club Captain and current
Margaret Johnson, a local women Sue has known since childhood is who she Manager of Chester City Football Club.
would nominate for Woman of the Year. “She is the mother of a very good “I love football; I go to as many of the home games at Liverpool, all the
friend of mine. Margaret brought up her two children, Christine and Alan in Liverpool and Chester fixtures are firmly typed into my Blackberry.”
Toxteth in the 1970s when things were pretty tough, not only for Margaret Not to mention her other indulgence, fashion. “I love clothes and shoes. I am
but for other black families living in the challenges of a city centre environ- lucky to have a lovely walk in wardrobe, Carrie Bradshaw style, with all my
ment plagued by racism and unemployment. shoes and bags lit up in glass boxes.
A lifelong inspiration to Sue, Margaret, as well as raising a family cared for “My favourite suit designer is Dolce & Gabbana and for dresses it is Alice
others too. Temperley. I am definitely a lover of high street fashion too; a day skipping
“Margaret until recently when she retired, spent 35 years in the NHS as a between Zara, Karen Millen and Dune would be my idea of heaven.”
sister in charge of a busy Intensive Care Unit and later as a district nurse One of the most important aspects of Sue and Mark’s life is fostering. It takes
visiting vulnerable, sick and lonely people at home in their often darkest a certain character to open up to children and foster. Having fostered four
moments.” children in total and currently fostering two, Sue says, “Fostering takes
It is however, Sue’s business partner at Ampersand Communications who is commitment, mountains of energy and a deep understanding of how
her business inspiration. “Emma Blackmore is a true inspiration in many damaged children can be when they go into foster care and the effects upon
ways. She has enough energy to feed the National Grid and the organisation you and your family.
skills that would put an Army General to shame.” “We have been fostering for ten months and are very fortunate to have a
It is amazing to think that at 16-years-old, Sue left school without any lovely big home and I am so acutely aware through the type of work I do as
qualifications. Unconventional in her route to becoming a barrister, she soon Barrister how many vulnerable children are in desperate need of being looked
realised that without qualifications she would find it difficult to get that after.”
dream job. With the UK short of 5000 foster carers, Sue advises anybody who has
“From 16 I worked and did day release courses at college and night school to thought about fostering to contact their Local Authority or a Fostering
get my qualifications together. Somewhere along the way I enrolled on a Agency and have a chat about it. She says, “If someone is in a position to
GCSE Law class and was hooked. I spent the entire term writing to utilise a spare bedroom and give a child protection, guidance and love in their
solicitors’ offices in Liverpool trying to get a clerks job, but with no luck. So hour of need, what better way could you possibly use that spare bedroom for?”
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