A BIT ABOUT ME
If you’re wondering, who’s behind The Development Digest, it’s me! LaToya Charles.
Learning 📖
If you’ve visited my social media accounts or taken a little look around my website, you’ll know that continuous learning is important to me. I completed my MBA with a focus on diversity within organisations and have continued purposeful self-learning over the years.
The Clifton Strengths assessment by Gallup Consultancy, states that the odds are 1 in 33 million of someone else having your top 5 strengths in the same order.
One of my top 5 strengths according to the assessment is that I’m a learner. Learners absorb information quickly and when others are resistant too or fearful of change, Learners can break the information down and help them to learn what they need to grow.
Exploring 🔍
I’ve found joy and learned a lot from being curious about different areas of work. I’ve worked in various leadership roles over the past 15 years. A few of those including managing customer service, recruitment, Innovation and previously holding the position of Chief Operating Officer of Gett UK in its start-up stage.
I also think it’s important to explore opportunities outside of your main role when you can. I currently hold the position on the Board of Directors of the Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust. This is a tremendously fulfilling role as I am able to lend my expertise to an organisation helping vulnerable women while gaining knowledge about a new industry.
Growing 🚀
I really enjoy working with people and organisations on the cusp of change. This is often the time when real growth is happening, and I love being a part of this.
There are times when you may need a bit of help identifying the change needed and I always find that to be a great challenge.
When working on an organisation level I’m very OK if there is little or no foundation as I get to be part of this change process. I always say that if continue to learn and explore you will grow.
More importantly, see what past colleagues have said below. But not before you click on my fun fact!
FUN FACT!
MARSHMALLOWS!
I’m obsessed with marshmallows…..
I love to eat marshmallows.
I love trying new flavours…it’s not all vanilla.
And I love making them!
My speciality being chocolate marshmallows. Not chocolate-covered….but chocolate marshmallows….yummy!
And yes, that’s a pic of marshmallows that I made 😀.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING!
LaToya’s leadership style has always impressed me during our time together at Gett Uk. She managed a large Operations team in a highly stressful environment, having implemented the structure and the KPIs that the business needed to make the jump from a smaller startup to a medium-size organization. Her calm leadership sustained the business in tough times. Her pragmatism and communication skills helped others get things done on time and to desired standards. She developed people and the organization. Amazing to learn from.
Cinthia dos Santos Montagner, Project Manager at Facebook
As a colleague of LaToya’s at Gett, I am delighted to have the opportunity to recommend her to others. LaToya is extremely professional and calm. She thinks strategically while maintaining focus on the detail and managing both a very large team and workload. She is also one of the coolest, most fun people I have worked alongside and maintains an excellent balance between dedication to her work and intuitively knowing when is the right time to step back and celebrate successes with her team.
LaToya is very passionate about charitable work and improving the lives of others, and this shines through in the way she approaches everything she does.
If you ever have the chance to work with her, grab the opportunity with both hands!
Kim Monney, Co-fonder and COO at HowAmIGoing?
I had the pleasure of working with Latoya at WestOne Cars. In a highly stressful environment, Latoya always remained calm, focused and demonstrated strong problem-solving skills. She’s highly analytical and her strategic insight and delivery improved our service levels drastically. I’d have no hesitation in recommending Latoya, she’s a true asset to any business.
Mary Ball, Strategist and Co-Founder of Women in Business Bookclub
LaToya was my manager at Barnardo’s and it was an absolute pleasure to work with her and learn from her. A strong, solution-driven, and natural leader, LaToya effectively managed 4 teams of 16+ people while keeping the energy fun with her charismatic and genuine personality. She was supportive throughout (inside and outside of work) and gave everyone the same time and respect, regardless of seniority. Her transparency and forward-thinking approach meant that we were able to produce insightful reports that increased productivity and facilitated managing large workloads within the teams efficiently. I learned so much through observing LaToya during meetings and strategy sessions. Confident and concise, LaToya naturally led meetings and was able to draw out ideas from those who were quieter, welcomed ideas from all, whilst having fun, ensuring the discussions did not digress and divert from the key objectives. It’s very rare to work with a manager that will always make time for their employees, encouraging them to strive, and flourish. I’m very grateful for the opportunity I had working with LaToya and she has definitely helped to shape the person I am today.
Mary Vu, Fraud Analyst at ASOS
LaToya is a passionate, people-centered, values-based leader. LaToya has rich and varied experiences and skills to draw on to add value to the development of an individual, project, and organization and is a breath of fresh air to work with.
Amit Dixit, Business Development Director at Marie Curie
LaToya and I worked together at Barnardo’s and I’ve loved how much clarity and drive she helped bring to projects. I could always rely on LaToya to deliver – whether it was leading cross-organisational projects and campaigns or supporting the wider fundraising leadership team. LaToya’s positive and frank style would be a welcome asset in any team and I hope our paths will cross again in the future.
Devia Gurjar, Chief Charity and External Affairs Officer at Hft