Founder

Deborah set up The Careers Office in 2020. The social movement Black Lives Matter, and Diversity and Inclusion in companies, has illuminated the need for change.
There is a massive hunger to galvanise the corporate world. Students across the UK including Northern Ireland, are introduced to companies to widen their talent pool and give every student the same chance of success.
Working with young students and adults for over 40 years is testament to Deborah’s passion for changing lives.
Throughout her career Deborah has juggled the demands of 6 children, including at one time 5 children under 9 and 5 different schools. She passionately believes that every student should be treated with patience, care and empathy as if they were her own son and daughter and with a promise of conveying the same drive and ambition.

Ambassador

Sam’s journey from a working-class East End family to pursuing a career at the Bar has fueled her lifelong commitment to social mobility. Growing up, she saw how hard it was for talented kids to access opportunities, with her own mother leaving school at 15 to work. As the first in her family to attend university, Sam never took her success for granted. Throughout her career at the Bar and the BBC, and as a school governor, she has tirelessly advocated for others from similar backgrounds, seeing firsthand the barriers they face. For Sam, The Careers Office’s mission to open doors in law, media, and business is personal. She is deeply passionate about the charity’s transformative work and is honoured to help bring visibility to the untapped potential in young people, believing in the power of education to change lives.

In Sam’s words: “The work that The Careers Office does -to try and help open doors to the law, banking, media and all professions, but also to open the eyes of business to the incredible talent and minds and potential that they could be missing out on, could not be more important to me. To be approached to do my small part to try and raise these issues and tackle the problems, is an honour.“

Trustee

Gemma brings a unique blend of design and tech experience to her role as Trustee at The Careers Office. Having faced a career advisor’s discouraging words at 13, telling her she could never make money from art, Gemma set out to prove them wrong. She started in design, transitioned into software development and tech management, and worked with global companies like EY. Alongside her tech career, she founded Sandy Ray Jewellery (www.sandyray.rocks), a sustainable brand that channels her creativity, and TAIGATEC (www.taigatec.com), specializing in AI and digital transformation. Passionate about equality in education and careers, Gemma mentors for WOMEN IN TECH® Global, supports UN Women UK, and advocates for access to career resources as a trustee at The Careers Office. Her journey is all about breaking barriers, empowering others, and creating inclusive opportunities in tech and beyond.

Trustee

Arna Van Goch is an accomplished business operations leader with a strong commitment to promoting equality in education and careers. She currently works at Pismo, managing operations across EMEA and APAC, where she drives strategic initiatives, enhances business processes, and fosters an inclusive environment. In addition to her role at Pismo, Arna brings a wealth of experience as a Trustee at The Careers Office UK, where she helps shape initiatives that ensure equal access to career resources for all.

Arna’s expertise extends to coaching, where she has helped clients achieve remarkable success through her platform BeingDutchanese. Her coaching has empowered individuals to grow their businesses, with some clients seeing up to 200% income increases and even transitioning their side gigs into full-time careers. She also has extensive experience in social media strategy, having helped businesses scale from five to seven figures. Driven by a passion for breaking down barriers, Arna is dedicated to creating equal opportunities for all, blending her diverse expertise in business operations and digital strategy to help others thrive.

Data Analyst

Anshul Dixit is a skilled Data Analyst and Scientist with a focus on road safety. Her work is crucial in enhancing and making roads safer.
Beyond her professional expertise, Anshul is passionate about the right to education.
She volunteers with The Career Office (TCO), supporting their mission to assist underprivileged students in securing employment.
Anshul values TCO’s impactful work and is committed to giving back to the community. Her combination of professional skills and dedication to social causes highlights her drive to positively impact both her field and society.

Ambassador

In 2024, St Marys University Twickenham (SMU) and The Careers Office (TCO) completed a live assessment project with Business Management and Communications and Marketing Students. Student groups developed Marketing and communications plans and presented their work to the senior TCO team for assessment grades and TCO awards. As the outcomes of the proposed plans were tailored to TCO requirements it was agreed to offer internships to SMU students to provide support to implement the campaigns.

The Internship programme is progressing as the TCO website has been updated and social media posts placed on selected apps to increase the awareness of TCO events. The lead student for the project Michael Dove and SMU Senior Lecturer in Marketing Robin J Birn are continuing to provide support for marketing and communications. As ambassadors for TCO they will collaborate with the team to implement the marketing and communications plans designed to be delivered from 2025 onwards.

Robin J Birn is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at SMU specialising in consumer insight and marketing strategy and campaign planning. He is a member of the SMU Business Clinic team providing small and medium size enterprises with marketing and communications and business planning support.