When Astro’s incredible Assistant Finance Manager, Roza, arrived in the UK she had one thing on her mind – to build a better life for her three daughters.
Roza left her hometown in Hungary in 2010 and set out to start from zero and give her daughters a new beginning.
She was motivated by a need to show her daughters that if you put your mind to anything you can achieve it…an ethos that is at the very core of Astro; so, it is no surprise that, when Roza began looking to develop her position, Chief Executive, Steve Hodges was only too pleased to afford her every opportunity to prove herself and support her where the business could.
Roza began working part time as our office cleaner, one of several jobs she undertook to support her young family. But her ambition was far greater than her circumstances permitted at the start and while she worked to pay her bills, her vision was to develop a full-blown career and she knew she wanted to succeed in a University course in business. This was driven not only for her goals for her own personal development and to prove to herself that she could do it, but to give herself a brighter future.
In true Astro style, Steve was fully supportive of Roza’s ambition and determination. Every time a position opened in an administration or operational support role, Roza would put her name forward. Understanding that language challenges and experience were going to need to be overcome, at the same time as worked she studied and practiced her spoken language at every opportunity. This impressed everyone at Astro.
Roza also embarked on a business qualification to further develop her knowledge and English language skills, funding herself through a BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Business and continuing to work at Astro and putting herself forward for roles.
The course was full time and Roza completed the two years while still working at Astro. She had to stop working at her other jobs but couldn’t leave Astro! Partway through her studies Roza got the opportunity she was looking for and was appointed in a full-time role as interim PA to Steve. Roza not only adjusted to the role quickly and efficiently, she carried on with her studies alongside. Utterly impressed by her work ethic and determination Steve was keen to support her studies as much as possible. Roza made the decision to complete the final year of the course-University Top-Up- online despite knowing it would be a lot harder. Steve continued to support her and 18 months later she finished. It was a very emotional time for Roza, she was so delighted when she received email confirmation, but actually holding the physical certificate in her hands was incredibly emotional.
Roza said, “I had a drive to have a better life in the UK – I had to show my girls what can be achieved and I felt I had to prove to them that is doesn’t matter about the negative impacts of changes in your life, if you have a purpose you can do whatever you want…anytime without any limit”.
Astro’s Chief Exec, Steve Hodges said, “Roza demonstrated huge loyalty to Astro and determination to not only stay with us while undertaking her studies, but to progress to new roles here. Astro has a long history of supporting people who demonstrate personal determination to progress and I, in turn, was delighted to be able to support Roza as she created this new opportunity for herself. Roza has been inspirational, particularly to her young colleagues, but showing that learning is for everyone at any time in their life.”
If Roza had stayed in Hungary, this wouldn’t have happened but due to her hard work and the support of Astro, she is now the much-deserved recipient of a
BA with Honours in Business Management from the University of Essex.
Let’s all Be More Roza.
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