Meet the Team: 5 questions for Deborah Sparkes

Continuing with our ‘Meet the team’ series, here we meet Account Manager Deborah Sparkes who has been part of the SHC team for nearly 20 years.

How long have you been part of the SHC team, and what were you doing before?

I started my career in PR a very long time ago, in London’s west end.  I then had an opportunity to work in the city of London, initially working for a private bank and then a venture capital firm.  With a slight career change, I then moved into a human resources position at a Japanese bank, where I stayed until I left to bring up my family.

It was while looking after my children when I felt I needed to do something on the work front.  I already knew Suzanne from various child related activities, and it was then she revealed she was looking for some help with SHC.  I started soon after and have been part of the SHC team ever since.

Why PR?

Well, it was one of my earlier career experiences, so it was a natural fit with SHC.

Working within SHC allows me to become involved in its key sectors, namely cleaning and FM, packaging and food.  Although the PR process is the same, each client is different and it is interesting to see how each project develops and the success that comes with that.

What have been your PR career highlights so far?

It has to be helping with the Kimberly-Clark Professional Golden Service Awards.  May 2026 is actually my ninth event and they are held biennially.  Each event requires a lot of my time from commencement of the application process through to event preparation and the awards ceremony itself.

My involvement with the SHC marketing team provides me with a useful insight into the breadth of the client base and team activities.  I particularly enjoy working with Suzanne to organise various SHC events including the recently held 30^th Anniversary and stakeholder lunch.

What are the biggest changes you have seen in PR and the work of SHC in the past years?

In the beginning Suzanne and I used to print off press releases, put them in envelopes and frank them! I would drive to the special post box for ‘franked mail’ and pop them in!  How that has changed!  Everything at that time was very manual.  Look at how different it is now – everything is done by pressing a button or two!

Then in 2020 we all stopped going into the office and started to work from home.  This certainly helped a few of my colleagues, who were able to move away from the SHC office and continue their work remotely.  The majority of our meetings are now held online.  There are times when I miss going into the office for the type of informal chat you cannot have on a Teams call!

That’s enough about SHC… what about you?

I have three adult children, and I am lucky enough to spend a lot of time with them.  We seem to have similar interests, often meet up at weekends and we do a lot of walking.  I particularly enjoy a hike around the Kent countryside; I love a circular walk especially if there is an opportunity for coffee and cake near the mid-way point.  Due to the changing seasons, there is always something different to see in nature.