Hi. I’m Gemma Telford, I’ve worked in the IT sector for around 20 years and I still love it!
And the reason is the work I do and the people I get to work with.
Because I’ve been both sides of the desk, I understand the personal and business drivers of the sales and marketing executives I work with.
I’m an experienced, passionate and pioneering marketing leader. I’ve worked for multinational vendors, start up, in distribution, for agencies and consultancies. I’ve run my own full service award-winning agency and have been nominated for awards with B2B Marketing, CRN (including the Channel awards, Sales & Marketing awards and Women in the Channel awards) and PCR Awards for both my own work and that of my clients.
I’m delighted to have been a judge for the CRN Sales & Marketing awards since 2019 and really enjoy seeing the entries each year. It’s a great privilege being able to help choose the winners with my fellow judges.
How I work
I work on a retained or project basis, selectively with a very small number of high calibre clients in relationships where we are both committed to success. I work in a consultative, co-operative and flexible way to help clients recognise and deliver true value.
Giving back
Giving back is an important element of my business and I do this in several ways.
A proportion of my profits goes to charitable causes such as The World Land Trust and Mermaids. I’m an LGBTQIA+ ally and advocate for Mermaids, who were a massive support to our family when my son came out as transgender and throughout his process of transition. You can read a bit more about this here, or watch the video we did here if you’d like to find out more.
I also strongly believe in helping others. Toni Morrison said ‘Just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.’ I know that I was sometimes able to take a step up in my career because someone believed in me. And the most rewarding times in my career have been when I’ve been able to do give someone else that chance. If you’d like me to mentor you, please drop me a line at gemma@sheher.co.uk and let me know why.
