Meet our team - Ella Barrett, Development Coordinator, talks about the importance of her role in College

Tell us about you! 

My name is Ella and I work as Development Coordinator in the Development team in College. I first started at Lucy in early 2020 as Administrator and moved into my current role a few months later. 

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, watching films and reading (the works of Stephen King being my favourite!). 

What does your role at Lucy involve?

My role as Development Coordinator includes many different and exciting tasks. My main role is organising the College’s busy programme of alumni and fundraising events. I absolutely love bringing the Lucy community together to celebrate, to network, to learn something new or to help them keep updated on our progress towards the renewed College mission.

One of the best parts of my role at Lucy is helping to connect alumni, whether this be for networking purposes or for events. I have helped to connect alumni from all around the world including the UK, Thailand, India and the UAE. I am always so delighted when a task like this comes my way – it is always such a great reminder how friendly and willing our alumni community is. 

A significant part of my role is to support the fundraising activity at Lucy, by researching the very latest opportunities in philanthropy. I was honoured to coordinate the inaugural gathering of Lucy’s Benefactors and Legators in March, and have been touched to hear all about the people and initiatives their generosity is helping support. 

I also work closely with Lucy Cavendish’s Alumni Association Committee on items such as alumnae events, coordinating alumni involvement at graduations and helping to encourage more alumni to take part in Alumnae Association activities. It is a real pleasure to work with such enthusiastic women who are so committed to galvanising the alumni community in support of our College mission.

Aside from my role within the Development team, I have also taken on the role of Administrator for the College’s Fiction Prize and Student Prize. As someone who studied Writing and Film at university, being part of this competition is extremely exciting!

How did the pandemic impact your role? 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the College had to switch all in-person events to virtual events. Although at first we were not sure how well this would be received, we soon found that there was much appetite for these remotely accessible events from members of the Lucy community worldwide. Indeed, going virtual has helped us renew so many friendships with college members across the globe, and we certainly intend to maintain virtual elements to our events programme going forward. 

In August 2020 and in April 2021, I helped to coordinate a series of ‘Meet the President’ events in which College President, Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, gave an update to our alumni and friends in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the UK. These talks have ensured that we can consult all our members on current plans, and take on board their helpful feedback and ideas. Madeleine intends to hold further Meet the President events soon, so do look out for these! 

Over the past year, a real highlight for me has been the ‘Live from Lucy’ series – a programme of regular talks (once known as ‘Lucy in Lockdown’) where a speaker is invited to discuss a topic of their choice, whether that be based on their career or research. Topics have varied and speakers have come from a wide range of backgrounds, from within the Lucy community and beyond. It has also been a brilliant platform to hear more from Lucy’s Fellows and Postdocs on the interdisciplinary approaches they are taking to helping make a positive impact on society. I’m pleased to write that we have been able to record many of these talks for on-demand viewing via the college website.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is working with such incredible people. It is a delight to work alongside the Vice-President and Lucy Postdocs on the ‘Live from Lucy’ series. They do an amazing job at securing speakers! I also feel so fortunate to work with my colleagues in the Development team on a variety of exciting tasks, including events and alumni relations. The friendliness of the team made me feel part of the Lucy community from day one.

I would like to finish by saying that it is an absolute pleasure to work within the Development department itself. To be part of Lucy Cavendish’s growth (in even a small way) is such an amazing feeling and I look forward to what amazing things lay ahead.