Knowing your value- Shareena Patel
An environment that supports individual needs while nurturing team spirit is the perfect setting for personal and business success. Here, Shareena Patel, Senior Analyst at high-end automotive finance provider JBR Capital, explains how she has found her contribution to the company valued, and how her colleagues come together to create a special working culture.
Finding a new challenge keeps us on our toes, it stimulates the way we think and can unveil new personal and professional skills that we may not know we had.
“I joined JBR Capital in the back end of lockdown, so it was a pretty turbulent time for all of us,” explains Shareena. “I’d previously been working in a big company, where it was easy to feel like a cog in a machine, so I thought JBR Capital would be a great next step, to both learn more about the finance world and the fascinating product that is luxury cars. As soon as we could all go back to working in the office, I got to know my new JBR Capital colleagues very quickly. It was so great to be around them all, not just getting to learn more about them on a personal level, but also to understand their role in the business and how we all work together effectively.”
Shareena's team is currently unique within JBR Capital, as it is the only all-female department within the business.
"Having such a strong female representation within our team is great, and of course it feeds into the wider diversity across the business. Knowing that women are in senior positions is really motivating. And that regardless of seniority, we are all listened to, and our ideas and our work are valued is even better. In what has traditionally been seen as a male-dominated industry, gender is absolutely not a barrier to success and development here,” explains Shareena."
Beyond getting to know her colleagues by working together, Shareena plays an important role on JBR Capital’s charity committee, which brings colleagues together for great causes.
“I was really proud to help organise the City Harvest volunteering day last year, which involved a number of our colleagues packaging and distributing food to those most in need in the local area. It’s really nice to be a part of a company that genuinely cares about the people around us and gives us the opportunity to help them.”
Spending time away from our desks is vital to building strong relationships with those we work with, and Shareena has got involved in a number of activities outside of the office with her colleagues.
“The Christmas party was a great way to boost morale and wind down at the end of a very busy year. We went to the London Cabaret Club, which was so exciting, and I was able to speak with colleagues I didn’t know so well. It’s so important to have social events like that, which build morale and allow us to switch off from work from time to time.”
When she’s not at work, Shareena is no stranger to exploring some of the world’s most wonderful countries.
“Before lockdown, I went travelling in India and Thailand, and it was the most unbelievable experience. I travelled on a sleeper train for twelve hours, slept in treehouses and floating bungalows, which was such an unforgettable opportunity. I’m definitely looking to do something like that again because I love exploring different countries and cultures. Bali and Fiji are two places I’d love to visit, so maybe they’ll be next…”
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