Jo Lord

I moved to Bath from London where I worked in Relationship Management for Citibank in 1999, newlywed, not knowing a soul. My husband had got a new job, and myself and our cat, Arthur sat in our house as he left for work, wondering what we had done.

Fast forward 22 years and I am still in the same house. We have two daughters, aged 20 and 18, and have had numerous pets, from fish to hamsters, guinea pigs, more cats and a hypersensitive Spollie called Merlin.

Until 2019, I compromised in my career, settling in financial management as it was easy to get part-time roles in this field. Human resources, operations, project management, and more, were absorbed into my post depending on the size of the company I worked for. These include Herman Miller, Bath Mind and Genius Digital.

My eureka moment, happened whilst attending my first Glastonbury Festival. The tote bag containing the programme said. IF NOT YOU, WHO? IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

It got me thinking about the skills I had acquired and how I could put them to better use. byen ltd was born to help SMEs become more socially and environmentally responsible. Incorporating a triple bottom line mentality into their business decisions. Balancing People, Profit and Planet.

Helping companies transition from a shareholder model to stakeholder capitalism is exceptionally rewarding. B Corp offer a free Impact Assessment tool, which I work through with over 80% of my clients. It is a robust, thought-provoking exercise and the accreditation is seen as a trust mark. Businesses must meet the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to gain it, and with recertification every three years, need to be doing what they say they are.

I heard about Bath Women’s fund through Camila Rigby, Co-Founder of Women’s Work Lab as I am currently mentoring a wonderful woman based in Bath, who recently went through their programme.

It made complete sense to join Bath Women's Fund to be part of a local network of women supporting women and their families through charitable giving.