Victoria started learning British Sign Language (BSL) at the age of 13 when her cousin Max was diagnosed as profoundly deaf. She very quickly became involved in the Deaf Community and could see the affinity with the community and had a real sense of belonging.
She gained a dream job working at the British Deaf Association as a Receptionist, where she was part of the team that exhibited the charities work all around the UK. She then went on to establish and head up a support service for the deaf community in Camden, London, followed by working within a Mental Health Service for deaf people. Whilst there she played a pivotal role working on projects to enable deaf people access to information on the Mental Health Act and accessible guidance on various areas of Mental Health. All of this experience gave her an understanding of the gaps and allowed her to think about how she can change this.
During this time, she also trained and registered as a British Sign Language/English Interpreter (RSLI) and graduated in 2005 from the SLI course with UCLAN.
During her years as an Interpreter she has worked in a wide range of organisations including the following; BBC, Metropolitan Police, Houses of Commons, various FSTE 500 companies, Councils and Health Authorities across the South of England, having even interpreted for Prime Minister David Cameron when he addressed Vodafone team at their Newbury HQ.
One year on after registering as an Interpreter, she felt like she had achieved her big goal, but still knew that more impact needed to be made. On considering what she had learnt and what could be offered to the Deaf Community – terptree was born with a strong mission to change the world for deaf people.
Victoria and the terptree team are actively working on projects that change the world for deaf people every day. Victoria has a drive about her that is contagious and she truly, deeply believes and cares about the work that she is doing. She is able to share her unique insights into how services can best be provided for deaf people whilst being able to creatively look at cost effective solutions that can have a huge impact on delivery.
Victoria truly lives, eats and breathes this stuff with her brain constantly brimming with concepts, ideas and solutions. When she’s not wearing her terptree hat, she is busy enjoying the best things in life with her husband and two young children. Loving her eventful social life, theatre, music, great food all with a glass of Champagne.
