Faces behind the frog: Anna Barker

As part of our 'Faces behind the frog' blog post series, we talk to Anna about life as an Area Manager and the voluntary work she's involved with outside Unifrog.

Describe your role

I’m an Area Manager, which means I work with partners in an area (in my case the South East of the UK) and help them to understand Unifrog. This involves going out and meeting new schools and organisations, bringing them on board, and then supporting them in using the platform. That might mean things like arranging meetings with School Leadership Teams or going in for staff training events, but really my priority is getting partners using Unifrog and using it really well.

What’s your favourite thing about your role?

Firstly, it’s really clear whether I’m doing a good job or not. From week to week or month to month, I can see if schools are using Unifrog really well, if we’re bringing on new schools, and if schools are re-subscribing to us.

Secondly, I love that each day is different: one day I could be in the office working with the team, and another I could be out on the road, having meetings across London and the South East. I enjoy my varied schedule and getting to shape my days to make sure I get the most out of them.

What do you get up to when you’re not working?  

I volunteer with a few youth charities that support young people in reaching their next steps, and most recently I’ve been helping out with the Red Cross and their ongoing refugee project. I’ve also just moved house, so I’m getting involved with my local community - I’ve volunteered to be a ‘street champion’, which involves things like recycling, reporting fly tipping, and helping old ladies with their gardening. I also enjoy spending time with family and friends and going to the gym.

What’s your favourite guiding principle?

For me, happiness can’t be underestimated. I don’t just mean laughing and smiling; I mean finding a deep sense of happiness and contentment. I try to do this with my schools and partners by making sure they’re truly happy with whatever they want to succeed in, and it’s important to me that I have a job which makes me happy in lots of different ways. I think that, if you can feel truly content and happy, it can drive so many other positive things later on. That’s my guiding principle that I take into everything - just do things that you enjoy and create positivity!