Donna Amiteye has been Cook Manager at West Earlham Infant and Junior School, in Norwich, for nine years and sees the support of all the women in her team as essential.
“I only moved into catering because there was a vacancy at the school my daughter was attending. I had never done anything like this before,” she admitted.
“My previous roles in London had been as a Personnel Manager. But I love my job!”
Since joining Norse Catering, Donna has developed her school dinner service significantly and she and her team now cook for up to 350 children every day.
“I am very lucky with the team I have. At the moment they are all women and we don’t really have to address the issue of Breaking the Bias within our own workplace,” she says.
“But I do continually try to build them up and stress to them that everyone is equal in life and that they should never give up trying to do what they want to do.”
Donna, who won an Unsung Hero Award from the Local Authority Catering Association (LACA) in 2020, dedicates much of her spare time to charity work too.
Since 2002, she has been collecting good quality clothes, books and other essential items to send out to two schools and an orphanage in Ghana. Items that can’t be sent are sold to raise funds for postage.
“I also collect sanitary products to send out for the girls and women, as they can be hard to get hold of,” she says.
Donna, whose husband is Ghanaian, says International Women’s Day is a big celebration in the African country.
“International Women’s Day is great because it is a celebration of all women, regardless of their culture and religion. My own daughter is mixed race as well as female and so may well have to face bias in her life.
“But she already has strong views and is determined to succeed in life – and I am very proud of her. I encourage her to be happy and to be the person she wants to be.”
Q: Is there a woman you particularly admire?
A: My mum raised me to be the person I am today, but there are so many other people who have also inspired me. My very first boss taught me so much when I was just 16 and instilled in me the work ethic I still have today.
Q: What advice would you give to a young woman just starting out on her career?
A: Keep on trying, never give up and standby what you believe. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t succeed – and, if they do, then prove them wrong.
