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After landing her dream job at WhatsOnStage, Sita McIntosh reflects on who has inspired her career in theatre. 

Photo of Sita McIntosh

Nayna McIntosh

Nayna is my older sister, by four years and one month. At 18 she was working as a Saturday girl at Marks & Spencer, awaiting the results of her A Levels and hoping to study sports science at Loughborough. However, after failing all of them, she secured a position on the M&S Management Scheme capitalising on the experience she’d already gleaned on the shop-floor. Fast forward 20 years and she has been appointed to the board of the company as a Director. In between all of this she also had two children in quick succession (as I did) but never once stopped working. She has demonstrated to me that with determination, self-belief and sheer bloody hard work, it is possible to be a working Mum and “have it all”.

Jules Boardman & Nick Blackburn

I joined Ticketmaster UK Ltd when it was still operating as a franchise of the US parent company. Jules was the Managing Director and Nick was the Sales & Marketing Director. They had very different personalities. Jules was a loyal and fair boss who always made you feel that you had something worthwhile to contribute. Nick had appalling taste in ties but taught me that reliability was the foundation of good client relations. They also taught me that the staff is the most valuable asset of any organisation and if you get that bit right, the rest will follow. I loved working for both of them and still see Nick occasionally. He still has dodgy taste in ties.

National Theatre

My first job in the industry was at an advertising agency which had the National Theatre as a client. Initially it was my job to clip the classified adverts that appeared every day, but eventually I progressed to a Media Planner/Buyer for the venue. As my position grew I began to visit the NT more frequently and would regularly take myself off to spend a Saturday afternoon there, enjoying a gin and tonic on the terrace overlooking the Thames before watching a matinee. For a 22 year old fresh out of college this was the height of sophistication! I have been in love with the place ever since and still relish walking into the building – it encapsulates what keeps me working in this business.

Dame Judi Dench

When given the brief for this piece I was told that I could select anyone who has inspired and guided my career, and that could include an artist that has inspired me to continue a career in the arts. I have to include Dame Judi – the recipient of the only fan letter I have ever written. After watching her in ‘The Gift of the Gorgon’ I was so compelled by her performance that I actually sent her a letter to tell her that. Not for an instant did I expect an acknowledgement, but within a week I received a hand-written reply thanking me for taking the time to write to her. I still have it. To this day I can’t fathom my love for theatre but at the curtain call for that show, right then, I knew that working in this industry was all I ever wanted to do.

Gretchen Shugart

Gretchen is my current boss and the one who has given me my dream job. I’m a real “doer” – the type of person that needs to tick things off the list and I get very frustrated by inflexibility or limitations placed on my role that prevent this happening. As COO of WhatsOnStage I now get to run a small company that lives, breathes and eats theatre, and brings together all of the facets of my career that I enjoy the most. However as Gretchen regularly tells me, “We are in business, not show-business,” and I relish the challenge of developing and implementing company-wide strategies that will build on the brand and reputation WOS already enjoys and taking it to the next level.

Sita McIntosh is Chief Operating Officer for WhatsOnStage.com.
www.whatsonstage.com

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Photo of Sita McIntosh