Why Work With Virtalent?

Sam & Ellie, Founders

The Beginning

Like so many success stories, founders Sam Wilson and Ellie Bekalo have put their all into Virtalent. Since starting the company in 2014, they’ve doubled in turnover and size year on year, growing the team to over 50 team members – using their own revenue, skills and by focusing on recruiting the best VAs they could find.

The Opportunity

As entrepreneurs themselves, opportunity came out of their shared frustration in being unable to find reliable long-term support they could depend on. Sensing a gap in the market, Sam and Ellie began to explore the burgeoning Virtual Assistant sector, and discovered a wealth of professional VAs able to work closely with clients remotely: helping them achieve their growth aims and ambitions from their own workspaces.

The Challenge

Other VA companies existed, but Sam and Ellie wanted to challenge the conventional ‘task-focused’ Virtual Assistant agency model – which focused on quantity over quality. Instead, they focused on building meaningful one-to-one relationships with both clients and the VAs they worked with.

It’s a formula for success that continues today for their expanding client base.

Alice Young, Head of Client Success

Alice is a certified pro in delivering standout customer service! Her upbeat personality and ‘can-do’ attitude means she always goes above and beyond the call of duty in the name of client happiness.

Pre-Virtalent, Alice worked in similar roles for other startup businesses, where she helped grow customer services teams into full-fledged departments. Because she’s experienced growth firsthand, she innately ‘gets’ where clients are coming from and how best to support them.

She also has a really good knack of understanding where a VA can add value to a client's business – working closely with them to identify issues, before coming up with creative and insightful suggestions.

She lives in rural Hertfordshire and fosters dogs for a local animal shelter.

Michelle Inchbald, Head of Client Engagement

Sales superstar Michelle, keeps a close eye on the pipeline, handling new enquiries and consultation calls with her signature blend of friendliness and business acumen.

A natural relationship builder, in a former life Michelle was PA to the Vice Chairman of UBS London. She also spent some time at a small company which experienced massive growth during her tenure – so she too understands the needs of scaling businesses and has firsthand experience of what it’s like to support entrepreneurs and executives.

Michelle’s currently in the throes of renovating her newly-bought home on the Beds/Bucks border – ripping out 80s pub carpet and gutting the peach bathroom suite.

Jo Leeson, Head of Marketing

Jo is the very definition of a ‘T-shaped’ marketer. Not only can she handle the high falutin’ strategic planning part of her role – the brand story, vision and values – she’s also an expert content queen who can just as easily turn her hand to blogs, web copy and social media when the occasion calls.

Yup, she’s done this before. In her days before Virtalent she worked in a similar role for an up-and-coming coffee brand. And before that she was VP of Marketing for HSBC Securities in Hong Kong – so her pedigree is assured.

In her spare time she is a keen photographer with a particular passion for capturing the fleeting moments of childhood. You’ll find her living the countryside dream in rural Surrey.