In conversation with…

Ilona and Robyn of the Kingston Chamber of Commerce team were joined by Hicky Kingsbury, Kingston Charitable Foundation, and Julie Leach, Julie Leach Associates, and current president of Kingston Chamber of Commerce, to discuss their exciting developing collaboration, plans for the future and how Kingston Chamber of Commerce has supported their business journeys.

Julie Leach julieleachassociates.co.uk Hicky Kingsbury kingstoncf.org.uk

Next, will be the Kingston Borough Business Awards, and finally the presidential year end event in May, which we’re really excited about. We’ve talked about a few ideas between us – we’ve got some plans!

Julie: We’re doing some more talking about that, but if at the end of my presidential year, more people in the borough know about Kingston Charitable Foundation, then I will feel that I’ve served my purpose and we’ll have raised some money along the way.

Can you both share with us how you met and how you became involved with Kingston Chamber of Commerce?

Julie: Julie Leach Associates is my business; I offer outsourced HR support and management development workshops to small and medium-sized businesses.

I was introduced to Hicky and the charity by a mutual friend of ours, Amanda Cullen, who I knew through the Chamber, she is also a Trustee of Kingston Charitable Foundation. The charity was looking for some help and support with HR, so I provided them with that.

I set my business up about six years ago and wanted to meet new people and network. I tried several networking organisations, and then attended one via the Chamber, and it was just amazing – it wasn’t salesy or pushy, I met genuine, talented lovely people, many who became good friends.

Hicky: Absolutely, Amanda had known Julie for such a long time, and she thought we could work well together, so we met online, and Julie did some incredible work with us.

We used to be ‘Love Kingston’, and during those eight-years we awarded 53 grants to local community organisations. Then, at the height of the pandemic, we launched Love Kingston as an independent charity, which later became Kingston Charitable Foundation.

As soon as we launched independently in January 2021, we continued with our Kingston Chamber of Commerce membership, as there are special rates for charities and it’s just a great way to meet local people in the community and go to events. We love being members and it’s always our first port of call! Especially when we’re looking for any services, we’ll always look at the directory, which I think is excellent!

What are the rest of your plans for the next year? How do you see our partnership evolving?

Julie: For me, it’s about continuing to raise the profile of, and raising money for Kingston Charitable Foundation. I think there’s a lovely connection between my business, Hicky, the Charity, and the Chamber, so my plan is that we grow and develop that. As President, I get to choose some events that we will run together. Hicky, can you talk about that in more detail?

Hicky: I mean, some of its secret squirrel, but we can definitely talk about some!

We’re looking, firstly, at the Christmas Giving Fundraising Quiz, which is going to be on ‘Giving Tuesday’ evening 28th November at The Boaters Inn by the River, because who doesn’t love a pub quiz? We’ll be doing it to launch our Christmas Giving Week, which is a match funding event where the Rowan Bentall Charitable Trust have offered us a donation, and we will be requesting donations from our supporters to match fund it.

Kingston Chamber of Commerce is about to launch Kingston Borough Business Awards 2024 Are you both attending? And why would you recommend people participated in the Awards?

Hicky: I’m looking forward to attending, I’m very excited, it’s the highlight of our year! We saw some really great friends last year who also won, such as 7Dots and Sam Page, who is one of our trustees, and who won the Responsible Workplace Award. It’s a wonderful event to come and meet people, especially those we’ve supported with a grant such as Janine Martin from the environmental charity, Sunray Recycle, who attended in this incredible outfit that she made from recycled banners. It‘s just one of those events that you go to where everyone really comes as themselves, and it’s always interesting.

Julie: I will definitely be attending and would recommend that people enter. It’s a really good opportunity to focus on and articulate everything that you’ve achieved. It can also help you identify what you might want to achieve in the future as well.

Read the full article on https://www.kingstonchamber.co.uk/blog-post/julie-hicky-interview/