Be my guest… Ann McCorkell
In anticipation of International Women’s Day on Friday (March 8, 2024) we speak to Ann McCorkell, Director, Rope Assemblies, who is celebrating 18 years with the company and last year became a director.
“I actually came here as a part-time maternity leave cover for accounts, and I've ended up staying with the company. I've worked my way through accounts, sales, and then technical manager, which introduced me to LEEA and allowed me to get involved in the technical side, which really interests me. And then luckily enough, last year we had a change of management, and I was asked if I would like to become a director and obviously jumped at the chance,” she said.
“I’ve loved every minute of the 18 years I've spent in this industry, and I have absolutely no intention of going anywhere else. Every day is different. Every day brings its own challenges. There's such a variety. It is absolutely fascinating. We're lucky our company has always been run by women. It still is. We still have a female MD and there’s absolutely space for everybody in this industry, especially women.”
McCorkell said she has seen a lot of changes within the industry since she started. Rope Assemblies specialises in theatre and entertainment rigging, and there has been more demand for changes in requirement for equipment, the standards for equipment and how things are getting stronger and heavier.
“Awareness on safety is getting better all the time. More so on the standards and regulations, people are being more careful on what they're doing and ensuring things have been done correctly. Obviously LEEA is there for us, to support us and LEEA members are fully aware of what they should and shouldn't be doing, so things can only get better,” she said.
Next, the company has a lot of events coming up this summer in the theatre and entertainment industry.
“There's obviously all the annual festivals and they change every year and there's new ones coming up so it’s just full steam ahead,” she added.
Click HERE to watch the video on LEEA YouTube channel.
