Hey there! New to the community or just stumbled to this thread then you are at the right place. Let us introduce ourselves to you…
We are the Community Team. What exactly is it we do, we hear you ask? What is an Educator? Well, make a quick cuppa, sit down and get comfy while we tell you a little bit about all of that.
At giffgaff we are known as ‘Educators’. This means that our main purpose here is to educate our members through positive reinforcement. This is different to ‘Moderators’ as here at giffgaff we are a self-moderating community. Our ‘run by you’ ethos means our members let us know if there is anything we should be aware of rather than us actively looking for stuff. That means we have more time to focus on bringing cool stuff to the fore rather than having to punish bad behaviour.
Educators and the rest of the community team are also here to ensure our member’s voices are heard, and to keep you all in the loop with any company decisions/ discussions, as well feeding back to the bigger team our members ideas and contributions to help improve giffgaff. We’re not a support team in the traditional sense - we support you to do the best you can on the community, no matter what your skills are.
You may or may not have seen we are the folks with the little staff symbols are next to their name so it’s easy to spot us about the community. And keep an eye out for us sending you a quick private message - we’re a chatty bunch and are always trying to get to know people whenever we can.
We’re excited to have you all on board with us at giffgaff and can’t wait to get to know you all - and so you can get to know us a bit better, here’s a little bit more about us.
giffgaff mobile
Name/ member name: Alexandra / @alexandra_mg
Title: WFH Educator
Joined date: Been a part of the lovely team since September 2016
What do you do? Lend a helping hand on all things Community, I love joining in discussions over in GD and can usually be found nattering about Video Games, Food or books! I share the odd photo here and there, too, over in the Photography board!
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not at work, I will be spending quality time with my family, going for nice long walks, engrossed in a Crime/Fiction book, watching Documentaries (usually crime based!) and when I can, I’ll be found booting up the xbox and sinking into a good game or two! I love anything Techy, so love catching up on the latest mobile devices, checking out new apps and seem to have a slight addiction to buying new phone cases that I don’t need but want! (Plus, I love swapping and changing them over!)
Name/ member name: Amy / @amy_b_d
Title: Member Engagement Manager
Joined date: on the team since September 2013
What do you do? I manage giffgaff pioneers - a community of members who help make giffgaff better by getting involved in lots of different projects around the gaff. From giving feedback on The giffgaff app, testing journeys on our website or get involved in our brand campaigns.
Fun fact/ hobbies: I’m a cat parent. I like to draw using Procreate, gaming, watching Netflix, and photography. I’m also learning to speak Greek at Uni and learning to roller skate.
Name/ member name: Arletta / @arlettak
Title: Senior Community Relations Manager
Joined date: on the team since 3rd of January 2017 (giffgaff member since 2016 )
What do you do? First and foremost, I do my best to maintain a smooth day to day life of our community and the WFH Educators team, on top of that I help with the future vision of our community, build/maintain relationships across the business and spread the love for our community wherever I appear. I also recently took over Buddies group and watching it develop brings the biggest smile to my face.
Fun fact/ hobbies: In my free time you are most likely to find me at a gym or dancing. Recently certified belly dance teacher, food and animal lover. Attempting to learn arabic.
Name/ member name: Bethany / @bethany_j
Title: WFH Educator
Joined date: on the team since May 2020
What do you do? I help out all over the community wherever I’m needed. I’m also one of the eds (along with Arletta) who help our wonderful Buddies out, and I can also be found in the baking chat thread in General Discussion
Fun fact/ hobbies: Hobbies include baking, cooking, going to the gym, and then more baking! My fun fact would have to be that I have 5 rabbits (which was an accident, we adopted 2 and then before we knew it, we’d adopted 3 more)
Tags: Buddies, and pretty much anywhere really
Name/ member name: Charlotte / @char_h
Title: Social Educator
Joined date: on the team since April 2020
What do you do? I work with both the community and social teams, to support our fabulous helpers on Social Media. Watch this space for some more information from me about how you can get involved with Social Help.
Fun fact/ hobbies: I love all things Disney, Harry Potter and Musical theatre. I enjoy cooking, baking or anything foodie related. Always happy to share random science/animal trivia and that love of animals is why I play a druid in DnD.
Name/ member name: Conor / @conor_jm
Title: Educator
Joined date: on the team since May 2020
What do you do? I help out with everything I can on the community, helping to keep the community tidy and helping our lovely members with the queries they have about using the community.
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not working, I can be found losing a lot of balls on my local golf course, binging tv shows on Netflix, or attempting to cook different recipes from my favourite foodie shows. The attempts usually turn out nothing like the originals but it’s the effort that counts.
Name/ member name: Dez / @dez_d
Title: WFH Educator
Joined date: on the team since July 2017
What do you do? I help out with all things community related and you will often find me helping out our amazing members in our help forum or giving a hand with our bi-annual charity nominations.
Fun fact/ hobbies: If I’m not working then I’ll be watching the TV, Tik-Tok or Youtube. I really love nature documentaries as you usually get to see our amazing world at the same time. I’m also really into parachuting and I plan to do another one next year so I can get my parachute instructor license.
Name/ member name: Guy / @guy_ow
Title: WFH Educator
Joined date: on the team since February 2018
What do you do? Help out with all things community related, you can often find my lurking around the photography board though.
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not working, I’m often out with my camera (weather permitting) or out walking the dog. Tend to lurk on ebay alot to see if there’s anything I don’t need but want.
Name/ member name: Henna - @h_henna
Title: Community help manager
Joined date: on the team since May 2018
What do you do? I look after all things relating to the help process on the community, making sure that the members have access to all the bits and bobs they need when getting help. I also look after the knowledge base, working with our members to update the content so that members can learn about giffgaff easily. Alongside this, I make sure that the helpers have access to all the information and tools that they need to do what they do best.
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not working, I’ll be either shopping, mixing up a few facemasks, watching Netflix, going on a long drive to explore new places, hiding away at a museum somewhere or spending time with my extremely large family.
Name/ member name: Ikhra / @ikhra_h
Title: WFH Junior Educator
Joined date: on the team since September 2019
What do you do? Make sure all our members feel welcome here and help out wherever I can, showing them the ropes 🙂 Also making sure things are in the right place!
Fun fact/ hobbies: I like spooky art. I enjoy doing henna/mehndi! You can catch me doodling in my spare time, though I don’t have much. Photography enthusiast, I love looking at everyones Photography posts! I study Computer Science 🙂
Name/ member name: Kara / @_kara_
Title: WFH Educator
Joined date: On the team since August 2016
What do you do? I help out with all things community related. I like to chat on threads in various areas and can often be found on the Clothes Making Chat thread.
Fun fact/ hobbies: I make mead (and occasional ginger beer or beer) and really enjoy the challenges of creating new flavours. I also have an interest in vintage clothing and have been making my own clothes for a little while now, most recently on my 1903 Singer machine. I have been enjoying the challenges of learning new techniques and improving my skills. I love to learn new things so also watch a lot of documentaries on a variety of topics. I love to read, both factual and fiction books.
Name/ member name: Paul / @paul_d_
Title: Community Educator
Joined date: on the team since April 2017 | giffgaffer since August 2013
Name/ member name: Pav / @PavkD
Title: Member Engagement Executive
Joined date: May 2020 (newbie)
What do you do? Building the member engagement on the Community and Facebook pioneers.
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not working you would either find me at the gym or shopping for clothes and shoes that I don’t need. I enjoy socialising with friends and family by watching movies and cooking/ baking.
Name/ member name: Prescilla / @prescilla_g
Title: Educator
Joined date: on the team since July 2015 (yes. I’m an oldie!)
What do you do? I’ve got quite the history at giffgaff starting as an Educator before taking on our Labs platform as Ideation Lead, looking after our member ideas then becoming an Educator again! As an Educator, it’s my duty to make sure that our community is a wonderful place for our members to be. This means actioning any kind of problems that are flagged up to us by our savvy members, answering any private messages and making sure everything is ticking over nicely.
Fun fact/ hobbies: I became a mother back in 2018, so my spare time is spent playing with my troublesome toddler and plenty of hours of Peppa Pig! (I hear the theme music in my dreams :p) Other than that, I’m extremely passionate about soundtrack music which includes film and video games. I also absolutely love to hike and one of my favourite places to visit is the Lake District. If anyone has anyone recommendations for a good hike or piece of music, feel free to swing a private message my way 🙂
Name/ member name: Ria
Title: Community and Engagement Manager (On maternity)
Joined date: on the team since August 2016
What do you do? Ria co-ordinates our lovely engagement team. Their job is simple - give you opportunities to enjoy giffgaff. Want to do something fun? These folks can help you out.
Name/ member name: Roxy / @roxy_r
Title: Head of community
Joined date: on the team since September 2015
What do you do? Roxy looks after the entire community, both on the forum and outside of it. This means representing members internally, sharing their views and feedback and helping the business make the right decisions. She also makes sure that everyone in the community team has the vision and motivation to keep the community spirit alive. If you have any ideas on how to make our forum a better place then don’t hesitate to send her a message.
Fun facts/ hobbies:Roxy is a massive Lego and DIY fan in general, enjoying anything from giving furniture a new look or purpose to making jewelry out of polymer clay. At the moment she is giving paint by numbers a go so if you have any good tips around that give her a shout, she’ll love it.
Name/ member name: Sandra / @scousema
Title: WFH ed team lead
Joined date: on the team since September 2018
What do you do? I look after the work from home ed’s and make sure that they have everything they need to help keep the community a fab place to be.
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not working, I’ll be sorting out my new house and looking after my two resue kitties Binks and Bob, I love a good walk and adore the theatre and a good scary movie
Name/ member name: Shaina Kumar / @shaina_k
Title: Content and Engagement Manager
Joined date: on the team since July 2016
What do you do? I lead the UGC strategy and make our member stories famous in the brand and PR world.
Fun fact/ hobbies: When I’m not working, I like to go for runs, I enjoy dancing, writing, reading and stitching
Name/membername: Simone / @simone_w
Title: WFH Educator
Joined date: On the team since December 2016
What do you do: I help out with all things community related. I like to chat on various threads and can often be found in General discussion or Welcome and join.
Fun fact/Hobbies: I love to read, mainly crime thrillers or fantasy. I absolutely adore sloths. When I’m not reading or dreaming about sloths I like to jump in the car and go on magical mystery drives to see where we end up. I’ve discovered some lovely beauty spots on days out.
Name/ member name: Will / @t_will
Title: Community Manager
Joined date: April 2012
What do you do? I spend my time working with teams behind the scenes to make sure they can communicate what they’re doing to you, and can integrate the feedback that you give.
I also work with the whole team on training and policy, to help make sure we’re educating our community in the right way. That, and, well, a bit of everything else.
Fun fact / hobbies: There’s a stadium named after me in San Francisco (in a Tony Hawk game). Over the last few years I’ve dedicated myself to learning new skills, like karate, woodworking, and sign language (which I’m really looking forward to picking back up soon). Maybe flying a plane is next, who knows?
