I joined Tesco three years ago when the new store opened in my home town, Ballincollig. I’m a customer assistant and I’m also area community champion for the South West whereby I support eight stores to deliver our community programmes: Community Fund, Food Waste and Charity of the Year with Temple Street. There are a number of community champions in Tesco, who are all customer assistants located across Ireland, who have dedicated hours for helping to support our local communities.

I enjoy all aspects of being a community champion because I get to work with customers, community groups and charities along with organising lots of fundraising events. I get a lot of reward out of my job. We can help give back to our customers who shop in our stores by supporting the community initiatives that are important to them.

When I became area community champion I got a lot of additional support from my store manager. We also received IT and leadership training. We were given support materials, lots of correspondence and attended conference calls with the community manager on a weekly basis.

We have four conferences a year and we have two-day training sessions regularly, along with various workshops. There is a big team across the country so we support each other and network together.

I enjoy the flexibility that the job gives me to help me have a work-life balance. I don’t have a commute so that’s a big plus in terms of time with my family.

I discovered my green fingers this year so in my spare time I love chilling out in my garden, potting and planting. I find it helps me to relax and switch off.