Joanna worked in roles in both IT and marketing before leaving the UK for 20 years to live in a different country every 3 years. She focused her free time on voluntary and charity work, while being heavily involved in roles at her daughter’s schools in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Argentina and France.

Back in England Joanna became cofounder of the Walton-on-Thames Trading Alliance, working to bring together the local business and residential communities, and also running all the town events. She ran projects to see the funding and building of a local play park and new access for all pathways. She’s currently working to get a skatepark in the town.

Volunteering at the local Covid Vaccine Centre Joanna met Ty Lawless, and before she knew it was signed up to volunteer with Surrey Rugby. In 2022 she took on the role of Comms & Marketing, developing the new online Newsletter and creating and populating a new website for Surrey Rugby, as well as rebranding and envigorating all social media platforms.

Joanna’s also responsible for Volunteer Reward, Recruitment and Recognition and is enjoying sharing pictures and stories of volunteers being rewarded and recognised for their incredible work. In that role Joanna oversaw all the Committee visiting clubs giving out Honda awards, recognising volunteers amongst their peers. It was very well received by the committee and the clubs.

In 2024 Joanna took on the role of Club Development and is looking forward to visiting more clubs moving forward and finding out how Surrey Rugby can help our clubs to propser and thrive by assisting financially with small grants and loans where possible.