I grew up in a small town just outside of Manchester, which was known as the spinning capital of the world during the Industrial Revolution, but Oldham to us. It’s the type of town where people think Manchester is the other side of the world not a 15 minutes train journey. Growing up my Dad was very invested in my education and had high expectations of my achievements, including wanting me to be the first person in my family to go to University. Throughout my childhood, he would write down words, expect me to learn how to spell them and also make me incorporate the word into a sentence, this would happen two to three times a week without fail. One day, whilst quizzing me about what I had learnt at school that day, he said something that changed how I viewed everything and, I feel, put me on the trajectory to become the person I am today: ‘Tegan, school teaches you to pass tests, important tests, but it does not teach you about the world, the people you meet, their experiences, that’s what will influence who you are and who you want to become’.
From a young age, I became acutely aware that opportunity is not distributed equally. Growing up, I noticed how social mobility was often shaped not by talent or effort alone, but by postcode, income, and family circumstance. Some people, even in my friendship groups, seemed to move through systems that were built to support them, while others had to navigate barriers that were invisible to those who never faced them. Alongside this, I became conscious of racism not just as isolated acts of prejudice, but as something embedded in everyday interactions, expectations, and institutions. There was intense racial divide in Oldham and this came to a peak during the summer of 2001 when the Oldham riots happened. There were areas from that point on known as no-go areas for different races within our town.
2001 was the year I started my apprenticeship after deciding I didn’t want to go to university and I wanted to do something that would allow me to travel the world and learn more at the same time. Shortly after starting my apprenticeship, I fell pregnant. I certainly had not planned to be a single mother at 19 but that was were I was and I decided to use the responsibility to dream bigger and focus on a career that would enable me to provide for me and my son.
After several different roles from sales to customer experience, I found my feet in operations leadership and I’ve been lucky enough to work for start-ups, large corporations and also in the third sector across multiple industries.
In my role as North Office Operations Manager for Rider Levett Bucknall UK Ltd, I have had the privilege of building trusted relationships with the communities we serve and developing meaningful partnerships that create tangible opportunities for young people across our regions. These partnerships help open the door to an industry that many young people may never otherwise encounter, raising awareness of the breadth of careers available and helping them to see a future for themselves within the built environment. Alongside this, I am proud to serve as Chair of our REACH Community (Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage), an employee resource group supporting our UK and Europe business. Being entrusted by colleagues to work with senior leaders, translate strategy into action, and champion inclusion across the business is a responsibility I take seriously and a privilege that continues to shape my commitment to creating fairer access to opportunity.
My experiences fostered an early understanding that inequality is complex and intersecting, affecting people differently depending on their background, identity, and access to resources. Rather than feeling abstract, these disparities felt immediate and personal, shaping how I interpreted fairness, success, and responsibility. This heightened awareness has stayed with me, influencing how I listen to others, question assumptions, and value empathy. It has driven a commitment to recognise structural disadvantage and to contribute, where I can, to environments that are more inclusive, equitable, and conscious of the realities others live with daily.
