{"id":1000,"date":"2020-12-14T14:58:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T14:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2020-12-14T15:07:35","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T15:07:35","slug":"lacky-ahmed-executive-assistant-principal-gifts-advancement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2020\/12\/14\/lacky-ahmed-executive-assistant-principal-gifts-advancement\/","title":{"rendered":"Lacky Ahmed, Executive Assistant (Principal Gifts), Advancement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/b>The entire Advancement Division have all worked incredibly hard despite all the hurdles during COVID-19. I am very proud to work for Imperial, a university at the forefront of research and developing the COVID-19 vaccine.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Before joining Imperial, I worked as a Legal Assistant for five years at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, a US law firm based in the City of London, where I assisted lawyers with advising US and international insurers on a range of insurance and regulatory and corporate matters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I joined Imperial in November 2019 and currently work as Executive Assistant for the\u00a0<\/span>Advancement Division<\/span><\/a>, Principal Gifts<\/span>. My role is varied and involves juggling a lot of different tasks<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>My focus\u00a0<\/span>is to<\/span>\u00a0provid<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0fundraising support to the P<\/span>rincipal Gifts<\/span>\u00a0team as well as management support to the Director, Deputy Director and supporting the Head of Principal Gifts \u2013 Medicine. I also write contact reports following meetings with prospects\/donors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Establishing good relationships with Advancement team members and other staff is very crucial in my role.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I had only worked at the South\u00a0<\/span>Kensington<\/span>\u00a0Campus for a few months when the College closed\u00a0<\/span>during\u00a0<\/span>the COVID-19 outbreak! Since the lockdown, I have been regularly communicating with my team which has been an essential tool in achieving productivity and maintaining strong working relationships. My team have been amazing and very supportive.\u00a0<\/span>We have<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>rapidly g<\/span>otten<\/span>\u00a0to grips with new software and a new way of working; it was completely novel for us to be having our team calls and meetings over Microsoft Teams, but we have adapted very well<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

COVID-19 also added a new layer of complexity to my role\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0<\/span>changes that I would have never anticipated.\u00a0<\/span>Part of my role is to help facilitate meetings with academics, senior staff members, prospects\/donors<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and also<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>p<\/span>hilanthropy advisors.\u00a0<\/span>U<\/span>sing new software platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>isn\u2019t\u00a0<\/span>always<\/span>\u00a0easy and there have been a few\u00a0<\/span>hiccups<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>at times<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>but ICT have been our heroes and have always been able to provide us with innovative solutions<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The entire Advancement Division have all worked incredibly hard despite all\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0hurdles during COVID<\/span>-19<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>\u00a0am very proud to work for Imperial, a university at the forefront of research and developing the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>wanted<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>to keep upbeat and positive during the COVID-19 outbreak and decided to buy a bik<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0as\u00a0<\/span>I felt it was\u00a0<\/span>the perfect time to start cycling again. I started cycling around my\u00a0<\/span>neighbourhood<\/span>\u00a0to build my confidence<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>have been enjoying bike rides in the Olympic Park and\u00a0<\/span>Wanstead<\/span>\u00a0Flats. It\u2019s been one of the best things I\u2019ve done during the pandemic; cycling has made me happy and it\u2019s been liberating.\u00a0<\/span>In August<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I\u00a0<\/span>complete<\/span>d my first ever\u00a0<\/span>c<\/span>harity ride (36 miles) for\u00a0<\/span>t<\/span>he Middle East Children Alliance which was a wonderful experience. The charity focuses on providing sports activities for\u00a0<\/span>traumati<\/span>s<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0children, particularly girls, in Gaza and the West Bank.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have also decided to volunteer and become a mentor\u00a0<\/span>and will\u00a0<\/span>support a girl from<\/span>\u00a0a disadvantaged community<\/span>\u00a0across the country<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0I will help<\/span>\u00a0her overcome obstacles and seize\u00a0<\/span>new\u00a0<\/span>opportunities. I am very excited about this opportunity and I am now at\u00a0<\/span>the final stages of being matched with my mentee.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe entire Advancement Division have all worked incredibly hard despite all the hurdles during COVID-19. I am very proud to work for Imperial, a university at the forefront of research and developing the COVID-19 vaccine.\u201d\u00a0 Before joining Imperial, I worked as a Legal Assistant for five years at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, a US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[288073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-support-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}