BHM – Angelica

Throughout Black History Month, we’ll be celebrating our amazing black colleagues by bringing you stories from across the business.

All the colleague profiles we publish on myroyalmail.com will also appear on our dedicated Black History Month homepage. If you know someone who has inspired you as a great role model for others, someone who you think deserves recognition, please send your nomination to communications@royalmail.com with the heading ‘Black History Month’ in the subject line.

Today, we hear from Wimbledon delivery office manager, Angelica Wallace.

‘I started my Royal Mail journey in December 2011 as a Christmas casual at Croydon Mail Centre,’ said Angelica. ‘The job, like I’ve heard so many others say, was supposed to be temporary as I was studying at university at the time.

‘I enjoyed working in Croydon and was asked to stay on, so I moved to Nine Elms and did a stint there as an agency casual worker. Shortly after that however, Nine Elms closed down and the work was moved to Jubilee Mail Centre, where I managed to secure a permanent position as a fully-fledged OPG - this was when I was told that I was officially going to be part of the furniture!

‘I worked on various shifts and a number of work areas as an OPG. I also participated in a number of World Class Mail (WCM) audits and was a part of the Workplace Organisation (WO) and Logistics WCM pillar. Fast forward four years to a presentation I did alongside area programmes manager, Steve Stapleton at the Birmingham NEC manager’s conference regarding some of the changes that had been made in the mail centre – it was at this point, that I decided I wanted to pursue my career as a manager. I met several senior managers at this event, and I was absolutely inspired.

‘Following numerous conversations and encouragement to pursue my management career from Tim Mayes, the mail centre manager at the time, I joined the Royal Mail graduate scheme. Whilst on the scheme, I worked in three different offices, starting with Aylesbury Vale, where I did a nine-month stint as a line manager, and my first walk! I then moved to Stevenage Delivery Office for a similar role before my last placement at Radlett Delivery Office, which was a singleton delivery office manager (DOM) role. This is where I really got the feel of what it was like to be a DOM.

‘As many would attest to, a singleton role can be very tough, but very rewarding. There’s a lot of knowledge gained. My two years on the graduate scheme were coming to an end so I offboarded the scheme and started my first “real job” as the DOM of High Wycombe Mail Processing Unit. After almost two years, I decided I wanted a new challenge in a bigger unit, and so I applied for the role of DOM at Wimbledon Delivery Office. And that’s where I remain today.

‘I really enjoy the challenges I face and overcome every day in my present role. I feel like every unit presents its own challenges and the feeling you get when you manage to overcome these as a team (management, union and staff) is immense.

‘I would like to give a special thanks to the management team in Wimbledon who really pulled together during lockdown to ensure we fulfilled the customer promise and protected the premium products to the best of their abilities given the circumstances. I want to give a big thank you to all our frontline staff who made efforts to come into work every morning and give it their best shot, even though the rest of the country was in lockdown. I would also like to thank the wider team for all the support they have given me.

‘I love working for Royal Mail and take great pride in working for the company. We’re a household name and really well regarded among the public, especially with what we’ve done throughout the pandemic to support local communities. We’re so diverse here and there are so many different roles and opportunities within the business. We have people from all walks of life and backgrounds who come together to ultimately, achieve a single goal. One team. One goal! That’s the mantra.’

Supporting our BAME colleagues

Making our business a place where black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues can achieve their potential remains a priority.

Career progression is a key focus as we work towards improving the representation of colleagues from BAME backgrounds across all levels of the business. We need to build greater awareness that the network exists and is there to support our people and shine a light on all the good things we are doing across the business. 

If you are thinking about holding a BAME cultural event in your unit, and need some help, please reach out to the BAME steering group, or volunteer to help out with their activities. You can contact the group by emailing bame@royalmail.com.