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International Women's Day 2020 - Celebrating Women at Paxton & Whitfield

This International Women's Day, we're celebrating the inspirational females within Paxton & Whitfield.

Meet some of the team behind your cheese... 

Ros Windsor - Managing Director

Ros has been MD at Paxton & Whitfield for 18 years. Ros says that food has always been an important part of her life – and there is nothing she enjoys more than sitting round the table with family and friends over a meal. So it was an easy decision when Ros was approached about the role at Paxton & Whitfield. Ros was voted one of the Top 20 Icons of the food Industry in 2019 by Speciality Food Magazine and she contributes to the wider artisan cheese sector through her work with the Academy of Cheese and other cheese industry associations.  

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Hero Hirsh - Head of Retail 

You'll often read about Hero in the national newspapers; giving her expert and passionate advice on the best seasonal cheese for your cheeseboards. Hero began her career in food as a pastry chef working in Michelin star restaurants in London, she started with Paxton & Whitfield in 2009 as a Sales Assistant and has worked her way up through the business. Hero is responsible for the operations of our four Paxton & Whitfield retail shops; two in London, one in Stratford upon Avon and one in Bath. Hero was the first person to pass the Academy of Cheese Level Two and makes opening a gigantic wheel of cheddar look easy. You can also listen to Hero on many of our cheese podcasts and learn from her knowledge about the fascinating world of artisan cheese. 

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Ruth Holbrook - Head of Wholesale

Ruth heads up our Wholesale team; supplying artisan cheese to restaurants and catering businesses, as well as retail shops and export locations. Ruth is often travelling to meet our wholesale customers, or using her expert cheese knowledge and tastebuds as an official judge at cheese award events. When not on the road, Ruth is based in a cave-like recess in the historic cellars of our Jermyn Street store in London. 

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Sophie Wilcock - Cheese Buyer

Sophie has been working in the cheese business for seven years. Starting in a cheese shop and persuing her love for cheese within the catering industry, as well as with us as Cheese Buyer for Paxton & Whitfield. Sophie is particularly popular in the office when she has new cheese samples for all of us to taste (she even has the occasional chocolate samples too)! Sophie gained most of her cheese knowledge through working in the cheese shop; tasting, reading and talking about cheese.  

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Dan Bliss - Shop Manager, Jermyn Street London

Dan worked with Paxton & Whitfield as a Cellar Manager; overseeing the maturation and stock allocation of our cheese. She was quickly promoted to Shop Manager at our Flagship shop where she is now based. As well as her work in the store, Dan teaches our Academy of Cheese Level 1 and 2 courses, manages our social media channels and often researches and presents our cheese podcasts. You'll find her on Instagram posting about cheese, or outside our shop taking beautiful photos of cheese. 

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Kate Moxey - Shop Manager, Cale Street 

Kate is Our Cale Street Manager. She comes from a chef background but moved into cheese 5 years ago and hasn’t looked back since! Kate has now completed three Christmases with the company, two in our Jermyn Street Shop and one in Cale Street, having taken over as manager in October. As well as representing Paxton & Whitfield at events such as local wedding fairs she’s often found hosting wine and beer tastings.

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Jazz Reeves - Shop Manager, Stratford Upon Avon

Jazz is our Stratford upon Avon Store Manager. As well as serving our customers in the store, Jazz is often meeting with local restaurants about our wholesale cheese supply. Jazz's two big passions are music and food and she's now been working with Paxton & Whitfield for nearly five years. She's particularly passionate about the sustainable sourcing of food and supporting the artisan food industry. 

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Annie Meakin - Senior Account Manager, London Wholesale

Whilst at university, Annie had a weekend job at London's Borough Market; working with a Swiss and Dutch cheese specialist and after a short stint in an office job, she soon returned to the cheese industry and never looked back. Starting at Paxton & Whitfield as a retail assistant around three years ago, Annie now heads up the foodservice wholesale from our Jermyn Street shop. It's a real privilege to Work with chefs across London to advise them on the best cheese for their dishes and cheeseboards and we love seeing the photos of their mouth-watering creations! Annie is also often on the road to visit restaurants; train their chefs and front-of-house staff about the stories behind the cheese that they are serving. 

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If you call up our Head Office in Bourton-on-the-water, you'll likely find the friendly voices of Maddie Pegrum our Sales Administrator, Philippa Reid our Trade Sales Manager and Jenny Brown our eCommerce Manager. Visit our Stratford upon Avon store and you can also talk with Tierney Drinkwater who will recommend her favourite cheeses to try.  

As well as our own team of inspirational team, we work with some iconic female cheesemakers too. You can read more about those here in our Mother's Day cheese article.

WIshing all of our customers and team a very happy International Women's Day 2020!