Alumni Award winner: Fiona Berry

The UWL Alumni Entrepreneur Award recognises not only great business practice but the ways in which great businesses can have a great impact on the lives of others. What makes an entrepreneur? Anyone with a vision who can see that idea through to becoming a viable career, establishing a business and offering a service, could be counted as a successful entrepreneur. Previous winners of this award include charity founders and businessmen helping children to talk about mental health. This year, we are pleased to announce, the UWL Alumni Entrepreneur Award winner is Fiona Berry, who turned her own health issues into a nutrition and wellness service.

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Inspiration can find you in any way throughout your life, an open day might aid one's decision to join UWL, or something entirely different. Fiona Berry, the winner of UWL’s 2023 Alumni: Entrepreneur award, chose to come to UWL after going through an unconventional journey.

After spending two decades working in advertising, Fiona faced complications with her health that rendered her feeling adverse symptoms for weeks on end. The doctors treating her assumed that the symptoms would continue for half a year, but since Fiona was informed that nutrition could be her way out of the illness, she decided to learn as much as she possibly could about it.

For me it was a complete career change choosing to study with UWL. I had a 20-year career in media and advertising and was led to nutrition because it’s the root source of healing for an illness that I had. It was just a real light bulb moment for me, and I thought this is what I want to do with my life."

After completing a diploma, Fiona decided to study nutrition in more depth. She wanted to be a professionally accredited nutritionist to help others with their health issues in the best way one can. Fiona started her BSc Nutritional Therapy course in 2016, and she still is in touch with the community she built during her course. She even landed a full-time job before finishing her degree, enabling her to make the career switch smoothly and efficiently.

As part of her role working as a Wellness Manager for the global business Circus St, Fiona works to ensure that over 130 global employees at the firm have continuous overall well-being support.

My role is to support their wellbeing through positive behaviour change and education on healthy ways of living. Just to make sure that employees are supported mentally, physically, environmentally and socially.”

BSc (Hons) Nutritional Therapy

A female student on a laptop in a science lab

A female doctor wearing glasses giving pills to a female patient in an office

Alongside Circus St, Fiona launched her own nutrition agency, Itstheberries, which had its origins at UWL. In 2021, as part of her course, she created a business plan, which inspired her to get thinking about creating her own start-up. While balancing her corporate job, one-to-one clients and other responsibilities, she decided that now is as good a time as ever to set up her business.

We had to create a business plan as part of the final year which gave me a real focus and thought process behind how I wanted to spend my time. If you don't do it now, will it ever happen? You just got to throw yourself into it. So, I set up the business and got some private clients, which was brilliant.”

She then collaborated with a France-based couple, Margaret and Jack, to run a nutrition-wellness retreat in 2022, which was a success with media coverage ranging from the Guardian to the Telegraph.

What I do quite often is just talk to people about what I do. I think it sparks passion in others, who are often quite curious about it, and this eventually led to a partnership for running a retreat in France which we did last year.”

They have now created another two retreats this year which are now completely booked out. She decided to start and get going on these projects to create a life for herself that is fulfilling and one in which she gets to apply her passion to help other people.

During the retreats, she aims to help people get in tune with each aspect of their health and stress levels. To do this, Fiona focuses on various elements such as their nutrition, movement, mindfulness and sleep. Ranging from helping people to rest stress-free with meditations, to ensuring they get enough early morning sun-exposure, to supporting their parasympathetic nervous system, members of the retreat are given a complete rejuvenating experience.

It's very life affirming when you're able to do great work and actually see the impacts that you're making. I couldn't do it without great partners. This award is as much for my partners in organising the retreat, as it is mine because they have absolutely been great mentors in this in this journey as well.”

Of all the incredible things she’s doing, Fiona credits completing her degree at UWL as the achievement she’s most proud of, as she had to stay dedicated to the course for five years while balancing her rigorous recruitment-marketing job.

It's my passion. It's not actually stressful, It's a pleasure. It doesn't feel like work. I think it's just tapping into your passions and working with good people, and the motivation for me is to just help people live in a healthier and happier way.”