To celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 Heidi Reynolds, retail director for WHSmith Travel shares her remarkable journey from young motherhood to a senior executive role at one of the UK’s retail icons.
After five years at the helm of WHSmith’s high street division, Reynolds was recently promoted to head up the retailer’s booming travel arm.
With a 20-year industry career at a host of household names including Ikea, Tesco and Pets at Home, Reynolds brings a wealth of unique and diverse experiences to the position.
“I would never have thought back in my 20s being a young mum and trying to support my boys that I would have had such a career and still been afforded incredible opportunities well into my 50s,” she says.
While there are hoards of woman aspiring to progress up the career ladder, this wasn’t the case for Reynolds.
“That’s not why I started out on my journey,” she admits.
First introduced to full-time work at 15, Reynolds left school to support her single mother and siblings. The mindset of working to support those she loved continued well into the 1980s, when she returned to work after the birth of her first son.
“I had to bring money home. So I knew that I could make money by just working really, really hard,” she says.
“My whole objective was to stay employed and make money in order to look after my young family. My only ambition ever was to be a mum. That’s all I ever wanted. I was so fortunate to fulfil that ambition at a very young age, not realising just how expensive children are. And they still are even even though they’re in their 30s.”
Imposter syndrome
At the start of the year, WHSmith celebrated its “strongest ever position as a global travel retailer” as sales surged over the golden quarter. Heading up the retailer’s booming travel business won’t be the easiest job in the world but there’s no doubt Reynolds is the right candidate to steer the ship.
“Being part of a business that has got over 1,300 stores across across the globe in 30 different countries. I mean, what is there not to be excited about?”
It’s hard to believe Reynolds could ever be a victim of imposter syndrome, but she managed to fight those voices of self-doubt.
Instead of faking her confidence Reynolds decided to just be herself, and in doing so, gave others permission to be their authentic selves as well.
“As soon as I start talking about expecting someone to tap me on the shoulder at any moment and say ‘we’ve caught you out, you’re not supposed to be here’, people always say they feel exactly the same.”
“The beauty of age is definitely starting to feel comfortable with who you are and not feeling that you need to put on a mask to give people what they need,” she states.
“I got into my 40s and thought you know what, this is who I am. I’ve got a very humble background but actually I’m pretty proud of that and I’m going to start to share it. I’m here by default – it was never my intention to be here, but I’m delighted that I am. I had a platform that I never thought that I would earn or get, which is that I have the ear of many, many people.”
Resiliance in retail
As a woman in a prominent position, Reynolds is insistent that she “doesn’t want to be a figurehead”, stressing instead that she just wants to “be part of the team”.
She also admits it’s quite significant that she was chosen for her current role – as a ‘woman of a certain age’, she says the move “demonstrates how far we’ve moved in retail”, in a direct contrast from her early years.
“Back then it was such a necessity to try and fit in, do what was expected of me and ignore some of the more questionable behaviours to try and fit in. When I look back now, it was much more acceptable for those behaviours to exist.”
Many would hang on to those negative experiences but not Reynolds, who says “if it’s given me anything, it’s a set of tools for me to really work with and a level of resilience that’s allowed me to help others.”
Referring to the WHSmith team as her “family”, Reynolds says she’s never been treated differently because of her gender or set up at home.
“I’ve never experienced being treated more or less favourably. And that’s exactly what I want. I do not want anything additional because of my age, gender or anything else.”
On older woman often missing out on opportunities compared to their male counterparts, Reynolds says: “Why would we be overlooked? We’ve got so much incredible experience. We bring something different to the teams that we work with and the boards we sit on.”
“While I can’t speak on behalf of other businesses, I can say thank goodness I’m at WHSmith because they want to make sure that there’s a platform for older women to continue with our careers, which is so important.”
Leadership culture
After stepping into her new role, Reynolds’ first focus was on her new team. She took them away for a couple days, so everyone could get to know one another better.
“I said let’s talk about us personally. First, what are our values? What are we stand for? Why are we here? It was about really getting people to connect at a much deeper level because quite often managers don’t optimise their team simply because people are behaving in ways that they don’t understand.”
She stresses the importance of “laying that foundation where people can disclose, take away any of the facade and actually become human”, saying it sets people up to have better connections with colleagues.
She explains that “ultimately, we’ve really got to be able to execute business plans,” adding that there are thousands of colleagues within WHSmith stores that she doesn’t get to see and speak to all the time.
To combat this, she stays connected with her team, ensuring that people really understand not just what they have to do, but why they have to do it.
“How do we make this business a better business? And what part do they have to play in that? So for me, the first three months is about setting that scene and ensuring that you’ve got a two-way communication.
“That’s given me so much success over the years.”
“My job is people. Our job is communication, and making sure that everyone feels fundamental to the success of our business is key. Cultural change is is key and our people are the heartbeat of the organisation and we must not forget that.”
So what does the future hold for Reynolds? Aside from spearheading WHSmith’s travel arm with her team, she doesn’t exactly know, and with every avenue open to her, that’s the best thing about it.
In 2024, women write their own stories, proving just as capable and valuable as their male counterparts. While there’s still a long way to go before we reach true equality in retail, leaders like Heidi Reynolds, who emerged from humble beginnings to achieve remarkable success, will continue to pave the way for the next generation of women.
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