“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right!” – Henry Ford
Welcome to Barbara Page-Roberts’ personal website
Barbara is an international marketing consultant who has spent a lifetime running businesses in diverse industries and countries, as well as having a family. She is also a popular public speaker especially on women’s issues, and on doing business in Bulgaria over the past 30+ years.
More About Barbara Page-Roberts
Barbara’s life to date is the key to her success in her present role as consultant and communicator. Her early years are a text-book example of social mobility – that desirable phenomenon which New Labour in Britain systematically set out to destroy.
“God gave me a brain and my duty was to develop it to the full”. She believes that this was made possible because of the grammar school system that existed in England in the 50’s – and the social integration that was part of the rich and the poor mixing together by virtue of having similar academic ability – and the provision by the then government of grants, not loans, for further education…
Consultancy Services
Barbara provides consultancy services to EU and non-EU businesses, in particular identifying and advising on cross-cultural ’people-issues’. She is also available for initiation of and providing delivery teams for EU-funded projects in Bulgaria, in particular in the areas of business promotion, including tourism, and civil society development, including the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Publications
Whilst a researcher in cell biology Barbara published numerous articles in the scientific press, many of which are still referred to.
However, having been at Yale University as a Post Doctoral fellow at the beginning of the 70s she had developed an interest in women’s issues, which she had to admit did not directly impinge on her way forward, but seemed increasingly to be issues to ‘women’s liberationists’. In 1983, following various publications by Professor Cary Cooper and Marilyn Johnson, including one in the journal ‘Long Range Planning’ she was asked by the journal to make a response, and her strong opinion that “if women wanted to succeed they had to commit” was articulated.
People Barbara Thanks and Admires
As a woman pursuing a career Barbara recognises that she owes a debt of gratitude to many individuals, both known personally to her and known only through their books and publications. “Life provides a series of ups and downs and sometimes only the help of another loving soul gets us through”.
And finally….
Barbara is an avid reader, and is in the habit of extracting quotes from tomes and opinions that impress her. The Marianne Wilson piece is her absolute favourite, and the one she relies on to provide uplift during the darkest days and at the toughest moments of self-doubt. And Jenny Joseph’s “Warning” comes in as a a strong second, the perfect antidote to anti-ageing…. Bring it on!
Used in Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Speech, 1994
Written by: Marianne Williamson
In a completely different vein “Warning”
Written by: Jenny Joseph