Over time, Jemma’s career grew alongside her family life until a cancer diagnosis led her to reimagine her future. Now leading cancer and menopause support at Mondelez and having founded a Cancer Ambassador programme that has trained over 200 colleagues, Jemma has used her own personal adversity to forge a different role, supporting many others in the process.

Reigniting HR confidence through training

Jemma’s cancer diagnosis and the associated long-term health impacts was the impetus for her to consider a return to HR. Unsure how to re-enter after a 15-year gap, she enrolled in the CIPD Level 5 course at Macclesfield College. This learning experience reignited her professional confidence. At this time, Jemma saw a LinkedIn post from the CIPD Trust about supporting prisoners with employability skills. With previous experience at Tesco running recruitment events that involved Jobcentre candidates, Jemma knew the value of empathy and adaptability in interviews. Intrigued, she contacted the Trust and was introduced to Stuart Quinn from the charity Recycling Lives. After sharing her past experience, she was invited to HMP Sudbury to deliver mock interviews and CV guidance to men nearing release.

The impact was immediate and profound. Many of the participants had never created a professional CV or been in an interview setting. Jemma brought with her a six-page STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) technique sheet and spent time rewriting CVs to demonstrate how small changes could make a significant difference.

One man Jemma met was initially trembling with fear. After the session he left with confidence, saying, “It’s not that hard actually, is it?” These small wins reaffirmed Jemma’s belief that confidence can be built (or rebuilt) with the right support.

Believing in their potential

Her work extended to women’s prison HMP Styal, where she met individuals whose life stories resonated with her own. One woman, who had never held a job, had clear leadership potential, something Jemma immediately recognised and communicated to her. For Jemma, it became clear that many of these women had taken desperate actions under pressure – often to support children – just as she once had to make career decisions as a single mother. The difference, she noted, was that she had a support system. Many of these women didn’t.

Jemma was initially nervous about how she would be perceived in prisons, worried they might see her as an outsider who hadn’t faced the same challenges. But she approached the opportunity with openness and honesty saying, “I’m here to help. Let’s make mistakes together.” The results spoke for themselves. From HMP Sudbury to HMP Kirkham, she consistently saw genuine engagement from participants, who valued her time, feedback and most of all, someone who believed in their potential.

Her experience in prisons has reshaped her understanding of crime and rehabilitation. Through volunteering in prisons she’s come to understand that many prisoners are not fundamentally bad people, but individuals who lacked the right guidance, faced overwhelming life circumstances or just made a mistake.

Addressing bias

As someone who leads Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives professionally, Jemma assumed she understood bias. But her work in prisons exposed how unconscious bias can still be present.

One neurodiverse participant, hesitant to shake hands, was reassured by her acceptance and encouragement to communicate his needs. That small interaction transformed his confidence. “Employers need people like you,” she told him, reinforcing the value he could bring to the workplace.

Jemma is currently applying to join an Employment Advisory Board (EAB), eager to influence policy and decision-making around prison employment strategies. Her vision is clear: to help align prison education and training with real-world job markets, ensuring that those leaving prison are genuinely prepared for sustainable, long-term employment.

Jemma’s skills, experience and compassion is not just helping individuals write CVs or be prepared for interviews in the outside world, she’s helping them rewrite their futures.

More on this topic

We offer the following opportunities for people professionals to support people with convictions into work: