TRUST: Pride and prejudice
“Wherever you are in life, you’ve got to play to your strengths.
We all have different talents and opportunities, and you’ve got to use those to your advantage.”
Interview: Sue Wilcock / Martine Silkstone
Pictures: Warren Page
Rachel Blackburn talks to Norfolk Director
In 2026, the Norfolk-based management consultancy US2U will mark its 20th year. That’s two decades of helping businesses, both at home and abroad, with training, coaching, career development, customer relationships, company culture and more.
Meanwhile, its founder and CEO Rachel Blackburn has provided her expertise to the Department of Business and Trade and travelled the world, strengthening international relationships while exploring opportunities for collaboration. In the last few months alone, she has been seen everywhere from the United Nations Headquarters in New York, to the British Consulate in New Zealand, not to mention taking tea with the Belgian ambassador and attending the Norwich Pride event.
Yes, Rachel is one busy woman – and her work has not gone unnoticed.
Earlier this year she was awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours List in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the global business community and her commitment to equality and diversity.
Throw in an MBA and it makes for an impressive list of professional achievements in anyone’s book, but especially given the challenges she faced growing up and building her business as a woman of colour in Norfolk.
The glamorous executive we interview is certainly a far cry from the young girl who was bullied at school and regularly called n***** in the street, and who has had to deal with racism and sexism at some points in her career.
Reflecting on her journey, she says: “I still sometimes find it hard to trust people because of my past experiences, and I recognise that often people will notice me when I walk into a place, and sometimes they make inappropriate comments.”
You’re not offended by that curiosity?
“Personally, I’m not offended and I don’t get emotional, because I see it all as part of my role encouraging diversity, awareness and more inclusive communities. If people feel able to talk to me, then whilst I can’t wave a magic wand and fix everything, they can at least identify with my story and have some empathy towards it.
“But it’s the ability to share and tell stories that resonates with people.”
And how do they respond?
“Whether it’s professionally or personally, most people want to learn and don’t want to go around upsetting anyone.
“But I don’t get so frustrated now,” she says thoughtfully. “I probably was, but now I’ve achieved most of the things I wanted to achieve, I’m definitely less frustrated than I used to be. Maybe because I’m at the table more, I’ve got more of a voice and I’ve worked in different countries.
“We’re all shaped by different experiences.”
Where it all began
Rachel was born in June 1966.
Her mother was an ambitious (white) nurse at Leicester Royal Infirmary at the time and had fallen pregnant to a visiting medic from Nigeria. When he went back to Africa before the birth, she was left facing the controversy of becoming a single mother in the 60s and raising a baby of mixed ethnicity alone.
Fortunately, she was headstrong and determined (like mother like daughter) and resolved to have her child while continuing to pursue her career as a district nurse in Attleborough. While she worked, Rachel was cared for by her grandparents in Old Buckenham, staying with them for the first four years of her life.
This is where she first learned she was different.
“My grandmother would take me around the village and people would come out of their houses to have a look,” she remembers, “because back then, local people had definitely never seen a baby that looked like me before.
“From then on, really, it became normal that people would notice me.”
That feeling of difference continued through her school years, from primary (where she experienced monkey noises and was called “chocolate drop”) through to grammar school, where she nevertheless achieved eight O-levels and got the school prize for Food and Nutrition.
Meanwhile, at home, her mother had married and her new husband adopted Rachel as his own, with a second daughter arriving later to complete their family home on the Norfolk broads. Still, Rachel says her home life felt a bit “dysfunctional”, and reaching the age of 16, she just wanted to move out and make a life for herself.
After years of watching television and seeing the wide world on screen, she was ready to explore her own potential.
Building a life
Two possible pathways beckoned.
The first was a performing arts course at City College, as Rachel had taken part in talent competitions as a young girl and always dreamed of a life on the stage.
“I used to think I could sing and I still do occasionally,” she laughs, “but I poured my heart and soul into comedy and impressions instead.
“And even now, I love the fact that I can write material that will make you laugh and cry within a space of two minutes. It’s that power to control the audience; to influence and get the outcome that you want – it’s a skill I still rely on to this day.”
But life as a professional performer was not to be.
Her second pathway was a role at Norwich Union. The prestigious company was taking on a select number of school leavers and as the job began two weeks before her performing arts course, she thought she would give it a chance and keep her options open.
Starting in pensions, Rachel found herself in a junior position, running to the vending machines and getting files for all the men in the office. It was not an ideal situation, but she enjoyed the “grown-up” environment and saw the potential for a secure future, so she gave up thoughts of acting and stayed – and set out to challenge and change attitudes from the start, as she explains.
“At my probation review, I said to my boss: ‘Do you realise I’ve got all these O-levels? I can’t just run around after all these men.’ He was shocked, but he actually changed some aspects of my job. I didn’t have to do so much running around after men after that.
“And I learnt quite quickly how to get promoted – just show some initiative and be slightly better than others.”
Meanwhile, with her career path now set, Rachel also started to date David, someone who had been in her life for years. Within four months, they were engaged and they married in July 1985. As Rachel describes, it was a fairytale wedding, complete with a Harrods-inspired wedding dress (her mother made a replica out of silk) and a champagne reception at Coltishall Hall Hotel.
Still living just outside Norwich, they welcomed a son, Kerwin (now an internationally acclaimed artist), in 1993 and recently celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary.
Discovery and disappointment
Rachel stayed in pensions at Norwich Union for five years and in that time, she was sent on a course to establish her life goals. The process was, she says, “transformational”.
“I was very fortunate to have that early in my career,” she explains, “because then I realised what I wanted to do.
“I wanted to be able to talk more – because I kept getting told off for being too noisy – and I wanted to be able to meet with different people and travel around, not just be based at the same desk in an office. Which all sounded a bit like sales, right?
“So, my boss put me forward for an interview with personnel, as it was called in those days. But the feedback was: ‘You’d be really good in sales, but you can’t do it because you’re the wrong sex and the wrong colour.’
“Instead, they offered me a promotion elsewhere, but it wasn’t what I wanted so I just cracked on in pensions again.”
You accepted that?
“I accepted it because I had to – it wasn’t illegal in those days.
“I’m not very good at the victim concept,” she adds. “My philosophy is – if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Wherever you are in life, you’ve got to play to your strengths. We all have different talents and opportunities, and you’ve got to use those to your advantage.
“When people tell me something won’t work or I can’t do it, that’s often when I think, okay, I’ll show you.
“In fact, that’s been the theme throughout my whole life.”
Fortunately, not long after, Norwich Union created a new department for training incoming staff and Rachel finally got her opportunity to work with people. She later went back to pensions to gain valuable leadership experience, but eventually became the first female management development person they had ever had.
“It was another glass ceiling, smashed,” she grins.
Back to school
Rachel’s career was progressing well and she was working her way up successfully despite having left school at 16. Still, if she got that far without many qualifications, what could she do if she had more education? It was time to find out.
In the early 1990s, Rachel enrolled on an Open University course to study for a diploma in management. Still working full-time, she juggled home life and homework, finally sitting one of the three-hour exams in 1993 while heavily pregnant.
That achieved, eight years later she went back for her MBA.
Since then, she has been a keen advocate of further education and in 2016 was nominated as one of the prestigious alumni of the Open University.
Back to work
Returning to Norwich Union in 1994 after just three months maternity leave, Rachel felt the dynamic had changed. In a still largely male-dominated industry, she no longer felt she was taken seriously in her role and with the recession now biting, she was having to train managers in how to make staff redundant for the first time.
She realised it was time to consider moving on.
When consultants were brought in to restructure the teams, Rachel watched them at work and quickly realised “they appeared to be respected more, thanked more, treated better and paid better.” That was clearly the role she wanted.
So Rachel started to apply for training manager jobs and in 1995 joined General Accident, where she spent six months living out of hotels and working with estate agents in Sussex and Kent before the logistics started to take a toll and she decided to resign.
Returning to Norfolk, she was unemployed for the first time in her life.
“And I thought, I’ve never signed on before – let’s get experience of that,” she says matter-of-factly. “Now nobody can tell me that I don’t know what it’s like going to a job centre and signing on, because actually, I did it for two weeks.”
After that brief hiatus, Rachel took freelance work doing training and marketing at Norwich Union before being headhunted to work for a marketing agency in Bristol. After a year of commuting between the two cities, she then joined ERAS in Diss as a recruitment consultant in the autumn of 1997.
She stayed for eight years, first becoming a company director then finally part of a management buyout in 2005. But while the company was doing well, Rachel says she wanted the freedom to develop business in line with her personal values.
“I always thought one of the benefits of having a company is you can help other people less fortunate than yourself,” she explains. “I’m not hugely religious, but I was brought up with my grandparents and always went to Sunday school and church. So, I suppose, from a young age, those principles were ingrained in me.”
And to achieve that, she would need to go it alone.
New beginnings
Rachel launched her own company, US2U Consulting, on April 1, 2006.
“Sara Davies [Dragon’s Den] says: ‘Learn a craft first and then go and do it yourself.’ So I did,” she smiles. “I had spent years learning all the different bits of a business – how to run a team, marketing, all those things – so I knew roughly how to do it and what I wanted to achieve. And I always wanted to have my own business before I was 40.
“I just made it!”
Still, leaving ERAS meant she was bound by contract not to tell most of her existing clients for a year. She was starting from scratch but quickly landed contracts with Cambridge University and UEA, with others following soon after. Establishing steady growth from the start, US2U quickly paid off its initial £10k director’s loan and has had no debt ever since.
Looking back over those early years in business, she says: “In the beginning, I was probably more ambitious than I am now, thinking, I’m going to grow the team, I’m going to get my annual turnover to a million, I’m going to go bigger and better.
“But actually, the staffing issue was keeping me awake at night.
“I have never worried about the delivery of work. You only put in your proposal what you know you can deliver, don’t you? Anything else would be crazy.
“But having more and more staff on my payroll, I was having to micromanage and that wasn’t actually bringing me happiness and joy. So, what was the point in doing it?
“Now, I largely work with my loyal, brilliant team of freelancers, providing impactful solutions for our clients.”
Today, many of those clients are international and Rachel has built a strong global network through LinkedIn, industry shows and long-standing connections to the Department of Business and Trade, for whom she has undertaken trade missions to countries including Dubai, Oman and Abu Dhabi. She has even spent time coaching executives in Saudi Arabia, despite some concern that she may not be accepted as a businesswoman in that part of the world.
Looking back, she says: “Lots of people said to me, you won’t be able to do training with the men. They won’t listen to you. It’s not going to work.
“And it was definitely a learning curve to start with. For example, I have abayas [traditional Muslim women’s dress] that I wear when needed, and in the beginning, I’d wear an abaya with just underwear – because it’s like 50 degrees! But it turns out that some venues and homes have a coat rack at the door and you’re supposed to take it off, so you need clothes on underneath.
“There were times I wasn’t prepared for that,” she laughs.
“But the government gave me training and I’ve read lots of books about working in the Middle East. Every country is different and, of course, you respect their culture as much as possible. But a lot of it you’ve just got to push through, take feedback and learn as you go.”
It is perhaps that ability to work internationally – especially in countries where a woman in business is somewhat unusual – that saw Rachel starting to be groomed as a potential MP in 2019.
Is that still an ambition?
“Maybe, but it’s not really about the politics, it’s about influencing change. I’m interested in making a positive difference, whether it’s professionally, personally or politically.
“For that, you need a seat at the table.”
No news to announce at time of writing but watch this space…
Meanwhile, she has already been chosen as a Norfolk Ambassador and as an Export Champion. Of course, more recently she was awarded an MBE for her contribution to business both here and abroad.
So, what’s next?
“Learning to play golf and continuing to travel. I’m a real fan of cruising and have done more than 50 already!
“More professionally, now that I have the MBE I want to use it to inspire others. It seems like something real people don’t get and I feel like my role is to make it accessible. Because if the little black girl from Norfolk, who some people thought was never going to get a job because she’s the wrong colour, can get an MBE for business and for exports, then, well, it is clearly achievable, isn’t it?
“It’s just about making the most of whatever life throws your way.”
