52 year old Anupa Shah, Section Manager at Marks and Spencer in Watford has become one of the 28 winners of the annual 'Spotlight Star of the Year Award', which received 33,000 nominations this year, nationally. Working from the age of 14, Anupa has worked her way up and has been associated with M&S for just under 3 years. Anupa, who is hard of hearing, is extremely passionate about her role and a great believer in recognition which she never fails to show her team. She was born with hearing impairment, and got by most of her life by lip reading, proving her resilience towards any challenge thrown at her way.
She was born in Nairobi, while her family roots go all the way to Navagam, Saurashtra, in Gujarat. She was raised for the first four years of her life by her maternal grandparents, who migrated to East Africa from India. Her mum had a tough pregnancy, so she was not in a fit state to look after Anupa and her twin brother Anup. So, Anupa stayed with her maternal grandparents until her grandfather passed away and then she joined her parents in Uganda, where her dad and his family lived.
Anupa's dad was a barrister, and had studied in Exeter University. Shortly after, they were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin and moved to the UK as a refugee in October 1972. She is married to Urvesh Shah for nearly 27 years now and has a 23 year old son Kavi.
Before joining M&S, Anupa worked at Mothercare as a store manager in Wandsworth. She has worked at Tie Rack/Rolling Luggage in Luton Airport, also as the store manager and area trainer for 15 years, but her first retail company was Owen Owen.
The award Spotlight recognises people working at M&S who are in touch with customers demonstrating and delivering great customer service. Anupa has been honoured with this accolade for excellent service behaviours and for being all in for the customer. The award said, “You lead service at every level always leading through example, as you are one of our most mentioned managers on the service survey.”
Speaking to Asian Voice exclusively on winning 'Spotlight Star of the Year Award' by M&S, Anupa said, “I feel extremely blessed and priveleged to receive Spotlight of the year award. Being one of 28 winners out of 33,000 nominees across UK, it was a hugh achievement and I believe my hard work really paid off.”
