People & Process: A Mother-Daughter Journey in Business Growth

Posted 12 September 2025 | 0 Comments

In business, growth rarely comes from just one perspective. It's about balancing people and processes, confidence and control, vision and structure. That understanding lies at the heart of Your Growth Pathway, a new program co-founded by West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber members Sandra Booth of ACED Training and Julie Leach of Business Deva.

Sandra's career has always focused on people. With decades of experience in learning and development, she has worked with managers, leaders, and teams to build confidence, enhance communications, and navigate change. Her approach is practical and empathetic - helping individuals recognise their own strengths while equipping them with the tools to lead and collaborate effectively. Through ACED Training, she continues to deliver coaching and workshops that inspire growth from the inside out.

Julie's journey has been shaped differently, through corporate leadership at the highest level. As Managing Director of Reader's Digest UK and in senior operational roles for multiple chairmen, she has seen first-hand the challenges of balancing profitability with efficiency. Today, through Business Deva, she helps SMEs streamline workflows, reduce costs, and reclaim their time by applying lessons learned from running complex organisations. Her mission is to ensure that small businesses can benefit from the same operational discipline as larger corporations, without the price tag.

"When I first launched Business Deva, I quickly realised how easy it is for business owners to feel stuck between knowing what they want to achieve and not having the right support to get there. That's why Sandra and I created Your Growth Pathway - to bridge that gap. We're passionate about helping others move from chaos to clarity and from clarity to confidence, with workshops and coaching that are accessible to everyone." Julie Leach, Business Deva

Together, Sandra and Julie recognised a gap. Many SMEs and start-ups know they need both stronger teams and smarter systems, but often they cannot access affordable, high-quality support in both areas at once. Your Growth Pathway was created to bridge that gap - bringing Sandra's people expertise and Julie's operational know-how into one accessible program.

The initiative offers workshops and coaching designed to be both practical and affordable, giving business owners the tools to grow with confidence. From handling difficult conversations to mapping workflows that save hours each week, the sessions are rooted in real-world experience and delivered with the needs of SMEs in mind.

For Sandra and Julie, this is about more than business. It's about supporting the Chamber community and the wider region by ensuring local businesses have every chance to thrive. Their combined story shows that when you bring together the people side and the process side of growth, the result is a pathway that any business can follow.