'Mum calls me the Queen of Oxford'

One of the best things about landing the job of Oxford city centre manager for Laurie-Jane Taylor was making her mum proud.

“She calls me The Queen of Oxford. It’s all worth it for her to feel that sense of pride. I’m glad she could see it,” said Laurie-Jane, 39.

Anyone would be pleased that their daughter was doing well but for Laurie-Jane, who was appointed to the post in June, making her mum happy was particularly important.

When we spoke last week, her mother Harriet Taylor, 57, was gravely ill with cancer and Laurie-Jane was preparing to face the future without her.

“She’s been such a positive influence,” said Laurie-Jane, who is a pretty good role model for having an upbeat attitude herself.

After being a teenage mum, she tried her hand at a variety of jobs before the role of city centre manager became available.

“I knew it was the job for me: combining all my skills and previous experience gained from a particularly varied career path,” said Laurie-Jane.

And she wasn’t going to let the fact she had no previous experience in town or city management get in her way.

“I wanted the job and I was going to get it. I was focused on success, which is pretty much my approach to all things in life,” she said.

Laurie-Jane attended Saint Aloysius and Matthew Arnold schools in Oxford.

“I enjoyed school but found myself easily distracted because my brain seemed to absorb information quicker than others so I often found myself bored and distracted and dreaming of the big world that existed outside of the classroom windows,” she said.

“I didn’t really have to apply myself too hard to get by at school but because nothing really grabbed my attention I never made much of an effort to go above and beyond.”

She toyed with the idea of being an actress but didn’t have enough faith in her abilities to follow that career path.

“This is the only time I can recall limiting myself in achieving a dream,” said Laurie-Jane.

“Despite this I did have some faith in my capabilities and felt strongly that whatever I was going to do, it would be fun and I would give it my all, the world was my oyster.”

But things didn’t go straight to plan. She fell pregnant with her son Charlie, now 22 and also working for the city council, as a teenager and initially gave up college to look after him.

“I soon realised that I also wanted to be out there achieving something alongside motherhood, so I got myself a part-time job in a coffee shop when Charlie was about one and then applied to work in an office.”

Several other administrative roles followed over the next few years, one at a job centre where Laurie-Jane discovered an ability to manage poor behaviours and chaotic lifestyles.

“I left this role to pursue a career helping the vulnerable. I volunteered at a local centre for substance misusers and the homeless which soon became an employed role,” she said.

“I then progressed to working as a keyworker in one of England’s toughest rehabs which I thoroughly loved.”

Then tragedy struck.

Laurie-Jane’s step-mother, who she was very close to, became terminally ill and she made the tough decision to give up work and help care for her through the last stage of her life.

“After she had passed, her death made me stop and think about the direction my life was heading in and I made a decision to return to the education that I failed to finish in my teenage years,” said Laurie-Jane.

But after successfully completing an access course and having a place lined up at university, her life took another unexpected twist.

She had signed up on a short film-making course and offered office services in exchange for attending the course for free.

Laurie-Jane with her mum Harriet Taylor

“On my second day there I took a phone call from a production company who had mistaken the organisation for a film agency and wanted to hire some staff.

“I explained that we were an educational facility but after putting down the phone it occurred to me that I was interested despite never having worked in the industry before.”

So with typical determination, she rang them back and, with no experience, talked her way into a production assistant role.

Four weeks later, she was a production manager. “It was such a great experience,” said Laurie-Jane. “After this I decided on a whim to buy a lease on a pub.

“I sold the business after a few years and set up my own driving consultancy, then brought another pub which I again sold, drove an ambulance for a brief period of time before I got back into management and then joined the local authority in 2010 to manage an antisocial behaviour team.”

But while her work life may have been busy and varied, family life has been more constant.

“Although not married and having gone through some pretty horrible and tough times I am really proud that myself and Charlie’s father are still together 20-plus years on,” said Laurie-Jane.

And she thinks now that it was good that she had her son at a young age, as it meant he got to know his grandmother (“everything happens for a reason”).

Her positivity is to be admired. “I do not limit myself or my ambitions and I take opportunities when they come my way or I seek them out,” said Laurie-Jane.

“I used to be ashamed of my varied career as I felt people would judge me for never settling down but now I take great pride all I have done and the experience I have gained is invaluable.”

No wonder her mum is so proud of The Queen of Oxford.

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