CUBO Member Diversity Spotlight: Evelyne Mulinge

What is your name, and what are your pronouns?

My name is Evelyne Mulinge, and my pronouns are She/Her.

Can you tell us about your career path, current role, and what attracted you to work in higher education?

My current role is Residential Services Manager at the University of Northampton where I have worked for 16 years in various roles within facilities management, first as Front of House Facilities Manager, and then back to accommodation service following a 22-year career in the hospitality industry.  I continue to thrive and enjoy working in service delivery; providing service with excellence, ensuring KPI’s are delivered at a standard with excellent customer service, and ensuring that all expectations of stakeholders are met.

A consul personality trait who is an analytic thinker and passionate about high standards, skills, and impeccable customer service, I am a good people manager and listener who thrives in encouraging, fostering team spirit and effective service delivery. I am very process-oriented and very focused on delivery within policy and timeframe, always working with an impeccable work ethic.

I am very self-motivated, and actively seek self-improvement through continuous development - be it by learning from others, or seeking to study new and innovative advancements, whether for personal, organisational, or technological advancements. I have good personal awareness and credibility, as I continuously seek to keep myself informed which enables me to be responsive and manage effectively.

As a student in Italy where I studied Tourism and Hotel management, I worked in various hotels in Rome and Venice in placements that were required for successful completion of my course.  I was born and raised in Kenya, and I speak five languages with experience of working as a translator while I was a student in Rome.

With over 20 years’ experience in service delivery and facilities management, I am an enthusiastic, self-motivated Facilities Manager with a passion for delivery expectation. For thirteen years I have worked in facilities management in higher education after eleven years in the hospitality industry. I came into facilities management from Head Housekeeper roles for a range four and five-star hotels in London and Northamptonshire, from which I drew the spirit of service with excellence and impeccable attention to detail in everything that is expected of my team and me. The profit driven commercial aspect within hospitality presented me with great awareness of delivering customer focused service while maintaining effective business acumen.

As much as I enjoyed my career in hospitality, having  children at the time and the idea of a 9 to 5 role Monday to Friday is probably what got me into HE when I spotted the opportunity, if I am being honest. That said, I love people and enjoy serving and working with others, so working within HE and supporting students is an ideal place for me.

At the beginning of my career at the University of Northampton, I worked in halls residences within the facilities team as service provider managing the housekeeping team, facilities coordinators and other teams whilst working alongside the accommodation services team and residential life team. This gave me a good understanding of the institutional current estate and practice. Through the years I have managed various teams through a variety of operational requirements, thus I have a good understanding of day-to-day operational processes and practice.

I guess the transition to HE clearly influenced my personal life as I completed my master’s degree in Senior Leadership alongside my two sons, who were at the time completing their undergraduate degrees at the same institution.

Why is diversity and inclusion in the workplace important to you?

I am the Co-Chair of the GEM staff network, and work with all our Network Leads to support and enhance inclusion of all minority groups with the institution. I am deeply committed to fostering a transformative culture shift within the organisation to create an environment where each individual feels valued, respected, and empowered to reach their full potential. Changing any culture is a continuous journey, one which I endeavour to work towards, and work within University of Northampton with dedication and integrity to create a more inclusive, equitable and vibrant workplace where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. 

What advice would you give to others in the CUBO community to help them foster an inclusive environment and/or be an effective ally?

The advice I would give others within CUBO is to surround themselves with colour filled people who value every individual, appreciating the enrichment every single person adds into our lives.

We are all wonderfully and carefully created, and we just need to see it in every individual we come across.

Can you share a diversity and inclusion focused TV/film/book/podcast recommendation?

The are so many recommendations I could make , so this is very difficult, but I’ll go with the film “The Green Book.”