Debbie Miller

Debbie has worked in HR for 9 years for a range of different organisations including private, public and third sectors. The majority of her experience was working in the Education sector as HR Business Partner in Leeds and Bradford. Most recently, she was in a regional HR role for the UK’s largest disability charity leading on training and development, recruitment and managing employee relations.

Having relocated back to the North West, Debbie’s role here at OnSide is to lead on the recruitment and training of people for Youth Zone start-ups and for key positions across the Network, in addition to providing both hands on and strategic leadership support for Youth Zone and OnSide management teams.

What inspired you to join OnSide? 

Having a varied background in private, public and third sectors I knew I wanted to stay within the charity space. I genuinely didn’t know about OnSide at the time when I saw a role available, but the more I researched and learned about them, the more intrigued I was. I was inspired by the mission, but even more inspired by the impact – and that was nearly 9 years ago. The stories I heard back then have grown exponentially and I see on a daily basis how we change young people’s lives for the better.  

What’s been a memorable moment you’ve had working with the team?  

When Future Youth Zone opened, we were all hands on deck. I jokingly volunteered to do face painting at the grand opening. This wasn’t taken as a joke and so I sat face painting for about 8 hours (ps. I have absolutely no creative skill whatsoever, so there were a lot of young people sporting very basic love hearts and stars on their faces!) 

What was the first Youth Zone you visited and what did you think? 

I visited Wigan Youth Zone as part of my interview. To put it simply – I was blown away! I grew up in Wigan and had no idea that such a facility was on the doorstep. The facilities amazed me and I kept imagining how different growing up with a place like that to go to every night would have been (rather than sit on a park freezing!) 

What would be your go-to Youth Zone room and why?

The teenage me would have gone to the girls room/ salon, so that I could hang out with my friends and get my hair done at the same time 😊 (In fact I think the older me would still do the same) 

Tell us a fun fact about yourself

I generally like to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone, and can be a bit of a thrill seeker (I’ve done things like sky diving, bungee jumping and ran an Ultra Marathon). I love theme parks and am genuinely excited for when my now 3 year old is older because she is just like me and is the only one who wants to go on all of the fast, high rides!