Q&A: Tracy Willmers

Account director London and north Home Counties, APS Group.

Tracy certainly isn’t shy of making a move – be it from South Africa to the UK, or from her first back office job in print to today’s customer-facing role. When not searching for a love match in the shape of a ginger-haired rugby player, or doing volunteer work for The Prince’s Trust, she is most likely to be found pursuing a new-found love and addiction to running.

What is your nickname?

Willmo

Why did you get into printing? 

Like many people I fell into it by mistake. I started at St Ives as a credit manager and decided that production/account management looked more interesting

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

Julianne Moore although she might need to learn a South African accent

What would you most like to print?

The wraps for F1 cars

Who or what do you hate the most?

Hate is a word I don’t like to use, but the one thing I do hate is smoking

Who do you admire most in the industry? 

Kate Regan, group client services director, Delta Group. A woman who believed in me and was one of my best managers

What is your favourite phrase or saying?

Nothing is impossible, there is always a way, you need to look for it

What is your greatest luxury in life?

My health

What is the strangest job you’ve ever done?

I wouldn’t say it was strange but I used to do sports massage in South Africa and had Liam Ó Maonlaí from Hothouse Flowers as a client

Who would you like to be stuck on a desert island with?

Damian Lewis

What is your greatest ambition?

To run 10km in less than 55 minutes 

Which celebrity would you like to get out of here? Why?

Katie Hopkins – the woman does not know when to keep quiet and does nothing to help the perception of women in business

Most embarrassing moment?

There are far too many to choose just one, but you do need to laugh at yourself and not take things too seriously

Where would you like to be now?

Anywhere hot and sunny, on a sun lounger, cocktail in my hand and a pile of good books to read next to me

What’s your worst fashion disaster?

Yellow eye shadow in the 1980s

Where would you go if you could time-travel?

To the future, about 20 years, to see where I am in my life

How would you like to be remembered?

She laughed, she cared and she always did her best

Life is…?  

What you put into it

What was your childhood obsession?

Bambi. In South Africa, we did not have television when I was growing up but we did have the drive-in. I would annoy my parents every week because I always wanted to see Bambi