Weds 12th February 2025
Joanne Osborne is one of the founders of Scarlett Financial Services, and this morning shared with the group her journey to get to this point in her life, including some unusual incidents!
Joanne is a Hackney girl with very loving parents who, after having Joanne, entered into a period of fostering kids. Many came and went, but two boys were adopted to become Joanne’s brothers. She was the first in her family or immediate social circle to gain O-levels, and had intentions to become a journalist. But earning a wage after her exams, and enjoying life in London, changed that plan and she entered the workforce with the Agricultural and Food Research Council.
After some time she started working for BT, which is where she met her husband Alan. Dissatisfaction with the management style at BT led her to leave in 2004, joining a local Estate Agent. Selling houses wasn’t Joanne’s forté, as a tale of locking a cat in a house illustrated, but the company recognised her drive and channelled it instead into a mortgage adviser position, from which she has never looked back. They also supported her as she scratch the itch of academic achievement, supporting her as she first did a degree, then an MBA.
Joanne loves travel, comedy, dining out (and in), swimming and reading. Her travel bug led her to visit China where seeing lots of ruddy-cheeked babies triggered a maternal instinct she thought was not there. Her daughter Scarlett was born not long afterwards, and was ultimately the inspiration for her business name.
A tough time in her 40s, with significant illness within her own family, coupled with the sad passing of her parents, let to a significant re-evaluation of priorities. One of the outcomes was the formation of Scarlett Financial Services, which has also survived some bumps in the road, but today is a solid and thriving business planning to expand its services into investments and pensions.
As for the funny stories, suffice to say that Joanne can sometimes be a little preoccupied. Enough so that she once took a call saying there was a bomb in the building, but rather than take immediate action she fielded another couple of calls before reflecting that perhaps an evacuation might be best. Another time she was leaving a bank, but some people were rushing in so she stood back and held the door open for the entering bank robbers! As for the trolley, one Christmas she had piled hers high, the left it in an aisle. Upon retrieving it and half way through checking out she realised she had someone else’s trolley! Undeterred, she carried on unloading and paid for the trolley’s contents.