Chloe McNeill, Project Manager at Discover Halifax is the latest person in the hot seat for our Inspiration Women of Halifax series.

Monday 8th March marked International Women’s Day, a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

One of the themes for this year’s International Women’s Day is to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Halifax is a town full of successful, strong independent women who continue to make a positive difference to the area and society, so we wanted to highlight a few in a series of Q&As. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be chatting to several influential women in Halifax to learn more about the community and the people in the town.

Next in our series is Chloe McNeill, Project Manager at Halifax BID. Chloe has been with Discover Halifax aka Halifax Bid since it first came to town on 1st April 2017 and has been responsible for helping with everything from 12 Days of Christmas painted window trails to the Town Centre Gift Card scheme.

To find out what’s been happening with Discover Halifax since the pandemic hit, we caught up with Chloe to find out about her role, what she enjoys most about her job and her biggest achievement.

Tell us about yourself and what you do. 

I’m Chloe, I’m the BID Manager for Halifax BID or as it’s known publicly, Discover Halifax. I’ve been with Halifax BID since day one, 1st April 2017 and have developed the Discover Halifax brand, established a team of ambassadors for the town centre and have worked on lots of different projects from our 12 Days of Christmas painted window trails to the implementation of our Town Centre Gift Card scheme.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

There are never two days the same, every day has something different to do and there’s always plenty to get stuck in to!

What would say is your biggest achievement so far?

This is a tough one, I’d either say our team of Ambassadors, they’re a friendly face, a listening ear and something the businesses seem to really value. It doesn’t matter how much we email, post online or write in reports, there’s still nothing better than face to face and having a proper chat. I’m also incredibly proud of our brand, promoting Halifax and particularly the work we did over the 2020 festive season, despite the restrictions and the temptation to just give up, we worked harder than ever to provide a Christmas campaign for our businesses, a range of activity for our visitors and ensure that Christmas was most definitely not cancelled in Halifax.

What’s been your biggest challenge to date?

Is it a cliché to say a global pandemic?! Covid forced us to re-evaluate everything we do, from the large Christmas Light Switch On events to our day to day interactions with businesses and regular printed guides and booklets. I embraced the challenge, moved much more to digital interaction and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished this year – even if it was nothing like I expected a year ago!

If you could give your younger self some advice, what would it be?

Everything can and will change and if you want something enough, you can make it happen!

Finally, what is your favourite thing about Halifax?

The variety, Halifax has something for everyone and is growing and changing constantly. Halifax is a town of hidden gems and the more time you spend there, the more you discover.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’d just like to say how fantastic it is that Halifax has so many businesses and organisations where women are in key roles, I really hope that girls and young women can look at some of the success women have had in this town and be inspired, just as I have by some of the great women I’ve had the honour to work with over the last 4 years of managing Halifax BID.  

For more information on International Women’s Day, visit: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

For more information on Discover Halifax, visit: https://discoverhalifax.co.uk/