Posted on: 1st April 2025, by Magrathea
For April we wanted to catch up with Ashley, as today she is celebrating her 20th anniversary of working at Magrathea! Ashley is part of our brilliant client support team and works with our carriers to ensure calls work to all destinations as expected, and runs our popular porting workshops. She is also our industry liaison for porting.
Ashley – we last caught up with you a year ago (here) – but today is a very special Mag Anniversary! Reflecting on the past 20 years, what have been some of the highlights and some of the biggest changes?
As one of the first employees here at Magrathea I’ve been lucky enough to experience and observe the business go from a tiny startup through to the mature organisation it is today. The way Magrathea has grown and evolved, and continues to do so is a constant highlight and gives me a lot of pride and satisfaction. I’ve been involved in interviews and selection of new team members across the business, learned about all the random billing nuances that come with a wholesale carrier network and even turned my hand to a few datacentre tasks over the years.
Working through the pandemic was a big change, a difficult time for everyone but as a company we coped brilliantly and pulled together as a team, supporting communications for the country.
One constant has been my involvement in the industry working groups for number portability, which everyone knows is a really challenging part of the work we do. I’m proud to say that I have helped shape changes to the process alongside building a porting function here at Magrathea which is considered among the best in our industry.
Also, for a relatively small team we have a good deal of diversity and I love that each of us enjoy the flexibility to discover what we are good at and contribute, regardless of gender or experience. I’ve certainly tried most tasks and feel I’m in the right place right now.
As someone who has been in the industry 20 years now, what advice would you give someone who is thinking of getting into telecoms?
Do it! It’s an amazing industry, always changing and evolving. There are so many different opportunities in so many different fields.
Having been here the longest, nowadays a lot of my time is spent mentoring and training other team members – some of whom are new to telecoms also. I am also involved in helping with the more strategic work around porting and switching. Even after 20 years, no two days are the same and I still look forward to new challenges when they present themselves.
When we last spoke we discussed how much you enjoy taking art classes and travelling when you are not in work – did you get to see a wild elephant on your trip to Kenya last year?
I certainly did and I am not ashamed to admit there were tears (mine, not the elephant’s!)
And we would love to know what you have created recently, and what are the next trips you have planned?
At the moment I am working on some clay shells for my niece and koi carp in acrylic. I have another bucket list trip to Sri Lanka in May (my favourite band as a teenager filmed music videos there) and meeting up with family in Thailand in December.
Finally – on such a special anniversary – we asked our MD, Tracey, for a few words…
“Ashley was a friend of our founders so when I first met her 20 years ago I already knew she would be a great addition to our small team. Despite having no experience in the telecoms industry, she was able to make a large contribution to the business from her first day. Ashley has a really strong work ethic and the ability to juggle a vast workload so she very quickly took over all things porting and then her role has evolved alongside the business over time.
In more recent years Ashley has proven herself to be a good role model for someone who is focussed on doing the right thing for the client as well as the business but without losing the fun and charm that we enjoy. By being on hand to guide and advise all newer team members she has been instrumental to Magrathea retaining its great culture. To Ashley on this amazing anniversary I would just like to say thank you for the big part you have played in the success of Magrathea.”