Anna Mellon is Founder and Director of Boppin Bunnies, which provides the children of the borough with high quality musical shows and classes, and finalist in the Tourism and Culture Award category.

What do you love most about your job?

There are so many things I love about my two Greenwich companies Boppin' Bunnies and Stretto Music. My three favorite things about Boppin' Bunnies Music classes are:

I love the look of amazement on the babies' and toddlers' faces when I play my violin, ukelele, recorder or baby harp to them. They gaze toward the sound and it's beautiful to see their attention drawn to the live music.

When we do our Interactive Music Show Events like On Blackheath or at The Bob Hope Theatre it's brilliant to have a team of our musicians on stage together getting the whole audience participating with their little ones! I love the way music and singing brings families together. I'm passionate about building our talented team as we are musicians and singers who have our own unique talents. We keep the individuality of our musical strengths to uplift everyone through using our instruments together along with the Boppin' Bunnies recordings.

My company Stretto Music delivers professional and inspiring Music Specialists to Primary Schools for whole class music teaching. I love the enthusiasm and excitement on children's faces when they realise they have music today and the happiness and joy music can bring to a school community when delivered by a creative music teacher.

What is a typical day for you and your business? My days are lovely and varied. A typical day involves: 

 - Doing an early morning run with my dog Barney in Oxleas Wood

 - Dropping my daughter to school

 - Teaching Boppin' Bunnies Music classes

 - Arranging to meet theatres and venues that want to put on our Interactive Music Show 

 - Connecting with our Operations Manager Hannah who organises the Boppin' team brilliantly

 - Having a few meetings with Headteachers about the music in their Primary Schools and seeing our team of Stretto musicians at work

 - Picking up my daughter from school then heading home to try to multitask tea-time and her activities before finishing off my admin later!

A tip for women who want to start their career in your sector:

Always be brave. Research things well, trust your gut instincts and surround yourself with people you trust. I have Hannah, Claire and Sian, who have different skills to mine and their exceptional skills make growing my businesses an exciting journey. You can always build better as a team. Believe in yourself on the days when it all feels too rough. Sometimes you have to spend time sowing the seeds and the flowers will grow if you care for them.

Can you tell us a bit about your journey to where you are? That's a long story that is too boring! 

My team will groan in agreement when I say my development process generally goes something like this:

1. I have a brilliant idea and take action on it fast whilst I'm feeling all enthusiastic thinking "I'll sort out any problems along the way". Then I tell my team. Before I had a lovely team around me I just went at everything with a 'go for it' approach. ;)

2. They quietly groan and say to each other "what is she doing now?" Sometimes they say to me "are you sure?"

3. Often by then my 'brilliant/maybe not brilliant' idea has evolved and taken us down a path we never would have gone otherwise and we have a laugh adapting it and it flourishes into something beautiful.

4. I am grateful to my team everyday for giving me the space and freedom to be me and adapting with me like the dynamic business women they are. This helps harness my boundless energy to bring my ideas to the world.

What do you love most about running your business in Royal Greenwich?

The wonderful Greenwich community! The many friendships I have made through Boppin' Bunnies are outstanding and through working with different Greenwich schools I've made so many connections and brilliant friends. What I love about Greenwich is how people truly value the quality that independent small businesses like mine bring. The support of the people of Greenwich during these tough Covid-times has been uplifting and filled me with pride for what the Boppin' team and I do.

What role does your business play in the local area? Both Boppin' Bunnies and Stretto Music were started in Greenwich and we are very much part of the community. We like to support and work in partnership with others. To name a few we've worked with Ellie at Greenwich Fitness & Pilates, Julia at Ottie and the Bea, The Bridge in East Greenwich Pleasaunce, The Bob Hope Theatre in Eltham, The Jetty over the River Thames by the O2. We have performed Music Shows on the Ikea Rooftop Garden, On Blackheath Music Festival and done fundraising for Demelza Children's Hospice outside the Cutty Sark.