After leaving school at 16, Sharon Griffiths took a string of jobs before being hired as a part-time credit controller at The Specials Laboratory in Northumberland. Seven years later, she is managing director of the £16m drugs company. Peter McCusker reports.

The Questionnaire

What car do you drive?
Audi A5.

What’s your favourite restaurant?
Wagamama.

Who or what makes you laugh?
My daughter, family and friends, comedy films, Friends (the TV show) and Ricky Gervais.

What’s your favourite book?
Harry Potter – which I am currently reading to my daughter.

What was the last album you bought?
Black Eyed Peas.

What’s your ideal job, other than the one you’ve got?
Architect.

If you had a talking parrot, what’s the first thing you would teach it to say?
I couldn’t possibly say, it wouldn’t be printable!

What’s the best piece of business advice you have ever received?
Be true to yourself

And the worst?
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!

What’s your poison?
Sol/Corona.

What newspapers do you read, other than The Journal?
The Financial Times.

What’s your greatest fear?
Spiders.

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?
£200 as a waitress.

How do you keep fit?
Don’t (laughs a lot) I have a nine- year-old daughter!

What’s your most irritating habit?
Clumsiness.

What’s your biggest extravagance?
Holidays.

Which historical or fictional character do you most identify with or admire?
(Admire) Jack Bauer in 24, played by actor Kiefer Sutherland.

Which four famous people would you most like to dine with?
Jack Bauer, Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Gardiner and Richard Branson.

How would you like to be remembered?
Honest, fair, challenging, loyal, committed and a big heart.