In this instalment, we speak with Jodie Mears, a C-suite Executive Assistant at Bentley Systems, who has also built a respected personal profile as an international speaker and event moderator.
Tell us about what you do?
I’m a full-time C-Suite Executive Assistant supporting global senior leadership. The simple version is I help create focus. I keep priorities moving, protect decision flow, and make sure the people I support have what they need to think clearly and move quickly.
Outside the day job, I mentor assistants, run workshops, and speak on visibility, LinkedIn, leadership, and where the profession is heading. A lot of my work now is helping assistants realise the value they bring is usually much bigger than the task in front of them.
How did you get your career started as an EA?
I did not grow up thinking I would become an EA. Like a lot of us, I started by being the person people trusted. I was organised, calm when things got messy, and usually the one spotting what might go wrong before it did. At first, I thought the role was about being efficient.
Later, I realised it was really about judgment.
Understanding the business. Reading the room. Knowing what your executive needs before they ask. Helping decisions move.
That is when it stopped feeling like a job and started feeling like a real career.
What’s your biggest achievement as an EA?
Honestly, it is building a career that shows this role can be both commercial and deeply human. Inside organisations, that has meant becoming a trusted strategic partner to senior leadership.
Outside of that, it has meant helping assistants all over the world move from reactive support to recognised partnership through coaching, mentoring, workshops, and speaking.
The best part is when someone says, “I finally know how to talk about what I do.” That lands with me every time because I know what it feels like to work hard and assume people should just notice.
What advice would you give to a young PA starting their career?
Do the work, yes. But learn how to explain why the work mattered.
That part changes everything. A meeting is never just a meeting. The right prep can help a leader make a faster decision. The right travel choice can protect a client relationship. A well-executed follow-up can keep a whole piece of work moving.
Get into the habit of asking yourself, what changed because I did that well? That question will build your confidence faster than anything else.
How has AI shaped your role in recent months? What AI tools or apps would you recommend to any EA?
AI has changed the shape of my work, but not the heart of it. The heart of the role is still judgment, trust, and knowing how to support leadership well. What it has changed is the time I spend on repeat tasks.
In my work, I use the full range of Microsoft 365, including the usual apps plus Copilot, Planner, OneNote, Workflows, Loop, and Viva Insights. Viva especially still gets missed, which is a shame, because it is brilliant for spotting meeting overload, missed focus time, and where the week is being eaten alive.
That helps me make better calls on time, energy, and priorities for both myself and the leaders I support.
Outside of work, I pay for Pro versions of Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Canva because they help with research, first drafts, speaking prep, workshop planning, and shaping rough ideas quickly.
I’m also an Adobe Express ambassador, so I spend a lot of time in the Adobe suite too. There is so much there when it comes to content, visual communication, and turning one idea into several formats without starting from scratch each time.
For me, the point is not the tool. It is what the tool gives back.If something saves me 30 minutes, I put that time straight back into improving a process, tightening communication, or building a better way of working. That is where the role is shifting. The assistants who will do well are not the ones trying every app going. They are the ones asking, what does this free me up to do better?
How different do you think the role of EA/PA will differ in 10 years?
I think the role will move even closer to judgment, communication systems, and business partnerships, and probably include more operations leads as well. Less task ownership, more decision support, more leadership operations and more advisory thinking for sure.
AI will take more of the repeat admin work, and I actually think that is a good thing. It gives assistants more room to work where they have always added the most value anyway, in thinking, foresight, communication, and trust. That shift is already happening now.
When you’re not being one of London’s top EAs, what do you enjoy doing?
A lot of my weekends are now built around basketball with my son, and I love that.
He plays for a county team, so our weekends are usually courtside, travelling to games, talking through the match afterwards, and fully in basketball mode. It has become a big part of our life and, honestly, I would not change it.
I’ve also become slightly obsessed with reformer Pilates on a Saturday morning. That has become a non-negotiable for me now. It clears my head, resets me after the week, and I genuinely love it.
And if I’m not doing either of those, I’m probably deep into a long Netflix series.
I love anything I can really get lost in. Favourites have been Self Made, Firefly Lane, and The Lincoln Lawyer.
I think after spending so much of the week thinking ahead, solving problems, and staying switched on, I really value the simple things that help me switch off properly.
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