Shirlee Posner

I have had a career that spans both academia, food production and publishing. In my early years I worked as a chef, restaurant manager and then to university. On graduation I taught food studies at South Bank University then moved into Food Product Development for Sainsbury’s Head Office. My husband’s work then took us to Singapore, Taiwan and Miami which allowed me time to care for my son and daughter while pursuing a career in food writing. In Taiwan I was an editor of a lifestyle magazine for the international community and later the British Chamber of Commerce. By the time I left I was writing for 5 different publications about food, art and travel. I wrote a dining out column for Miami Today newspaper in Miami.

We moved back to the UK in 2005 where I started to work freelance for Sainsbury’s and the Design and Technology Association. I was the regional manager for Food in Schools for the South- East of England. When these projects ended in 2011, I started writing a food blog about the local food movement in Surrey called @eatsurrey. This led to a role in PR and Social-Media for Secretts Farm Shop which I left in 2024 after 10 years.

In 2006 I started having mobility issues and was diagnosed in 2015 as having a form of muscular dystrophy. In May 2024 I was finally given a positive diagnosis of FSHD type 2 a slowly progressive disease with no treatment or cure. FSHD is one of the more common types of MD but of that community 5% have type 2. The subtype was only discovered around 4-5 years ago which is why it took so long to get a firm result. I am now a full-time wheelchair user and although I can walk a few steps it is very uncomfortable so like many disabled people I choose not to walk. I had thought of campaigning for the disabled community on rights for better toilets, the right benefits, help at home, food access etc but felt I did not want to do this on my own. When I saw the trustee role advertised for the Surrey Coalition of Disabled People I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to campaign as part of an already established professional group with good contacts in place.

I am hoping I can use my wide skill set to help contribute to projects the Coalition develops and runs. I have seen so many doors in my life close during the last twenty years and many of those are due to lack of understanding rather than my condition itself. I am looking forward to working with the team and helping Surrey’s Disabled Community.