Leona Lewis is not the only celebrity to start her career behind a reception desk.

This month we introduce two highly motivated and powerful women who had the necessary skills to make it in this extremely demanding role.

Rosa Parks – mild mannered and gentle, became the catalyst for Dr Martin Luther King Jr to lead the civil rights movement that broke the back of legalized segregation in the United States. Far from beginning her career behind reception, she chose it as an option at the end of her working life.

Rosa Parks began her 23 year career as a receptionist in 1965 when she was 52 years old. Just 10 years earlier, on 1st December 1955, Rosa had sparked the beginning of the modern civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white man, causing her arrest and subsequent boycott of the Montgomery buses by 50,000 black people in Alabama for over a year. Rosa continued to campaign for freedom throughout her life, and was honored by numerous universities, organizations and individuals, including being awarded an international peace prize and the Medal of Freedom - the highest award the US government can bestow on a civilian. In numerous obituaries written at the time of her death in 2005, it was noted that although Rosa’s notoriety presented the opportunity to become a reigning celebrity, she remained humble, modest and gracious – and continued in her reception role until 1988, when she was 75 years old.

Linda McCartney – although known for her marriage to Paul McCartney, Linda was primarily a photographer of legendary musicians in the late 1960’s, and later in life became author of several vegetarian cookery books as well as a business entrepeneur, and a voice for animal rights.

In 1966 Linda Eastman worked as a receptionist for Town and Country magazine. In this responsible position, she intercepted an invitation to a press reception that the Rolling Stones were holding on board a yacht on the Hudson River. She turned up to the event posing as the official photographer for Town and Country, and was the ONLY photographer invited on board! When the yacht docked, Linda’s photographs were in demand and her career established….she then went on to become house photographer of New York’s famous rock palace, Fillmore East. In 1969 she married Paul McCartney. What a girl!