As of 15th January 2018, Emma Miller and Selina-May Miller will take over the reins as Lerwick town centre enters its second Business Improvement District (BID) term.
Emma worked for Shetland Amenity Trust as its marketing officer alongside organising events like the isles' Boat Week until being made redundant in November as the trust sought to make savings. She is also the new chairperson of Shetland Tourism Association and has just started her own business, Réalta Events Management. Selina-May also has a marketing background having been involved in Shetland Wool Week and the Unst Partnership, while she is also a community promoter for Shetland Arts.
Initially both Selina & Emma will be working remotely instead of having a designated office in the town after the lease on Living Lerwick's premises on Mounthooly Street was not renewed to save costs. They are hoping to have a drop-in office on the street where folk with any questions can come and get more information.
"We want to wipe the slate clean and start again," Emma said. "We are aware that there's some folk that maybe don't look 100 per cent favourably on it as a project, but we're kind of determined that the past is in the past."We want to move forward in a positive way and take everybody with us, because Living Lerwick is there to benefit the town centre businesses, not to work against them."
Selina-May, meanwhile, said herself and Emma hope to bring a new energy to the town centre.
"With my background in events management and digital marketing and having chosen to come home from Edinburgh three years ago, I think I can bring a really fresh approach to this new contract," she said.
"I've worked throughout Shetland, so I also think I can bring together views from a wide variety of folk within the isles. I think both Emma and I can bring bundles of enthusiasm and I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in the next five years."