60 Seconds with... Insurance Compliance Services’ Isabella Macfarlane

Explain your job to a five-year-old.

I work to protect insurance sellers from breaking the rules so buyers get what they ask for!

What has been the highlight of your career to date?

Being nominated for a Women in Insurance Award was wonderful. I’d also say the work I’ve done around non-financial misconduct and culture at the FCA. 

We’ve generated some really positive conversations around that.

If you could learn any new skill what would it be? 

I’d love to be musical and learn the cello, or learn to paint properly – something skills-based that you really have to concentrate on and takes me away from my desk.

What chore do you hate most? 

Giving the dog a bath, she hates it and looks at me like she wants to call the RSPCA.

What did you buy with your first wage packet? 

I clearly remember buying a pair of black high heels which let me meet the men in Lloyd’s eye-to-eye. I’ve still got them but they rarely come out these days.

What would you tell your 18-year-old self today? 

You do have a voice and people want to listen. Don’t always second guess yourself!

What song is guaranteed to make you smile or dance? 

I’m a millennial middle-of-the-roader so I have to go for “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift or Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” will tempt me on to the dance floor. 

But I also love singing along to Haim or The Chicks when neither my son or husband can’t complain about it.

What sporting event that you’ve never attended is top of your bucket list? 

I’d love to see the Lions touring New Zealand, I suspect lots of people in the insurance world would like to join me.

If you could go back in time to any point in history, where would you go? 

There are so many options but I’d love to go back to the early 1920s in New York or London – it would be fun.

How do you define success? 

For me it is about happiness and making sure you have given it everything you’ve got.

What was the last lie you told? 

I’ve got a three-year-old so probably something like “There a no more Bluey episodes”, or “Bluey only speaks French after seven.” Anything to get control of the TV back.