The president of stairlift manufacturer Handicare and vertical lift firm Garaventa Lift in Europe recently spent two full days working in Handicare’s factory in the Netherlands and says she was ‘dead’ at the end. “I said ‘for goodness sake don’t just have me stood there watching what people are doing, give me a job,” she says. “I welded, I made some seats, I hung the rails and powder-coated and was absolutely shattered.
While studying for her A-Levels, Brophy had dreams of joining the police force but after taking a part-time sales job at Acorn Stairlifts, based in Keighley, she realised she had a talent for selling and could earn a lot more money there. She decided to drop her A-Levels and work full-time instead, buying her first house at the age of 18. Age 21, having rapidly worked her way up the business, Brophy and a colleague decided to set up their own stairlift company, Companion Stairlifts.