A mum of two from Waterloo has revealed she was once told she "did well" to get where she did with her career despite having a scouse accent.
Alison Cosgrove moved to Newcastle 25 years ago and before that had stints in Seattle and Manchester with her having a very mixed reaction to her accent. The 52-year-old left Merseyside to go to the University of Manchester before pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry where she worked for the likes of Novartis and Pfizer.
She has now revealed how she battled against prejudice to get where she was. She told the ECHO during her time in Seattle, that Americans were fond of her broad Scouser accent and since moving to Newcastle with a faded accent, the Geordies still enjoy it.
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But when she was working for a company, she claimed she received a comment about the way she spoke from a person in a senior position. Alison said: "I came from a humble background and got myself through university at 25 and I did really well in the pharmaceutical industry. One time when I came in contact with my boss's boss, he said to me 'I'm surprised you did so well, your accent went against you'.
"Despite him saying this, the people who recruited me when I first joined the company were also Scouse, but he just said 'it just goes against you'."
Alison shared her experience in a Facebook group local to Sefton, with people pitching in with their own experiences. One person said: "It is disgraceful the way accents are used to discriminate. I know of a number of cases of this which occurred during my professional career. Geordies, Scousers and Brummies seem to get it worst."
One person even replied claiming they left the country and moved to Canada due to prejudice. They commented: "I totally believe that. I had to leave the country to be accepted. Here in Canada, people find it charming."
