Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how RAM Brand Ltd, trading as Ruth Martey, collects, uses, stores and protects your personal information when you visit ruthmartey.com, contact us, download resources, book or purchase services, participate in coaching, subscribe to communications or otherwise work with us.

We believe your personal information should be handled responsibly, transparently and only for legitimate purposes.

1. Who we are

Ruth Martey is a trading name of RAM Brand Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales.

Company name: RAM Brand Ltd
Company number: 15149925
Email: info@ruthmartey.com
Website: ruthmartey.com

Throughout this Privacy Policy, references to “Ruth Martey”, “we”, “us” or “our” mean RAM Brand Ltd trading as Ruth Martey.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, RAM Brand Ltd is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.

2. What this policy covers

This Privacy Policy applies when you:

• visit ruthmartey.com;
• contact us through the website, email, social media or another communication channel;
• request or download a free resource;
• subscribe to emails or other marketing communications;
• book a discovery call or other appointment;
• purchase career coaching or another service;
• participate in a coaching programme;
• purchase a digital product or resource;
• engage Ruth Martey for consulting, training or speaking;
• provide feedback or a testimonial; or
• otherwise enter into a business or professional relationship with us.

3. Personal information we may collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us.

Website enquiries

If you contact us through the website or directly, we may collect:

• your name;
• email address;
• telephone number, where provided;
• job title or professional role;
• organisation;
• services you are interested in;
• preferred dates or delivery format;
• indicative budget information;
• how you heard about Ruth Martey; and
• information contained in your enquiry or correspondence.

Coaching and appointment information

If you book a discovery call, coaching session or coaching programme, we may collect:

• your name;
• email address;
• telephone number;
• appointment details;
• career goals and objectives;
• current or previous job roles;
• employment and professional experience;
• CV or application information you choose to provide;
• target roles or career aspirations;
• information provided during coaching preparation;
• coaching notes;
• actions agreed during sessions; and
• correspondence relating to your coaching.

You are not required to provide information that is not relevant to the service you are receiving.

Purchases and payments

When you purchase a service or digital product, we may process information relating to:

• the service or product purchased;
• transaction date;
• amount paid;
• payment status;
• billing information;
• invoices and receipts; and
• information required for accounting and tax purposes.

Payment card information is normally processed directly by our payment service provider. We do not need to store your full payment-card details ourselves.

Free resources

If you request a checklist, workbook, guide or other free resource, we may collect:

• your name;
• email address; and
• the resource requested.

Requesting a free resource does not automatically mean that you have agreed to receive ongoing marketing communications.

Where we invite you to join our mailing list, this will be presented separately.

Newsletter and marketing communications

If you subscribe to receive updates, insights or other marketing communications, we may collect:

• your name;
• email address;
• subscription preferences; and
• records of your consent or marketing preferences.

You can unsubscribe at any time.

Feedback and testimonials

If you complete a feedback form or provide a testimonial, we may collect:

• your name;
• feedback about the service;
• ratings or survey responses;
• your job title or professional information where provided; and
• your permission regarding whether feedback may be used publicly.

We will not publish personally identifiable testimonial information without appropriate permission.

4. Information you may choose to share during coaching

Career coaching can involve discussions about personal and professional circumstances.

You may choose to discuss information relating to your employment history, family circumstances, health, disability, ethnicity or other personal matters where they are relevant to your career.

We do not routinely ask clients to provide sensitive or special-category personal information unless it is relevant and necessary.

Where special-category personal data is provided and needs to be processed, we will only use it where permitted by data protection law and, where appropriate, with your explicit consent.

We encourage clients not to provide sensitive information unless it is genuinely relevant to the support being requested.

5. How we use your information

We may use personal information to:

Respond to enquiries

We use your information to respond to questions, understand your requirements, discuss possible services and prepare proposals.

Our lawful basis will normally be taking steps at your request before entering into a contract and/or our legitimate interest in responding to enquiries about our services.

Provide coaching and other services

We use information to:

• prepare for coaching sessions;
• understand your career objectives;
• provide personalised coaching;
• review information you provide;
• deliver agreed consulting, training or speaking services;
• communicate with you about your service; and
• provide relevant follow-up materials.

Our lawful basis is normally that processing is necessary to perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into that contract.

Manage bookings

We use appointment information to schedule, confirm, reschedule and manage discovery calls, coaching sessions and other meetings.

Our lawful basis is normally performance of a contract, steps taken before entering into a contract and our legitimate interest in managing appointments efficiently.

Process purchases and payments

We process transaction and billing information to:

• take payment;
• issue receipts or invoices;
• administer purchases;
• deal with payment queries or refunds; and
• maintain financial records.

Our lawful bases include performance of a contract and compliance with our legal and financial obligations.

Deliver requested resources

If you request a free or paid resource, we use your contact information to provide the resource.

Requesting a resource does not automatically enrol you in ongoing marketing.

Send marketing communications

We may send career insights, business updates, information about services, events, offers or resources where:

• you have given consent; or
• we are otherwise permitted to do so under applicable marketing and data protection rules.

You can opt out at any time.

Improve our services

We may use feedback, general customer experience information and non-identifiable trends to improve our coaching, resources, website and services.

Where personal information is involved, our lawful basis is normally our legitimate interest in improving our services and customer experience.

Meet legal and regulatory requirements

We may process information where necessary to:

• maintain business and accounting records;
• comply with tax obligations;
• respond to lawful requests;
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
• comply with other legal or regulatory requirements.

Our lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation and, where applicable, our legitimate interests.

6. Booking through Calendly

We use Calendly to manage certain appointments, including discovery calls and coaching sessions.

When you use a Calendly booking page, information such as your name, email address, appointment selection and information you enter into booking questions may be processed through Calendly.

Calendly processes certain scheduling information on our behalf. Calendly may also process some information for its own purposes in accordance with its own privacy notice.

You should review Calendly's privacy information when using its services.

7. Payment providers

Payments for some services may be processed through a third-party payment provider integrated with our website or booking system.

The payment provider processes payment details in accordance with its own privacy and security requirements.

RAM Brand Ltd generally receives confirmation of your payment, transaction information and information required to administer your purchase rather than your complete payment-card details.

Payment provider currently used: Stripe and other providers

8. Other service providers

We use trusted external providers to help us operate the business and deliver services.

Depending on the services you use, these may include:

• website hosting providers;
• email providers;
• email marketing providers;
• Calendly or other appointment-booking providers;
• payment processors;
• video-conferencing providers;
• cloud-storage and document providers;
• online forms and survey providers;
• accounting or bookkeeping providers;
• IT and security providers; and
• professional advisers where required.

These organisations may process personal information on our behalf where necessary to provide their services.

We only share information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

We do not sell or rent your personal information.

9. International transfers

Some technology providers we use may process or store information outside the United Kingdom.

This may include providers such as Calendly and other technology, communication or cloud-service providers.

Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism or safeguard is in place.

Depending on the country and provider, this may include:

• UK adequacy regulations;
• recognised data-transfer frameworks;
• contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum; or
• another transfer mechanism permitted under UK data protection law.

You can contact us if you would like further information about safeguards relating to your personal information.

10. Website technical information and Google Fonts

Our website may process standard technical information when you visit it.

Pages on ruthmartey.com currently use typefaces provided through Google Fonts. When your browser requests these font files, Google may receive standard technical information associated with the request, such as your IP address.

This is separate from information you actively submit through our forms.

11. Cookies and tracking

At the date of this policy, ruthmartey.com does not intentionally use advertising or behavioural-tracking cookies to build advertising profiles of website visitors.

Third-party services that you choose to visit from our website, including external booking, social-media or payment services, may use their own cookies or similar technologies. Their use of those technologies is governed by their own policies.

If we introduce analytics, advertising pixels or other non-essential tracking technologies on ruthmartey.com in the future, we will review this Privacy Policy and any consent requirements that apply.

12. How long we keep your information

We do not keep personal information indefinitely.

Our normal retention periods are:

General enquiries

If an enquiry does not lead to work, we will normally retain relevant correspondence for up to 12 months after our last meaningful contact, unless there is a legitimate reason to keep it longer.

Coaching and client records

Booking information, client correspondence and relevant service records will normally be retained for up to six years after your final service or coaching session.

We may retain some information for longer where this is necessary for legal, contractual, insurance or dispute-resolution purposes.

We aim to minimise the amount of detailed coaching information retained once it is no longer needed.

Financial and transaction records

Invoices, payments and other information required for tax and accounting purposes may be retained for at least six years or for any longer period required by applicable law.

Free resources

Information used solely to provide a requested free resource will normally be kept only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil and administer that request.

If you separately subscribe to marketing communications, your contact information will also be managed under our marketing retention arrangements.

Marketing subscribers

We will retain your marketing contact information for as long as you remain subscribed.

If you unsubscribe, we may retain a minimal suppression record so that we can respect your request and avoid adding you back to marketing communications unintentionally.

Feedback and testimonials

Feedback will be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for service improvement.

Where you have permitted us to publish a testimonial, we may continue using it until it is no longer relevant or you ask us to review or withdraw its use, subject to any lawful reason for retaining the underlying record.

13. Keeping your information secure

We take reasonable organisational and technical steps to protect personal information against:

• unauthorised access;
• accidental loss;
• misuse;
• alteration; and
• inappropriate disclosure.

Access to client and business information is limited to those who reasonably need it for legitimate business purposes.

Where third-party systems are used, we select established providers and use available security features appropriate to the service.

No online or electronic system can guarantee absolute security, but we take data protection seriously and review our practices as the business develops.

14. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being relied upon, you may have the right to:

• access personal information we hold about you;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• request erasure of information where there is no lawful reason for us to continue holding it;
• restrict processing in certain circumstances;
• object to processing in certain circumstances;
• receive or transfer certain information under the right to data portability;
• withdraw consent where we rely on your consent; and
• complain about how your information has been handled.

Not every right applies in every circumstance. We will explain if a particular right does not apply to your request.

To exercise a data protection right, contact: info@ruthmartey.com

We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.

15. Your right to object

You have the right to object to the use of your personal information where we rely on legitimate interests in certain circumstances.

You also have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.

If you ask us to stop using your information for direct marketing, we will stop doing so.

Contact info@ruthmartey.com to exercise this right.

16. Unsubscribing from marketing

You can stop receiving marketing communications at any time by contacting info@ruthmartey.com and asking to be removed.

Withdrawing from marketing will not prevent us from sending necessary service communications relating to an appointment, purchase, contract or active service.

17. Providing personal information

Certain information is necessary for us to provide services.

For example, we generally need your name and appropriate contact information to manage a coaching booking, and payment information is required where you purchase a paid service.

You do not have to provide optional information.

However, if you do not provide information that is reasonably necessary to enter into or perform a contract, we may be unable to provide the relevant service.

18. Data protection complaints

If you are concerned about how we have collected or used your personal information, we would welcome the opportunity to address your concern.

Please send data protection complaints to: info@ruthmartey.com

Please include enough information for us to understand the issue and investigate it.

We will acknowledge receipt of a data protection complaint within 30 days, take appropriate steps to investigate and respond without undue delay, keep you informed where appropriate, and explain the outcome of our investigation.

19. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when:

• our services change;
• we introduce new systems or providers;
• our use of personal information changes; or
• data protection requirements change.

The latest version will be published on ruthmartey.com and the date at the top of this policy will show when it was last updated.

20. Contact us

If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise a data protection right or want to make a privacy complaint, contact:

RAM Brand Ltd trading as Ruth Martey

Email: info@ruthmartey.com
Website: ruthmartey.com

Registered in England and Wales.