In my day job I…
Am a Business Director at Social Chain UK. My role is incredibly varied, but key focuses include operations, commercial and elements of client services.
I’ve been with the agency for 5 years now and still to this day our people and teams never fail to amaze me. I really do feel privileged to be surrounded by such an incredibly talented and ambitious group of individuals!
Whether it’s a large shoot to support with a movie release or working out how we can deliver a new brand experience using AR, what the team deliver on a daily basis truly is astounding.
We have lots of fab client partners too, who’s ambitions and commitment to pushing the boundaries of social media keep propelling us all forward at lightning speed.
My role in Bloom North...
I head up our digital marketing function alongside a fantastic team of creatives and copywriters. We are responsible for both brand and performance activity across our social, web and email channels.
Digital marketing touches almost every team across the Bloom committee and I love collaborating with each of them and seeing their ideas come to life. A huge amount of planning goes into all of our events, workshops and mentorships schemes and so it’s fab that marketing can help bring that to the wider community.
I got involved in Bloom because...
It’s an incredible community, full of great minds with big hearts! Delivering meaningful change in an industry is not an easy nor a quick task, but every single one of our members is committed to doing so.
Furthermore, I’ve always been very aware of how much help and support I’ve received throughout my career from incredible leaders and mentors in the industry and so giving back is the very least I could do.
During the peak of the pandemic having such a close knit network to discuss challenges candidly and seek support from really was invaluable too.
Recommendations:
Podcast:
I have two recommendations, the first has to be a recent series I could not stop listening to on holiday - Dirty John. It’s a true crime thriller by the LA Times. Admittedly it’s not the most educational of series, but it’s truly gripping from episode one. It details the life of Jon Meehan, a con man and serial manipulator, who does unthinkable things in the pursuit of a life he believe he deserves. The original podcast was so popular that it is now a Netflix show too.
Social Minds has to be my second recommendation (I promise this isn’t intended as a shameless plug, but either way here we are). It’s created by Eve, Cal and the amazing production team at Social Chain. Working in social media the landscape changes so frequently, by the hour if I’m truly honest, that being able to keep up is a huge challenge. Social In Six is the perfect bitesize round up of the week and the main podcast has such a broad and insightful collection of guests - there isn’t an area of the landscape that remains untouched.
Book:
A book that I really enjoyed recently was ‘The Ride of Lifetime’ by Robert Iger, Disney’s CEO of 15 years. It’s a great business management book for anyone working in or in collaboration with a creative entity.
It details the lengths he went to in the pursuit of creative excellence. Whether it was wiping millions off their annual forecast to ensure his team had the time they needed to deliver on their new relationship with Marvel, through to the rigorous planning that went into their direct-to-consumer offering in the hugely successful Disney+.
TV Series:
Again, I have two recommendations here, the first isn’t strictly a TV series - but a video platform that I love called MasterClass. In short, it’s an educational series from the best instructors in the world. It’s a bold claim that they more than deliver on. I’m talking Anna Wintour teaching Creativity and Leadership through to Serena Williams teaching tennis. The bite size lessons are thoroughly enjoyable, insightful and digestible.
My second recommendation is a series called Schitt's Creek. It’s a hilarious comedy series by father and son duo Dan and Eugine Levy. The premise of the show is a wealthy family lose all of their money and worldly possessions and are forced to move to a tiny, off the beaten track town, called Schitt's Creek. As first they feel they have regressed into small town America, but in turn discover bigger hearts and minds than they could have ever wished for in their former lives. Although subtle, it has a very progressive attitude towards LGBTQ+ representation in TV and has been celebrated globally for its support of our community.
To clear my head:
I absolute love to paint. Pretty much any surface in my house that I can find. There is nothing better than a Saturday morning, with Oasis blasting, and a paint brush in my hand. Working in social I spent a huge amount of time online and so having an activity where I can truly switch off is so important to me.