A Day in the Life: Sarah Fleming

In my day job I...

I work for myself helping brands and businesses build integrated marketing and comms strategies by joining up creative thinking with data, planning and logic.

Someone once gave me some career advice I’ve never forgotten: focus on the thing you’re brilliant at and leave the rest to everyone else.

I had always had an innate ability to pull together the fragmented parts of a marketing strategy to tell one story, and whilst working agency side I saw so many clients struggle to join up creative thinking with media, data and the customer journey. I knew there was an opportunity to make a real difference, so took that advice on and set-up The Right + The Left!

Day-to-day I run workshops for client teams, build communication strategies for all sorts of businesses and help their leaders demonstrate the effectiveness of truly integrated thinking.

My role in Bloom North...

I oversee all things related to CRM from announcement emails for upcoming events to the monthly newsletter, managing the Connections database and everything in between.

Data is so important in helping us learn more about our audience and their needs to ensure our events, initiatives and support remain relevant and impactful. The other part of my role is helping the wider committee understand what the data is telling us so we can continuously improve the offer.

I got involved in Bloom because...

For 2 reasons:

I’ve been so lucky to benefit from initiatives, resources and mentorship from people throughout my career so far, I wanted to give something back. Having had a successful career ‘up north’, Bloom North felt like a great way to do that and support the creative and communications industries outside of London.

I have found working for myself so fulfilling but was really missing the connection you get from working in a team. Being involved in Bloom North has given me this in another guise – and a support network I have been so grateful for throughout the pandemic.

Recommendations:

Podcast: Top recommends include How I Made This, You’re Wrong About, Off Menu, How to Fail and Table Manners

Book: For something slightly philosophical – The Game of Life; a memoir – Greenlights; autobiography – Michelle Obama; fiction – Klara and the Sun and The Midnight Library.

TV Series: Succession, This Way Up

To clear my head: Exercise – and you never regret it afterwards. I’m a big runner and took up Pilates in lockdown which I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen is the most effective thing in the world.

I have also fully embraced slowing down – mainly due to lockdown: the impact having half an hour in the morning to just sit and be with a coffee, walk or journal before starting the day has amazed me. (And I was that person packing things in from 6.30am every day!).