A mix of persistence and a bit of foresight got me where I am today.
When I left the University of Hull with a degree in Creative Music Technology, my plan was to be a music studio engineer. But even after doing some high-profile internships at a top music studio in London, I knew I couldn’t achieve my ambition as it involved continuing to live in London, something I couldn’t afford any more. Instead, I decided to take an MA in digital music at Bournemouth University. However, after being accepted, I made the hard decision to withdraw my application, as I’d been offered a studio assistant role at a creative marketing agency in Bournemouth.
In this role, I managed photos for the agency’s asset bank, tagging them and uploading them to their client’s website. I knew I hadn’t given up my MA to become a studio assistant, but I could see a career path – and I was determined to get on it.
Within six months I was promoted to a junior project manager in the agency’s digital team, where I looked after their email campaigns and helped with larger website builds.
After a couple years, I moved to London, to work at another marketing agency, where I helped lead email marketing strategies for a number of large clients.
A year later, I joined The River Group as a digital manager, looking after the company’s digital publications. Fast forward four years and my role has taken me down many different avenues. I am now responsible not only for the digital publications and digital strategy for our clients, but I can also explore my creative side, producing artwork for our digital campaigns, video editing, and directing and engineering podcasts for River’s clients.
Much like the days when I worked as a studio assistant, striving to climb the career ladder, I have found that as long as I can prove I can do work beyond my role, people will soon notice. Never settle and make do, but always push for what is truly you.