Emily Lewis-Dunn | Clear Channel
I am 24 years old and come from Marple, a small town, on the edge of Greater Manchester. I attended Marple Hall School and later went on to read American Studies at Sussex University with a year in the US at George Washington University in Washington DC. The year abroad was undoubtedly quite life changing; on a personal level I became a lot more spontaneous and self-determined. During that year I attended a large civil rights demonstration, got involved in street volunteering helping, made loads of new and varied friends and travelled round the country on planes, trains (well, mainly greyhound buses!) and automobiles....all on a shoe string! I went with a 20kg suitcase and I returned with a 20kg suitcase!
On a wider level, I became more interested in global issues, especially those affecting inequality of opportunity and I became particularly interested in the history of the civil rights movement and the role of women within it. When I returned to Sussex I did my dissertation on 'The Identity Politics of African American Women and the Rise and Fall of Black is Beautiful 1968-2013’.
Like a lot of my contemporaries, I spent my first year after graduating struggling to find a full-time position; I worked part-time in a cafe and a bakery and then later I was lucky enough to work on a short term project as the archive researcher for a documentary film called 'Hustlers Convention'. The film tells the story of the making of the seminal album; Hustlers Convention and the life of Jalal Nuriddin, its creator; his place in history of the civil rights movement, as one of The Last Poets and as 'the grandfather of rap'. Towards the end of this project and as a finale, I went down to London to help film an event at the Jazz Cafe in Camden where Jalal recited extracts from the album.
It was whilst I was down in London that I took the opportunity to do some job hunting. It was hard to know where to start, I hadn't done a vocational degree but I had various skills (and interests) which I knew would be transferable and I wanted to be as open minded as possible. I met a great recruitment agent who said she thought I might be suited to a role in Outdoor Advertising. I didn't really know what that was but within a couple of weeks (and two interviews later) I had quit my part-time jobs and was about to head down to London - Dick Whittington style - to start work at Clear Channel!
In my present role as a media executive at Clear Channel, I assist the agency and trading teams in all aspects of their day-to-day work; this covers a broad spectrum of work and can include anything from attending meetings with agencies and other specialists in the field to creating targeted quick pitches to sell short term deals. Throughout school and university I was actively involved in many theatre productions and so I suppose the chance to do presentations brings out the performer in me! Clear Channel really encourage employees to think of new ideas, or develop old ideas, to help the business and this is something I particularly like; I think it helps foster creativity and promotes a real team spirit. As part of this process, I have been writing a weekly newsletter, which is a summary of clients advertising in the Press. I have really enjoyed writing and collating the info for the newsletter - so much so that I can regularly be found at my desk at 7.30am surrounded by a mass of news clippings - I think this is something that would surprise, and even shock, my former student self! I really love working with the team at Clear Channel, we often go out on client events in the evenings but, in spite of this, we're perfectly happy to socialise outside of work as well.
At my first interview at Clear Channel, I remember I was asked what drives me and then, as now, I think I would have to say that there are a number of things that spur me on. Work is a large part of most people's life, I think the more you throw yourself into a task, the more you'll enjoy it, so the happier and more exciting your life will be. I also want to be known as someone who does a first class job and is well liked. I think people often assume that the way to the top is through aggression and self centeredness and I hope I can show people that you can get there by being a decent person. Finally, money is obviously a factor because it opens doors to new life experiences and opportunities and it means you can help your family however, It certainly isn't my main focus.
I think if I was to have a careers chat with my younger self, I would say 'Always be open to new ideas, try to say 'yes' as often as possible, you will open up opportunities and have a lot of fun in the process - and finally 'be nice''.
Gloria Lombardi | Simply-Communicate
Gloria Lombardi is the Editor, Reporter and Community Manager of simply-communicate, and Co-Chair of SMiLE London.
Gloria’s responsibilities combine researching, writing, and publishing content on internal communications, employee engagement, leadership, social business and the future of work. She curates the publication of the weekly magazine and manages the on-line community of internal communicators throughout all the publisher’s digital channels. She frequently interviews companies and professionals in the field, writes case studies, products and book reviews, and report from internal communications and social business events.
She works on Social Media inside the Large Enterprise (SMiLE), developing products and presenting on issues around introducing Social Media in the Large Enterprise.
Gloria is co-author of the new edition of ‘Exploring Internal Communication. Towards Informed Employee Voice’ edited by Kevin Ruck, with a Chapter on ‘Social media inside the Enterprise’.
Gloria’s keen interest in the relationship between social technologies, employee communications, and the future of work is also reflected in her writing on Marginalia on Engagement, her personal blog.
You can find her on Twitter at @LOMBARDI_GLORIA
Jessica Gioglio | Sprinklr
Jessica Gioglio is the Head of Content Lab at Sprinklr and co-author of, “The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand.” As Head of Content Lab for Sprinklr, Jessica oversees a global team of social media content strategists and designers who help companies develop meaningful experiences and engagement opportunities with their target consumers.
Prior to Sprinklr, Jessica lead social media for Dunkin’ Donuts, where she lead the development and transformation of the company’s social media strategy. From developing innovative social media campaigns, to live tweeting from a Hollywood Red Carpet and managing high-profile partnerships, her work resulted in numerous industry awards.
Jessica launched her career in 2005 at Comcast, where she learned the value and power of social media customer service. Following a successful time at State Street where she managed 14 global agencies, Jessica joined TripAdvisor as the company launched their social media program.
A recognized thought leader and sought after speaker, Jessica was named one of the top women who rocked social media in 2014 and 2013. She also frequently contributes to industry publications, such as the Convince&Convert blog.
Jessica is now based in London. She holds a bachelor of science in marketing from Bentley University, with a minor in public relations.
Angela Payne ǀ Reuters
Angela is a Senior Media Account Manager at Reuters News Agency, based in London with 8 years of experience within the B2B media market. Her regions cover the UK, Ireland, Israel and the Palestinian territories and she specializes in business development and retention. Targeting challenges or redundancies in a client's workflow she advises editorial and executive teams across the broadcast, print and digital media market on optimisation of their multimedia content requirements and implementation of these.
Although she does not have a working knowledge of Hebrew or Arabic, she has been able to develop a strong reputation in the region through adapting to different business and cultural protocols of the Middle East, fortifying customer relationships and surpassing all previous growth achieved.
Angela has been an ambassador for a new vertical in the media business progressing ‘Content Marketing’ solutions by taking a pan-enterprise and collaborative approach across Thomson Reuters, focusing on customer needs and delivering product excellence for the wider marketplace.
Angela holds a strong belief in communication and teamwork, supporting one another and recognising individual strengths to drive the best results for her clients and business. This is not only illustrative in her professional career but outside of this in the community which she has been active in throughout her life. Notable achievements include:
- instigating a Women's Aid charity event in Canary Wharf to celebrate 'Success in the City' with 350 business professionals, raising £25k and,
- organizing a WW1 Centenary event for a city and media community based on ‘Women on the Homefront’ and ‘Britain's Black Poppies.’
Nicola Crowther | BBC
Nicola has a proven track record of developing, delivering and managing successful corporate social responsibility activities, events and campaigns throughout her career. With extensive experience of working with business partners, local communities and third sector organisations she is passionate about delivering top quality initiatives that bring positive change to those involved.
Nicola’s current role at the BBC involves designing, planning and producing high-profile events to attract a more diverse workforce to technical roles within BBC Digital. To date this has included two successful Women in Tech events, a People with Disabilities in Tech conference, autism awareness and unconscious bias sessions for staff and further events in the pipeline include a Make an App day for girls and disability confidence training for hiring managers.
Prior to joining BBC Digital Nicola was responsible for overseeing and managing the BBC national employee volunteering scheme within BBC Outreach along with leading on the community affairs work at MediaCity in Salford. This involved creating mutually-beneficial partnerships with other BBC departments and editorial teams and delivering a range of original, high-quality and successful audience-focused events.
Before joining the BBC Nicola worked at The Manufacturing Institute (TMI) where she set up the education liaison team for the TMI charity and created and led the ‘Make It’ campaign – a successful national STEM programme of events (the aim of which was to develop a pipeline of talent for the UK’s manufacturing and engineering industries).
As Make It Campaign Manager Nicola developed and led the campaign from concept through to an initiative that successfully won significant public funding and was cited as an example of best practice in a House of Commons debate (www.makeit.org.uk). Other key achievements included recruiting twenty-five corporate sponsors and supporters including Rolls Royce, Premier Foods, BAE Systems, Sellafield, Robert Wiseman Dairies and Jaguar Land Rover; delivering a range of imaginative and engaging Make It events for over 60,000 young people from hundreds of schools and colleges and creating volunteering opportunities for over 1000 employees from shop floor operatives to managing directors.
With two small children at home Nicola doesn’t have a great deal of spare time but when she does get a few minutes to herself she likes to head to the gym (well, either that or curl up on the sofa with a large box of chocolates and the remote control!).
Gemma Guise | Journolink
Managing director of Journolink, founder of Primedia Solutions, CEO of disguisepr and part time personal trainer.
I'm passionate about all the businesses I am involved with and look forward every day to expanding each of them.
I am driven and focused in everything I do, I love being able to interact with people on a daily basis. Apparently it's one of my great skill sets...'talking'
I have learnt a huge amount in every business I have started. I have worked what my weak areas are and I have employed staff accordingly.
Outside of my work life I like to be gyming or running, I'm also a health nut when it comes to food and I always have my head buried in a healthy recipe book.
My true love though is.....shoes :)
Emma Al-Munshi | Kruger Cowne
Moving from the Middle East to the UK at a very young age and having experienced adversity growing up, Emma channelled those experiences into her professional work. Moving swiftly up the ranks of the firm FinanceInterns, Emma's passion for spreading the message of equality for all young people saw her play a proactive role in opening doors to many students wishing to gain a foot on the finance career ladder.
Excited to further develop her communications, media and PR skill set , she was soon taken under the wing of entrepreneur and PR expert, Jessica Huie MBE. As part of JHPR, Emma worked on a range of clients; from personalities, to corporates, to brands, pushing the stories of inspirational businesses and their successful founders out into the public domain. She was involved in high profile projects such as Band Aid 30, and plays an integral role in leading talent management agency Kruger Cowne's Rising Star Programme. An initiative that lends a voice to young people, her work with this campaign has seen her champion young leaders and strive for a platform for the youth to engage in discussion around some of the world's most pressing issues.
Angela Garry | Pica Aurum
With over 22,000 first-level contacts on business networking site LinkedIn – and a three-level network extending to more than 36 million – Angela Garry is the most connected person in the world with the job titles of ‘personal assistant’ and ‘PA trainer’.
Angela is a fully qualified teacher with a BSc(Ed) and QTS from the University of Exeter, and has worked in administrative roles in England and Ireland since 1991, with 18 years of this in personal assistant roles. She has worked in two global banks, three universities, a sixth-form college, a water and sewerage utility, an engineering consultancy, an international seaport, a government-sponsored employment training company and an executive search company, plus her most recent role for over five years as the Principal’s PA at a brand new academy for 11–19 year olds in Nottingham, England.
Shortlisted for both the UK Head teachers’ PA of the Year and The Times/Hays PA of the Year awards in 2011, Angela has combined her teaching and PA skills to quickly become a renowned trainer, and is now a leading expert in educational administration training.
Angela has been delivering highly successful training and networking events and seminars for PAs since 2010 around the world – including the UK and Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and China – offering training courses to a variety of audiences in both the corporate and educational spheres.
Since 2012, she has been a leading educational administration trainer, creating and delivering training programmes specifically designed for educational PAs, and has worked with more than 350 Head teachers’ PAs and administrative staff from over 250 international schools and independent schools worldwide. To date, Angela has trained, coached, mentored, presented to and worked with more than 2,500 PAs, EAs, secretaries and administrators.
In April 2012, Angela created her training company, Pica Aurum, (Latin for ‘Golden Magpie’, hence the magpie in the company logo) with the aim of helping everybody find and reach their potential. Through Pica Aurum she offers training and mentoring worldwide, together with career coaching, life coaching, counselling and psychotherapy in her local area.
She is the owner, editor and writer-in-chief for NAHPA, the National Association of Head teachers’ PAs magazine – the UK’s leading publication for PAs and administrators working in education – and has also been a regular contributor to several other leading PA magazines, including Executive Secretary, PA Enterprise, PA Life and Executive PA.
Angela Garry is currently available for bookings worldwide.
Since "Brave PAs" came out in March I have also self-published my first therapeutic fiction book "Missing Mark" for children and young adults, and I'm almost finished on a fiction book "Sandy the Draycott Scarecrow". I'm planning on these being part of a series of at least 15 books under my own PICA BOOKS branding, with a range of topics and guest authors - some books being purely fictional for fun and learning, and others having an additional therapeutic element to help children with issues that are affecting them.
In addition, I'm halfway through writing the corporate / industry companion book to "Brave PAs", which is titled "The PA / EA Circus" - with the aim of publishing this summer.
NAHPA magazine's membership of PAs and admins in schools is growing, and plans are in place to launch UNIPA for PAs and admins working in Universities in early 2016.
I'm planning on being very active in the field of media and publications in the future!
Victoria Smith | My Little Black Book
She might have been brought up in the small village of Abbots Bromley, in Staffordshire, but Victoria Smith has big ambitions. A freelance writer in the process of launching her own copywriting agency, Content Content (‘happy words’), this creative entrepreneur is also the founder and editor of My Little Black Book – a digital magazine for the thinking woman.
Earmarked by Cosmopolitan as “one of the best online writers in the entire country”, Cambridge graduate Smith has a dual agenda: to elevate the female voice in an industry still biased towards male bylines, and to focus on real-life role models, rather than celebrities, in order to empower the everyday woman. Originally built in her bedroom and now read – and written – by women across the world, Smith’s site has scooped several awards and set her up as a sought-after millennial advocate, appearing on the likes of BBC Radio London to discuss attitudes towards women in the workplace and the under-representation of women in sport.
As well as being passionate about aspirational writing – feeling too many column inches are given over to vacuous celebrity stories – Smith also supports the next generation of female journalists, regularly speaking to sixth formers and offering students and budding wordsmiths a taste of what it takes to earn a living from editorial, as well as a chance to begin building a portfolio.
Tamara Leigh | IRIN
Tamara Leigh is a communications and advocacy consultant, who works with international aid agencies and the media to raise awareness on issues of humanitarian concern.
After graduating with a degree in Politics and Philosophy, Tamara moved to Nairobi in Kenya to work for the United Nations. Since then, she has worked with the International Red Cross in East Africa and South Sudan, with the International Rescue Committee in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She is currently based in London, working for the humanitarian news service, IRIN, supporting its transition from the UN into an independent media agency that delivers unique, authoritative and independent reporting from the frontlines of crises. She has recently published work on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the global migration crisis.