Laura Shields Email & Phone Number

Europe (Based In Brussels)

We all have a story. I haven’t met a single company, organisation, nonprofit or charity who doesn’t have a story to tell. What I rarely meet is a leader or spokesperson who can express their message quickly, succinctly and confidently without specialist media training.Too much jargon, policy language or terminology with no familiar context to bank it against, a message that doesn’t translate or just plain waffle counts you out of the headlines you’re trying to capture. As an ex journalist – who spent years starting work in the middle of the night, I developed a love of coffee, a short attention span and a nose for quickly finding the message amongst the mountain of noise. It’s possible that you, like 99% of the people I work with, need help creating compelling, journalist-friendly messages in a language other than your native tongue. I appreciate the additional challenges this brings and I’m not only patient and compassionate, all of my work is bespoke I help you build headline grabbing messages and deliver them in a clear, compelling way so you’re credible in interviews and I teach you how to control them, so you don’t get tripped up by an over zealous journalist looking for that extra edge to their story.Media training is not just message building and interview technique – we can also work on your public speaking, video skills, presentations, radio and television Interviews; anything involving external communications delivery.During my 15 year media career I’ve developed a huge personal enthusiasm and considerable skill working within business, politics, science and development. If you think I might be the right message builder, presentation or media trainer for your organisation or (if you’re a PR firm) for one of your clients, please connect and message me here or email laura@redthreadeu.com

Europe (Based In Brussels)

I regularly chaired high level panels (both remote and in person) and act as event moderator for a variety of clients including the European Commission, the S&D Group in the European Parliament, CIDSE, Solidar, PlasticsEurope, CEFIC, Concord, Global Health Advocates, UNIFEM and BEUC.

Brussels, Brussels Region, Belgium

Maastricht Area, Netherlands

I am a visiting lecturer for Maastricht University's European Affairs programme. I periodically give lectures in which I teach M.A. students about the Brussels media and how to use it as a tool for influencing public policy.

Brussels, Brussels Region, Belgium

Brussels, Europe, Middle East

When I first moved to Brussels – and whilst I was building the Brussels office of the Media Coach, I continued to work (as a freelancer) for the BBC and Reuters TV. This was hugely valuable for helping me to get to grips with EU policy and how Brussels media worksA few of my highlights during this time include: I was the first journalist to interview Anders Fogh Rasmussen when he became NATO Secretary General; covering the major EU Heads of State Summits (both for Reuters and the BBC); being a senior member of the BBC team covering the 2009 European Elections TV Results; three months producing the The Record Europe, the BBC's only TV news programme dedicated to EU affairs; producing & reporting for Reuters TV including stories on EU Heads of State Summits, NATO & European politics, business & culture; and being a Columnist for Outsource Magazine

My favourite job – and my last big project before leaving BBC News was as a Senior Producer on the 2008 US Election TV results overnight coverage (Barack Obama got in). Most of my four years at BBC News was spent as a radio producer for World at One, Radio 4’s flagship news show and PM programmes. Every day saw me devising and producing highly analytical news sequences, which entailed sourcing and pre-interviewing guests – skills I still use today as a Media TrainerAs the economics and business specialist in the BBC’s Research Unit I researched and wrote original news briefings on global economics, energy policy and international trade and development. I also organised and chaired seminars and wrote for the BBC website

As a writer and producer, I wrote the daily editorials for CNBC’s flagship European business news programme, Squawkbox. I also produced and wrote for live European news and business programmes, features and specials

My father was a banker. He is also American. On September 11 2001 he was working in New York when the Twin Towers were hit. I was travelling in Brazil. It took five days for the news to reach me, but when it did I became addicted to watching rolling broadcasts, particularly on CNN. I’m grateful to report my Dad was fineFor me, the experience was life changing. It’s what turned me into a news junkie and I joined CNN as an Intern. I’ve never looked back…