Pektron creates truly awesome electronics for some of the biggest brands in the world. A lot of what they do is hidden (behind a dashboard, a screen, in a protective housing that's been rigidly tested). The design, development, manufacturing, and testing facilities are first-class. Trading for 60 years and still going up, their investment in people, in facilities, and in Derby is truly inspiring. Pektron is not just a maker and seller of the highest-quality components, but a strategic partner to its customer base. Really exciting times for this company and I'm thrilled to be on board.

We Are What We Overcome is an Arts Council England-funded campaign taking mental health on the road and making it less clinical and more accessible through music and chat. My role involves operational management of project campaign, including branding and website development, promotional marketing, and social media. Developing communications strategy and managing relationships nationally with organisations, including the Samaritans, large employers such as Network Rail, and other mental health-specific targets to engage them with our outreach programme surrounding the touring theatre show, podcast, album, and book.

Engage Mobile helps optimise the use of mobile communications through omnichannel customer engagement on any channel WhatsApp, In-App, and ChatBots; A2P messaging, CPaaS and RCS. My role is strategic marketing, business development, branding, website development, PR, copywriting, and social media marketing. Starting this consultancy during the first Covid lockdown, the business continues to grow and innovate in the mobile messaging space. Also developing customer experience search tool www.aablar.com.

I helped businesses get to grips with the media, work out their marketing plan and make the most of all things online and social. I focused on actionable steps to move clients forward. Small steps, nothing scary. Good, honest advice.

At Seriously Connected, I developed and drove the marketing strategy, drilling down from lofty visions to make realistic, actionable plans that deliver results. Being there from practically day one of this start-up was fantastic. I used every ounce of my marketing knowledge to progress brand development, pricing strategies, productisation, service offering, web development, social media, networking, data collection, CRM, events, media and much more. In a short time, with a very limited budget, we have achieved a lot and I am proud to be part of the team.

Helped a range of businesses to grow through the practical application of the tools of marketing. I focused on “getting things done” with clarity, focus, realistic priorities and an action plan to make things happen. Technology, food innovation, small businesses, start-ups, I helped a variety of clients in a wide range of industries make the most of marketing.

Managed a strong, vibrant team of motivated PRs. My role was dedicated to getting our clients the best coverage with our creative campaigns and proactive journalist relations. Account strategy and direction, as well as new business lead generation and pitching, formed the basis of my activity. I directed all office activities including client accounts and contracts totalling £25k monthly fee income; IT and office management; landlord liaison; invoicing and supplier sourcing. Agency work never stands still and so staying on top of wide-ranging industry issues and coming up with creative ideas certainly keeps the cogs turning! Our job is to make your story a compelling one. We have the expertise and the tools to help make sure your business message resonates with its target audience, be they consumers, businesses, customers or prospects. We avoid specialising in any one industry. But we do specialise in winning coverage for businesses that do not currently have high profiles.

My role at Berkeley involved creating and deploying the right public relations campaign for each of our clients and overseeing the delivery of the programme. I planned client and team activity to maximise fee income and maintain account profitability. I prepared and delivered media training and messaging sessions; devised and implemented company communication campaigns; and generated new business opportunities through networking, writing proposals and pitching. I provided crisis management PR and first media defence contact for relevant clients; mainly within the internet industry.Internally, I led Creative Thinking Training, based on Edward de Bono's techniques, and boosted creative across the agency with my mentoring programme. I was responsible for staff training and development, appraisals, promotions and recruitment.Early days...I joined the Berkeley graduate programme in 2003 and quickly progressed to full account executive to handle media relations and client reporting for several business-to-business accounts. I was trained in: journalism; writing press releases, case studies, articles and feature pitches; presentation techniques, proofreading and creative lateral thinking; analysing and reporting press cuttings including recommendations for further coverage.I proactively ran feature programmes with 80 per cent of pitches placed and 100 per cent of case studies covered. I arranged press briefings, photo-calls and other client-led events; managed third-party suppliers such as photography, print, research, venues and catering; organised Company Quarterly Review Meetings (QRMs); negotiated and arranged hotels, travel, food, day and evening entertainment.

Reporting directly to the owners of the business in their roles as managing director and sales and marketing director, I helped drive strategic developments across the business in marketing, sales, manufacturing, warehousing, operations, new product development and customer services. I handled communication with the design agency and public relations company and was heavily involved in PR strategy and activities, including the design, development and launch of new products. I organised exhibitions and events; including Outdoors Show (NEC, March 2002), Europe’s largest outdoor trade show (Friedrichshafen, August 2002) and Go Outdoors (Harrogate, September 2002). I was also predominantly responsible for all business to business correspondence, implementing a CRM system (Maxim), coordinating targeted mailouts and liaising with suppliers of print-based material, including product packaging and company literature.I developed an efficient manufacturing control system, exporting information from Pegasus Opera into Microsoft Excel and produced an internal training programme for the factory manager and production assistant to take control of this system.