I left my full-time job to focus on working independently, freeing up more time to work on my novels and select projects. During that time, I have written several novels for a variety of publishers, from HarperCollins to Random House. My books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world, and have reached the number one spots on Amazon and Kobo, plus the top 50 paperback chart in Germany. I'm currently crafting a brand new crime fiction trilogy for Bonnier Books, working remotely with my publishing team to bring my vision for this series to life. I leverage a wide array of creative communication and design skills to promote my books, from producing engaging videos that tease plotlines and develop character backstories to crafting compelling copy for social media posts. This involves using a variety of tools, from Canva to Photoshop. I also regularly engage with my online reader community, fostering a vibrant space on channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Substack, with the aim of enhancing the reader experience and building anticipation for each release.

I collaborate with the Curtis Brown Creative team, serving as both a moderator and mentor for writers in their online creative writing courses. My role involves overseeing forums and reviewing student work, providing guidance and support.

I worked with innovation consultancy &us to develop a social media plan and write search-optimised copy.

I played a key role in improving the academic reputation of The Open University through the strategic use of social media when communicating with students, prospective students, employees, academics and influencers. I did this through the development and delivery of social media campaigns to enhance the existing communications and marketing outputs of the OU. This included writing copy, producing and editing video and audio and designing visuals. I also played a key role in giving academic departments the working practices, skill sets and tools to deliver social media campaigns and use social media platforms.

I worked with Open University academics, core units, the BBC and external agencies to produce and promote a range of content for The Open University’s free learning website, OpenLearn.Notable achievements: - A twitter campaign I ran in the lead up to the 2010 General Election won an E-Learning Award for ‘best use of social media’. This campaign was developed to build engagement with potential learners and create buzz around OpenLearn’s political content. - I worked with faculties across the University to create an online hub of content in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics. The ‘Olympisize Me’ game I produced as part of this now consistently appears in OpenLearn’s top 10 most popular items and has attracted 250k unique views since launch.- I was asked to oversee topical content for OpenLearn, creating a schedule and building up a list of key academics to approach for content. The topical output on OpenLearn has since increased with topical content being produced by the whole team on a regular basis.- I volunteered to enhance our social media presence, giving weekly updates on social media mentions and running campaigns to create a buzz online.

I was taken on by The Open University to plan and produce editorial for a variety of publications including its student and alumni magazines. One of my key remits was to nurture a sense of community among students and alumni. This remit was built upon when I was asked to work on Platform, a website specifically developed to enhance the University’s academic, student and alumni communities.Notable achievements: - I set up a dedicated editorial board consisting of students and alumni to play a key role in Platform’s direction and enhance its user-generated content. - I developed a '15 weeks until COP15' content drive on Platform in the lead up to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.- I received two merit awards during my time in the Communications Unit.

I managed the editorial production of a portfolio of leisure and education publications. This included sourcing and writing features, interviews and more for all publications; ensuring the websites were regularly updated with fresh content and ideas; liaising with freelancers, designers and suppliers; managing budgets and attending events. In my time there I played an integral role in the launch of two websites, groupleisure.com and trips4schools.com. I also contributed to engaging the group travel community in a variety of activities.

I carried out freelance writing and PR for a variety of companies while preparing to study journalism. This included working on the Media Relations team at the RNID, helping to raise awareness around issues for the deaf and hard of hearing. I also worked with Emap Publishing to promote its online consumer magazines.

I was taken on by one of the UK’s leading communications agencies to enhance its web services and online media contacts for clients such as Working Title Films, SKA Films, Unilever and Mars. This involved working with web agencies to develop bespoke online PR projects for clients, developing relationships with key online journalists and setting up competitions and promotions.

I worked with the Fodor Wylie online PR division of Porter Novelli, writing press releases, copy and new business proposals for web clients such as DoubleClick and Vignette Corporation. I also developed web marketing campaigns.

I wrote copy for client websites and generated press coverage for this web design agency, which has since folded.