Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role
I’m a 23 year old producer, studio manager and photographer from Manchester. Being creative, working alongside other people and working hard is something I love and have always been the most important things to me.
To start on my earlier years, it was always art-based classes that appealed to me the most and was what I really excelled in. Throughout education the creative side of me changed from drawing to photographing. I received my first camera at 14 and was inseparable from this throughout my teenage years. However it wasn’t just arts I tried hard at, I knew my core subjects were important too so I put in extra effort to get good grades in these.
I studied film and media in college and went on to choose a business-based course at University. The choice wasn’t easy but I had a theory that studying something more business based would guarantee me a job after graduating. I studied Advertising Management and Brand management and met friends for life on the course. It was a module on creating a 30 second commercial from concept to delivery that made me realise what I wanted to go into – the production, film making side of things.
Having no idea how to get where I wanted to be after graduating I decided to take 3 months away and work in America at a summer camp where I taught film and photography. It was an amazing experience where I learnt a lot about working closely with others, different cultures and myself.
I came home and took the first job I was offered at an integrated advertising agency in Preston. 3 months was enough in Preston and I soon returned to Manchester where I made some more contacts and landed myself the role as a freelancer junior project manager on a huge rebrand job at a creative agency. It was this job that really propelled my career. I was at the heart of working with freelancers I didn’t know existed on elements of a rebrand project I knew nothing about. I gave the job my everything and in the end the project was a huge success and I was offered a place, full time, at the creative agency as well as other job offers. I decided it was time to move on and took the opportunity of working for a production company. I was here for 6 months before being offered my current role at the studio.
I think it’s important to mention throughout education and my full time jobs I’ve spent most evenings and weekends for the last 5 years working as a photographer for some of Manchester’s biggest nights. When I started working at the studio I was resident photographer at Sankeys and Hidden. I was also working hard to build up a portfolio in portraiture and for bands too. Running my own photography business taught me a lot. From managing relationships, building business for myself, promoting my work, liaising on costs, working with brand owners who all had their own vision. Then there’s the technical and creative side of things such as working in difficult lighting conditions, directing individuals and large groups and testing out new lenses and editing software.
Photography will always be my creative outlet. It’s something I feel is mine no matter what job I’m working in.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
Not particularly but I knew I wanted a job that challenged me, allowed me to work in different places and wasn’t your average 9-5. Growing up I had my heart set on being many things – a painter, a special effects artist, a rockstar, a photographer (just to name a few). I remember the first time I discovered the behind the scenes part on a DVD I’d been bought. I was blown away by how many people it took to work on creating a film and how much of a dream job it seemed like!
I bought a book on producing when I was in my second year of university and this appealed to me way more than the typical account manager roles that my degree level course was more suited to. However one thing that was always clear was how inspired I felt when hearing or reading about successful entrepreneurial women.
Have you faced any challenges along the way and if so, how did you deal with them?
I’ve faced many different challenges throughout my different jobs and the way of dealing with them has been different depending on the circumstances. I’ve definitely learnt to handle problems much better than early on in my career. Not panicking and knowing there is always a solution is definitely my mind set now. Evaluating whether a problem is something that can be handled myself or whether it needs to be escalated to someone else I always feel is the first step.
On a typical workday, how does you start your day and how does it end?
I’ve always been quite a good morning person and recently I’ve been waking up at 5.30AM to fit in either yoga, swimming, running or cycling. It really helps to spend some time in the morning with myself. I find it gives me a clearer head for the day too. I’d be lying if I said I made it out of bed at this time every morning though.
My days at the studio can vary massively depending on what we have on. I like to get in before anyone else so I can get set up for the day and get anything important ticked and my day planned out. If there’s a shoot on I’ll meet with the producer and crew and be on hand to make sure they’re happy with everything they need in order to make their shoot run as smoothly as possible. If there isn’t a shoot on I’ll spend the day working alongside my team at the studio on projects. Sometimes we’ll be taking bookings, liaising with producers, clients, creatives or suppliers.
To give an example of how varied my day can be – I spent last Friday populating the studios website, updating social channels, checking in on an edit, liaising with set builders, briefing my team, ordering in lights for the next shoot and worked on booking Craig Charles for our launch party!
After work I’ll often work on personal photography related projects. I also have a lot of amazing friends I enjoy spending time with. I find it’s important to make time to hear about other people’s interests and projects to expand your knowledge and get out of your own head.
Tell us a little bit about your role and how did that come about?
I was offered the role of studio manager after making my interest in production quite clear. I guess my employees must have seen something in me to trust me running such a huge new venture they were about to take. I worked my socks off for the first 5 months getting the studio into a working order! Side by side with project managing the build and branding of the studio and essentially setting up a new business I was also producing content for one of our biggest clients. Late nights and early mornings were definitely the norm and still are!
Today my role is quite varied. I manage an in-house team at the studio, a dedicated team that I could not work without! They are all talented, passionate and hard working individuals that I feel privileged to be working alongside. We have a number of projects and clients we work with and deliver amazing content. I also manage bookings and I’m always on the look out for opportunities to grow the studio.
Have you ever had a mentor or a sponsor or anyone who has helped your career?
I’ve had 3 main people who’ve really stood out to me as key people though out my career, whether they know it or not…
My first was Clare Briscall, MD at A&P. She gave me my first job in the advertising world and really took me under her wing. She could probably tell how nervous I was but her kind caring presence put me at ease and I knew she wanted me to succeed. I was also totally inspired by how much of a strong, successful and beautiful person she was. She sat at the top of the company above 4 male directors. An inspiring female boss!
The second is Charlie Robertson, my mentor who I worked under in 2 different jobs. Charlie taught me so much and we worked on a really fast paced, intense and challenging project together. He taught me to keep calm and how to handle and liaise with every stake holder involved in a project. His years of experience came in so much use and he was never short of answers and solutions to the challenges we faced together. Charlie continued to be my rock in my next job, which he employed me into after initially working together on a freelance basis. I can still pick up the phone to him today and he’s happy to help and offer such valuable advice.
My third is my uncle who built his own company mentoring and motivating people in how to reach their full potential. He taught me the most important thing is your health, which helped put into perspective no matter how stressful or important a job is nothing is more important that keeping yourself healthy. This is something I’ve learnt to accept to be totally true! Keeping a healthy positive mind and body is key. You’re no good to anyone if you can’t think clearly or function properly.
If you could change one thing for women in the workplace, what would it be?
Equal pay would probably be the first one. Secondly it’d be respect. I can experience sexism on a regular basis working in my industry. There are a small number of people who see a young female and automatically think she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
I have every belief that these values will die out though as the younger generations haven’t been raised with the same values from society or their parents influence on gender roles.
When I experience problems in the workplace through being female it only makes me more determined to do twice as well!
If you were to look back in five years, what would you see in terms of your achievements?
The studio will be a total success! I’d have seen many projects come and go and turn out amazingly well. I’d have continued to grow the business and perhaps opened new venues.
I’d also personally be photographing on bigger jobs, whether this is shooting totally new things, working with a new team or working with new camera kit! There’ll always be room to grow and improve.
I’d also like to have mentored a handful of people myself.
Tell us about your plans for the future?
My aim is to get the studio into a place where we have work bursting out of us! To the point where we need to expand and buy more studio space and hire more people. We’re working in such an exciting time – the way we communicate is rapidly changing, the content we need to produce is adapting. The studio is the perfect playground to make all these things happen. We also have an amazing team behind the studio from directors, to VFX artists, to a content agency we work closely with. Our skill sets combined means we have a really unique offering, which has proved to deliver outstanding results. I hope we’ll be working with huge brands and worldwide clients.
I’ll be continuing to grow my photography too. I’m focusing more on brands, fashion and music rather than events. I’m building up a team of go to people who I work well with such as make up artists and people who can light. I’ve got some shoots lined up I’m really excited about!
On a personal note I’m planning on doing some charity work around Christmas with a charity in Africa I’ve been part of for the last few years. I think it’s really important to give back and helps keep your feet on the ground in terms of being thankful for what we have.
