Would you give me a job?
I thought I’d write a post here, this is for two reasons…
a) I don’t want to have another website, no one needs another website. Over the years I’ve had loads of websites, I’ve often started them with the best of intentions and then I’ve laughingly ended up referring to as ‘digital litter’.
b) I really don’t feel like LinkedIn does a very good job of representing me as a person rather than a corporate machine with a list of connections to other corporate machines.
About me
I have been working in digital media for over 17 years. Working in lots of different sectors in lots of different roles. Even now I’m not sure what you would call what it is I do. All this time I’ve been focusing on how humans interact with technology, the people at both ends of the process, the makers and the users. I started out in web design in the late nineties, moved on to e-learning and Flash development (don’t even start with me I’m Flash and I’m proud), team leadership, process management, and then digital marketing. I did a long stint in the mobile gaming market, specifically for Children’s Media. I was really relieved to discover that after a few years of working in a business with my husband Tim that what I was, had an actual name and that it was ‘Business Development’. This work then broadened out into multi-platform storytelling for all ages. Most recently I have been marketing physical products aimed at helping people find a way in to making things in the physical world that connect to things in the digital world.
I’ve done a good deal of public speaking at conferences in the UK and in France and on local radio and I’ve been an event organiser. I’ve used these as tactics for networking, self promotion and for promoting whatever I am working on at the time.
I’m currently obsessed by the idea that when I was at school thinking about what I might be when I grew up the Internet wasn’t yet a thing, let alone something you could build a career in. That my own children will be working in a world we can’t even imagine now, is a big driver for me, so I’m still a member of the Children’s Media Conference Advisory Committee even though I’m currently not working directly in what would be traditionally considered Children’s Media. I am part of the team bringing ‘Playground’ to Sheffield. It’s an interactive art exhibition for children, which I hope will inspire a new generation of digital creatives in the city.
My career highlight, so far, has to be working on a game that was recreated by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (in space!) and the fact it won a BAFTA was just the icing on the cake.
What I can do
- Creative Problem Solving (having ideas)
- Business Development (having ideas to help growth)
- Marketing, Planning and Strategy (having ideas, selling ideas, checking they’re any good, figuring out how to achieve them)
- Pitching (explaining ideas in a competitive setting)
- Managing and Motivating (bringing ideas to life)
- Networking (talking about how exciting ideas are, sometimes in bars)
- Public Speaking (explaining ideas using cat gifs)
- Eating biscuits (because all good ideas need biscuits)
What I can’t do
- Make anything other than viruses go ‘viral’.
- Type, well, I can, but — proof readers are my best friends.
- Make a decent cup of tea.
- Move away from Sheffield. We do have trains and the internet though.
- Quietly listen to privilege.
What I want to do
This bit is hard. Mainly I want to be happy. And mostly, work makes me happy. Mainly when I’m in control and can agree with the direction it’s taking. So I’m leaving it fluid for now. I’ll come back and edit this bit (maybe). At the moment I’d really like some project work. Freelance. Short term Contract. As either Business Development Consultant, Marketing Consultant or Interactive Media Producer.
Email me if you want to have a chat about my rates and availabilty. I’m going to try and avoid Recruitment Agencies as much as possible because in all this time I’ve yet to work with one that knew its arse from its elbow.
Er that’s it — Ta Da!
