PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL
About me
I am a journalist, editor, writer and creative with 25 years of experience in print and digital. I have created magazines, web content, videos and podcasts.
I am a digital marketer and content strategist. I have worked with B2B and B2C brands, member organisations and newsstand publications.
I am a manager, team leader and mentor, helping individuals get the most from their roles so that organisations get the most from their people.
MY CAREER
UPDATE & GRATIS
I started my career when post-university work experience at CMU (The Update) became a proper job. I was writing reviews and features and interviewing bands.
The role also included writing for sister publication, Gratis.
2001
2002
NUS ENTS
The company that owned The Update also ran the NUS Ents magazine and website. I was drafted in to write the music and movies content for both.
B4BEATS
The publisher of The Update and I started a free magazine called B4Beats.
It aimed to inject a little fun into the stuffy elitist underground music press, while covering 'quality' cross-over music, from indie to dance.
2003
2004
CLICKMUSIC & DARKER THAN BLUE
I became the editor of music website, Clickmusic.com. Here I reviewed albums and gigs, interviewed bands. I also launched ClickTV - one of the first 'web TV' channels, interviewing the likes of Amy Winehouse and Funeral For A Friend.
The company acquired DarkerThanBlue.com and I became its editor, reviewing and interviewing urban artists from the US and UK.
My Chemical Romance interview with Bob Bryar and Ray Toro at the Islington Academy
Towers of London interview - backstage at The Underworld
Hundred Reasons interview at their studio somewhere on the District Line.
METAL HAMMER
I started my long career at Metal Hammer as the online editor in mid-2005.
I continued to review albums, interview bands and write features and was responsible for the upkeep of the website.
I also started travelling internationally to cover artists, including trips to the USA and Scandinavia.
2005
Interviewing Slipknot's Corey Taylor as he visited Birmingham tattooist Jo Harrison for his Les Miserables-themed back tat.
An example of the montage videos I made for HammerTV. I would ask the same eight questions to as many bands as I could and then edit all the answers together.
2006
METAL HAMMER TV
I hadn't been at Hammer long before I launched HammerTV. The company bought a DV camera and off I went.
As well as long-form interviews with bands, I would create fun montage-style videos based on a dozen interviews from the large festivals.
I interviewed and filmed bands from HIM to Cradle of Filth.
Alexisonfire discuss their album Young Cardinals
Trivium's Matt Heafy fields some mean questions from readers
I played Ke$ha a load of metal songs. Here's what she said about them...
THE GOLDEN GODS
Metal Hammer hosted an annual awards show, the Golden Gods. We created an hour-long special for Sky Arts and covermount DVD.
While I was a bad presenter (sorry, 2006) I was good behind the camera and in the editing suite. I scripted the show and worked with presenter Christian Stevenson to interview bands on the read carpet. I also worked with the production company to oversee the final edit.
2007
I worked at the Golden Gods even after I'd left, supporting Christian Stevenson as he worked the performances and red carpet. This video is form 2013.
After two years we started to film the recording of the podcast and publish the videos to YouTube.
2009
THE METAL HAMMER PODCAST
New media platoforms were exploding - from social media to podcasts - and I wanted to explore the latter for Hammer.
What started as a very basic 30-minute rock news discussion between two people, became an hour-long show with interviews, guests and a jingle by Skindred.
As well as co-presenting, I would structure the show, script sponsor messages, organise guests, edit and publish each episode.
I recorded more than 160 episodes during my six years at Hammer.
PEOPLE I INTERVIEWED WHILE AT METAL HAMMER
Classic Rock et al
Metal Hammer's publisher, Future, produced nearly a hundred magazines and so I got the chance to writer for Classic Rock, TechRadar and Total Guitar.
I wrote a lot for Classic Rock in particular, including interviews with The Doors' Ray Manzarak, Juliette Lewis and Guns'N'Roses' Slash - which was the main interview for the special edition of his solo album.
2010
A short interview with London ska-influenced indie band, The Ludes
'The Slash pack' which featured my interview in print and on the DVD.
My cover feature interview with Slash.
141k monthly downloads
Our show on NME Radio
Nearly 100 bands interviewed
2011
THE METAL HAMMER TOOLKIT
By the time I left, I was delivering:
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HammerTV content
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The Metal Hammer Podcast weekly
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The Incoming and News sections of the magazine
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The monthly covermount CD
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Web content
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Guest radio shows for NME Radio
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Training of new online staff
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Golden God Awards MTV2 show Assistant Director/writer/editing assistant
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Implemented social media
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TV/Radio presenter: MHTV, RockWorldTV, TotalRock, NME Radio, Xfm
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Website redesign in 2008
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I also created and ran a co-promotional tour (4 bands, 4 venues)
ARCHANT DIALOGUE
In 2012, I moved from London to my hometown of Norwich. Here, I became an editor of magazines at Archant's content agency, Archant Dialogue.
It was my first agency experience and I learned a lot about marketing, P&Ls, pitching and clients.
It was at Dialogue that I worked with brand including Harley-Davidson and Rolls Royce, creating content for marketing campaigns.
2012
2013
CREATIVE CONTENT
As editor of various magazines, I worked with clients to inject creativity and beauty and excitement into their magazines.
It was great to work with talented designers, photographers and illustrators to help ideas come to life.
It was great to receive positive feedback from clients whose publications had often grown dusty and staid - as well as their readers. With the buy-in and trust of the client there wasn't a title we couldn't reinvigorate, from the BMF's Motorcyle Rider to the CPSA's Pull! and even The Oxford Historian for the Oxford University History Faculty.
I frequently worked with the amazing photographer Paul Bayfield to direct shoots that allowed for creative internal pages, as well as covers.
ABOVE AND BEYOND
A key part of the roll involved understanding the audience, and due to the nature of our clients, we were frequently able to involve them in the creative process, finding out what they liked and often making them the stars of the show.
It was great to get involved in all aspects of the creative process, for example when we hung out the back of my old Saab to shoot motorcyclist Dominic Castle as he road-tested a Royal Enfield at the Old Buckenham airfield...
2014
2015
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
It was during my time at Dialogue that I developed my passion for thought leadership - exploring new ideas in a given sector and speaking to innovators and subject-matter experts to bring cutting-edge content to audiences.
I spoke to veterans of sport about their predictions for the future, I spoke to artists about their process and even the editor of National Geographic about the survival of 'wonder' in the internet age.
The example, left, is an article I created for Rolls Royce, exploring the unique qualities of the colour black in art. The article was one of a series to mark the launch of their new range and involved interviews with a number of internationally renowned artists and creatives.
FURTHER DIGITAL MARKETING
In 2016 Further Digital Marketing (now Gravity Global) invited me to join them as their Head of Content Marketing and build the Content Team. It was a big leap from 'contract publishing' into digital marketing and agency-land proper, but I learned a massive amount from my ever-supportive colleagues.
The team quickly grew from just myself and when I left in 2021, we were seven-strong. Building and supporting my team to deliver great content and campaigns for our clients is one of my proudest achievements and I remain in touch with many of them.
Further also had lots of great clients and I loved working with their teams on the content strategies, campaigns and assets.
2016
2017
IN RUDE HEALTH
One of our key clients was Aetna International - an international health care provider and insurer. I worked with their team to develop their content strategy as well as dozens of articles and flagship campaigns - including video and podcasts.
the client's objective was to use content to drive leads and with new tracking abilities, we were able to report on the growth in leads from content over a 120-day period. Through regular reporting, we watched the 'assisted leads' grow over my five years on the account.
STRATEGY
At Further I really got to build my strategic skills. I developed a framework for creating data-led content strategies, using skills and expertise from across the agency, from data to SEO to design. Many brands approached us for strategy only, but I was lucky enough to work with a number of brands to deliver their content strategies, including delivering thought leadership, SEO, email, video, podcasts and social media.
Most gratifying was seeing the results of our labour in the wild: video views, growth in social channel audiences, email subscriptions and, ultimately leads/sales.
2018
Examples from the 2019 Aetna International Content Strategy
2019
CREATIVE CONTENT
Cutting through the noise is a challenge but I enjoyed creating content that would grab attention in busy social feeds and email inboxes.
This often meant fun, irreverent and innovative campaign ideas with dynamic design elements, from interviews to infographics to video.
I would work with our designer to create interesting graphic concepts that would pique people's interest and help them digest the information and messaging.
For example, we created an infographic (left) for AVG Business. It showed employees that there were multiple ways for hackers to infiltrate business systems. The graphic spelt the word 'threat' and each letter was an isometric office that showed how hackers could enter business systems, from emails to staff, websites to wifi.
The graphic was hosted on the site and promoted across email and social, earning a number of links that helped AVG Business's domain authority.
VIDEO
I also expanded my video skills, creating video-led campaign concepts for brands, helping them to inform and persuade. In addition to initial concepts, I would often script, storyboard and work with videographers to direct.
Collaborating closely with clients we had some fantastic results - from the videos themselves to marketing stats.
You can watch examples of my video campaigns below.
2020
We created a pop-up garden in the centre of Norwich for Blooming Artificial. Watch the video below.
Aetna International President explains virtual health
People react to a pop-up garden in Norwich city centre
Technical Foam Services' boss explains that 'foam is boring'
2021
ONEAGENCY
As Head of Content marketing at OneAgency, I was able to work on a new stable of clients. I worked with brands like Kawasaki Engines, Sika and Lyreco to deliver content strategies, video, SEO content and thought leadership campaigns.
One great example of a highly successful campaign which involved my creative campaign idea and the amazing work of our illustrator/animator, was a campaign for the Norwich County Council. The NCC wanted to encourage NEETS (not in education, employment, or training) to apply for courses. You can see the video (left) and we were very happy that the campaign had an amazing engagement rate.
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR WRITING
I loved my time at the National Centre for Writing. Here I was able to turbo-charge the charity's content and use their existing podcast to help drive sales of their creative writing courses. I hosted the podcast and focused on specific advice for hobby writers and interviewing course tutors to deliver skills and knowledge. I also developed a brand and messaging strategy for the courses, including developing its own sub-brand, The NCW Academy.
In only six months we could see that the podcast strategy was working and that the advice-based podcasts always outperformed all other types.
2022
NCW PODCAST INTERVIEWEES
Read my interview with veteran Jamie Hull to hear about how we defeated death and how King Edward VII's Hospital helped him manage his pain.
2023
SELESTI
I joined Selesti as Content Marketing director in January 2023. Here I deliver a range of content and content services including content strategy, SEO, thought leadership, case studies and podcast. Sectors include healthcare (my favourite), education, business services and manufacturing.
I also delivere training to internal and external teams on a range of topics, from interviewing and writing to strategy development.
Through clients such as King Edward VII's Hospital I was able to indulge my love of interviewing. To date, I have delivered some five interviews with veterans who the hospital's charity has helped to access healthcare and pain management.
The role has also seen the expansion of my skills into web building using no-code platforms such as Hubspot.
GOING PUBLIC
In 2024 I worked with more and more organisations to deliver training, whether in the form of 1-2-1s or group presentations.
This has included working with the UEA and City College Norwich as well as Norwich SEO agency Candour, startup consultancy Robot Mascot and King EdwardVII's Hospital.
This has been some of the most rewarding work I have ever done and will no doubt continue to shape my career.
2024
Watch my presentation on how marketing professionals can use storytelling devices to improve their communications.
A few facts about me
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I have self-published three books: one novel and two collections of novellettes.
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I have performed five minutes of stand-up comedy in London on six occasions. I also did five minutes at Sonisphere Knebworth in 2011 (supporting Metallica...).
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I have visited 33 countries including Costa Rica, Nicaragua, USA, Canada, Guatemala, Belize, Cuba, Chile, Bolivia, Morrocco, Tunisia, Spain (and Gibraltar), Egypt, Austria, France, Ireland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Slovakia, India, Portugal, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Mexico, Scotland and Wales.
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I make housey and other electronic music on a £6.95 Andriod app under the moniker, Double Maths.
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I have DJed all over the UK and once supported Jody Wisternoff at ULU (2001).
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I was in a band called The Headless Prom Queens and played at London’s Borderline amongst other venues.
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I used to read the rock news on Ian Camfield's The XFM Rock Show on Friday nights.
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I was shortlisted at the London heats of the Air Guitar Championship 2008.
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I played squash for my school.
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I appeared in a short art-house film called The Window when I was 12.
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I joined rock band Zico Chain on stage as second guitarist for one song in London in 2009.
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I am an extra in the 2007 unreleased movie Hippie Hippie Shake - starring Cillian Murphy, Chris O'Dowd, Sienna Miller and Derek Jacobi.
