Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication (now BA (Hons) Communication Design and Strategy)
I was a really, really proactive student. My work was average, I was bang in the middle of the class, but in the time I wasn't doing work, I was concentrating on meeting as many people in the industry as possible – people that I still know today.
I put in the hard graft with agencies in Bournemouth and London really early on, over my first and second years. That’s what set me up to get into industry.
It wasn’t really networking – I hate networking – it was showing people what I could do and bringing ideas to the table. I just kept nagging and nagging and ultimately that’s what landed me the job at Thinking Juice.
I get excited when we do a shoot and then I see another brand mimic it a season or two later. For me, that’s a mini win, because we’ve influenced someone else’s behaviour and work. And then, the other part of success is to have a happy team.
We’re very people-focused at Thinking Juice, and for me, success is when you’ve got a mixture of people from all different walks of life, who can work together to produce something really impressive.
It’s a pretty bloody world out there. It’s so cut-throat. Agencies have to be successful because there’s always someone else around the corner. You have to keep finding new ways of impressing the client.
I perceive success through the eyes of the people I care about most, like my family. If they think I’m doing well, that’s success for me. You have mini wins at work but you can’t really be ‘successful’ – especially in the Creative Industries, because you can do one thing that’s amazing, and the next thing can be awful.
You’re only really as good as the last piece of work you do. You’re as successful as your current situation, but tomorrow that could change.
