As told to womeinagencies
Getting started into agency life has been by complete accident to be honest, but probably not so unsurprising once you know how I got here.
I always knew I needed to be doing something in the creative industry. I remember from such a young age writing stories, poems, making up songs, it all just seemed fairly natural to me so that followed through into my education which transpired into a media production and scriptwriting degree. I was unsure what I wanted to do but I knew that telling stories in whatever medium it turned out to be and the ability to just create something, brought me a lot of satisfaction.
Alongside my creative streak, my organisational, communication, planning skills (or soft skills as they’re referred to) have always been present and that’s because I was born with a rare medical condition called PKU (Phenylketinuria) which in short means my body can’t digest protein. There’s no cure for it but it can be managed effectively with medication and diet.
Growing up I was only allowed 7g of protein a day and if you think about that for a minute, it’s tricky to figure out how to have enough food to fill you, be diverse enough and nutritionally satisfying, not to mention the social aspect of it. So problem solving did and has become an everyday habit as well as being adaptable, forward thinking, researching, dealing with various people and being able to explain fairly complex concepts into tangible ideas, which has now all become pretty central to my career.
I was also formally diagnosed with dyslexia in my late teens but I always knew something was different in the way I was processing information. I can’t lie, dyslexia is a daily challenge which affects people in various ways. Spelling, reading and maths don’t come easy to me but it’s easier for me to grasp than others with the same condition. My memory recall however and my sense of direction is awful. Brain fog is a thing, not just a covid side effect. Of course heightened anxiety amongst many other things is all just part of the fun. But, just like I did with my PKU I learnt behaviours and disciplines that kept my organisation levels running at an optimum, basically project managing myself on a daily basis. These skillsets have now become so ingrained and I wouldn’t have necessarily achieved that without the condition.
I’m not just listing a series of complex challenges that I grew up with, but rather trying to explain that what these perceived negatives did, which is arm and develop me with a unique perspective, perfectly balancing my creative inquisitive nature and my multitasking wizardry, setting me onto a path to become a successful creative production strategist, well suited for agency life. So what has felt like a happy accident, was probably more inevitable than I ever thought and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world, it’s made me who I am today.
After university and earning my degree, I took on many different roles in the creative industry across TV, radio, theatre, social media, photography and some not so creative like retail customer services, and the world of car insurance. Trying to organise breakdown recovery services at 3am from my bath tub (the only place I could get a good phone signal) is a memory burnt into my brain, we’ve all been there, right?
All these stepping stones have led me to working in agencies, some bigger ones, and some smaller ones but all provided some helpful insights and takeaways along the way to help develop the knowledge I have today, which in turn, all contributes to the work I do now with MightyGiant.
MightyGiant is a lovely studio to work for with a small but mighty talented crew. They know their stuff and are curious enough to keep building their craft. It’s truly a pleasure working with them all, and encourages me to keep striving for the best ways to help them reach their potential.
Having had the opportunities to work with both bigger and smaller teams, I find smaller agencies suit me better. I can really get to know the team and find out what they’re interested in and what makes them tick and it also means that we’re encouraged to cover lots of different aspects of the creative process, that I wouldn’t necessarily get to do in a larger setup. It’s so nice for me to still be a part of those discussions and be able to contribute, I think that’s quite unique to this studio. We all have our roles in the team but collaboration is something we all thrive on.
We’ve worked on so many interesting projects over the years but there’s two stand out ones for me. The first being creating training modules for Regency Glass which meant producing over 260 videos combining 2D, 3D and character animation, with a crew flexing between 6 – 15 at any one time, creating a bespoke workflow and the project spanning over 18months. There were so many plates that needed spinning at any one time and some really testing times, but it’s as much a testament to the team as it was for me, to bring all of it together on time, on budget and for the client who is so thrilled that they keep coming back for more. I remember working long hours but also laughing a lot.
Another stand out project was working on Dreams. We created the animated faces which appeared on mattresses, for the Dreams campaign. This covered TVC, socials, marketing materials, internal comms and even a cuddly toy. This project was ambitious, a VP shoot, new clients and a short timescale but once again several learnings which pushed myself and the team out of comfort zones, but the end result was completely worth it, it’s one of the most accomplished pieces to date. Sometimes you have to take the educated risks to reap the rewards and for us, I think our team is stronger for it.
Agency life can be quite routine at times and then suddenly, everything changes and you have to adapt quickly and shake it all up. Part of my job is really to keep order and calm in the studio so we can act efficiently and effectively as and when changes happen, as they always do and it’d be boring if it didn’t. When I’m not in the nitty gritty of project management, I’ll be building processes and reviewing our strategy methods to ensure that we’re moving in the right direction. I have a high attention to detail and will scrutinise all aspects of production from new business development, to our team culture, company values and our production workflow because all of it contributes to how effective we can be, and will make the difference for a team that can thrive or not.
A typical day starts with a check in on the emails, picking up any vital information from clients that might impact production. All the team then go into a 10am stand up to review the day’s priorities, recap on work and production stages that were completed the day before. After that my day runs in tandem with our Creative Director and depending on the day we might have client calls to discuss, new or existing projects, we might work through internal reviews on varying work in progress, or I might be in more strategic business meetings with the senior team to discuss various topics on how best to improve our operations.
We try to keep the majority of our meetings in the morning so that we know that our afternoons will be free to concentrate solidly on creative production. And as our studio works on a hybrid setup of 3 days in office and 2 days working from home, I’m always working on our team culture, ensuring the work from home days still feel as collaborative as the office days and just as much fun.
Everyone’s journey into agency life is different, for me as a Producer I’ve found that working in lots of different roles has given me good grounding and insights into several creative processes, which has influenced the work I do today. So gaining a bit of life experience that among a few others is my top tip for navigating agency life. Try to take up the opportunities when they come to you and if it feels right for you.
Now and again say yes to the things that scare you, you never know what you might gain from doing it.
Don’t worry about asking for help or advice because everyone is still learning in some capacity. No one knows the answers to everything and if they do, they’re lying.
Clients are also just humans, don’t be afraid to talk to them. And if you’re a woman in an agency where females are few then keep going, keep voicing your opinions, don’t be intimidated because your contribution is important.