Emma joined the Purple Team at the beginning of October to take the reins of our Digital and Social Media offerings. Nearly 1 month in she’s settled in and it’s time for you to get to know her a bit better!
It’s been a hectic month settling into the Purple Studio but it’s flown by and I’ve loved every second! The team have made me feel welcome from the word go-equipping me with my own company notebook, adding me to the kitchen tea chart and organising a photoshoot so my face is plastered over the website just like everyone else’s! My path to Purple hasn’t exactly been a straight forward one so it’s safe to say I am extremely grateful for where I am now.
After leaving school I attended Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, leaving with A-Levels in Sociology, Photography and Media: Communication & Production-and no intention of going to University. I was set on a career in Photography but soon realised how competitive the industry was so opted for the University route. As results day rolled around I attained grades I never expected and accepted a place at The University of Lincoln on their Marketing and Advertising course. Full of excitement of leaving home I began gathering the usual student essentials-pots, pans and of course a bottle of vodka or two! However, a few weeks in I had established that the city-and the university-weren’t for me and The North was where I was gravitating back to. In the November I met with the course leader of Marketing Management at Northumbria University (aka my fairy godmother!) and secured myself a place for my final 3 years of study.
Second year flew by in a haze of making new friends and frantic essay writing. Before I knew it, I had applied and secured myself a year in industry with a global company on a management development scheme. The year was interesting to say the least, but I learnt everything it took to run a branch of the company and was also given the responsibility of managing our corporate accounts. This gave me a taste of account management which pointed me towards an agency-based role when I finally graduated a year later!
After a brief spell as a Marketing Executive for a national brand for the last few months of my degree (one word-stressful!) I graduated like thousands of others-unemployed.
After a well-earned week in Barcelona I started applying for jobs-Purple being top of my list having applied here for my Year 10 work experience at the age of 15! I dropped them an email introducing myself and was invited in for an informal chat with Sarah and met the rest of the team. Despite there being no roles with Purple at the time Sarah and I kept in touch until my new role came up a few months down the line. When it came to interview day there were no nerves to be seen. I joined the team for a morning and got stuck into some work, I felt completely at home!
Being new to the team of course I am keen to keen to impress but there really is no silly question in the office. Everyone is willing to step in to help each other out and the family style atmosphere in the office has really helped me settle in-I couldn’t imagine working in a huge corporate team now and I wouldn’t swap it! Over the coming months I can’t wait to get stuck in to helping grow our digital and social media offerings. I have loved learning about our clients and will be heading out to meet a lot of them in order to accurately convey their brand online to aid their business growth. Even from that first email back in May I have felt welcomed to the family and I can’t wait to develop my skills not just for myself but for Purple too!