Category: Industry Voices

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I was obsessed reading Vogue when I was 14, but quickly realised I didn’t have the artistic skill to make it as a designer, so I decided to give writing ago, and even after my interest in fashion faded, I stayed fascinated by how magazines worked.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

I started out working on a small university online magazine as the “What’s on” Editor. I was studying History at St. Andrews and clueless about how to make the move to a professional magazine, so I applied to City, University of London and got in.

I got really into finding and writing up interesting case studies at City, so when one of the alumni got in touch about a job as a Junior Feature Writer at TI-Media in the Real Life hub, I jumped at the chance.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

My office is pretty chill so as long as you’re not in your PJ's your fine, but I tend to stick to a skirt and cosy jumper.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

Chocolate buttons! You know it’s bad when you get to end of the bag and still have 200 words to go.

What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

Umm…probably trying to sympathise with someone who was attacked by a cow.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

That all the stories we write are actually true.

Walk me through your typical day.

It’s a lot of setting up phone interviews, we deal with a lot of sensitive material, so I’ll spend a little while prepping interviews, and we have to churn out at least 1200 words a day. So I’m Kept very busy.

If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

I’d catch up on ALL pop culture (and read a book a day).

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

A photo of my Christmas tree, I was really proud of my Frida Kahlo angel.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Lifestyle and DIY blogs, though I can barely use a hammer.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Aidan Turner.

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Anything my best friend Arielle says after a gin and tonic.

What/where is your happy place?

Picturehouse Central.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

I used to go to belly dancing classes.

What would be in your Room 101?

Spiders and disappointing food.

Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert.

Optimist or pessimist?

Depends on the day.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Television, Sex Education.

Sweet or savoury?

A bit of both?

Morning person or night owl?

I thrive in the middle of the day, neither are my friend.

Tea or coffee?

Tea.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

Urgh, unless it’s the fairy or wizard!

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I’d wanted to be a writer for a long time, but for working in journalism and magazines specifically, I’d say it was the chance to tell human stories—they are the best way of exploring complex topics. Interviewing interesting people is the best part of journalism for me.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

I’m still in the early days of my career, but student journalism was a great way to get a sense of whether I’d enjoy the work — I helped edit the film section of Bristol’s student newspaper. After that, the Magazine MA at City University was brilliant for giving a broad and solid base of skills from media law to news reporting, as well as building belief in my own capabilities. I’d wanted to work at The Economist for a long time, so was determined to be involved when the opportunity to join their social media team came up.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

Yes—it’s usually just a shirt with black jeans.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

Always coffee.

What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

Having Jordan Peterson walk into my work kitchen, or travelling to Scotland to meet deep sea divers.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

The collegiate atmosphere of The Economist would probably be surprising. The various section editors and writers are open to hearing out ideas, and an article is often the work of multiple people’s inputs. If you have a particular knowledge of an issue, whether that be the economics of chickens or transgender rights, you’re encouraged to speak with the relevant writers and authors. While other publications do this, I think The Economist is a more extreme example of this principle in practice—partly because of the fact there are usually no bylines in our print edition.

Walk me through your typical day.

It depends on which projects I’m working on at the time. I have regular responsibilities, in editing the content on our LinkedIn page and posting our journalism on LINE, a messaging app popular in Asia. With the rest of my time, I write push notifications, create digital projects like this one to engage our audience on social media, and sometimes edit and write social videos or Instagram stories. Thursdays and Fridays are similar every week — the print edition is published online, so I spend those days reading through our articles, especially the business and finance sections, writing and scheduling copy to promote our journalism in the week ahead on social media. I also sometimes have time to write articles, though most of this is done on weekends or in the evenings.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

It’s great to know that there is an organisation to connect and support magazine journalists, and a way to meet different people from the industry. Many of the events I’ve been to have been fantastic, too, such as a Q&A with Dylan Jones.

If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

Reading more, or learning how to actually produce music.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

Snowboarding in the Swiss Alps — I took a trip with my family over the holidays.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Predictably, Love Island.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Scott Mescudi.

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

In journalism, I think one thing to avoid is the feeling that you have to write the perfect story first time round, even if you’ll work as hard as possible to do so. You have to be comfortable with being edited, so being able to listen to feedback and not taking it personally is important.

What/where is your happy place?

Zion National Park in Utah, and the Angel’s Landing hike there.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

I’m eligible for a Canadian passport, which I’ll try to get before March 29th.

What would be in your Room 101?

The tube.

Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert for the most part, but it varies.

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimist.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Film – I’m terrible at keeping up with the big TV series, but one I have been binge-watching is The Defiant Ones, a documentary about Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury.

Morning person or night owl?

Slowly becoming more of a morning person.

Tea or coffee?

Both, but I drink more coffee.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

I don’t really send them, but WhatsApp tells me it’s: Call me emoji at the moment.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

Oh, I always did. You know some people dream of being like a film star or a pop singer or something like that? I always wanted to do magazines, which sounds like a twee and contrived answer, but I actually have physical proof because when I was at school, I did my own computer magazine. I think I did about five or six issues of it and it was great.

I just love writing and always loved magazines.

There’s a thing that I think Stephen Fry said which is, "Beware when you get your life ambition young" and my life ambition was to work at a magazine, and I was editing a magazine in my early 20's. I was just like, "Oh, this is great, this is terrific" and I learned on the job doing it. I was never trained or anything like that. I just made honest mistakes in plain sight and learned from them.

A boring path in its own way, but a fun one.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

Oh, crikey. Well it's been bumpy. So, my first job post-graduation (I was writing all the way through university), I worked in the marketing office of Edge Hill University College for a couple of years. Then I landed a job editing a computer magazine called PC Mart for Trinity Mirror in Birmingham and within about five years I was editing a weekly and a fortnightly at the same time for them, which was as manic as it sounds.

The weekly was Micro Mart magazine which we had enormous fun with, and I did that for ten, eleven years. It was bought by Dennis Publishing in 2006 so, I moved to Dennis then. I was the only one on the magazine who moved across and I remember being sat in the middle of this publishing office, surrounded by all these magazines we'd done, that we were in competition with before, and it was just me at a desk. They were lovely but that was quite terrifying.

There was just so much stuff I'd always wanted to do and I had the idea for what became Den of Geek a few years before. Dennis was trailing some content management system stuff at the time and they were asking people to try websites. It was just like, "Yeah, I'll do that" and that's how Den of Geek came to be.

I also did a Justin Bieber book while I was there; I was just trying stuff, I just wanted to learn as much as I humanly could. I came out of Den of Geek last Summer and kind of thought, “what's the most nuts thing to do now?”

So, I launched _Film Stories, _which started a podcast and then I quickly got the idea to do a magazine version of it, because I love print magazines and I love films.

Everyone tells you that print is dying and all anyone wants is online stuff, but I just felt like, "I don't buy it" and I kind of wanted to put my money where my mouth was.

Particularly when you're writing about film, there seems to be this thing where you need to be in London or else you can't afford to get to all the screenings. You need to be in the circle, as it were. I know Terry White at Empire is doing some great work breaking this down as well, so I'm not fighting this by myself, but there's an online publishing world now where people are being asked to work for free, to write for free, and I just have no shrift with it.

One of the key things for Film Stories is that in every issue of the magazine I'm trying to give at least two people their first paid writing work, because otherwise I just don't see that many ways in. I can see lots of ways in if you're willing to write for free. I think we've all done it. I mean, I'm a reformed sinner, but I think it's wrong.

I think words, fundamentally, have value and if your business is publishing words, you pay for the words.

What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

I don't know really, I'm loathe to define what usual is. I think there are moments when you're being berated on the phone by people you admire and that's not a good unusual, but it is unusual, and it's very eye-opening.

Conversely, I find myself in a very privileged position meeting people who are just wonderful and whose work I love, who are as brilliant as you would hope. So, I don't have a particular anecdote about meeting the guy who plays Robocop in the gent's toilet in Norwich, or anything like that. I just think it's consistently interesting. I mean, there is a joy to meeting to famous people or people you admire, but there's nothing like the feeling when you write something that means something to someone else.

That said, when I lived in Halesowen, just outside Dudley, and got a phone call to my house from Guillermo del Toro, does that count?

What do you think people would be most surprised to know about your job?

I think, if anything, it's so ordinary isn't it?

There was an interview Michelle Obama gave last year. I've quoted it to a lot of new writers who are trying to come through, and she talked about how she'd been at the top tables and she said it's not all that impressive. I really got what she was on about there.

What I'd say is, that the thing that's surprising, and it shouldn't be surprising, because we're all just human beings really, is nobody knows everything.

You look around at people and you just think, "Oh, they're the best in the world". They might be brilliant at everything, but you might have one idea that they don't. I certainly find, employing writers, that I am constantly finding people who have better ideas than me.

That's another thing, when we look at new talent and looking to break new talent into writing and publishing, there is instantly a gaze towards the young and I think that's great, long may it continue.

I also think the gaze needs to go a little bit higher, you know, a little bit along the age ranges.

On Film Stories I've got a couple of older writers who have never been published for writing before who are great, they've just not had the opportunity before.

Walk me through your typical day.

There isn't a typical day, and long may that continue. What there is, is mayhem; I think if it's typical there's a problem.

So, I'm going to change your question to, "Walk me through your atypical day".

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

No. Lord, I am the most fashion-backwards person on planet Earth and I'm more than happy with that.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

A computer screen and type faster.

I mean, coffee is the closest I've got to an outright vice, maybe because it's an outright vice, but I like being on deadline. The bits where I need the comfort are the bits where there's a gap because that's the scary bit.

I don’t trust tea, I think it's wrong.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

I guess it's the comfort blanket of knowing it's there, of having someone on your side, especially for smaller publishers.

If you didn't have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

You assume I sleep.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

Well, I use an old Blackberry and it barely takes pictures, so I’m well out of that.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Don't do them. I go with Graham Norton: "Save your guilt for something that deserves it".

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Generally, my own. I keep forgetting it.

What's the worst piece of advice you've ever been given?

Anything that discourages someone from thinking they might be good enough, it's a bit of a bug-bear of mine, actually. Any piece of advice that devalues self-worth is the worst piece of advice I've been given.

What/where is your happy place?

Oh, the movies, the cinema, watching a really good film about which I know nothing.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

They would be surprised to know that my middle name is Mildred, but being as it isn't true, I'd be quite surprised about it too.

What would be in your Room 101?

Bullies.

Introvert or extrovert?

Both.

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimist.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Film. Easy.

I just re-watched The Sixth Sense.

I've just done a book, which is coming out later in the year, called The Secret Life of Movies, and it's about things you could spot while watching films, so I went through all the colour red in _The Sixth Sense_. I watched it all the way through again yesterday and it's just great.

Sweet or savoury?

I don't know, whichever is on offer in the shop.

Morning person or night owl?

Both.

Tea or coffee?

Don't even go there, it’s coffee.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

They're not a massive thing for me but they are for some people and I'm not going to spoil other people's fun. I will say that the Emoji Movie is one of the worst films I've seen in years.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I wish it was romantic, but having left Nottingham University I needed money in a hurry to go travelling around the world, and selling ads seemed the most productive way of getting there. Little did I know that as a result, after 12 months travelling around Africa, India and South East Asia, I would embark on a 25 year media career that has included magazines a fair amount.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

I realised pretty early that I wanted to be in charge, so I worked for small entrepreneurial businesses where I could be quite senior quite fast. That led to meeting a bunch of entrepreneurs and getting involved in start-ups. I got into digital very early in 1995, and was a co-founder and CEO of VC backed Silicon Media Group, which we sold to CNET Networks. I ran CNET in Europe for 5 years and then met Richard Lenane at Exponent Private Equity and together we created Immediate Media Company, which is IMHO an awesome business.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

Mainly jeans, I guess. And possibly a shirt.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

I’d like to say exercise, but mainly coffee and chocolate.

What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

Having a long chat with Stephen Hawkins alongside Aidan Turner and Sir Richard Attenborough at the Radio Times Covers Party. That pretty much sums up the most profitable magazine brand in the UK.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

I don’t actually do any of the real work, but sometimes I help people by taking obstacles out of the way. At least that’s the theory.

Walk me through your typical day.

I think the reason I love my job is that there isn’t a typical day.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

The PPA is absolutely crucial to the industry and I think its importance is growing as we all navigate to different shores and develop different business models, as well as innovate in print magazines. From being represented on the board, to forums, to events and awards, it gives a platform to discuss what is really going on, problems that need solving, and where we need to collaborate. This is a great, robust and developing industry and the PPA is the collective voice.

If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

Working on my guitar thumb independence, like Tommy Emmanuel. And learn Italian.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

Love a three ball with Al and the Swan. Has an unfair advantage at the water hazards, though.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

A hot bath with Netflix.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

My grandparents when they were my age – that would be an interesting chat.

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Don’t take all your holidays.

What/where is your happy place?

Prussia Cove, South Cornwall.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

I can play the violin.

What would be in your Room 101?

The John Lewis Christmas ad.

Introvert or extrovert?

It changes over time.

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimist (although ask me again after March 29th).

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Television, these days. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was fun.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury.

Morning person or night owl?

Night owl.

Tea or coffee?

Tea.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

I really try not to unless to my kids.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I loved magazines: first football magazines, then Smash Hits (I had a fortnightly copy reserved for me behind the counter at Jackanory in Norton, Sheffield from the age of ten)

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

I’ve always worked on big magazines, usually high frequency. Large numbers of staff. It seems weird to think that I once worked on a monthly (Sky magazine from 1995 to 1997). I don’t know what I’d do with all that time if I did that now.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

Plain chocolate Hob Nobs. Not that easy to get these days.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

I love the PPA, love the people, love the events (I MC a room at the festival each year). When we get together as an industry we are so strong.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

I’m really glad you asked me that. I grabbed this image of Ken Clarke from BBC News and sent it to my dad. He’s a one-off that man (my dad and Ken Clarke).

What’s your guilty pleasure?

1980s Top of the Pops episodes.

What/where is your happy place?

When I drop my daughter off at her drumming lesson on a Saturday morning and I just walk and walk. Anywhere along that route.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

Anton Du Bec from Strictly Come Dancing choreographed the first dance at my wedding. It began with me throwing my suit jacket into the crowd of guests and went downhill from there.

Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert.

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimist.

Film or television?

Television (and radio).

What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Sharp Objects.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury.

Morning person or night owl?

Both.

Tea or coffee?

Neither.

Mark will be co-hosting the Editors stage at PPA Festival 2019. For more information and tickets, please click here.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

When I was at school, I loved creating things. I did lots of textiles and design and later, fell in love with English and writing. That naturally made me think, “how can I continue to create things as I look for a job?”

I went to university, did Business Marketing and Media and Journalism. From year one of my studies I knew I wanted to intern at publications, starting at a really small, indie magazine called Yen (which has since closed). I had a great time and the team were so kind and encouraging – they let me have a go at quite of bit of everything. That first internship really sealed the deal for me and publishing.

I think it was a combination of wanting to be really creative and then having that really great first experience at a small magazine that led me to where I am.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

I studied and interned for about five or so years. My internship led to another internship at Marie Claire Australia _in the beauty team, and that led to a job as a Beauty Assistant at _Elle Australia.

That led to me a role as Editorial Assistant at a health magazine, called _Prevention _at Seven West Media.

A year later, I started working as a Social Media Producer across a huge portfolio of titles. Later I would be promoted and look after the beauty and fashion titles for social-first branded content strategy and implementation. Things shifted a bit in my personal life, and I moved to London in March 2017. In June of the same year, I got my job at Stylist as their Social Media Editor!

Do you have go-to work outfit?

Today I'm wearing all black. It’s my default. I wouldn’t say I stick to any style – I like to follow certain trends. At the moment I love wearing a dark navy-blue corduroy suit. It's my power suit.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

I chat a lot when I’m on deadline. It’s not so much procrastination but stress relief. If you can’t laugh, you’ll cry, right? In terms of snacks, I’m mildly obsessed with sweet and salty popcorn.

What's the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

Just five months after starting at Stylist, I was on stage at _Stylist Live_ hosting a panel discussion. I don’t know about you, but it takes a lot of faith to back a new employee like that and give them the opportunity to participate in an event where 20,000 people walk through the door over three days. Maybe ‘unusual’ is the wrong word, but it was really surprising that the brand really embraced my involvement in such a key event. It was a career highlight, only to be topped by doing it all over again this year at Kensington Olympia.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

I have a profile on Facebook but I don't really utilise it that much.

Everyone says, " You must be on social media all the time”, and outside work hours, I'm actually not.

I'm on Facebook’s Business Manager all the time, and so the last thing I want to do is go home and open my personal profile. The exception is Instagram. It’s my favourite platform.

Walk me through your typical day.

Every day is quite different because as a Social Media Manager I can be pulled into lots of different meetings last minute.

I get in at nine, we have our news meeting at 9:20am, where I present the traffic and engagement results from the day before. Once that’s done, I look at what's trending, what's happening elsewhere and begin to curate the content that relates to that. There will be lots of discussion around the office about what's happening in the world, and that helps to inspire the content.

I have some lunch at some point and maybe duck out for a walk and some fresh air. A meeting or two, maybe with the video team or editorial, plus more content creation and planning. Sometimes I’m off to an event in the evening, but typically just home to relax.

I love to cook. I know some people get home and they stress out because they've got to make dinner, but I enjoy that.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

We enter so many award categories throughout the year, and it's just so fantastic when you get commendation, or you actually get to win the award, because it really makes all that hard work worth it.

Stylist is a weekly title with a website that creates a lot of content, and sometimes you forget to take a step back and look at what you've achieved, so I do think PPA awards put it all into perspective.

When the brand receives a highly commended or a nod within your brand peer group, it's really fantastic.

*If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day? *

I would travel. If I didn't have to sleep, I'd probably go to Italy for dinner.

What was the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview) and why?

Oh, it was of my Christmas tree. Last night my partner and I decorated it. And when I say ‘my partner’ I mean he very patiently handed me the decorations.

We have a live one this year, so that was a really lovely moment. Splashing a bit of money on a nice tree seems like an extravagance, but I think in the current climate, anything to warm the cockles of your heart helps.

What's your guilty pleasure?

I wish I didn't feel guilty, but it’s time to myself. Time to myself to not achieve anything, but just to be.

The weeks go by so quickly and you get to Friday and you think, "Oh god, that was a quick week," and then look at your weekend and you realise you've booked yourself up completely. In 2019 I'd like to find more time to just potter and to be more creative.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

I kind of wish I had like Michelle Obama on speed dial.

Just to have her opinion on things, and to be able to have a heart-to-heart with someone so intelligent and sure of herself would be incredible. I have Michelle's book. It was gifted to me, and I do plan to read it over the Christmas break, so maybe that will be a close second to having her number.

What’s the worst piece of advice you've ever been given?

This is tricky to explain, as it's not so much advice, but it is the worst thing I allowed myself to believe. And it’s tied to a rocky experience with a really critical (borderline bully) manager in my early years of magazine: I truly believed I wasn’t good enough.

I allowed myself to believe that so strongly that it changed my career path. I think now, I’d probably be writing a whole lot more. It has been a big lesson in un-learning that belief.

What/where is your happy place?

I think about this a lot because I'm away from my family, and it’s coming up to Christmas. My absolute happiest place is at my parent’s dining table. But there's nothing quite like when your parents and your siblings or your extended family, aunties and uncles, you know, everyone is together.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

Probably they don't know I'm Australian until they hear my voice. Some people have said, "Oh, that's weird, I didn't see that coming!"

What would be in your Room 101?

Rude people. If I'm going to sort of do a big, overarching switch-off, I would like all rudeness. I find people who are rude intolerable, and that's everything from people who are pushy to people who are rude quite directly. I just don't think that there's any excuse for it.

Introvert or extrovert?

Extrovert.

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimist, 100%.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Film. Except I am binge-watching The First, the series about the astronauts. But at this time of year it has to be film, because _Love Actually._

Sweet or savoury?

Depends on what time of day, but more sweet.

Morning person or night owl?

I'm a midday-er. It's hard to get up in the morning, and I can't stay awake past midnight, so I'm a midday-er.

Tea or coffee?

Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

They're cool. I was listening to Natasha Devon MBE at Stylist Live talk about mental health. She made the excellent point that English is so limiting when it comes to describing emotions and feelings.

One of her points was, when you're talking to someone who's maybe not feeling great, and you can't find the words, you should be creative and one way to do that is to use an emoji.

I just thought that's really clever and really creative, that words do limit us to expressing ourselves, and we have this fantastic vocabulary of emojis, and I think that they are cool, and if you're finding them cringe-y, you just haven't found your favourite emoji yet.

What's your favourite emoji?

I love the muscle emoji and the sparkle star emoji. Then, of course, the Christmas tree emoji has been used quite a bit in the last 24 hours.

I think that when words escape us, there is always emoji.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I always loved writing and I wanted to write. From a young age I was always really keen to write and magazines seemed to be the best way into it.

I did a doctorate in Archaeology and while I was doing that, I was also working in the university's academic publishing house, to make ends meet. Friendly colleagues there had some contacts in the magazine industry and they put me in touch with some people and I went from there. I wanted to write and they gave me the opportunity.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

I did my PhD at Exeter University and worked at the University Press there and did some journalistic work. I also developed some skills in website creation. This was just before the dotcom boom, back when it was quite easy to set up a website on your own without having to use editing software and things like that. I learnt some basic coding and that gave me a chance to get a job working as a production assistant on an internet business magazine.

I did that for a couple of years, learnt the ropes of magazine production, then I saw that there was a new magazine called Living History, which was being launched by Origin Publishing. I applied for the staff writer job on that, and was lucky enough to get the gig. Origin Publishing went through various iterations, was bought by BBC Magazines after a time, then Immediate Media came out of BBC Magazines a few years later. So, I've worked for the same business, but in slightly different guises for quite a few years now and worked my way from Staff Writer, Deputy Editor, through Magazine Editor, for a good few years. Then Publisher, and now Content Director across a few magazines.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

Not really. T-shirt, jumper, jeans. But no, I don't have go-to work outfit. Sorry.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

Coffee all the way, black coffee, straight black coffee, no messing around. I try not to snack, it’s far too easy to do that in the office. That isn’t too good for you so I’m all about the coffee.

What's the most unusual situation you've found yourself in because of your job.

There have been loads of things. How about the time I spent the day in a medieval drain with a historian trying to record a podcast? That was good fun. There are some fantastically preserved medieval drains under Exeter. We went there and the historian had a key to get into a bit that nobody ever goes in, and we hung around down there with a torch and a podcast recorder, chatting about the Middle Ages, for quite a while. That was entertaining.

How about the now infamous Richard III King in the car park story?

Richard III has been a great thing for the magazine. Richard III has kept our sales figures very honest for a few years because there's been so much interest in that.

That was a truly amazing story, a once-in-a-century story, to be honest, in terms of the chances of an actual king being unearthed under a car park. it was a phenomenal piece of detective work and generated so much interest, so it was lucky for me and my team that we were around when the story broke.

We were all over it from the start. We had a scoop early on when they were doing archaeological survey work at Bosworth, we were first in on findings that they made from the battlefield before the King was found. We had a big special section, before anyone else got to it, saying how they thought they might have found a badge of Richard III in the middle of Bosworth Field.

So, we were in there from the start and kept tracking it all the way through. We had a correspondent up there for the funeral ceremony. It's been a great story for us.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

Probably the fact that you might think that history is a subject that only appeals to a certain demographic and that we'd be very much restrained to print products, but actually BBC History Magazine has a really, really strong and vibrant digital presence.

We've had a podcast for over a decade, and the podcast has, for a long time been a really powerful branding tool for us. We put out two podcasts a week now, which is a pretty big thing. We had a kindle e-reader edition from very early days and since then we've had a really strong digital presence and digital iteration for the magazine.

We have a very popular website at historyextra.com as well, which gets great traffic. You may think that history is really confined to those who enjoy print reading, actually we've proven that there is a large digital appetite for it. That's the main thing. We spend a lot of time focusing on our web and digital identity.

We've got a paywall on the website now, so we've got a section which is really looking to drive subscribers to get extra value from our offerings. We've put a load of past features from our print magazine behind the paywall and subscribers get free access to that.

Obviously, we hope that that will not only increase retention rates, but also boost acquisition rates because we have created an amazing resource for readers, new and old, on the website, which we can curate and cut in any way that works well for that audience. That's another big thing and another step change for the brand.

Walk me through your typical day.

We're based in central Bristol and I live a little way away, so I drive in, which is a bit of a mission. I'm up at 6.00am, drive in and then park on the edge of town and I'll walk in to give my legs a stretch. That means I'm in before most of my colleagues, which gives me a chance to get my head around the day.

My role is essentially keeping an eye on content and editorial development across our history and science portfolio, so I will have one-to-one meetings with my print and digital editors; that will take up a fair bit of the day. We'll have a lot of conversations about covers, obviously that's still a big part of the job. I will probably have a session where we're reviewing an issue of a magazine; we still do traditional magazine debriefs. Most days, I’ll sit down with some of the web editorial team and talk about content for our online operations.

I will no doubt have some commercial meetings, or similar, which will take up a bit of time. And normally I have a lot of informal chats with my publishing colleagues.

I might be working on a bit of content myself. I still do the occasional podcast, I still write now and again. Not so much, but as much as I can fit in, so maybe there’ll be a bit of that.

It normally is a pretty full day and, given that I get in early, I try to slink off a little bit before everyone else. I try and get out of the office by half four and jump in the car and miss the traffic and get home to catch up with the kids before they go to bed.

Can you fill me in on the BBC History Events that have been taking place this year?

About five years ago we tested out an event, as part of the history portfolio. We now run two major set piece history weekends in the autumn, plus other smaller-scale events through the year.

With the autumn weekends, there’s one in Winchester and the other in York. We invite 30 or 40 notable historians to come along to each and do talks, and the public come along and listen to them. Then we have a book-selling partner who does book signings afterwards.

So, they're history literary festivals. We've got a good following for those now, we get some really good names coming along like Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Dan Jones and Michael Wood; so these are pretty famous historians who come along and give talks.

There's no denying that setting up events is a tricky business and requires a lot of dedication and no small amount of risk. The upside of it is, not only do you get to meet your contributors, the people who are writing for your magazines and who you perhaps only interact with virtually normally, but you also get to meet your readers and find out what's floating their boats as well, so it's a really valuable thing as well as being a commercially useful operation as well.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

I think it's just useful to have a voice and advocate for the whole industry. It’s great to have somebody out there making sure that the public is aware of what we're doing and pushing magazines forward generally.

I know in the past there's been training opportunities and things like that which have helped colleagues in the business to develop, and of course, awards and recognition is always a big thing and it's great to be able to celebrate that.

If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

If I didn't have to sleep … I would probably go to sleep, because I don't get enough sleep.

I've got three fairly young kids, so I always could do with a rest.

In the unlikely event that I wasn’t tired, I would write some more. I really enjoy writing and that's one of my great passions. I've spent most of my spare time this year writing a book on the Bayeux tapestry for a magazine spin-off, so I'd probably spend a bit more time doing that sort of thing.

Failing that, I'd go for a long run. I enjoy running at night, so I’d stick a headtorch on and go for a run through the woods; that works.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

It's a picture of one of my kids doing a move on a gymnastics frame on a beach. They spend a lot of time hanging upside down, I’m not sure why.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

This would be boring, but, if I had a chance to sit down and read a book, uninterrupted, that would be a great pleasure. It doesn't often happen, but, to just sit down and read a book for pleasure with no ulterior motive, no work related aspiration, without anyone bothering me, that’s great.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Queen Victoria is obviously dead, but it would be very handy to have her phone number now. There is a lot of interest in Victorian history these days, so it would be pretty useful editorially to be able to give her a ring to get a few choice quotes for some stories.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

That would be, "Never send a letter in anger”. That was told to me quite a while ago, when people used to send letters still, but it translates to emails just as well. If you've got something to get off your chest, write the email, stick it in drafts, and sleep on it, then have a look at it the next day and think if it’s still a wise idea to hit send.

What/where is your happy place?

Anywhere on the coast. So, down in Devon or Cornwall, maybe even in a kayak, just enjoying the sea and the coastline. There is some amazing scenery down there, and it’s not too hard to get away from the crowds, particularly if you head down out of summer.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

People would be surprised to know that I am an enthusiast for prehistoric beavers.

I was involved in a research project when I was doing my doctorate. Beavers chew wood, obviously, and the way they chew it looks quite similar to the way prehistoric people used to cut timber with flint axes so where you see a bit of beaver-chewed wood on an archaeological dig it could be mistaken for a bit of axe-worked wood and that skews the archaeological record.

So, I studied beavers, we went and looked for evidence of them and we surveyed some beaver lodges and dams, to try to understand how beavers might show up in prehistoric archaeological sites.

Now, curiously enough, there are some actual living beavers down the road from me in a lake that's got a big beaver-proof fence around it, so I go and sit and watch them of an evening some time – I guess that’s a better, and weirder, guilty pleasure than reading a book.

What would be in your Room 101?

Traffic jams would go into my Room 101. If we could find a way to get rid of them, then that would be a marvellous thing. I’m pinning my hopes on driverless cars to sort that one out (I’m also responsible for content on BBC Focus magazine, our science title, so obviously technology like that is very much big news for that title).

Introvert or Extrovert?

Introvert.

Optimist or Pessimist?

Both, depends how much coffee I've had.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Film, probably. I don't really watch much, though I did binge on the Last Kingdom series the other day, and loved it.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury. Cheese basically.

Morning person or night owl?

Morning.

Tea or coffee?

Coffee, all black.

Emojis, cool or cringy? Which emoji do you use the most?

I don’t use emoji's, I'm afraid. Don't think I've ever used an emoji. I’m not an emoji kinda guy.

David Musgrove is Content Director of the History & Science portfolio at Immediate Media. BBC History Magazine (historyextra.com), BBC World Histories Magazine, History Revealed (historyrevealed.com), BBC Focus Magazine (sciencefocus.com) are the key brands he works on.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I always really loved magazines from a young age, and I think they had a big influence on me growing up. I remember reading magazines like Shout and Top of the Pops throughout my teenage years. As an adult, I became more and more interested in how they’re put together. I've always really loved writing, as well as editing other people's writing, so it felt really natural to work within the magazine industry.

What have been your career highlights so far?

I started as Editorial Assistant on National Trust Magazine and I've been at the magazine for seven years. It's just been an amazing journey. I did an NCTJ course at News Associates in London a few years ago, to help me make that move to Assistant Editor. I did that part-time, around my job. It was really interesting to meet all these other people who were also in the industry, fitting the course around mostly full-time jobs.

It's one of those magazines that’s a privilege to work on because you can discover such a wide range of topics. I can be commissioning a curator to write something on furniture one day, or I can be writing something on nature the next day. It's lovely to have so much variety.

I get to visit the National Trust places as well. It’s an essential part of the job, and it’s always a real highlight. We're in an office of over 600 people with all sorts of skills – from experts on butterflies to IT and finance, all under one roof. There are so many people doing interesting jobs. It's really nice to be part of that and get to know what everyone's doing and how it all fits together.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

At the moment, I’m really liking culottes with different coloured tops. Our office is smart but fairly relaxed, and I like to have something that you don’t have to think too hard about at half past six in the morning.

How do you handle deadlines?

Definitely coffee in the afternoon, when we're getting really close to the line. Also, copious cups of tea, and people start bringing in the chocolate as well when deadline’s nearing. People will pop out at lunchtime and come back with bags of snacks! Being a member of a small team, we all pull together and make sure we’re all working really hard towards the same goal. I think that always helps.

We try and keep a calm atmosphere and just keep talking to each other, so that in between the chocolate and coffee, there’s not usually too much panic.

What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

I end up in situations that some writers or journalists might feel are quite unusual but have kind of become normal for me because of the nature of the magazine. Like finding myself out on the wildest Pembrokeshire coast interviewing a ranger. I have thought to myself that that might not be an average day's work for a lot of people, but that’s one of the best things about working within the National Trust, it’s really normal, being sent to all these far-flung places and chatting to people who are doing these really fascinating jobs. You find yourself places you've never heard of and there are lots of hidden gems.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

That a lot of our job involves replying to readers. We get hundreds of National Trust Magazine readers writing to us every issue, and we reply to every single one.

A really big part of my job is understanding our readers and having that interaction with them is invaluable. Because I’ve worked on the National Trust Magazine for such a long time I don't know how many pieces of correspondence it’s usual for a magazine to get, but I have a feeling that maybe we get a bit more than some, because of the nature of our membership and it being so large.

You never know what's going to pop into the inbox and we get some lovely photos from members and from people who have had nice days out. I feel we’ve got a really good idea of what our readers like.

Walk me through your typical day.

As we only come out three times a year, in spring, summer and autumn, it very much depends where we are in the magazine cycle. At some points in the issue, it might be that we're all out and about, doing interviews and writing copy. Then later in the issue, we will be back at our desk pushing things through production. It really does vary.

But, I guess, a typical day for me might be to come in, have a team catch-up, fairly early in the morning, make sure we all know where each other are at with things. We’ll meet our picture researcher and touch base with our designers, who are external, to see how they're doing and get copy over to them.

Then it’s onwards to feature work or getting in touch with people we want to interview or speaking to people from other teams to progress features. Sometimes it’s taking one afternoon out to actually write or do more in-depth research. And somewhere amongst that we try and fit in bits of admin as well, so half an hour or an hour of replying to readers.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

It has been great, and valuable for knowing what's going on in the industry. As a membership magazine working within the National Trust, which isn't a publishing company, having those industry links is particularly valuable to find out trends and see what everyone's doing and have those contacts. It’s also really nice to celebrate the work being done across the industry as a whole. I didn’t get to go to PPA Festival this year but a few of my colleagues really enjoyed the session on sustainability, especially the conversation around different types of wrapping for magazines.

If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

I think I would definitely like to read more rather than the 15 minutes I do now before I fall asleep. I think I’d walk more too, which might be a little difficult if it was dark! I’d definitely try and fit in a yoga class and more exercise generally.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)? Why?

It’s a bit millennial, it’s actually a picture of egg and avocado on an English muffin, but I do have a specific reason for taking it! I was with my auntie and uncle and my grandparents at the weekend. My auntie keeps hens and she gave me eggs that day, so I wanted to send her a picture to show that we used them.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Salt and Vinegar Disco crisps. I don’t let myself eat them often but they’re just so good. How do they get the flavour that strong?!

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Michelle Obama

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

It’s not a piece of advice exactly, but a friend recommended Marie Kondo’s book to me a few years ago and I can honestly say it was life-changing.

What/where is your happy place?

I have a real soft spot for a National Trust place called Dyrham Park, near Bath. It’s a beautiful house and gardens and much wider parkland. There's a beautiful walk along the edge of the estate, with views across the countryside back towards Bristol. It’s also where I got engaged. It’s somewhere that my husband and I return to every few months or so, we'll go back for a walk and it’s just somewhere we both feel really relaxed and comfortable. It’s a very on-brand answer, but unintentionally, as I didn’t know I was going to get engaged there!

What would people be surprised to know about you?

People who know me would probably be surprised to know that I used to play the trumpet, until I was 18. I can be quite quiet and there seems to be a potential personality clash with the trumpet as a musical instrument to have picked up, as it’s very loud. I can't claim that I was very good, but I did enjoy it.

What would be in your Room 101?

Littering really makes my blood boil. So unnecessary!

Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert.

Optimist or pessimist?

Pessimist.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Television, but I do really love films too. Over the winter months I watched the whole of the American The Office series.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury.

Morning person or night owl?

Night owl but by necessity I have to be a morning person!

Tea or coffee?

Both!

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

Cool. Crying laughing and thumbs up.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I love print. I love long-form journalism. I guess it's an ego thing. When I've written something and I see someone reading Stylist or reading a magazine that I contributed to, it's amazing – I get this huge burst of pride. I worked in digital before, which is really fun, but there's something about having a hard copy in your hand that is really special.

I don't think print is as profitable as it was, which is sad, and I think there are new forms, but I don't think print is dead. I think print needs to adapt. There are always going to be people who want to read a physical copy. You just have to find a new way of balancing that with the way people are consuming – I hate this word – content.

At Shortlist Media, we also contribute very heavily on our digital platform and we do events and experiential things that are all part of the magazine brand, but without the magazine at the core, you wouldn't have that.

Can you chart your journey from when you started out to your current position?

It's very short. I was doing history at King's College London, and while doing that, I was writing a music blog. I'd always grown up reading VICE – I know, cliché. I loved music and I purposefully started writing this blog in the VICE tone to get better at producing clean copy.

I was lucky enough that somebody from Noisey saw it and they messaged me on Twitter – a great networking tool – and asked me to start pitching to them and writing for them. I started freelancing for them while at university, which gave me the first step into an office environment and a journalism environment.

From there, I did an internship at Fader, which is my favourite music magazine of all time. I skipped all my second term seminars to go to it, which my mother still doesn't know.

When I graduated, I got an internship in advertising. While I was there, a job post appeared on Gorkana [for the Editorial Assistant role at Stylist]. I knew that I liked writing and I loved Stylist. It was a poster application, so I spent several days cutting and sticking these mood board pictures together with images and text. They liked it and they called me in for an interview. I can't remember what was said, because it was very hazy, but I somehow got the job! I started in September 2016.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

Oh god, no. My work outfit has actually massively changed. When I started, I used to wear lots of crop tops. Now I usually wear brogues or mid-size heels. I like wide-leg trousers, shirts and jumpers. If it's smart and I think it's got a bit of an edge to it, I'll wear it. I used to wear dungarees to work, but I decided it was time to start dressing for the job, so no more dungarees sadly.

What do you turn to when you’re on deadline – tea/coffee/snacks?

It used to be coffee, but I get too wired. I plug in my headphones and I listen to a Frank Ocean track if I'm on deadline. It's like clearing your palette – it just clears out my mind. It's usually "Nikes" that does it.

I also do terrible things when I'm on deadline. I don't let myself go to the toilet until I finish doing something, which I think is bad for you medically, but it gets me to do it. I'm like, "Okay, if you finish this paragraph, you get to go pee, so finish your paragraph!"

What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in because of your job?

I've done crazy cool stuff. That sounds like I'm bragging. My Editor said, "Does anyone want to go to New York? I need someone to talk to Pharrell for a fashion shoot.” I jokingly went, "Ha ha yes, me." Then three days later, I was on a plane to New York, eating an ice cream sundae and watching Arrival in business class.

I was like, “Wow, this has happened to an Editorial Assistant.” That's the beauty of it – once you're in the industry, they do tend to give you opportunities. You just have to be open and say "yes" to everything.

The weirdest situation in this job was I went to the Mondrian Hotel to interview Danielle Brooks from Orange Is the New Black and when I got back to the office, I realised I'd chucked my wallet away at lunch.

I immediately had to go sifting through huge bins in the pouring rain, having come back from this beautiful hotel, really swanky stuff, and suddenly I was in the bins looking with my hands through everyone's rubbish for my wallet. I was humbled.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

Toner actually just means ink. That's all it means, guys. I thought it was this magical thing that you put in the printer – it's just ink. I don't think people really have a concept of what an Editorial Assistant is. There's a lot of office management that you tend not to think about. The surprising thing is it really is as wonderful as it sounds. It's pretty great.

If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

Do I have unlimited money too? Because I'd be constantly travelling. I guess I would have to come back for my job, so I would be out dancing in the clubs – all hours. It'd have to be really dark. I hate dancing in the daytime, because that exposes me too much. I don't talk to anyone – just dance. I like the environment and hearing songs that I love.

What is the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview)?

There's a lot of screenshots of horoscopes, a conversation, accidentally my phone screen. The last photo I have is of this really cool model on Instagram. I screenshotted her outfit, which is just this amazing yellow and she's got this beret on and she's got red lipstick. I'm really into berets right now, so I screenshotted that as outfit inspiration. Her name's Emily Bador.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Oh my god, I have so many. Diplo's tweets are one. I secretly love Diplo, but I hate admitting that. I really like reading Blind Gossip, which is this terrible, horribly mean and malicious gossip site. Reading the blind items about celebrities is my guilty pleasure. I feel dirty when I read it, kind of like the Daily Mail – really dirty. I need to stop looking at it.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

I wish I had Harry Styles's phone number and not because I fancy him, because I don't, but I do want to be his best friend platonically. I think he'd be really fun to hang out with. I'd like to call up Harry Styles and just talk shit with him on the phone.

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

It's usually from me to me. Probably when my friends say, "Don't text him, it will look desperate." Always text him, because then either way, you find out whether he’s into you or not. That way you're not torturing yourself.

What/where is your happy place?

My happy place is definitely in a night club – probably Visions – if Rihanna’s "Work" is playing.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

I've got a salacious thing. My father ran away with an Olympic javelin thrower. He always wanted to get into sports, so he was trying to use her as his conduit, but he did not get into sports.

I was about three and The Sun came and doorstepped my mum to try and get her to comment on it. She was like, "No, no." That's about my dad, but I’m really quite boring. There's nothing surprising about me. I'm just an open book.

What would be in your Room 101?

Liam Payne – he's my Room 101. I hate Liam Payne. I hate him so much. He's so mediocre. I have like a burning…just stop him. Stop him now. Can you print that?

Introvert or extrovert?

I'm actually an introvert. I did the Myers-Briggs [personality inventory]. You wouldn't believe it. I present as an extrovert, but I'm actually an introvert. I love my own company.

Optimist or pessimist?

Pessimistic optimist. I always look on the down side, because then I'm always happy.

Film or television? What are you binge-watching at the moment?

Television, because I get bored in films. I’m watching Rick and Morty – I’m mad about it.

Sweet or savoury?

Sweet, 100%. I've got the worst sweet tooth. I love sour sweets, so anything like Tangfastics, anything that's going to burn the roof of my mouth off.

Morning person or night owl?

I'm a night owl.

Tea or coffee?

Tea at the moment, because coffee makes me too wired.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

It depends on the emoji – probably cringey. I'd say cringe over all. I'm not really an emoji person. My most used emoji is the “stop” hand that's just flat. It says a lot about me…

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

Funny enough, it never even occurred to me that I could be a journalist because I was terrible at spelling and grammar and all of those technical parts of English, which had sort of, ruled it out as a career opportunity. What actually got me interested, really, was just my love of magazines.

I’d always read comics as a kid, then magazines as a teenager, so I'd always grown up with the culture, as well as the newspapers that my parents would get. The Telegraph during the week and then The Times, and I used to love reading those papers.

The thing that actually made me understand that I could become a journalist was, first of all, meeting somebody who worked in the industry. Completely by chance, he was the boyfriend of somebody that I worked with in a café.

Seeing how normal he was, I started thinking, "Oh my God, actually, maybe I could do this, if someone like me is doing a job that I would like to do."

The second thing that really got my career started was a very cleverly worded job advert in The Guardian.

I had just graduated from an English and Theatre degree, and the Media Guardian on Tuesday and Friday, I think it was, was the place to look for jobs. It was like the Gorkana of our generation.

I saw this great job advert that said, "Do you know the difference between Ren and Stimpy? Who's the secret hot one in Take That? Why did Shane dump Angel in Home and Away? If you know the answers to these questions, we want to hear from you."

I thought, "Oh my God, I do know the answers to those questions," and so I applied for the job, thinking, I suppose, at the age of 21, that I've got nothing to lose – just give it a go. I was fortunate enough to get the job, so that was how I accidentally tripped up and ended up in the industry, really.

Can you chart your journey from where you started out to your current position?

I applied for that job and I got it, eventually, but they were nervous about giving it to me, because I had no experience, so they got me to do the role as a kind of freelancer, testing me out to begin with.

After a few months, they obviously realised that I was good enough to do the role, so I went from freelance to getting the job as a Junior Writer at Sugar magazine, which was a teenage magazine at the time.

I worked my way up from Junior Writer over the course of five years, to Special Project Editor for the magazine.

I then went to work on a young women's lifestyle magazine called Be, which was aimed at young women, as Contributing Editor for Special Projects. I then moved across to More magazine, which is a young women's magazine. I worked there for about 10 months, because when I was at More, I was approached to go and be the Features Editor at Heat, which had just launched. Then, after about three months as their Features Editor, I became Heat’s Deputy Editor.

I spent probably the next 10 years in various roles such as Deputy Editor and then Digital Editor.

I launched Heat World website. I then became the Editor across the whole brand, so I was the UK's first multi-platform editor, according to The Guardian.

From Heat, I then became a creative director of Bauer, the company that owns Heat.

I then went to work for myself, for about three or four years, as a Media Consultant, and one of my clients was Hearst. They then persuaded me to come in-house and be Editor-in-Chief of Digital Spy. After Digital Spy, I then became New Business Development Director across the whole Hearst portfolio in the UK.

Do you have a go-to work outfit?

The thing I love about media is that you can pretty much dress how you want to, depending on your mood. So some mornings, I'm absolutely in the mood for jeans and trainers and a shirt. Other days, I’ll be smarter. But I have always, ever since I started my job, had this rule that I'm not allowed to get out of the shower in the morning until I've decided what I'm wearing, because I've wasted so many hours of my life trying on various different outfits that just don't feel right.

It's a bit like the way I eat food, as well. I tune into myself to see what food I want or what outfit I'm going to wear that day.

It's a bit like it's instinctive dressing, rather than dressing the part. I dress how I feel for that day.

What do you turn to when you're on a deadline? – tea/coffee/snacks?

As far as food is concerned, it used to be coffee. However, I’ve been sleeping so badly, I've had really bad insomnia for about 18 months, and actually I connected it back to how much caffeine I was drinking. So, I'm now only allowed one cup of coffee a day, whereas previously it was absolutely coffee that focused me.

Usually, when I'm really, really busy, I tend to not eat. I tend to find food a distraction, it's terrible. I should eat more, really.

What's the most unusual situation you've found yourself in because of your job?

Well, it's unusual! I organised an event years ago with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, this was at Heat, and we hosted a special concert that Elton John performed at a very small venue.

In the audience were lots of his celebrity fans like Liz Hurley and David Furnish, [Elton John’s] partner, was there, and because I had organised the event I had an Access All Areas pass. I got to watch Elton John performing in this tiny venue, in the wings of the stage where I could literally have reached out and touched the piano he was playing. So, I was the closest person to him in the whole theatre, and it was a very, very rare and special kind of moment.

It was incredible. I mean, there's lots of other bonkers things that have happened, too, but that, I would say, is a real stand-out moment.

What would you think people would be surprised to know about your job?

I suppose, in a way, New Business Development doesn't sound very creative, and yet, it is possibly one of the most creative roles that I have ever had.

You're constantly having to think of new ideas and new ways of engaging consumers or advertisers with a brand. It sounds, because it's got the word "business" in the title, kind of boring and corporate, however, it's probably the most creative I've ever been.

I think it's a new departure for our industry, really, Business Development being so central, but actually because we are a business that's driven by creativity, all of our new business has got to have creativity at its core.

Can you walk me through your typical day?

So, a typical day is: I go to gym at the crack of dawn, because I find that it focuses me and wakes me up and gets my brain working. I then cycle into the office and then I'm going through emails and getting on top of the day. Although, to be honest, I'll be looking at emails at the gym as well, just seeing what's urgent and needs dealing with immediately.

Then, most of my day is actually taken up with meetings, and at the moment, most of those meetings are relating to the Nest, which is the new incubator program that I've launched at Hearst, which is an ideas and talent accelerator.

I run a new Nest every two months, and so we will recruit talent externally; from our audiences, from our readers or internally from the staff that we already employ. I spend a lot of time teaching them, in a very similar way that I do at City, University, actually. Teaching and encouraging them to develop new businesses. So that, in a way, it takes up all of my day, and then I cram in all of my other work around that central project.

It's so varied, every day is completely different once I hit the office. My routines are set in the morning and the evening, but what happens in between is different every single day.

A lot of it is meetings. It's a combination of having meetings, internal meetings, to help develop products, and also having external meetings to engage new partners in our business and what we could potentially do for them. So, I'm always meeting new people, which I love.

How has being a member of the PPA helped you/added value to your brand?

An advantage is shared knowledge and insight about the industry, it's nice to belong to an industry body that, because, obviously, we're all in competition with one another, but at the same time, the success of our industry is based on us joining forces and sharing our knowledge, I suppose, for the greater good of the industry. That is a benefit to me with belonging to an organisation like that.

If you didn't have to sleep, how would you use the remaining hours in the day?

I would work all the way through so that I could then have longer blocks of time off to go and travel. I travel a lot, all the time, anyway. I'm very fortunate, but obviously I'm limited to that set number of holidays per year. I would love to cram all my work into part of the year and travel for the rest of it.

What's the last photo you took on your phone (at time of interview) and why?

I took a photograph of the television to upload onto Instagram. There's a new film that's just come out called Widows, which I went to see, and I hated it, but the original from the 1980s that I grew up with was just so good and I found it on Amazon Prime. I took a photograph of the screen and uploaded it onto my Instagram [pictured].

What’s your guilty pleasure?

I don't know if I feel guilty about it. I can't stop eating cheese, but I don't think anyone can. I don't think that's, like, a guilty pleasure. I mean, I'm literally famous for it.

What's your favourite cheese?

At the moment, it's Rollright, which is a very strong soft cheese, but it changes constantly.

Why are you famous for your cheese habit?

I think it's because I bang on about it all the time!

It’s also my go-to interview question, always. As an icebreaker, when I interview anybody, I’ll ask, "What's your favourite cheese?" I literally would ask Elton John that question, because most people are passionate about cheese.

I'm yet to find anyone who doesn't like cheese. It's become like a thing that everyone takes the mickey out of me about, my obsession with it.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

I mean, it's a very shallow answer, but I've always been obsessed with Victoria Beckham.

I would love to somehow work with her, because I think she's incredibly smart but she's also very, very funny and I think that she'd be a good person to do business with.

What's the worst piece of advice you've ever been given?

My careers advisor told me that I should train to be an Occupational Therapist, and I went as far as applying on an Occupational Therapy course at college. When, all of a sudden, I just had this wake-up moment that I really, really am not interested in this, but I got as far as going to the interview for the college to do the course. Then, thank God, I diverted to media instead.

I mean it's a great job but, for my brain, I don't know where on earth that advice came from.

What/where is your happy place?

It is the pool at the Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach. Whenever I'm told to relax in yoga class or anything like that, I think about the pool there. I’ve been there a lot.

What I love about it is, there's a whole string of hotels in Miami, and that all of them have been steroid injected. They're all these massive, beautiful boutique hotels. What I love about the Raleigh is it's a 1920s Art Deco hotel, and they have done the opposite. They've refused to turn themselves into this big steroid-injected hotel, and instead there's a really great Martini bar there, everything's very traditional and authentic, with Art Deco interiors. The pool is just stunning, and I love it.

What would people would be surprised to know about you?

That I'm a real country boy.

Even though I live in the middle of London and I've lived in London since 1991, I basically left the country when I was 18 to come to London. I've never, ever looked back. I love it, but I am really, really, really happy in the countryside.

What would be in your Room 101?

I mean it makes me sound like an old dad, but it is Blackfriars Road.

It is impossible, I don't know who has designed the new layout, but it's impossible to drive down and maybe that's the point. It takes 25 minutes to drive what should be about a five minute journey. I'm such an old man, in terms of that boring dad answer, but it's also true. It drives me insane.

I hate it. It makes no sense. It's almost like it's been designed as a road to pass a driving test on, because there's every kind of hurdle and barrier imaginable to man on that road, like traffic lights every 10 meters.

Introvert or extrovert?

Definitely extrovert. I am happiest when I am around people doing stuff. My home is very much an open venue for my friends. There are constantly people staying there. I have parties all the time. I'm definitely extroverted!

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimistic; I've been accused of being too optimistic in the past. In fact, former colleague of mine once called me and she literally said (because she's famously negative about everything), "Oh God. You're so bloody optimistic all the time."

Film or television? What are you binge-watching anything at the moment?

I am definitely more into TV. I'm binge watching the original Widows from the 1980s on Amazon Prime, which is the series from the photograph. I've just finished binging on Making a Murderer and House of Cards.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury, definitely. I’ll take a packet of crisps any day over a chocolate bar.

Morning person or a night owl?

Morning, definitely. I love being up before everyone else is up. I love being at the gym at 6.00am when it's just opening. I feel like I've got the whole day ahead of me, and it feels like anything's possible that time of day.

Tea or coffee?

Tea probably, Earl Grey tea.

Emojis – cool or cringey? Which emoji do you use the most?

I would say, I think that I use them all the time which, in itself, probably makes them uncool. If I, as a middle-aged man, am using them, then that probably makes them not a cool thing. I use the horror face the most, I'd say. I use either that one or the one with the hand on the chin, the thinking one. Those are my two most overused ones.