Category: Industry Voices

Chart your career from the start to now.

I went to university to study Ancient and Modern History but always knew I wanted to go into journalism. I took a year out after university to do work experience at my local newspaper and ITV, and then I went to City University to do a post grad diploma in Magazine and Investigative Journalism. Then I was very lucky to get a job at Building Magazine, where I’d done some work experience. I say particularly lucky because we graduated in 2008, which was just when the financial crash had happened. I was at Building Magazine for almost two years. At the time, UBM owned Building and various other B2B titles, including Trade Travel Gazette. A reporter job came up at TTG, so I swapped construction and hard hats for travel! There I looked after the cruise patch which was a big change – and a lot of fun.

When I joined, it was just when that volcano eruption had happened in Iceland – at the time, the industry was in uproar, but I loved it because it was my first week and there was news everywhere! I then worked my way up there to Deputy News Editor and then News Editor. I then took a career break to go travelling. I spoke to my then editor Daniel Pearce to hand in my notice but Dan asked if I would be interested in writing the odd travel blog while I was away, and most crucially – asked if I would like to come back to my job once I returned. I didn’t need to think about it – I absolutely loved my job! I told him ‘I would love to!’ so Dan very kindly held my position open for me. While I was away Dan bought the company from UBM and transformed it into an independent business, meaning I returned to a totally different business, and since then it has just gone from strength to strength.

You’ve been a B2B journalist for your whole career. What’s the best thing about this kind of journalism?

Every day is different which I genuinely love. But I think the key thing that came to light during the pandemic, is that in B2B journalism you really get to fight and champion your readers. You really know your readers for a start, so it’s a very different world to that of consumer journalism. Having them call you up in tears on the phone really brought home how much things were affecting them, especially during the pandemic when we had the government flip flopping on destinations at a whim. Ministers weren’t releasing evidence as to what data they were basing their decisions on so there was zero transparency. And knowing and seeing the impact that those government decisions were having on everyday people, in their lives and on their livelihoods – the debt some of them were having to go into, the loans some of them were having to take, the worries that some of them were having to take on, because so many of them were having to lay off their staff. All of that really galvanises you to want to fight for and champion your sector like never before, because you know these people and you know what they’re going through.

That’s the power of B2B journalism that we’ve really seen as a result of the pandemic. And it’s not just TTG, we’ve seen it with every sector represented by B2B magazines, that have been able to really jump in and fight the corner of their readers.

The travel industry was one hit the hardest by the pandemic – what was it like leading your team through such a difficult time?

Firstly, it was not just me leading the team. TTG has a fantastic senior leadership team, led of course by our CEO Daniel Pearce. But really I think it was all the team that got each other through it. First off, we were working from home and pre-pandemic I never would have thought we could put a magazine to bed working remotely – I just didn’t think that was a possibility! Obviously when you’re forced to do it, you make it happen. And even when we paused print and went digital only in April 2020, we were still producing a fortnightly magazine.

Our deputy news editor Tom Parry, who was named in the PPA 30 under 30 this year launched ‘Get Travel Talking,’ which was a fantastic mental health initiative to try and encourage the travel industry to talk to one another, but it also got us as a team talking and thinking about what we needed to be doing to look after one another. So we all made our own individual mental health pledges. We launched a buddy system, where we paired up with different members of the team, who had to check in with one another every week and have a call that wasn’t work related. Just to talk about what was going on like that really helped – especially for those members of the team that might have been living alone or those living in shared flats. Everyone was sort of having their own struggles and being able to talk to someone in a non-work capacity, to have a fellow colleague who got what you were going through, made a really big difference.

Could you tell us a bit about the work you’re doing for TTG LGBT+?

This was an idea that came around in 2014. I was invited by Jo Rzymowska a very out and proud woman and the boss of Celebrity Cruises, to an OUTstanding event as she had been named one of the top 100 out business leaders across all sectors. We were looking around the room thinking, ‘God, travel is really poorly represented.’ We thought that travel was perceived to be quite a gay industry, so we thought something was going wrong here. Either LGBT+ people weren’t getting to the top or they were, but weren’t comfortable being out. Either way we thought something had to change.

I went back and talked to Dan about maybe setting up an LGBT network. He loved it and so we got on with launching it – something we had much more freedom to do as an independent business, rather than being constrained by the ties of a big corporate organisation where an idea has to be cleared by umpteen people. We launched TTG LGBT with one sponsor – Celebrity Cruises. By the end of the week, we had three more.

It wasn’t all plain sailing – one advertiser raised serious concerns and threatened to pull advertising. Another industry figure said we were creating divisions by "separating people”. But some of those same critics have since come to our LGBT+ events and have launched their own diversity initiatives – the world has moved on thankfully, and most people now recognise they need to be part of the change.

Initially TTG LGBT was all about creating an LGBT+ networking space for LGBT people to come together within the industry – but we were also very passionate about inviting allies along as well. We really wanted to encourage the sort of older white straight men that were the bosses of these companies to come along and show their support, and in doing so, demonstrate to people within their companies that it was ok to be themselves. Off the back of that we launched the TTG LGBT Conference, which was all about educating those who wanted to market and sell to the LGBT community. We were trying to encourage people to think about their marketing and to use more inclusive imagery, thinking about the language they use. Naturally it evolved into wider conversations about diversity. Then we started having regional events too. We later launched the TTG Diversity and Inclusion Charter, which had to be signed by the CEO of a company. They would send a photo in of the boss signing it, which we hosted on our website. Firms then placed the charter on their walls which was designed to send a message to their employees that they could feel comfortable being themselves.

We did various surveys, analysing attitudes towards LGBT+ people and how comfortable LGBT+ people felt being out within their jobs and the travel industry at large. We then used that data to help convince those that still needed convincing that there was still a lot of work to be done in the travel industry when it came to diversity and inclusion.

The conversation was naturally moving more towards the wider D&I space, so TTG LGBT now forms part of our larger TTG Diversity and Inclusion programme, which we launched in 2019. We had our first conference that year, addressing all aspects of diversity and inclusion – looking at age, sexuality, gender, disability, accessibility and religion. We launched a series of D&I breakfasts, although the pandemic hit just after we held our first event. However we have grand plans to continue our work in this area, and TTG remains more committed than ever to continuing our fight to improve diversity and inclusion in travel. The pandemic has given us a real opportunity for the sector to now rebuild in a much more fair, open and inclusive way.

You brought back the print format of TTG in September 2020, after going solely digital over the pandemic, what are the particular qualities of print that made you keen to reintroduce it?

We were always going to bring print back. We’re 100% committed to print – it’s our bread and butter. There are so many other aspects of the business, but our core product is still print and that’s really important to us and our CEO, Dan. He’s a former journalist and really passionate about publishing and journalism.

We did have to change our way of thinking though – TTG had been a weekly magazine since the business was launched in 1953. But when we returned to print in September 2020, we realised a weekly magazine no longer worked in the current climate. The news agenda was changing so rapidly – the government was switching destinations on and off. And actually that was what our website was for – for the constant update of news.

We thought it would be more beneficial for our readers to separate the two, and have the magazine focusing on much longer, more analytical reads with deeper insight, with more opinions to share different voices from across the industry . Between September and January we thought about what we really wanted our monthly magazine to look like, so we worked again with design agency Oliver & Graimes and in January 2021 we revealed our new look, perfect bound, magazine, with the pages and layout redesigned to reflect more of a monthly feel. We invested in a heavier paper stock, recycled obviously, so it feels more like a coffee table style read.

You’ve spoken about travelling and publishing’s need to get more women in senior leadership positions. From your experience, what can the industry do to further promote the careers of women?

Actually I feel very passionately that as well as improve gender equality, we should also be focussing on social mobility – I think that’s a massive issue for the industry. To begin with I think more paid internships should be offered to prevent journalism becoming the preserve of the elite, which it has been for far too long. I think especially with the closure of local newspapers, where a lot of people were able to cut their teeth in journalism and still live at home with mum and dad, rent free, there are now fewer options for people to get into journalism.

There are smaller things we can all do too to improve D&I within the world of journalism. We all have a responsibility to make sure that diverse voices are seen and heard across the magazine and we’re certainly trying to do this at TTG – we're always pushing ourselves to be better when it comes to imagery, making sure our magazine is not full of the usual white faces.

We want to make sure that our website is not full of pale, male, stale faces and in that women’s voices are heard. So it’s about considering the opinion pieces that we put online but also thinking about the events that we put on. We have a commitment to never ever have all male panels. We just won’t do it. I think we need to see that across the media space as we still don't see enough non-white females. I think everyone in media has a responsibility on this.

Best travel destination?

I was very lucky when I was travelling to go to the Galapagos which was amazing. But that’s a real bucket list long haul destination. Closer to home my favourite country is Norway. If you every get the chance to do the fjords you should, its just breath-taking. But I honeymooned this summer with my wife in Scotland – we travelled around the Highlands and Isle of Skye (complete with our dog) which were just beautiful.

What's on your radar?

COP26 should be on everyone’s radar. At TTG we're very passionate about sustainability – when we redesigned the mag in 2019, we relaunched with a mission statement that we exist to promote smarter, better, fairer travel.

Just before COP26, when the budget was announced the Chancellor announced his decision to halve domestic APD (Air Passenger Duty) which was an interesting move. Aviation gets a bad reputation, but it's not the worst polluter. A UN report from 2018 actually highlights that the fashion industry consumes more energy. (And you don't see a shopping tax like APD!) At the same time, we’re under no illusion that aviation has a key role to play in tackling the climate emergency, and most in travel agree. Many in the industry understand the urgent need for travel and tourism to embrace the challenges of sustainability. So that has been very much on our radar.

Also just trying to navigate how we can support businesses that have been absolutely decimated by the pandemic, as they rebuild in a fairer and more sustainable way – while also trying to manage costs!

What magazine do you stockpile?

National Geographic has always been a favourite and that's the one I would treat myself to at the airport if I've got a long plane journey. I also like The Economist. But as a child I massively stockpiled The Beano – I’ve been loving it recently because my nephew has recently discovered it, so now I get to buy The Beano again and rediscover my love of Minnie The Minx!

What made you want to work in publishing?

I started out as a B2B journalist in the dotcom boom. I was watching all these people my age getting involved in exciting new tech businesses. I realised very quickly I wanted to understand more about the business of journalism and how I could bring tech and content together.

Data is a hot topic within publishing but can at times feel inaccessible – what advice would you give to someone who wants to start learning the language of data?

I think lots of publishers are a bit scared of tech. But a lot of publishing is about data – it's about understanding your audiences and matching that to what content you're creating. To me, there are a lot of similarities between how publishers think, and how people in the tech world think – it's all about data, how you apply it, and what you do with it. So a good start is learning the language of data, understanding how AI tools work and after that a lot of it is common sense – will these tools work for my business or not?

A concern within the collection of first party data and the creation of AI is the lack of reflection of diversity, how can publishers best equip themselves to combat this?

When we introduced our audience analytics platform here, there was a lot of concern from the editorial teams about it for exactly these reasons. The best thing you can do is be transparent about what your tools are, how you're using them. And be transparent with your audience too. You want their feedback and their input. I think when it comes to first party data and especially AI tools that trust is a competitive differentiator for publishers.

This government is invested in changing data policy – in what ways do you think this will affect magazines the most?

The government seems confused about data policy at the moment, judging by its recent comments about cookies and GDPR. Yes, it would be great for readers to have fewer consent pop-ups but that's not what really matters. What matters is that readers know why they're giving personal data to publishers, what the publisher is doing with that information. It needs to be a fair value exchange between reader and publisher.

A topic of concern in the industry has been the demise of third party cookies – what can publishers do so their marketing isn’t affected by this?

First-party data. Publishers are in a unique place to build first-party datasets because they (typically) provide something that their users want and trust them for. Publishers should be doing everything they can to build more and more data about their readers, they should put themselves in a position where readers are happy to give them that information because they trust the publisher to use it to improve their product. Ultimately that should be good for readers too.

What’s on your radar?

Advertising agencies – they get data and how to use it. There needs to be much more crossover between agencies and the media/publishing world, particularly around how you use data to analyse audiences which is something you can use to drive new revenue streams as well as to improve your product.

What magazine do you stockpile?

In English, it's definitely The Economist. I like the familiar format, the way I know how to navigate the magazine both in print and online. And a German weekly called Der Freitag for exactly the opposite reason – it has articles I wouldn't expect to read.

What made you want to work in publishing?

I’m lucky to have spent nearly my whole career in publishing. The thing that made me want to work in publishing in the first place and continue to work in publishing is working with the most brilliant people on iconic brands. I still get a buzz out of that every day. It’s why my head has never been turned anywhere else.

You’ve been at Hearst UK for 8 years – what are the biggest changes to the industry you’ve noticed in your time there?

When I first started my career magazines were just print – that was it. Across the last eight years at Hearst UK, there has been a real emphasis on revenue diversification. Print is still at the core of what we’re doing but the significance for revenue diversification for our business has increased. We now reach our audiences digitally, through events, we have a fabulous accreditation business, licensing continues to grow, E-Commerce is going from strength to strength and our digital acceleration across lots of touch points. Particularly in the growth of video, YouTube, Tik Tok, Snapchat.

Print still remains a crucial part of our business. Subscriptions for the first half of 2021 were up 6% year on year, which is amazing given that 2020 had been such a fabulous year for subscriptions.

Branded partnerships have also become a really important revenue stream and working much more closely with our commercial partners. I think the amazing work we’ve done on Project Body Love (a Hearst UK campaign to change the way women think, feel and speak about their bodies) across many of our brands is a great example of that.

One of the most significant changes of course, is the way we’re now working. Eight years ago, we were in the office five days a week, we’d be in at 9 and leave at 6 and where we are now seemed a million miles away. It’s so good and refreshing that now we have this more flexible working model, not just at Hearst UK but across the industry. Eight years have flown by but it’s so different!

Hearst UK is home to many iconic titles – what challenges do you face as Chief International Brand Officer working on titles that have such loyal, and engaged readerships?

I’m not sure I would describe them as challenges, but everyone at Hearst UK has such pride in working on these brands and feels a sense of responsibility for working on them. However, people access them, through print or digitally, coming to our events or buying our products – they mean so much to people and they have done for so many years. Cosmopolitan for example is 50 years old next year, and to be as successful as Cosmopolitan has been in every one of those 50 years, it’s had to continually evolve and our editorial teams, our content teams, our marketing teams, circulation teams are brilliant at doing that.

I was looking at the first issue of Cosmopolitan from 1972, and it’s a completely different product to what it is now but it struck me how brilliant our teams have been at evolving the brand, so it is just as relevant to young women today as it was when it launched in February 1972. You only remain that successful having amazing people evolving the title, and that’s not just true of Cosmopolitan but across all our brands.

Could you tell us a bit about the Hearst UK Panel and the research you do to connect to consumers?

The Hearst UK Panel is around 47,000 people. It’s a key component for us to help tackle the issues that matter. It provides insight for our brands and our commercial partners. By using the Panel, we have research into our consumers’ habits, and it allows our brands to generate campaigns that are going to generate maximum impact.

We use it right across our business. The level of detail we can go into allows us to run client webinars that will talk about, for example, trends in beauty or trends in finance and that allows us to work very closely with our clients. It’s a unique asset that we have at Hearst UK and we’re lucky to have it. Our editors find it invaluable because that kind of data is gold.

A recent report by OFCOM on news consumption in the UK showed magazines to be the most trusted form of media – in your experience, why do you think that is?

We have strong heritage brands that over the years continue to build this loyal trust with our consumers. I think the pandemic has highlighted that need for reliable sources of information, especially in the health and wellness category. Our brands are consulting the best experts and the most informed people when it comes to specialist topics. For example, Men’s Health and Women’s Health are leading the conversation on mental health, fitness and nutrition – all the information that comes from our brands only come from credible, authenticated institutions and individuals. I think if you look at what we’re doing at Hearst UK magazine media versus what’s going on in social media, which has sometimes been questioned as a source of information over the pandemic, it shows that magazines continue to provide positive, trusted content.

What has been a career highlight while you have been working for Hearst UK?

That’s a difficult question because there have been so many highlights! I don’t actually think I could select one particular moment, but I have to say it’s made me immensely proud of how our people have constantly evolved our brands during the last eight years. So, I’d say the people here at Hearst UK are my highlight. Whether it’s our teams within editorial, commercial, marketing, subscriptions or senior management, the job our people have done in taking our brands to larger and more engaged audiences has been simply incredible. The last 18 months have undoubtedly presented challenges but I couldn’t be prouder of how we’ve navigated through an unprecedented period, whilst still delivering record results in many areas of the business.

What’s on your radar?

We’ve just launched a membership programme on Men’s Health that I’m really excited about, and we’ll be rolling that out across our other wellness titles. It’s a big step forward for us. The teams have created some brilliant content that is going into membership so if you’re a member you’re going to get exclusive access to content on the site, you can join Instagram lives, we’ll provide an expert panel you can interact with, and it can be built in with a print subscription or not – however you want to do it.

I also recently was chatting to some colleagues in Hearst Japan and across Asia and they have been seeing massive growth in ‘live selling’ – either selling through the website or through Instagram using influencers. They recently did a Women’s Health Live event in Japan and all the equipment being used by the influencers you could click through and buy as they were using it. We’re beginning to experiment with doing something like that – I know our colleagues in the US are too. It’s a massive opportunity as we have such influence over our readers, they look to us for recommendations, and I think that gives us the authority to sell products.

What magazine do you stockpile?

I genuinely read all eight magazines that I am responsible for, so commuters on my line have got used to seeing me reading Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan. That’s one of the things I’ve missed about commuting, is having that time to sit and read the magazines. But the one I look forward to the most is Esquire because very early on in my career I worked on it back in the 1990s. It was a fabulous brand then and it’s a fabulous brand now. Alex Bilmes and his team create the most amazing content that you want to read and lose yourself in.

When did you know you wanted to be a journalist?

I knew I wanted to be a journalist the day I got into Law School.

Since finishing education (Undergraduate in Music at the University of Oxford, followed by a Masters in Management at Imperial College Business School), I had been working in the live music industry, until I was put onto furlough from April 2020. I felt pretty useless when the pandemic started, and didn’t feel like I was doing my part, mostly because I didn’t know how I could use my skills to help people during a global pandemic. At the end of April 2020, the UK Government introduced Statutory Instrument 445 overnight, removing vital legal protections and safeguards from children in care. My first reaction as a foster care advocate was to take to social media to share and sign petitions calling for the legislation's withdrawal. Then, I decided to take a different approach. I took an intense six-week course, accredited by the University of London, on English Common Law to further my understanding of emergency legislation. I used my new-found knowledge to educate others campaigning for the withdrawal of SI 445, as well as concerned foster children who weren’t able to understand the legal rhetoric associated with the campaign. I then decided to apply for law school. If I couldn’t help with the current legal proceedings, I decided I wanted to be able to stop something like this from happening again in the future. Thinking I wouldn’t get in, I decided if I didn’t get in, I would apply to journalism school as a second choice. I’m passionate about disseminating information in an accessible way, and what better way to explain legal actions, than in a widespread easy-to-read article. Within 24 hours I was accepted to Law School with an unconditional offer for an LLM in International Human Rights Law, and I was devastated. Turns out, my second choice of journalism school, had actually been my first, and a few weeks later when I got my acceptance email to the part-time NCTJ course at News Associates, with support from the amazing Journalism Diversity Fund, I knew that this was the right choice for me.

How did it feel to win PPA 30 Under 30 Student of the Year award?

This was such a mixed feeling. I received my award the day after I was officially diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis after a 8 month long battle with the auto-immune condition. I’m not sure how to describe exactly how it felt to be studying at journalism school, whilst gradually losing the ability to hold a pen, but to put it in layman’s – it sucked. This disease made me question my entire career choice – and it goes without saying, but my shorthand classes very quickly became more about me trying not to cry than keeping up with the 100wpm passages. I spent a lot of my training feeling pretty useless and frustrated as my body seemingly fell apart in front of me. Receiving the PPA award reminded me what I’ve still managed to achieve despite this, and I am going to do everything in my power to make sure this condition doesn’t hold me back from a successful career in the industry.

Many publishers have recently made a commitment to better class and racial diversity in our industry, what do you think can be done to better this? What do you plan long term in your career to aid diversity and inclusion?

I got into journalism because the issues important to my community (other care experienced people) weren’t being told in the mainstream. One of my first articles was an exposé on discrimination faced by pregnant care experienced mothers, and my pitch had been rejected by all of the major publications and broadsheets I had (admittedly cold) emailed. Sian Norris, Chief European & Social Affairs Correspondent, at the Byline Times, gave me the break I needed. I broke the story in an article for the Byline Times and subsequently, was asked by the Government's Independent review of children's social care to help create a parent-centered focus group to tackle the issue that I had exposed. I’ve since written multiple articles for Byline, and now have a much higher success rate when I cold-pitch editors thanks to my portfolio. All I had needed was that first ‘yes’ from an editor; in the future, Sian is the type of Editor I will strive to be. The type of Editor who helps to platform, not discourage.

What project have you worked on that you are most proud of?

Whilst I was still at News Associates, I was approached by Good Law Project to work on a video with the not-for-profit campaign organisation about their latest legal action. I had previously worked with the organisation via a care experienced collective I helped found, and their upcoming case involved the issue of young people in care being moved ‘out-of-area’. I interviewed a number of young people who had experienced these moves, alongside professionals who were willing to whistle- blow on the current state of the UK’s care system. I subsequently released a video, alongside an article, which I narrated and created with a really talented animator. You can watch the video here

https://twitter.com/goodlawproject/status/1414929500895334403?s=21

Which journalists do you look up to and why?

I think my first proper ‘journalism fan girl’ moment was watching Carole Cadwalladr in Netflix’s The Great Hack. When the documentary was released in 2019, I was doing my masters at business school, and journalism wasn’t an option in my mind as a potential career. But when I saw what she had uncovered and the importance of her investigation, I was completely blown away. Investigative Journalism had absolutely captured my attention, and I knew I somehow wanted to do the same things she was.

How do you think publishers can continue to engage young talent to pursue a career in journalism?

My Twitter bio is mostly taken up by the sentence ‘there are enough ears in this world to make the smallest voice heard’. Coming from a foster care background, I grew up thinking no one cared about what I said, thought, or the issues that mattered to me. Spoiler alert, there are quite a lot of communities out there who feel the same. Realising this, was one of the reasons I decided to become a journalist, and I think with the current situation of the world, many more young people are aware of this platforming inequality. By acknowledging who you have in the workforce and who you are writing about in the newsroom is a great first-step, and shows young people wanting to go into journalism to create change, that you are willing to act.

What's on your radar?

I love how multifaceted it is to be a journalist in 2021. Working in digital at a radio station means that on any given day, my journalism could be in a written, podcast, video, or social media format. Before journalism, I had a 10-year plan, and thought I knew exactly where my career was taking me. Now, I have no idea what the journalism industry will look like in 10 years, and that’s so exciting. I can’t wait to see what’s next in terms of journalism formats and what new skills this career will bring.

What magazine do you stockpile?

I’m a digital girl for sure, and am a huge fan of gal-dem. Before I got into journalism, they were the first media publication I knew of that were tackling inequality in the newsroom and actively reporting on issues which are important to people of colour from marginalised genders. I also follow quite a few magazines on Instagram, as I think this social media platform especially has had a boom in terms of news delivery.

What made you want to work in magazines?

I can trace the origins back to my early teens, when I used to borrow (okay, steal) my big brother’s perused copies, including issues of EMPIRE (for some reason I vividly remember the cover with Robin Williams wearing a pair of trousers on his head). I was mesmerised as I flicked through them: here were portals into unknown worlds, with vibrant art and fun, candid interviews with big names. Often a magazine like EMPIRE, Neon or Premiere turned out to be more entertaining than whatever movie was adorning its cover. The sense of community I felt as I read them back then, of being part of a big band of like-minded friends, is still something I feel today, working at EMPIRE.

You’ve interviewed some big names in film – who was the best person to interview?

There have been so many unforgettable experiences. Will Smith teaching me how to use a rocket-launcher. Robert De Niro slipping into an impression of an angry Italian hotel manager as he told me an anecdote. Watching reality TV show Say Yes To The Dress with Viola Davis in her trailer on the Warner Bros lot. The most ‘pinch-me’ one, though, has to be spending two days in Shanghai with Jackie Chan. He’s one of my long-time heroes and getting to enter his (frankly very surreal) world for that long was an amazing privilege. He drove me around in his car at a terrifying speed while singing Lionel Richie tunes at a terrifying volume, allowed me to carry his two beloved cuddly panda toys, La and Zy, and explained how he would fight me using objects in his hotel room. It’s pretty hard to top.

As Acting Editor over the pandemic, you were leading a publication focused on an industry that was hit hard by covid restrictions – how did this impact your editorial strategy?

Covid changed everything, almost overnight. Suddenly cinemas were closed, press junkets and photoshoots cancelled, set visits no longer a possibility. Our carefully made plans had to be shelved, while our run of future covers was suddenly obsolete. It was, to put it mildly, a testing time. But oddly enough, looking back, I have so many good memories of that period. The team pulled together amazingly, drawing on our resources to come up with compelling concepts and tapping our contacts books to get access to big names who no longer had anything to promote. Instead of the pandemic crippling EMPIRE, I feel that we became a more passionate, adventurous and vital magazine than ever. And the content we ran — from Tom Hanks writing an essay on the importance of hope, to a collaboration with director Edgar Wright on a campaign to support shuttered cinemas, to a special Zoom film club — really connected with readers, many of whom got in touch to say how much EMPIRE meant to them during lockdown. The sense of community has only increased, and so has our sense of mission.

You’ve been at EMPIRE for your whole career as a journalist, what’s it been like seeing the film industry and journalism change over the last 16 years?

They say the only thing permanent is change, and that’s definitely been borne out by my time at EMPIRE. Hollywood has been rocked by one seismic event after another, from the arrival of Marvel (kicking off the current trend for intricate, interlocking cinematic universes), to TV starting to rival movies for star-power and production value, to the rise of Netflix and subsequent streaming services. As a brand, we’ve had to evolve in step. That’s always a challenge, to keep on top of the latest trends, but it also prevents EMPIRE from getting stale — and makes our jobs so much more exciting. In terms of transformations in journalism, again it’s been invigorating to take advantage of new possibilities and technology. EMPIRE's podcast, for example, has allowed us to turn readers into listeners, and drill deeper into the movies they love with the popular ‘Spoiler Special’ spin-off series.

You’ve recently launched EMPIRE VIP Club with some great perks like a Picturehouse cinema membership and access to exclusive podcast content. How would you define the difference between membership and subscription models in magazines?

They’re both ways to engage with passionate, fired-up readers. While the traditional subscription model is focused on the print experience, though, a membership model allows us to provide a multi-dimensional brand experience. EMPIRE VIP Club gives its members access to live events, exclusive podcast and print content, rewards and more – it’s an exciting new way to connect with loyal EMPIRE readers, allowing them to get closer to the action and us to get to know them better.

What does the next year hold for EMPIRE with the ability to do in-person events again?

2022 promises to be a colossal year for Hollywood, with a cavalcade of huge blockbusters set to arrive now that cinemas are opening again. TV-wise, there are gigantic things on the horizon too, from a new Game Of Thrones series to a billion-dollar adaptation of The Lord Of The Rings. It’s an exciting time for EMPIRE, then, not least as there’s a palpable desire from readers to get out of the house and make up for lost time. There’s lots of potential for buzzy events, be it screenings, live podcasts or Q&As — we’re keen to get back out there and celebrate the return of cinema in style.

What upcoming film release are you most excited for?

As a one-time card-carrying member of the Indiana Jones Fan Club (I was nine; the club folded after two months and I didn’t get my money back), I would be betraying my younger self if I didn’t say Indiana Jones 5. The last film was not so great, but I’ll never not be thrilled by the sight of Harrison Ford in a battered fedora, even if this time he’s pushing 80.

What’s on your radar?

I'm contemplating the question of what our lives as journalists will look like as we bounce back from the pandemic — presumably some mixture of physical and virtual, hopefully drawing on the best aspects of both. And then there are the all-important issues of inclusion and diversity. Thankfully things seem to be moving in the right direction, but there’s a lot more work to be done.

What magazine do you stockpile?

Other than EMPIRE — I’ve still got literal piles of old issues stacked up in my mum’s attic! — the one I horde is Rolling Stone. The dynamic covers, audacious photoshoots, beautiful design and brilliant longform interviews make it too hard to throw them away. It’s a time machine back to pop-culture trends of yore, and I find the boldness of its editorial really inspiring.

Chart your career from the start to now.

My first staff job was as a media reporter for journalism.co.uk. That gave me insight and access to people in the industry who were doing digital journalism well. I felt incredibly lucky to have been in that position to talk to people every day about what they were doing, how they were doing it, what was working, what wasn’t working and to be able to report on that. Then I was the editor at First Draft which is a not for profit, which at the time was set up to train journalists in using social media and how not to get tricked and verification. I then spent some time with Al Jazeera as a consultant in Doha doing a similar thing with them, before joining Press Association in 2017. I was with the Press Association as a social media journalist, using all those skills from news gathering and verification on social media. I went back to First Draft briefly, before joining The Big Issue a year ago.

I feel very lucky to have had that foundation at journalism.co.uk to set me up for the rest of it. I’m very happy to be at The Big Issue and doing everything I can to apply that experience. I want to continue to learn and apply all of that to the brilliant work that The Big Issue does.

March 2020 was our first lockdown, it could have been a catastrophic time for The Big Issue because it meant vendors were off the street, they couldn’t sell the magazine. That not only increased the amount of support which the organisation had to give to vendors, but it also meant that a large part of the business model was just wiped out overnight. But what could have been catastrophic was an enormous opportunity and the team did an incredible job. This was before I joined. They did an incredible job of setting up a whole new business model and a whole new digital subscription model, almost over the course of a weekend. This presented an opportunity.

The Big Issue has been and will continue to be a way to support people who are homeless and vulnerably housed – a hand up not a handout. The core of The Big Issue’s mission is helping people to give themselves a route out of poverty and The Big Issue online can be more than just what the magazine does and go further to address the causes of poverty as well as just the symptoms.

As a journalist, what made you want to work at The Big Issue?

I think the vast majority of journalists want to know that their work is making a positive difference in the world. This is the dream job in being able to do that. Before I knew journalism is what I should actually do with myself I was trying to kickstart a career in the third sector anyway. I ended up writing for various blogs and realising that was something I took to much more naturally. Having gotten down to journalism I thought, ‘this is exactly what I should have been doing all along’. Now being able to then marry those two things, being able to work in the sector and be able to know that my work is making a difference by using those skills and experience of journalism is my dream job.

How did you come up with the new digital strategy and what does that look like?

There was already a strong idea around some of the digital strategy before I arrived – to be there for readers as well as the vendors. In those initial conversations there were some ideas about those core content pillars and some core verticals, which we're focussing on right now. I very much wanted to make it about solutions – not homelessness but housing, not unemployment but employment, to be talking about how we can address these issues in a positive way and talk about the solutions.

We ended up focusing on the core content areas in housing, employment, social justice, activism, and the environment, which is going to play an enormous role in all of our lives. The changes are coming and it’s going to hit people that are disadvantaged the hardest.

At its core The Big Issue is an activist product. It’s created to make a positive difference. It’s more social activism than it is political activism, but as a content pillar and as a vertical that allows us to address charities, volunteers, political activism, protest, social enterprises, all these things that The Big Issue is very much about already and part of The Big Issue Group more widely.

Big Issue Invest for example, which not very many people know about, was set up to secure investment for social enterprises and to deliver that. A lot of these areas overlap with what The Big Issue is doing more broadly. The Big Issue Foundation, which is a registered charity set up to give wraparound support to The Big Issue vendors beyond just the opportunity to sell the magazine and make a living. John Bird, the founder, is always saying how the end goal is for there not to be any vendors and for The Big Issue not to exist.

The digital strategy is a core part of being able to address those areas. SEO plays a large part as it does for everybody, as we want to answer the questions people have about the issues they care about. And of course developing more direct distribution channels. Relying on Google and Facebook is half taking a punt and half just giving up ownership of those distribution channels, and that is always going to be a risk. That’s something that we’ve seen over the last 10-20 years, where some tweaks can be made to an algorithm somewhere in California and that changes what news people see. This is obviously something we wish to protect ourselves from. We need to strengthen our visibility on Google and Facebook – we can’t do without it. But we also need to think about other distribution channels and build brand visibility in lots of different ways, through podcasting and video output. We need to take The Big Issue forward as a digital publication as well as the print magazine.

What it like working for a publication that has so many people relying on you?

I’ve only been here since September 2020, so I don’t have the experience of what it has been like before. What the editorial team produces is not just about the readers or the journalists – it’s about the vendors. The need to be able to produce something for them. I know that weighs heavy, every day of every week. The theme and the driving force have been being able to keep that running. Because there was the second lockdown and we had to make sure that we were there for the vendors and we could support them because we knew that they were going to be there when we could sell the magazine again. That was where the digital subscription model came from and getting the magazine on the supermarket shelves for the first time. It’s being able to make that money to support vendors and that’s the difference with The Big Issue and everywhere else, it has that social mission and the people relying on it.

Will you need a subscription to view the online content?

We’re very much of the view that people’s access to information shouldn’t be limited by their ability to pay for it. That is especially true when we’re talking about the news and content pillars around being able to provide the news and support and advice. One example is we’ve done a lot of work over the last year around people’s rights as tenants – what your rights as a tenant are during the pandemic and eviction notices. That is the kind of information that should be accessible. Before 2021 The Big Issue online was mainly just the magazine, putting the articles online. We are at this stage building the audience as much as we can, developing those direct distribution channels and very much marketing it in terms of the social mission that we have.

What’s on your radar?

At the moment I'm trying to immerse myself as much as possible in the topic areas we’re hiring people to cover, and a big part of that is what the future of work is going to look like. People are going back to the office, there is a lot of talk about flexible working. There was a recent consultation about flexible working by the Government. What has been happening with a lot of these conversations around how work is changing, it’s often about office workers and there are millions of people for whom that isn’t an option. This is all coming to a head in the immediate weeks where the temporary rise in Universal Credit that was introduced at the start of the pandemic is being cut. At the same time as gas prices are going up, at the same time as national insurance contribution is going up, at the same time as VAT is being reinstated. This is going to be a difficult period for the country and one that we need to be there for our readers and vendors to help them understand what’s happening and report on it.

In terms of those content areas, I want to be covering it in terms of news, community and action. So, what is happening and why? I want to help people understand the issues. The community part covers who is being affected, and what’s being done to support them. Who are the people, what is the human story? And then the action side is what can readers can do to help themselves and or to help each other? Hopefully that embodies not just the social mission of The Big Issue but it’s also going to be the thing that keeps you interested in reading. We’ve already had record breaking months with that strategy. To be honest, there is a gap in the market to have a media brand that is socially conscious but without being politically lecturing. We want to focus on the issues rather than the politics.

What magazine do you stockpile?

The Big Issue of course. I’ve always bought The Big Issue. Private Eye is a regular read for me. I’ve got a couple other digital subscriptions – The Atlantic and The New Statesman.

What made you want to work in publishing?

I have always been ‘bookish’ in part thanks to my parents – we didn’t have a telly until I was 16 so before then I always had my nose in a book! I think that played a large part in cultivating my love of writing. I am a farmer by upbringing though and studied agriculture at university.

I ended up working for Farmers Weekly after initially writing a column for them and then doing some work experience that was organised by the excellent British Guild of Agricultural Journalists. This led to my applying for a full-time job with them in October 2016 as an arable reporter. The team always say we either take a journalist and train them about farming – or take a farmer and teach them to write. I was very much the latter.

How did it feel to win the Special Interest PPA Award?

To be recognised by a panel of our peers was extremely special, particularly as we were up against many other well-known and high-quality brands. Our industry has gone through some tough times in this pandemic, and it was great to see the hard work of our whole team recognised in this way. They have risen to the challenge of it magnificently.

Farmers Weekly impressed our judges in its ability to adapt to changes brought about by the pandemic – particularly in events. How did you implement such a quick and successful strategy around this?

Most of our pre-existing events were face-to-face. Some of them we had to drop but many were modified to make them appropriate as a webinar or other form of online event. The team also came up with a number of new initiatives during this time.

There’s a huge amount going on in agriculture at the moment as responsibility for farm policy is shifted from Brussels to Westminster and the devolved regions. Our readers have a real appetite to talk about this so having the team stay on top of the conversation and pick topics that farmers wanted to know more about was the most important thing.

You were appointed editor in December 2020 in the midst of the pandemic and lockdowns – what was that like?

I owe a lot to my predecessor Karl Schneider who did a huge amount during the early days of the pandemic to steady the ship in his dual role as editor and publisher.

Since taking the reins myself I have benefitted hugely from the support of the rest of the management team, all the staff and many acts of kindness from people in the farming industry. It has been tough taking on my first management role with everyone remote and I’m really pleased that we are starting to return to the office now.

Covid and Brexit have had a big impact on farming – how do you decide what to cover?

As with every other news organisation it is vital to stay in touch with your contacts. We need to understand the challenges for farmers in their fields as well as the rest of the food supply chain and policy makers. I have two simple priorities – practical solutions to farm-level problems for our features – and making sure we are the home of balanced debate on the biggest issues of the day for our news coverage. I want FW to be the place where people come to escape the noise of social media and find out the facts of what’s going on.

Farmers Weekly's success is partially own to the great connection you have with your audience – how have you garnered this relationship with them?

I think the strength rests on our heritage. One of my most important roles is to protect our reputation for honesty and integrity and continue to make sure we bring content to our readership how and when they want it – in print, online, through our podcasts or at an event. That is how we will maintain our relationship with our audience – and how they will continue to value what we do.

What’s on your radar?

The biggest challenge facing many farmers is the impending withdrawal of the government support payments that the industry has enjoyed in various guises since the end of the Second World War. This has helped to shield them from price volatility in the marketplace and slowed the pace of consolidation in the industry, preserving family farming businesses.

In England, this will be phased out by 2027 and their future is also uncertain in the rest of the UK. Helping farmers adapt to cope without this will be the challenge of the decade for our industry and we must play our part in helping them prepare for this.

What magazine do you stockpile?

I am a Private Eye subscriber. I’m in awe of Ian Hislop and his team growing the magazine’s readership as many other titles have fallen by the wayside. The magazine has a strong identity, continually high standards and isn’t afraid to speak truth to power. I hope people think of Farmers Weekly in the same way – and I’d love to be as mischievous as them on occasions too!

What made you want to work in publishing?

From a Diversity and Inclusion angle, there is still a lot to be done within the publishing sector. I saw this as a real challenge. But ultimately it was Reach that I wanted to work for. There was ownership around D&I from the executive. I met Reach's CEO Jim Mullen and I could tell he was passionate and wanted change. It was the promise of a good partnership between us that got me really excited, I knew D&I was a priority at Reach, and change was going to happen.

Reach just announced it was joining the ‘30% Club’ – can you explain what this means, and the impact you think this is going to have on publishing?

Reach has explicitly committed to at least 30% women on its board and senior management team by 2023, while also committing to greater representation for people of colour; calling for one director of colour of every FTSE 100 by the end of 2021 and FTSE 250 by the end of 2024. I really hope this is a pivotal moment for the industry and we start to see other publishers committing to improving gender diversity.

How can publishers make their workforces more diverse and inclusive?

I think for starters publishers need to be honest and start from a place of learning, rather than knee-jerk reactions. I believe it's important to be clear about what your workforce make-up really looks like in order to put together an informed plan.

At Reach this year our colleagues have been providing us with information that by the end of the year will give us a much better indication of where we are. We've established a more inclusive hiring process, and we're mentoring and supporting the talent we already have so that we can build a sustainable pipeline of diverse talent. But for change to really happen, you have to galvanise your workforce.

I think it's also helpful to work closely with partner organisations who have a lot of expertise and insight to share, we're working closely with myGwork, Inclusive Companies, Women's Sport Trust, and PurpleSpace (to name just a few). We have also signed the Race at Work Charter to ensure that ethnic minority employees are represented at all levels at Reach.

Conversations about diversity and inclusion are happening across all industries, not just publishing, how do you make sure that this is always a priority?

It's no secret that greater diversity is good for business. For change to happen, and for diversity and inclusion to be a priority there has to be support from senior leaders. At Reach, our executive team are all fully committed to D&I and sponsor our Inclusion networks, which in turn help all our colleagues to thrive and reach their full potential.

The pandemic undoubtedly hit people from minority groups the hardest, but also created the space for people to engage in conversations about diversity and inclusion, particularly around race – do you think this change in narrative is going to impact long term positive change?

The pandemic has had a profound effect on business and for progressive companies like Reach it meant that D&I became business critical. Increased awareness of the realities of the pandemic for minority groups motivated people like never before. There was a significant shift in attitudes and focus across the business, which I hope leads to long term positive change.

Your career and research have had a predominant focus on raising the profile of women in the workplace – what is one piece of advice you would give to women wanting to advance their careers?

I would encourage every woman to be seen. Understand your personal brand – what is it that you bring to the table that nobody else does? Know it and believe it.

I'd encourage women to find a passion too, and follow it. I was passionate about how having children affected women's careers, and that was what I studied for my PHD, when I was in my late forties. It's never too late to learn, and that knowledge will always enhance your career.

Finally, I am a huge fan of mentoring, which is why I'm so passionate about the 30% club. I was a mentee myself, and received some of the best advice of my career through that relationship.

What magazine do you stockpile?

Harvard Business Review.

What’s on your radar?

I've noticed a real trend for targets, but I worry executive led targets mean there is a disconnect with your people. At Reach we've implemented Inclusion Action Plans for managers so they have real ownership over the goals they are working towards. D&I shouldn't be a top down instruction, motivating your workforce so everybody is aligned on D&I is essential.

I'm excited about our Reach Inclusion week – which will be bringing D&I into focus across the business. We have so much planned, from inclusive hiring workshops to panel discussions and connect and learn sessions for everybody across Reach.

Chart your career from the start to now.

My career started in local news, when an internship at a large Swedish regional daily newspaper turned into a semi-regular thing whilst I was still in journalism school. This was an amazing learning opportunity – I still argue to anyone starting out in journalism that local news is the best training ground. When I moved to London after university I fell into trade magazine journalism – with quite a long stint in legal journalism before landing at Pulse nearly a decade ago. I have been a reporter, senior reporter, chief reporter, news editor and now (since last month) deputy editor at Pulse.

You’ve worked in the B2B side of journalism for most of your career, what excites you as a writer about engaging with special interest communities?

I remember when I first started at Pulse as a reporter and phoned my first few GPs. It was a lovely, warm welcome. Pulse has a tagline – that it has supported general practice since 1960 – and GPs very much feel this to be true. They often feel like a beleaguered profession, with sections of the media portraying them as overpaid and lazy. It is a privilege, as journalists, to be that safe haven.

What was it like to be news editor in a period that was inundated with health news?

I’m not going to lie, it was a hectic time! It didn’t help that I had just returned from maternity leave, that our team was one reporter down, or that nursery closed for three months during the first lockdown! But, despite all of this, it was probably the most exciting time of my career. I think if you don’t thrive on fast-paced, breaking news, health journalism is probably not for you right now.

How did it feel to win the PPA Award for Unsung Hero?

As news editor, as was my title at the time, you really are at a strange place. You decide what news should be covered, edit all articles and train and guide junior reporters, yet you don’t get any bylines anymore! As such, it was really very nice for all that hard work to be recognised. We also decided to come into the office, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, to watch the ceremony together as a team, and were able to go out to celebrate together afterwards.

What does 2022 hold for Pulse?

Remarkably, Pulse’s print edition is still going strong despite the pandemic and the supposed ‘death’ of print, so you can expect to see the monthly magazine continue landing at GP surgery doors. However, that being said, I think you will also see us expanding and building on our online offering and that user experience. Watch this space.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Personally I have always been the kind of journalist who thrives on breaking news – both the exclusive news stories that we produce at Pulse and being first to report the major events relevant to GPs. However, as a manager, working with talented young journalists, often in their first proper job of their journalist career, seeing them develop and flourish is also amazing. I’m very lucky to be working with an amazingly talented team.

What’s on your radar?

I’m really excited to be able to go out there and see people in real life again – whether that will be going to conferences, award ceremonies or just to the pub with my colleagues.

What magazine do you stockpile?

In print form – involuntarily – Microlight Flying as my partner is a hobby pilot. (My two-year-old is constantly asking me to read him this exciting ‘book’ with aeroplanes on it.) Personally, I have an online subscription to the New York Times magazine, and my favourite section is Modern Love.

Chart your career from the start to now.

I went to university in Staffordshire doing the NCTJ news course and graduated in 2010. From there I went straight into an internship at FHM back when that existed! When I was at uni I really wanted to be a print features editor and I really loved the features there. So, I worked for them unpaid but didn’t end up getting the paid internship. But thankfully not long after I got a job at Zoo magazine and running their website. I became really good friends with their web editor, Adam Gold, who mentored me and brought me up and made me realise that you can do so much more with digital as you really are your own master. You do the words, the pictures, the headlines, the commissioning, the socials. Then I got seconded to go work at a website called Go Think Big which was about launching work experience and internships for people in media. After that, I worked at Q magazine for a bit. Then I became a web Editor at Heat, and I was there for about 3 three years and after came to Hearst UK to Digital Spy. I was rethinking how they dealt with social as it was being managed by a different team. I became Associate Editor and then Deputy Editor and finally Editor about two years ago. I’ve been there ever since doing bits and bobs on the side – hosting the official Peaky Blinders podcast with BBC Sounds, I also do some lectures and bits of freelancing where I can and that brings me up to where I am now.

How do you find inspiration for content?

I’m really blessed in that I’m quite good at coming up with ideas fairly regularly. Often, it’s just finding the time to do them or the conviction to get them done!

Magazines are a big source of inspiration – I love the idea of inverting ideas. For example, if you read an article about the most shocking twists in tv shows I might invert that into a piece on the worst storylines you saw coming.

Often ideas come to me at random. They always seem to come when you’re not looking for them. It’s definitely been trickier working from home as you don’t have the same ability to spit ball with people that you might have in big features ideas sessions.

I’ve also always been really impressed by what meme accounts do because they’re on the forefront of what is shareable on social media and they’re constantly hopping on trends that are palatable and suitable for journalism.

I would say once you get into the mindset of looking for content everywhere, it does become easier.

What advice do you have for early career journalists?

I’ve been doing lectures for quite a while. I want to try and help the next generation into the industry. I didn’t know anyone when I was starting out in media. I’d had awful advice from school – they just gave me a copy of Private Eye and told me to read that to learn about journalism!

I’d say work experience, work experience, work experience. It was hard when I was starting out to get it but it’s even harder now. Paid spots are harder to get, lots of places only going for people that already have lots of experience. Journalism as an industry also tends to favour people with well-established economic backgrounds and people who live near London – I lived in Kent, so it was easy for me to commute.

I really focused on work experience when I was at uni – I did work experience at the BBC, local papers, and magazines. I also edited the university entertainment website and the student newspaper. I did everything I could to give myself ammo for when I started working.

Another thing I would say is start freelancing now but don’t say you’re a student. If you don’t land a pitch, you’re still learning from it, and if you do land something then great! You’ve got official by-lines that are being added to your name.

Immerse yourself in titles you're applying to – whether that’s digital or print, radio or television, just know the title you’re trying to work with inside and out.

And then it’s often the simplest things – hit your deadlines, hit your word counts. I don’t think enough is said about being a safe pair of hands and being an affable, likeable and reliable person. Some of the people I’ve seen go the furthest are just really good people. If you like someone, you’re much more likely to hire them again.

What did winning a PPA 30 under 30 Award mean to you?

I was chuffed! Especially as I managed to get it just before turning 30. Up until that point, I had only won one other award individually which was best Deputy Editor at the BSMEs. It was a lovely evening, and it was good to see people, have a drink, and celebrate. It’s just a cool title, 30 under 30. It makes you sound like a young go-getting person. It’s sat on my social media profiles ever since.

I’ve been able to put forward some of my team members since to pay it forward. It’s fantastic that it runs every year and there are such a diverse mix of industries and people. Anything you can to give people that next bump up in their career can only be a good thing.

You work across lots of different mediums – how do you decide what medium is best for telling the story you want to tell?

It’s about formatting the content to the platform – so for example I don’t think film and TV content should be restricted to YouTube. You can break down elements of interviews on a long Twitter thread you can do interviews on Instagram live, you can do swipe-ups on Instagram stories, or maybe you’re putting short shareable moments on TikTok. Ideally, you have the access, luxury, and time to think about all of this holistically for every single platform but that’s obviously not always the case. At Digital Spy we try to make things platform agnostic. Our Love Island ‘Coupled Up’ franchise is an example of this – it existed on YouTube, but we’d make sure it would go on-site so it would go into our video player, then we would chunk some out onto our TikTok and sometimes those little clips might outperform the whole interview on YouTube.

In an ideal world, you do it across all of them and you tailor it for each of them, but if you have a selection think about what your objectives are – is it traffic? Is it bigger views? Advertising revenue?

Digital or print?

Digital – because that’s where my expertise has been. But I do love print magazines. I’ve always worked for magazine publishers, but I appreciate the flexibility you get with a pure-play like Digital Spy. We launched the Apple News+ magazine last year as well and that has been interesting as we’ve been a daily news website for twenty years and we’ve gone to the other extreme of working to monthly deadlines, getting different levels of access, and competing with other established magazine brands. That’s only increased my respect for everything magazine journalists do. And of course, working at Hearst UK, you can’t not be engaged with magazine culture. I’m always browsing other magazines to retrofit ideas. The best editors are across both.

What magazine do you stockpile?

Digital Spy magazine exists on Apple News+ which is essentially Spotify for magazines… so technically all of them! I’m often browsing everything and anything, from Entertainment Weekly to Empire to Cosmo to Glamour to Vogue.

In our house, we have a lot of copies of The New Scientist as my girlfriend recently got a subscription to that for her 30th birthday. But when I was out and commuting, I’d often have copies of Time Out and NME when it was still in print and free. I imagine Time Out will start to pile up on my desk again when I’m back in the office.

What’s on your radar?

As of today, Black Friday and Cyber Monday planning for e-commerce has already started. It gets earlier and earlier every year.

Beyond that we’re looking at TikTok – I’m amazed at how every day normal people with niche skills are getting these huge audiences. Today I was watching this guy who is really good at cleaning old trainers who was getting millions of views.

And then more technical – the Instagram creators channel has finally confirmed that you are meant to put hashtags in the caption, not in the comments, which is good to finally have an official word on that. Which helps with discoverability, search, and SEO.