Over the past few years I’ve been working hand in hand with consumer tech and lifestyle startups to tell their stories via the media. Working with companies like the dating app Hinge and the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft Lilium, I’ve seen how companies are marketing themselves to consumers and addressing the problems that their audiences have. I hope to use software engineering to do the same for users.

I studied full-stack engineering at the Makers Academy bootcamp. The course focused on pair programming, test driven development, agile processes, and learning by doing. Here's a selection of my projects that demonstrate my technology and language skills.

Software Engineering Bootcamp, Makers Academy, November 2021

• Designed and built web applications primarily in Ruby and JavaScript, with emphasis placed on self-led learning to becoming tech-agnostic and able to learn new languages in short timeframes
• Collaborated in Agile teams with a focus on XP values, pair programming and Git workflow
• Projects available to view on GitHub

Introduction to Software Engineering, SheCodes, July 2020

• A three week introductory course on designing with one final project to design and build a website of your choice, primarily using JavaScript, HTML and CSS

• Senior Account Executive -> Account Manager, Rebecca Abigail (Public Relations Agency)
  • This role including running PR campaigns for several different clients to get them high quality media attention. My client roster included Sweet Capital, Hambro Perks, Social Chain, Lilium, Hinge, what3words, atai Life Sciences, 4.5.6 Skin and more. One of my most recent achievements to date was working with Sweet Capital, the London-based venture firm by the creators of Candy Crush, and Peabody Award winning spoken-word artist George The Poet to promote a video exposing the realities of life as an entrepreneur, titled: ‘It Could Be For You’. I secured online coverage with Forbes and Business Insider, as well as two prime time interview slots on Sky News and ITV News, and a profile interview in Vanity Fair.
• Intern -> Associate -> Senior Associate, Finsbury (Public Relations Agency)
  • Finsbury is a global leader in public relations and a trusted adviser to some of the world’s most successful companies, institutions and organisations. My role included supporting account management for a broad range of established companies, with past clients including Aviva, Volkswagen, Rio Tinto, Walmart, easyJet and more. We would help clients prepare for important announcements that affect the public perception of their businesss, for example announcing a new CEO within a FTSE 100 company, which can ultimately have an impact on the company share price.
• PR Trainee, Taylor Bennett Foundation
  • Work-based PR programme that offers professional training in media and communications. I worked with a variety of financial, technology and consumer communications agencies as part of the training scheme and ultimately landed a job at Finsbury, who were sponsoring the programme.
• GCSE Mathematics Tutor, Tutor Trust
  • While still a student I was conducting 3:1 tuition within local schools as a part of a not-for-profit social enterprise with the aim of reducing the attainment gap in education. This involved having excellent time planning and goal setting skills. I had to create effective lesson plans to cater to each pupils learning needs in preparation for their exams.
• Customer Executive, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
  • Promoting loyalty to the luxury car brand by providing high level customer service. Showing integrity and compliance to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) whilst managing multiple responsibilities and adapting promptly to changing policies.
• Camp Counsellor, Girl Scouts Camp Hoffman, Rhode Island, USA
  • Taking responsibility for the general safety and wellbeing of campers aged between 6 and 15, including recognising and catering to the needs of campers with special circumstances. I showcased creativity and flexibility in the scheduling and implementing of activities for each new intake of campers, including being open-minded in leading activites previously not tried before, such as climbing, kayaking and canoeing.

Communication / Building relationships:

• As part of working at two leading communications agencies I have supported account management for a broad range of companies, from startups like what3words to FTSE 100 companies like easyJet. As part of my roles in PR I have had to develop strong media contacts across corporate and lifestyle media publications. I have a proven track record of successful PR campaigns, including working with clients to tell their stories in the world's best publications. Coverage examples include: TechCrunch, Forbes, The New York Times, Dazed and many more. Developing and maintaining relationships with clients and offering insightful counsel on issues and trends has played a part in all of my previous roles. Having worked in client facing PR agency roles for my whole career I'm great at being put in front of external clients, liaising on tasks to create a smooth workflow, meeting deadlines, providing ideas, pitching and running meetings.

Pair programming / Collaboration:

• Pair programming played a huge part in my experience at Makers. I paired almost everyday for 3 months which resulted in improved code quality, team communication, knowledge sharing and huge learning gains. Agile working including leading standups and retros, updating Trello boards and assigning tasks to my team members also helped give me a better understanding of leadership within a software engineering role. While managing and writing my own column for The Mancunion I had to plan content well in advance and collaborate with editors to ensure the final articles suited the tone and style of the newspaper and its readers.

Problem solving:

• As a largely self-led course, Makers allowed me to practice an effective problem-solving cycle. Importantly one thing I learned is how to communicate blockers when seeking assistance, including making an effort to find existing answers, talking through the relevant section of code, trying to decipher error messages and revising the questions based on feedback.

Attention to detail:

• I always exercise attention to detail and have experience doing so when planning and writing original material for clients. These include press releases, pitches, op-eds and blog posts, while also writing/editing more non-conventional financial documents such as financial reports (e.g. Full Year reports), interview scripts, brieing documents, annual reports and award submissions. Within coding I have practiced rubber duck debugging to help with clarifying a bug or thinking of possible reasons the bug is happening. Paying attention to code details with this method has been essential to acknowledging and explaining each piece of code, and thus being able to identify and fix errors.

Time management / Self-led study / Adaptability:

• Alongside collaboarting in a team I can also manage my time effectively and create a productive self-learning environment. Having studied History at university with a maximum of eight contact hours a term, I have been able to manage my time and prioritise constructively for a number of years. I worked remotely throughout the pandemic and am no stranger to adapting my processes to suit the circumstances. During my role as a maths tutor I had to use my own time to create lesson plans that catered to each pupil's learning needs in preparation for exams.

Research / Understanding users:

• As part of my voluntary role at FuseFM, I hosted and produced two radio shows primarily focused on the genres of hip hop, rap, R&B and neo-soul. During this role it was important to interact with listeners and get feedback on what they liked and didn't like on the show in order to make it the best possible listening experience for them. I actively sought to engage with and expand audience numbers through the management of FuseFM social media accounts. This is similar to my experience with the conducting research with family and friends to find out about what they would like to see on the 'Sneaker Seeker' website, to create the best possible user experience.

• BA (Honours)Politics and Modern History, University of Manchester
• Chinese Society and Mandarin, East China Normal University, Shanghai
• A Levels, English Language and Literature, History and Mathematics
• AS Levels, Politics, AQA Extended Project
• GCSEs, 12 A* - A including English and Mathematics

• Coding Black Females / Makers Bootcamp Scholarship
• East China Normal University / British Council scholarship
• Fashion Writer and Columnist, The Mancunion Student Newspaper
  • Voted 'Best Newcomer' at the Society and Media Awards
• Radio Presenter on FuseFM
• Manchester Student Apprentice Winner
• History Mentor of the Year
• Duke of Edinburgh, Bronze
• London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Youth Ambassador
• UoM Elite Cheerleading
  • Competing in the national FutureCheer competition

• Exercising emotional intelligence is especially important to me and I seek to do this within any environment. Makers has given me access to participate in EQ workshops about teamwork, communication, feedback and boundaries, giving me the means to exercise these in a coding environment. During my final two week project we prioritised EQ and held emotional check ins every day to help keep the team more aligned.

• I am an avid theatregoer and regularly attended performances, more recently 'Is God Is' (The Royal Court), 'Constellations' (Vaudeville Theatre) and 'Romeo and Juliet' (Shakespeare's Globe)
• I enjoy keeping active, and ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon, raising over £800 for charity