My story so far.
I have always loved television and radio and knew I wanted to work in the media since I was a teenager.
I got my first taste of TV when I did work experience at Channel 4’s ‘The Big Breakfast’ whilst at Sixth Form college. My mum would drive me up to East London, setting off at 4am, to join the show being broadcast live from Old Ford Lock. I was hooked and after college I decided to explore my other favourite medium: radio.
It was during a stint at The Eagle Radio in Surrey (which also involved me getting dressed up in silly outfits for outside broadcasts!) that I decided I wanted to become a journalist. I studied a PgDip in Broadcast Journalism and did an internship at CNN, where I would later freelance for most of my career.
My first job was at BBC South Today, where I would report and produce stories for TV and radio. It was a brilliant entry into broadcast journalism and I learned a lot in my two years there.
I had always wanted to live abroad though and so I decided to move to France and spent two years in Lyon working for Euronews, the 24 hour news channel.
That role turned out to be the springboard for my next big adventure – Africa! I was hired as a video producer for the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission for Ethiopia and Eritrea, and moved to Asmara.
I spent a year with the mission, flying around the country in helicopters making short films about the peacekeeping mission’s work. But political challenges made it difficult for the UN to continue its work and so I decided to return to being a journalist. For six thrilling years I freelanced for the world’s largest news agencies Associated Press and Reuters as a video journalist. I travelled throughout East Africa with the goal of revealing untold stories, including for the BBC, Channel 4 News and The Guardian. I also made films for development organisations including the World Bank, UNIDO, WFP, Oxfam, The Red Cross and Farm Africa.
I then moved to Myanmar where I freelanced for BBC News. It was there that I also started delivering media training for BBC Media Action. After three fascinating years in Myanmar I returned to the UK and fulfilled my long-term goal of making current affairs films for BBC 1’s flagship show ‘Countryfile’. I travelled the country making stories about anything from sustainable farming initiatives to inheritance tax, to investigating migrant worker abuse to housebuilding in the countryside.
Now, as well as working as a shooting director and journalist I continue to freelance for CNN where, during the Covid pandemic, I won an award for helping to keep television News on air, and was interviewed live on air when international travel rules were updated.
I strongly believe in sharing what I’ve learned and since 2014 I have been designing and delivering media training, predominantly for BBC Media Action, all around the world both remotely and in person including in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the Palestinian Territories, Myanmar, Kenya, Algeria and Tunisia.
I now also give one-on-one and group camera training in the UK, with a personal goal to help more women film.
I have also started filming ‘legacy’ interviews for people in the latter years of their lives.
I routinely have to pinch myself as I have been so privileged to have worked in the media for the past 30 years. I hope to for another 30 years, come rain or shine!
