Tag Archives: women

My Summer internship with TLA – Gabriella Dixon

This summer we were delighted to be joined by Gabriella Dixon on a three-month B2B marketing internship ahead of her final year at university. Here’s what she had to say about her experience and learnings from TLA.

“As a Business Management with Marketing student, I was on a mission to find an opportunity that would help me get my foot in the door to prepare me for when I leave University.

After struggling to find any appropriate advertised positions, I decided to reach out to several companies in hope of securing myself a summer internship. I was hoping for an internship which would allow me to learn and develop my skills and knowledge while being able to explore a potential career path and get a feel for what the industry is like.

In June, I was grateful and thrilled for the opportunity to join The Lead Agency as a B2B Marketing Intern.

The past three months have flown by. I’ve learnt so much and will take away some really valuable life lessons and advice. From the day I started I was made to feel so welcome and instantly felt like part of the team. Everyone is super lovely and supportive.

During my first week here I was taught about the company’s work culture and core values, something they really do live up to. There is a positive atmosphere and everyone’s very open and honest. There is a really strong work ethic here and everyone is really focused, committed and dedicated to their roles. I have found this truly inspiring and a pleasure to be around.

Celebrating women in tech

So, what have I been up to? I have been involved in lots of different projects, tasks and opportunities. One of the biggest has been working on our Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing campaign – a content series that ran across TLA’s website and content channels.

I undertook research to explore the current state of the industry and the underrepresentation of women in the UK tech industry. We believed the journeys of the women here at TLA were worth sharing with other women who are considering a career in the industry, so create a content plan that would allow us to get their stories out.

As part of the campaign, I organised and ran my first round-table discussion featuring 12 female TLA employees. I prepared the questions and a short series of slides to facilitate the event. That session allowed us to understand the experiences of women in the tech and marketing industry, their route to TLA and the female role models that inspire them.

We created a series of articles over a six-week period and I took ownership of pushing these out on TLA’s social platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, generating positive engagement. I also managed other social media content during my three-month placement, covering job vacancies, charity press releases (particularly TLA’s work with NABS), employee Q&As, book reviews and highlights from our ‘brown bag’ lunches.

SEO learnings

Away from content, I’ve learnt about other aspects of B2B marketing, including email marketing, PPC and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). For the latter, I undertook a vast amount of research into the different aspects of SEO and presented my findings back to the team. That’s an area I’m keen to learn more about in the future.

I’m excited to take all that I’ve learnt over the past three months and progress further. It has been a great way to learn and develop as well as gaining commercial experience. I’ve met so many amazing, talented people and have loved my time at TLA.”

Gabriella Dixon

If you’ve got a question for the TLA team or want to know more about what makes us tick, why not get in touch?

Celebrating women in tech and marketing (part four)

Here’s part four of our round-table discussion with some of the female members of the TLA team. (Read parts one, two and three if you missed out).

We close off with the advice our group have for other women who are interested in being part of the tech or marketing industry.

Abigail Hanson, senior quality and compliance executive: “Just go for it. Whatever ‘it’ might be. Don’t let anyone hold you back and only surround yourself with positive, supportive people.”

Alison Eustace, senior quality and compliance executive: “Don’t be intimidated in any way just because you’re part of a largely male dominated field.”

Kathy Fleming, head of quality and compliance: “Believe in yourself, have confidence in your ability and use every opportunity to improve and gain experience.”

Amy Smith, account manager: “Don’t panic if you don’t have a career plan!”

Amara Molloy, graduate PPC executive: “Just go for it! I don’t believe in just settling for something you think you deserve; push yourself beyond that even if you have to work twice as hard or make sacrifices for long-term success it’s worth it. Also, don’t doubt yourself, not everyone knows everything, but it can be easily learned. My Irish side is coming out here but… what’s for you won’t pass you!”

Danielle Smith, developer: “Just go for it. If you have a passion and interest in tech, follow it through. Just have confidence in yourself and be eager to learn. I never thought I’d be a developer; I always thought I’d be a teacher or something. But I’ve always had an interest in IT, so if you’ve got a passion for something then make it happen.”

Emily Abbey, junior project manager: “What I always tell my children – “a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle”. Don’t be afraid to build yourself and others up, but remember to be genuine, gracious and generous as you work your way towards your goals. And, once you’re part of the industry, find a girl gang!”

Shania Corbishley, student placement (developer): “Although still quite male dominant, the industry is becoming more diverse. There are a lot of female devs in the industry. Stick to your dreams. If you want to be involved in tech then do it and don’t let people try put you off.”

Miki Parr, performance analyst: “If you are passionate about something, do it no matter what it is. Use that passion to encourage and enthuse others. It only takes one person to change the status quo… so why not you?”

Rachel Hellon, marketing executive: “Because the industry is so fast-paced, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you first start. My advice would be to get stuck in, don’t panic about keeping up because you’ll get used to the pace and never doubt yourself.”

Shannon Miller, developer: “Speak up when you have an opinion and challenge people on their ideas, try not to feel too intimidated, be open to learning from others in the team and don’t doubt yourself if it’s the job you know you enjoy and want to do and learn then stick with it.”

Irina Ashakhanova, account manager: “Pursue your true passion regardless of the demographics and feel empowered by being the only girl in the room – it is an opportunity to bring something new to the table, rather than a shortcoming.”

It can be daunting starting any new industry, let alone one that has a reputation for being bias towards a certain gender. But there are more and more businesses making big commitments to address that bias or simply create cultures that women can thrive in. To borrow a phrase mentioned a few times above, if it’s what you want, just go for it.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this four-part article and found some value in the advice offered above. Keep your eyes peeled for more articles from TLA in the coming weeks celebrating women in tech and marketing. Follow us on LinkedIn to keep tabs on what’s on our mind.

Celebrating women in tech and marketing (part three)

Our latest addition to the Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing content series explores what TLA’s female stars are passionate about regarding their work and where they go to get inspired and learn.

The tech and marketing industry is well-known for being fast-paced and that’s certainly true of life at TLA. When hiring, we look for people who embrace the changes and opportunities that come with the territory, regardless of the role they’re in.

Work passions

When we asked what our group was most passionate about, senior quality and compliance executive Abigail Hanson was first to comment on “the constant growth in the company,” highlighting that the role she’s been promoted into didn’t exist two months ago and that she’s excited about what “opportunities could present themselves in the future”.

Kathy Fleming, who heads up the quality and compliance team, elaborated on that growth, adding: “I’m excited about the development of systems to enhance what we already do – in particular the way in which we can evolve to become more diverse and provide a service that clients want and that add value.”

While it’s great to hear that the company’s growth matters to them, we decided to dig deeper into things they love about their respective roles. “I’m most passionate about ad analysis,” said Amara Molloy, who joined TLA earlier this summer as a graduate PPC executive.

“I enjoy comparing ad types and determining which ads worked and which didn’t,” she added. “I find it extremely interesting to look and try to understand how the audiences mind works allowing our department to produce more effective campaigns.”

Miki Parr, another recent arrival at TLA, this time in the data insights team, said: “I love reporting. I know that sounds sad, but I get a kick out of seeing the numbers line up. It’s interesting to spot trends and patterns within the data that you may not have spotted if it hadn’t been investigated. The other aspect of my job that I am passionate about is investigative analysis. Having spotted something in the data that doesn’t look quite right, and then delving into the root cause of this.

“Data is the currency of the world now,” she added. “Everyone uses it and uses it differently. Within my profession no two days are ever the same.”

For our placement student Shania Corbishley, who is part of our technical development team, passion comes with “learning new things every day due to the fact that tech is always changing”. She added: “I enjoy problem-solving and pushing myself to improve.”

Fellow developer Danielle Smith, who joined TLA in 2014, said: “I enjoy helping people. It’s rewarding when someone has an issue, or you make a change to a system, that is going to benefit and help their job easier.”

Shannon Miller, another of our long-serving technical developers cited that her passion comes in the form of “contributing to the design and development of new systems, learning how to use new skills and technologies, and creating something that is useful to other people and the company.”

Sources of inspiration and learning

Learning and growth are a big part of our culture. So, where do our group go to seek inspiration and fuel their passions?

For Shania, it’s “seeing other people in the tech industry create amazing things. When I see something mind-blowing it inspires me!”

Amy Smith, one of TLA’s account managers, looks closer to home: “Within the TLA there are people with a wealth of knowledge and amazing skill sets.  If I have a question or need help, I have always found people willing to take the time to share their knowledge.” And that sentiment is echoed by Danielle: “I always like speaking to the other devs in our team. There’s a lot of knowledge within the team and I can learn a lot from them.”

For developers, there are a wide variety of online sources that provide information to help you develop your knowledge and solve a multitude of challenges. For example, Danielle uses Feedly to follow .net blogs and other professional blogs.

Another great source of inspiration and learning are events – including but not limited to Dot Net Liverpool, which was formed by Joshua Duxbury, a member of the TLA technical development team.

Outside of tech, Emily Abbey finds inspiration in a women’s networking group called AllBright. “Being able to connect with other women who ‘get it’ in terms of balancing the many demands on us between work and home life, and who are also brilliant role models and can offer pearls of wisdom has been a lifesaver!”

Kathy, meanwhile, said: “I attend a quarterly data protection networking meetings which is a great forum for sharing good practice with people in similar roles across different sectors.”

If you have a question about anything that’s been discussed as part of our Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing series, including the events our team attend, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Celebrating women in tech and marketing (part two)

Picking up from part one, in which we discussed preconceptions of the tech and marketing industry and the women who provide inspirational, we turn our attention to the roles our group play at TLA and the routes they took to get here.

Our groups’ time at TLA ranges from a few months to nine years, with various entry points and roles spanning marketing, development, quality control, account management and project delivery.

One of the longest-serving at the round-table was marketing executive Rachel Hellon, who joined on an apprenticeship five years ago. “I was kept on after my apprenticeship and now look after our content teams, covering written content as well as video for our automotive brand Car Keys. The marketing team is fast-paced and results-orientated. Everyone has a clear idea of our respective areas of expertise and work well together to achieve success.”

That first break in any industry can be like standing at the foot of an impossible mountain, but it’s something we feel passionately about helping people secure at TLA. As well as apprenticeships, we provide three- and six-month internships, work with local universities to provide placements and offer graduate and junior roles.

Opportunity to explore and use new tech

“I’ve been with TLA for five years,” said Shannon Miller, who joined shortly after Rachel and became the company’s first female developer. “I started as a placement while at university and came back after my final year as a junior. I’ve since moved up to a mid-level developer, working predominantly on our internal systems.”

One of Shannon’s standout achievements to date has been building the company’s call centre system, which plays a critical role in the way we function as a business. “There’s plenty of opportunity to explore and use new tech, which is a great part of working here. Plus, I like to learn from other people within the company and there’s a lot of intelligence in the room! It’s great to learn from their experiences and ways of working, so that I can keep progressing.”

Danielle Smith has enjoyed a similar journey, having joined as a junior and move through to mid-level as a support developer. In her own words, her role is to “take the pressure off the project team. Any bugs or support from the contact centre, any smaller projects that support the way we work, I help to ensure they run smoothly.”

She added: “The devs at TLA are always helpful. If you ever need support, they’ll come over and offer advice to help you in your role.”

From left to right: Shannon, Kathy, Alison, Danielle, Emily, Abi, Laurie, Amy, Rachel, Amara, Miki and Shania. Not pictured: Irina and Zoe from our London office.

Building a career

Away from development, Amy Smith joined the business nine years ago as a customer service operative, or ‘CSO’ as the role is more commonly referred to within the business. “I eventually moved from the CSO role into the QC team before moving into my position as account manager. That opportunity to move across departments has allowed me to build my career within the business, rather than moving elsewhere.”

Amy ensures the campaigns we bring on from clients are set up correctly in the CRM and coordinates with the development team to make sure the necessary tech work is completed.

Alongside tech and the contact centre, the QC department is one of the biggest functions within the business. They work alongside other departments to ensure the data we process and send to clients is of the highest possible quality to maximise conversion rates. Simply put, if the quality isn’t there, it doesn’t get sent.

Alison Eustace has recently been promoted into the role of senior quality and compliance executive after three years with the business along with fellow QC teammate Abigail Hanson, who has been with us for 18 months.

Commenting on her new role, Alison said: “Our focus is on improving quality from the ground up. All sorts of tasks are involved, from analysing calls to find a quality level to identifying potential issues that need to be addressed. We’re also working with the tech team to trial a new system for how we process data, which will have a positive impact on the way the QC team works.”

Abigail added: “We are currently going through all of our training documents to ensure everything is up to date and putting together a new coaching plan for the CSOs to help them, as well as call scoring and processing leads.”

Embracing change and opportunity

Changes like the ones Alison refers to are part-and-parcel of a tech-led organisation like ours. It’s even reflected in one of our core values – to embrace change and opportunity and as quality manager Laurie Bloor attests, “there’s been a lot of change during my five years with the business, particularly with the way different departments have embraced new technologies”.

But while technology impacts every role and department within the business, there is lots of variety with the types of roles available. QCs and CSOs aren’t tech roles but they have a huge part to play in making a tech company successful – and the same can be said for other functions within the business, including finance and sales.

Our account managers Zoe Hamilton and Irina Ashakhanova, who’ve been with the business for one and two years, respectively, are also from a non-tech background. The point being that you don’t have to be a marketer or coder to build a successful career within the marketing or tech industry.

As junior project manager Emily Abbey concludes: “The industry is changing so rapidly that we don’t really know what technology we’ll be living and working with in our day-to-day lives in the future, being a part of a technology-led business is very exciting.”

Look out for more content as part of our Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing series over the coming weeks by following TLA on LinkedIn.

Celebrating women in tech and marketing (part one)

Women remain underrepresented in the UK tech industry. But what does that mean for those already there or starting their career?

There are small signs of progress with the topic becoming front-and-centre for some of the sectors’ biggest companies and an increasing number of female founders and directors being highlighted across business and social media. But it remains an industry that could do more – and needs to do more – to attract, welcome, retrain and progress female professionals.

At TLA, we proudly have a female-to-male split that is above the industry average. But we recognise there is a long way to go to achieve true balance across the business – particularly at a senior level. One of the ways we want to do this is to celebrate the women who work at TLA via our blog and social media channels.

We believe their journeys are worth sharing, particularly with women who might be considering a role or career in the tech or marketing industry. That’s why we arranged an all-female, all-TLA roundtable this month to better understand their experiences.

Taking part in the discussion were marketers Rachel Hellon and Amara Molloy; developers Danielle Smith and Shannon Miller; Miki Parr from the data insights team; account managers Amy Smith, Irina Ashakanova and Zoe Hamilton; project manager Emily Abbey; and Kathy Fleming, Laurie Bloor, Alison Eustace and Abigail Hanson from the quality and compliance department. Their time with TLA and, indeed within the tech industry, ranges from a few months to more than a decade.

Industry preconceptions

We started by asking what preconceptions they each held prior to joining the industry. The overriding and unsurprising view was that it was “male-dominated,” with Danielle highlighting that she was one of only five women on her university course out of 200 people.

Likewise, Shannon and Rachel highlighted that they were the first and only women in their department for a year before others joined. Rachel said: “In IT at high school, you would be one of only a few girls in the class. But you don’t get a true read on the industry until you join it.”

Emily had a similar view. But reassuringly added that she “hadn’t appreciated how strongly the industry is now advocating the empowerment of women”. Meanwhile, Miki admitted that preconceptions of male dominance led to concerns over whether she could make her mark in the industry but added that “once I decided it was what I wanted to do, I wasn’t going to let that stop me.”

Dominance may have been the word chosen to encapsulate preconceptions, but it may not be the right word. The numbers undoubtedly show men outnumber women, but as Amara pointed out, “the women at TLA more than hold their own” within the workplace and play an crucial role in the success we achieve.

Female role models in tech

It’s often cited that one of the challenges for the industry is the lack of profile for female business leaders, and therefore role models, for young women about to embark on careers in tech and marketing.

Not everyone in our group could name a female business leader, for example, but among those mentioned were Jacqueline De Rocas of Tech UK (Alison), information commissioner Elizabeth Denham (Kathy) and Thrive Global’s Arianna Huffington (Emily).

It was Miki’s response, however, that offered the most comprehensive example, highlighting the inspiration and legacy of Grace Hopper.

“Grace was born in New York in 1906 and from a young age was interested in how things work. She got her PhD from Yale in Mathematics and was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer. She popularised the term “debugging” when a moth got stuck in a relay within the computer and she commented on getting the thing out. (Fun fact: You can actually see that moth in a museum in America!)

“She also came up with the computer language COBOL. When she coined the idea, her male counterparts told her it wouldn’t work because “…computers can’t speak English…”. She proved them wrong!

USS Hopper

Miki continued: “During WWII, Grace Hopper tried to join the Navy but was rejected because she was too small. But later joined the Navy Reserves and worked her way through the ranks to Rear Admiral.

“She retired from the Navy when she was 60 but was frequently invited to return. She officially stopped all her Naval responsibilities when she was 79, making her the oldest person to ever be in the Navy. She even has a Naval ship named after her – USS Hopper!

She is a true inspiration and one of the reasons I studied Mathematics at university.”

We’ll bring you more insight and, hopefully, inspiration in the next instalment of our women in tech series over the coming weeks. Follow our LinkedIn page for the latest updates.