If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life
Joining Pace in 2021, Caroline started as an Account Manager before progressing to Client Director. Caroline tells us about her career journey and how if you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.
A confused start
When the world tells you at 16 it’s time to decide your future, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had always just taken each day as it came, and never really thought seriously about the future - so I was stuck.
I'd dreamed about being a million things, before deciding to take a year out to travel and decide when I returned after gaining some life experience.
A year later, I decided to go to university to study more - primarily because I didn’t want to grow up yet! To me, marketing seemed like a really logical career.
When I say logical, I don't mean it was logical for me as a career choice, I mean that marketing is all about logical thinking. If I want to promote something, I need to tell people about it. And it wasn’t as scary as law, science or something more academic.
So, off I trotted to university, and four years later I graduated with a First Class Honours. Turns out, I'm a pretty logical thinker and I took to it naturally! While I was there, I fought tooth and nail for a placement at Tesco’s head office.
Leaving with that placement on my CV opened a lot of doors. It was also an incredibly valuable experience and prepared me for the real world of work.
Marketing at Mamas & Papas
I knew I wanted to work for brands that I resonated with. It makes marketing A LOT easier if you do!
It was at this point that I saw a job ad for Mamas & Papas, and used the same approach I had with Tesco - show that I wanted it the most! I interviewed, and then called and called and called about the job.
I didn’t give up until, in the end, the Marketing Director (shout out to my amazing first mentor Claire!) called and said: “If you have this much passion and enthusiasm then I’d be stupid not to bring you into the team.”
I spent seven of the best years of my career there learning my trade. I was the first in the office and the last to leave working my socks off as I wanted to prove to all my seniors that I was the best and could be trusted to deliver.
From doing everything and anything they asked - which included some really rubbish jobs at times - the role helped me establish a reputation as a solid member of the team who added a lot of value to the business.
I worked on worldwide campaigns, helped launch the Mamas & Papas brand in America and worked on so many fun photo shoots for different products. I loved working alongside designers, which is where I also realised I was very creative and enjoyed that aspect the most.
Heading stateside
I left Mamas & Papas to go travelling for another year. Then for personal reasons, I moved to the US and decided to study graphic design. I just loved it! I then spent a few years trying out different design roles - in-house, in an agency and as a freelancer.
When I moved home to the UK to start a family, I knew I wanted something more permanent. I decided I was best at working in a creative environment with other people around me.
But I didn’t like being on my computer all the time - which is what happened a lot as a designer. So I stayed in agency life - but on the other side of the brief as a client manager. And this is what brought me to Pace.
Being positive gets you far
At Pace, I have worked with some big clients, built great relationships with them and would now call many of them my friends.
My favourite days are always working with the creative minds in the Pace team creating something that we are proud of and pushing our skillsets into new territories.
What I have learnt is that hard work pays off. This often means going over and above what you are asked to do and having a smile on your face while doing it.
This leads to my advice. Be positive - it goes a long way. I’d also recommend learning when to speak up and stand by what you believe.
Agencies thrive off people who think differently, so don’t try to conform to others’ ways of thinking. Just be yourself. I truly believe if you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.
Find out more about one of Caroline’s favourite campaigns - The Tree House - here.
