ABOUT

Tell us who you are!

I'm Steph, and I am a Brand Marketing Associate at a fintech company called Square.

So what do you actually do?

As a brand marketer I'm essentially in charge of developing new creative ideas and executing marketing campaigns to raise awareness of Square!

What has your career path been?

My career path hasn't been straight forward. After I graduated, I was accepted onto a PR graduate scheme at my university as I thought that I wanted to be a PR guru. However, I soon realised this wasn't the path I wanted to take and completed another graduate scheme at tech company Yahoo.

This time, I did a rotation into marketing and account management. Before this, I never considered a career in tech and marketing and was surprised at how much I loved it! I decided that I wanted to remain in tech and ventured into the world of IT once I completed my grad scheme at Yahoo.

I then decided to take a career break and do a masters as I wanted to upskill and also try something different. This has now led to me to my current role at Square.

What is the best part of your job?

There are lots of things I love about my job but one thing that makes me really happy is seeing a campaign which I've worked on live on TV, radio, print and social.

People always see the end product but there is a lot of work that goes into it from strategy meetings, creative reviews, collaborating with the design team and all the logistics.

Seeing it all come together is the best part of my job.

Why do you do your job?

I am passionate about learning and achieving high results. As a marketer you're always thinking about how you can cut through the noise and stand out from the crowd.

This challenge excites me and really makes my job fun and interesting. No day is the same.

There is always something different to do and new teams to collaborate with.

One piece of advice for someone starting in your role?

I would say to take your time to fully understand the marketing landscape. There is sometimes the urge to do everything at once and learn as quickly as possible. I say take your time and be a student, you'll naturally pick things up as you go.

Any parting words?

In the workplace it is easy to often doubt yourself and your abilities. Stay strong and grounded in who you are and know that you deserve to be exactly where you are as you're more than capable.

Check out Steph’s Twitter below!

DAY IN THE LIFE

I started my role during lockdown so it's been very different from the previous jobs I've had.

I usually start work at 9 am and the first thing I do is check my emails and calendar for the week. Once I've filed my emails I use my inbox and tabs as a to-do list for the week.

Once I've compiled my to do list for the week I start working on the urgent tasks. This could range from writing creative briefs, chasing legal to sign a document, looking at last week's data and campaign performance.

Once I've spent about an hour working on the urgent task I go into my emails and start responding to requests and general queries. After this I look at my next meeting and start preparing notes for this. Depending on the day my meetings can be either internal or external. They can range from setting strategy for a new campaign to running through campaign performance or working on new creatives.

The rest of the day is spent going through my inbox priority list and also my to-do list. I aim to complete three tasks each day to a very high standard and answer urgent emails as quickly as possible.

As Square is an American company I usually finish work at about 7pm as I may have some meetings from after 5pm with the west coast team. I try to finish work earlier if I don't have late meetings.

My evenings are usually very relaxed and chilled. I make dinner watch some TV and catch up with friends. I also try and read as often as I can. I set a goal to read 10 pages a day. I go to bed by at least 10pm and start work all over again in the morning.