Elena Kiratzi on Creativity Works and being commissioned to write for Red magazine

In week three of my Creativity Works experience we learnt all about storytelling and communicating.

Day one, a (not-so) bright and early November morning. Myself and my fellow trainees had the pleasure of attending a session at the BBC (yes – really!) about the power of podcasting with award-winning journalist Georgia Coan. I learnt that podcasting is something all people can have a go at, and that unconventional routes into the creative world can often set you apart when job-hunting. We even got to work in groups to pitch our own podcast ideas!

Day two saw our second visit to Hearst – a company that produces some of the biggest magazines going. We had amazing sessions with the editors of various magazines, both print and digital, as well as social media leads. One of our activities was to create a pitch for an article we would write in Red magazine and as someone who is a fan of writing, this was a great challenge to get stuck into. My article idea was a personal look at Menopause and how it affects women, and to my utter surprise I have since been commissioned to write it! This is easily now my favourite day of the Creativity Works programme…

Day three was with Edelman – a PR powerhouse. The session covered all aspects of PR, from brand strategy to speech writing. All the people we chatted to were very helpful and let us in on industry tips and tricks about how such a huge industry functions.

Our final session of the week was the first part of our ongoing Charity Sprint Day Challenge alongside the media agency Initiative and the charity Resurgo. We have been tasked with helping drive online sign-ups for their youth programmes – a task easier said than done! Groups prepared questions for a Q&A session with the Head of Comms and Digital Marketing, giving us a chance to learn more about the charity itself and how to begin thinking in a creative and strategic mindset. We are now full steam ahead working on interesting ways to get young people involved with Resurgo.

Overall, this week has stuck in my mind as one of the most informative and engaging weeks of the programme so far. I have learned a lot and feel as though I’m now better equipped with the tools to (potentially) step into such a fascinating industry.