Meet Charlotte Tyson. Despite early redundancy and health setbacks, her resilience, determination and passion for marketing has seen her work her way up to a prestigious E-Commerce Analyst role at one of the largest purchasing organisations in Yorkshire. Continually wanting to improve and further her skillset, discover Charlotte’s inspiring #WhereDidYouStart story below.
Throughout school I loved studying textiles, it was my passion and what I always wanted to do. Then university applications came along. I was a home-bird and didn’t want to leave Hull to go to university, but a textile course wasn’t something that the University of Hull offered.
By A Level, I’d started to study business and this was an area that I loved and thrived in, so I decided to take the leap and study a BA Business degree at Hull University. The beauty of my degree was that I could dip my toes into all areas of business before finding my passion, which I later discovered was marketing.
In summer 2015, I had graduated with a 2:1 one in BA Marketing and secured a Graduate Digital Marketing Executive role with VictoriaPlum.com.
I was initially brought on board to work on display and affiliate marketing, but ended up working across the board, helping across all areas of digital. I loved my job, but after only two-and-a-half months I was taken into my manager’s office and was told I had been made redundant. At the time, I genuinely thought it was the end of the world and didn’t know what I was going to do for money.
I spent the next month back and forth to the Job Centre and interviews. I was told by the Job Centre to ‘dumb-down’ my CV and try to get work in a bar or a shop, but I was determined to get back into marketing.
Studying part-time whilst working full-time has its difficulties , but being able to combine practicality with academic thinking and rationale makes decision-making so much more interesting!
I was finally accepted for a Marketing Executive role at Poundworld’s Head Office for their wholesale arm, and all was going well until two months later, when I suffered a TIA (minor stroke) at work. I was taken into hospital for a week and I wasn’t allowed to drive for a month, meaning I had no way of getting into work. 2015 had been full of disappointing setbacks and I was determined to make 2016 my year.
I was back in the office in February 2016 and was promoted to Marketing Manager in April that same year. I put all my efforts into my work after I’d had the time off sick and it most certainly paid off. I knew that I wanted to further develop my marketing knowledge and in September 2016, I started a postgraduate degree part-time, studying for an MSc in Strategic and Digital Marketing at Leeds Beckett University.
From then, I have continued to push myself in both employment and self-learning. Studying part-time whilst working full-time has its difficulties, but being able to combine practicality with academic thinking and rationale makes decision-making so much more interesting!
Going back to University also allowed me to secure a new job through the Leeds Beckett Business Growth Solution consultancy programme, which is aimed at SME businesses looking to grow and innovate. With the University contributing up to a third of the cost, SMEs can access strategic growth coaching tailored to their own business at a competitive cost.
The best thing about working in digital is that no two days are the same. Just keep going with what you believe in and never give up. You’ll always come out on the better side!
Today, I’m working for YPO as an E-Commerce Analyst and I couldn’t be happier! My role includes reporting of both web and marketing activities as well as the development of E-Commerce Strategies. Of course, I still have the desire to continually improve so I’m completing my MSc and offering my Digital Marketing knowledge on a freelance basis.
The best thing about working in digital is that no two days are the same. There are constantly new developments in technology which means that it is important to spend some time each day catching up on the news in the sector.
In hindsight, getting made redundant from VictoriaPlum.com was the best thing that could have happened to me in my early career and I wouldn’t have changed anything for the world.
I saw nothing but negatives at the time, but redundancy allowed me to grow into the person I am today in terms of values and skills.
The advice I’d give to my younger self and to others wanting to join the industry is to just keep going with what you believe in and never give up. You’ll always come out on the better side!
Have a story to tell that will inspire others to get into digital? Get in touch at [email protected]
