Digital marketing lead — Macy Russell

Macy did an internship during her undergraduate studies before being promoted to digital marketing lead at Earthly Biochar upon graduating from her International Multimedia Journalism Masters

How did you get your job?

My role initially started as a part-time digital marketing internship. This was facilitated through Newcastle University's careers service, which offers amazing support and opportunities for students. This was during lockdown when I was in the second year of my undergraduate degree in English Literature. After finishing the internship, which lasted around six months, I was offered a permanent position before being promoted to digital marketing lead.

Why did you decide on a career in marketing?

It was never really something I had considered until lockdown. Before then, I had no idea what kind of career path I wanted to pursue. As I had more free time during lockdown, I started my own small business making and selling candles. I noticed that it was the social media aspect of running the business that I enjoyed.

I found myself looking forward to creating content for social media, building strategies and planning ideas. After that, I started to apply for digital marketing internships to gain more experience and explore my career.

What's a typical working day like for you?

My days are varied - sometimes I'm out in my garden shooting content for reels, and other days I'm at my desk writing emails and social media captions or working on campaign calendars. While I love to plan and organise, it's great that I get to work on creative projects too.

How relevant is your degree?

I use the skills that I learned from my degree much more than I often realise. Aside from practical journalism and newsgathering, we learned how to use Google Analytics, how to write for a target audience, and how to build a personal brand on social media. These are all transferrable skills that I use every day, so my degree is relevant even if traditional journalism isn't the route I've gone down.

What are your career ambitions?

I'd love to start my own marketing and PR agency representing sustainable brands and businesses. The company I work for now are a climate action start-up, and I find it so rewarding to work with a team that shares the same morals and values as me. The goal is always planet over profit, and with the current issue of greenwashing in the media, people who are genuinely working for the benefit of our planet must get the exposure they deserve.

What are the challenges?

As I work remotely, I have to be a lot more independent than if I were in an office environment. You have to be self-motivated and take initiative when you're working on your own, which can be hard sometimes. However, the freedom and flexibility that remote working gives me outweigh any of the challenges!

Another challenge, and I think this is true for anyone who works in social media, is that it can be hard not to take things personally. When a post you worked hard on gets low engagement or doesn't perform as well as you expected, it can be disappointing. Sometimes it feels as though you're constantly catering to an algorithm that changes on a whim. I think it's important to remember that you can't control everything, and when something doesn't work, it can still have value as something to learn from for the future.

What advice can you give to others?

• Don't sell yourself short. Even if you don't have a lot of experience, make sure you really maximise and showcase the skills you've learned during your degree when applying for jobs or internships.
• You don't have to have a degree in marketing to pursue it as a career. Lots of degrees have transferable skills and experience from internships goes a long way. There are so many free resources online that you can learn from and businesses are even starting to offer digital marketing apprenticeships. There's lots of different routes to access a marketing career, so definitely explore them if it's something you're interested in.
• If your university has a careers service, make the most of it. I'm so appreciative of Newcastle University's career service as they enabled me to complete four different internships during my time at university. Not only did this allow me to make a part-time wage while studying, but it also let me explore different career paths.

Find out more

• Discover how to get into digital marketing.
• Consider a marketing internship.
• Explore what you can do with a journalism degree.