How My Marketing Journey Began

Marketing was never something I thought about properly until year 10 in school when I chose business studies as one of my GCSE options. Marketing was a big part of the subject and I loved it. Studying it in depth throughout GCSE and A Levels made me realise that I had secretly always had a love for marketing, even when I didn’t know exactly what it was. The ability of adverts, a simple 2-minute video, to make people feel emotions they couldn’t even experience in some 2-hour films was amazing to me. Basically, I’m talking about every John Lewis Christmas advert ever!

The bear and hare from John Lewis' 2013 Christmas advertisement.
The bear and the hare from the 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert.

Getting Into Volunteering

I grew up with quite a big family. Having three separate households of aunts/uncles/cousins on one road, you could say that we were quite close! This strong family presence shaped me as a person and introduced me to my first volunteering experiences. My grandad and uncle were both pastors at our local church and once I was old enough, I started to help around a lot more.

My first proper role came on the annual church holiday where members of churches across the UK would come together for a week. I volunteered to help run a class for kids aged 4 – 7. This involved helping to plan and carry out activities for them, ensuring they all had fun and that everything ran smoothly. Although it was a lot of fun, it was also challenging as I had no experience looking after a group of children of this size prior to the event. I certainly had no experience trying to sort out the drama that somehow arises between such young children! On the whole, it was a valuable experience for me as I had proper responsibility over a group of children and could help to positively shape their holiday experience.

Social Media Surprises

Let’s go back to summer in 2016 for a minute. Most people were out enjoying the sunny weather after breaking up from school for the holidays while I was stuck in bed, feeling ill, binge-watching The Great British Bake Off. Sounds like a boring way to spend part of your summer but it actually changed my life a little bit. After watching endless episodes of the show, I decided, in my boredom, to create a Twitter account based on the things contestants say but taken out of context. No Context Bake Off was born – an account that now has around 116k followers and has highlighted to me how quickly things can spread on social media.

No Context Bake Off Twitter page. Social Media.
Screenshot of the No Context Bake Off Twitter account.

Volunteering Numbers On The Rise

Back to the present day now! I sit here reflecting on an incredible holiday in France watching the Women’s World Cup with a true appreciation for the volunteer work that has contributed to the success of the tournament so far. I remember sitting in PSG’s Parc Des Princes stadium for the USA v Chile game as the announcer told us that there were 2,500 volunteers for the World Cup that year. This is an increase on the 2,000 that were at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. I hope it’s a figure that increases further at the 2023 Women’s World Cup too.

Volunteers at the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019. Volunteering in football.
Volunteers at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019.

Although I am yet to sign up to any opportunities, I did sign up to the MMU Sport volunteering page after I joined the women’s football team in my first year at university. Little did I know I’d be embarking on a placement year at the company who runs the page!

On a Personal Note…

My biggest regret of the past few years is not throwing myself into volunteering opportunities. I was too nervous to do things alone and because of that, I’ve probably missed countless chances to do something of value and really grow as a person. This regret is fuelling my willingness to learn and grow over the course of this placement. Hopefully, I’ll put myself forward for volunteer work in the near future.

I’m excited to start at TeamKinetic and get some proper hands-on experience in marketing. It will also give me a chance to learn more about volunteering and volunteer management. If like me you have a sudden urge to do some voluntary work, you should head over to TryVolunteering to find an opportunity that works for you!

For more information on volunteer management software visit our website or contact one of our team members on – 01619145747