Press and Marketing Consultant

Ruth Cobb

Job

Marketing & PR Consultant (supporting Generation ART and Children's Art Week)

Interview with Generation ART exhibitor Orin Ashworth Gardiner

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Ten questions for ten creatives

  1. What do you do for a living?
    I work as a freelance marketing & PR consultant specialising in the arts, events and charity sector.
  2. What was the path that led you to do what you do now?
    I never really knew what I wanted to do at school and just continued with the subjects I liked best, English and History. I did a joint English and Modern History degree which didn’t qualify me for anything in particular. I was always quite keen to work in the media (well I loved watching TV) and as a way in ended up temping at the BBC. After working in a few departments I was offered a job in the marketing department for BBC News. It was a great training ground for learning about all aspects of marketing & communications and suited a lot of the skills I had. I was involved in the launch of BBC News online and that led me to work extensively in digital media. Almost by chance I was offered a job at 24 Hour Museum, now Culture24, which was how I ended up working in the arts. I worked on lots of interesting cultural projects (Museums at Night / Show Me / ICONS) and decided to become freelance in order to have greater flexibility to work on different projects whilst also raising a young family.
  3. What did you want to be when you were at school?
    I never really knew. I had lots of different ideas from being a professional flutist to marine biology and a children’s novelist. I was told by my career’s advisor that I should be a librarian!
  4. What one piece of advice would you give your younger self?
    Have confidence in yourself & if you think you can do something – do it – don’t listen to any niggling, doubting voices in your head!
  5. What do you like my most about your job?
    I love the range of interesting people and projects I work on. I love seeing the results of my work in terms of people attending events/exhibitions and enjoying their experiences. I’m also very lucky to be able to work on high profile projects yet have flexibility around the hours I work.
  6. What do you find most challenging?
    Sometimes it is challenging to be outside of the organisation you are working for; it can be lonely working as a freelancer. It can also be a challenge to manage the workload as often you either have too much work or too little.
  7. What’s your favourite song (at the moment)?
    John Martyn, May You Never
  8. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
    Cuba – to dance through the night.
  9. Name three things that you always take with you to work on an average day.
    Phone, note book and a colourful pen!
  10. Tell us a joke or a secret.
    A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, “why the long face?”.