Charity Winfield

In terms of my professional history, I developed and honed my communication, organizational, analytical and copy writing skills over several years of working in public relations. I have operated in agencies and as a freelancer and have worked with technology, retail, travel, food and beverage and homeware clients. During my career I have worked with global companies such as Kaspersky Lab, Unilever, Nescafe, Iron Mountain, Diageo, Hasbro, Sage and Amazon to name a few. I am therefore confident in my ability to understand complex subject matter and translate it into readable, succinct content. I am also used to working on several accounts at any given time, so have the ability to understand each client, what makes them tick and what they need. 

In all my roles, I cultivated relationships with the media, created content for byline articles, social media, blog posts and press releases. I have identified media opportunities for clients that consisted of inclusion in articles and television appearances. I acted as the first point of contact for all clients, devised digital and social media marketing plans, campaign strategies, managed global teams - creating global messaging and ensuring a consistent yet localized approach. I have organized and hosted events, sold stories into the media and initiated brainstorming sessions to cultivate a creative environment.

I worked alongside Account Directors to initiate and progress campaigns, conducted research and identified key take away points. I was also responsible for ensuring my team carried out their duties and junior members had the tools to push their careers forward. I also took part in new business meetings, developing my presentation skills and my ability to perform under pressure. I also worked at the creative agency, iris Worldwide, as an account handler. In this role I managed various projects, budgets, people within different departments and worked on film sets. I also acted as the community manager for one of Unilever's most successful UK consumer brands, Hellmann's. Here I was conceiving media posts with designers, speaking directly will customers about their loves and concerns with the product and managing online competitions. All this experience further honed my time management skills, enabling me to juggle several tasks and prioritize to get all work completed by its deadline.

Most recently in the UK, I was working in the hospitality sector to allow me the time to pursue personal projects with a colleague and school friend. I worked alongside the owner to forward her start up catering business, Lime Hut. Food and hospitality have always been a passion of mine, so this was an excellent opportunity for me personally. It was also a particularly rewarding commitment, it ignited an entrepreneurial spirit and gave me a true insight into the workings of starting a business. Alongside this, I held the role of Operations Manager at a local cafe in London to ensure my income. In my time here I dealt with all office inquiries, identified new marketing and PR opportunities and managed all Front of House staff development and recruitment. These roles have offered me unique experiences, developed varying and complementing skills that I believe will only enhance my PR career. 

I am passionate about building brands and ensuring their story is told boldly and stays true to their core values.