So, what do you actually do?
I divide my time fairly equally between responding to requests through the askCHARITY service and proactively seeking media opportunities for WAY. We are a fairly small charity (about 1,600 members) with a pretty low profile, so I am working hard to raise media and public awareness of WAY. Widowhood is a very isolating experience and WAY can really help – but only if you know that it is there!
A lot of our coverage comes through case studies of our members, so I spend time contacting them and talking through their stories. That way, I have a bank of stories which cover a range of circumstances ready when a request comes in. I also try to prepare members for talking to journalists since they can find this quite daunting, and they are sharing a very sensitive and painful experience.
How did you get into it?
I did a post graduate degree in marketing communications in America then got my first job in a small PR agency in South London which dealt exclusively in business to business communications. I moved to a larger agency then was headhunted to be the first Marketing Communications Manager of Clifford Chance, which is the largest law firm in the world. I decided to come back to Scotland and after a spell with one of Scotland’s largest law firms, I started my own consultancy.
Three years ago my husband died, aged 47 and I found out about and joined WAY. I became the Area Contact for Edinburgh (where I live) and was offered the Press Officer position earlier this year when our previous Press Officer stood down. It is fantastic to be able to use my skills and experience to help such a good cause.
What does your typical day involve?
Probably in common with most people, I start by checking emails! As a largely volunteer-based operation, we are spread around the country (we have 60 groups around the UK which arrange local events and contact new members in their area) and many of the local group organisers and National Committee members have full time jobs, so tend to deal with requests from me for information in the evening which I pick up the next day for action.
The bulk of the day is communication with journalists: whether that is responding to requests or “pitching” story ideas; writing up case studies of members and updating the WAY blog with our coverage, so that members and others can see stories and hear interviews. If we have a campaign coming up, I will often use the evenings to talk to WAY members who have expressed willingness to be interviewed about what is involved and get some background on them and their circumstances.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love talking to WAY members and hearing what are very often enormously inspiring stories. Translating those stories into an article which then moves and informs others is fantastic.
Death is probably the last taboo subject in our society and death at a young age is clearly a sensitive subject to tackle but a very important one, in my opinion.
Anything you don’t enjoy?
I don't particularly enjoy dealing with requests from tabloid publications for very sensationalist stories. I am not by any means naïve and of course I understand that is the way that the media works, but it doesn’t mean that I have to like it!
What kind of personality is best suited to working in a job like yours?
I think you need to be empathetic without being sentimental and have a fairly high degree of resilience. As with most jobs, I suspect, a sense of humour is absolutely vital.
What’s been your biggest achievement in this job?
Placing stories in a national broadsheet newspaper and an upmarket glossy woman’s magazine.
What’s been your biggest challenge?
Picking up the telephone and making the first call to a widowed dad to ask him to tell me his story for the press.
Any top tips?
Think laterally: I have one of my case studies, a woman with no children, in a magazine article about 21st Century motherhood – and it is promoting a bereavement charity!
Don't disregard local coverage: for a charity such as WAY, visibility in the areas where we have active groups is probably as important as national coverage.
Be professional: it is a mistake to think that because you work for a charity, media will "cut you a break" – why should they? Equally, because your cause is a good cause it does not automatically make it a good story.