A day in the life

DAY IN THE LIFE G I L LY BA I N

Gilly Bain is loving life finding her feet as a new mum, while celebrating her 9th year in business, creating unique events with her unstoppably talented team. YOURgb is a collective of event and marketing professionals that specialises in brand strategy, concept design, event styling, production, and on-site management. An Edinburgh-based company, YOURgb Events delivers events and activations across the UK and abroad. Here, Gilly reveals her divine secrets to juggling her busy life day-to-day.

I set my alarm for… My much loved Lumie alarm clock has recently been rendered obsolete due to the arrival of my baby girl. Mackenzie is all the alarm clock I need in my life!

My morning routine is… Depending on when Mackenzie wakes up, I’ll dive into the shower at around 6am, do my hair and make-up and check a couple of emails/dictate my to-do list. If I’m heading into the office, it’s a quick dash out of the house, grabbing my first coffee of many. I’ll then catch up with the team, and crack on with the day ahead.

I got my job by… By accident, really! I was a struggling actor, and when the work dried up, I blagged myself a job at an events company to pay the bills. Five years later, and having fallen entirely in love with creating incredible events, I headed to London for some freelance work. A year or so later, I came back to Edinburgh, and YOURgb was born. The team and I are about to celebrate our 9th birthday, and it’s already shaping up to be our busiest year to date—I could not be more proud. My typical day… In my entire career, no two days have been the same. Event management warps time—days feel like hours and hours feel like minutes, and it’s that pace I love. The velocity keeps the challenges coming, and the concepts fresh. Typically, my days at work are a hearty mix of desk time, team training, countless client meetings, strategy planning, networking, accounts, business development, and being on-site at events.

My most memorable working day… When YOURgb was on-site working with Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Hotels colleagues. We were managing the UK press launch of their Edinburgh hotel (coming soon), and he was polite and warm, and genuinely passionate about his work, which made him a pleasure to work with.

The moment I feel most proud of… Oh, it’s a tie. One was the day I showed my Grandma around our office and introduced her to the team. I started YOURgb when I was living in her spare room in North Berwick, and I couldn’t have grown the business without her unwavering support. The second was only a few months ago when I walked into the office with my four-day-old baby to introduce her to her extended family—Team YOURgb.

The best part of my job… Is working with my fantastic team. The work is hard, but the laughs are (really) loud. We spend so much of our lives working, it’s important we enjoy it—and surrounded by these talented and hilarious people, I wholeheartedly do. We all love what we do, and that sparks joy and makes us stand out.

The worst part of my job… It has to be when I jovially ask the team if anyone wants a coffee, and all eight say yes. There should be a rule against that – an office law – a maximum three coffees to be made by one person, at any one time!

After work, you’ll find me… Getting my zen on at Tribe Yoga, going for a run, or pouring myself a glass of wine.

My bedtime routine… We aim for Mackenzie’s bath and bedtime to be around 7pm, I then get some time to catch up with my husband, Will—we enjoy cooking dinner together (I’m the sous chef!). Ideally, I’ll be cleansed, toned, moisturised, and tucked up in bed by 11pm.