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Welcome to #WIM2020! We are proud to bring the fifth annual Women in Media conference to the People’s History Museum in the heart of Manchester. Women in Media was founded in 2016 by a group of students at the University of Manchester who, even at a student level, noticed that the media industry was dominated by men. Something needed to change! So, in 2016, the first Women in Media conference was held in Manchester to celebrate the achievements of women within the industry. Our aim has always been to educate and inspire young people wishing to have a career in the media, building upon the skills they need to succeed and connecting them with a network of inspiring women. The conference also aims to address ongoing intersectional issues, including gender, class and racial imbalances within the media. Each year we invite influential women from a wide range of backgrounds to share their stories and expertise, as well as the challenges they’ve faced in the industry. WIM2020, which coincides with International Women’s Day (March 8th), has been organised and run by an all-student team from the Manchester Media Group, the media wing of University of Manchester Students’ Union. It is a celebration of the successes of women from a wide range of sectors within the media industry. We are excited to bring you panels, workshops, debates and speeches on everything from news writing and broadcasting to podcasting, PR and STEM careers within the media. We welcome delegates of all genders to WIM2020 and encourage you to explore what’s on offer, discover the range of career opportunities available within the media industry, and be empowered to break through whatever barriers are stopping you from achieving your goals! We would also like to give a special thanks to our partners Fuse FM and Sainsbury’s.
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The Women In Media Conference is pleased to once again be supporting local charity Manchester Action on Street Health! In 2019 our conference raised an incredible £1,500 for MASH—a target we hope to match this year. MASH have provided vital services for women in sex work for the past 25 years. Their mobile drop-in service and sauna visits provide free condoms, needle exchanges and advice. The MASH drop-in centre is a safe, non-judgemental environment where women have access to services such as a sexual health clinic, and can receive long-term 1-on-1 support for issues such as drug addiction and housing. MASH’s aim is to: ‘Work with female sex workers to promote sexual health, wellbeing and personal safety whilst offering choice, support and empowerment to promote individual positive life changes’. WIM have pledged to donate 75% of the profits raised by this year’s conference to MASH. We will also have buckets and card readers at the front desk for anyone wishing to make an additional donation. For more information on the services MASH provide or to find out how to get involved, visit MASH.org.uk.
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GUEST SPEAKERS Saturday 10:00 Q&A with
Nicola Thorp is a Corrie actress and equality campaigner who has taken on the likes of Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. Nicola will take part in a special keynote Q&A session on Saturday morning and will also be participating in our TV and Broadcasting panel After being fired for refusing to wear high heels to the office, Nicola led a high profile anti-discrimination campaign which saw her challenging UK law and taking the issue to parliament. Since then she has continued to campaign for gender equality in the workplace, in society and in the media. As an actress, Nicola has appeared in Dr Who, The Guilty and as Nicola Rubinstein in Coronation Street.
Sat 11:00 News Journalism Panel (Engine Hall) Cherry started her career in local newspapers and has worked for a range of national media organisations including BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, BBC News Online, The Sun and the Press Association. She has a passion for telling original, human-interest stories which represent the diverse nature of the world we live in.
Sharan founded, developed and runs the UK’s leading South Asian creative magazine Burnt Roti, which is a platform for young people to showcase their talent, find safe spaces and destigmatize topics like mental health and sexuality. Her nterests focus on discussing the representations of young womxn, South Asian womxn and queer womxn. She is the Director of Middlesex Pride and creator of Oh Queer Cupid, a queer speed dating and comedy night. She has had bylines in i-D, HuffPost, the Guardian and has been
Marina started off as a journalist in Ukraine, writing about cultural events. Thanks to a year at an American high school as a MUSKIE scholar, her English and journalistic skills helped her become a fixer and local producer for TVE, BBC World and RAI2. She specialised in social issues, environment and human trafficking. After a year doing MA in International Journalism at City, University of London as a Chevening scholar, she did various journalistic and non-journalistic jobs in London before joining CIJ in 2009. She's been living and breathing #CIJSummer Investigative Journalism Conference ever since.
ALEX WALLIS Alex is the Regional News Editor for Global in the North West. She heads the regional teams in Liverpool and Manchester, taking care of the news across a number of commercial radio stations including Smooth, Heart, Capital and LBC.
Sat 11:00 Podcasting—Anyone can do it! (Coal store) Workshop with VIC ELIZABETH TURNBULL
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Vic is the founder of podcast production company MIC Media—set up as a social enterprise to make podcasts for good eggs and train people how to produce their own. MIC's recently worked with Manchester City Council and the Pankhurst Trust on the ‘Strong Manchester Women’ podcast, the Children’s University and The People’s Powerhouse. Vic also has her own travel podcast, ‘Tourist’, using comedians as tour guides. MIC also runs meetups for their DIY podcaster community. Started in a room above a boozer in late 2018, MIC's Podcast Club is now held in Salford and Manchester and has over 300 members. Vic is also the co-founder and Director of Pods Up North, a conference for podcasters - a first for the north of England. Their debut event in 2019 was a huge success; sponsored by Spotify, it attracted 150 delegates and top notch speakers from across Podcast Land, including BBC Sounds, Audioboom, Two Shot Pod, and a Gay and A Non Gay Podcast. Included on the prestigious Northern Power Women Future List, Vic’s worked across the creative indus-
Sat 12:00 PR and Practical Applications of Media (Engine Hall) Florence Welke is the Regional Press Officer for Lush UK. She has worked for the Lush PR team in Berlin and specialised in influencer relations before she moved to Manchester in 2018. Florence has experience in music and fashion and previously worked for Universal Music International, various music festivals and was German content planner for Missguided.
CLAIRE QUANSHAH Claire has been in PR for 12 years, having started on the graduate programme at GolinHarris. She began working on technology clients, she expanded her portfolio to wider B2B and corporate campaigns for the likes of EMC, Orange and St John Ambulance. Claire joined Havas PR in 2013 and was appointed as its first operations director in 2017. Having launched the agency’s first apprenticeship scheme, she now leads its diversity agenda. Her clients span across
Read Louise’s bio on page 8.
ANNA GLEDSON
ADDY FREDERICK Addy Frederick, Group Communications at Prudential Addy is an award-winning, communications specialist with more than a decade of media relations, reputational risk and crisis management experience having working for well-known consumer-facing brands such LV=, Barclays and Bupa. Addy now works in Corporate Communications for the international FTSE 20 insurer Prudential and is a Women in PR
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Sat 12:00 News Writing Workshop with ALEX WALLIS (Meeting Room) - Turn back to page 5 for Alex’s bio.
Sat 14:00 TV and Video Production Panel (Engine Hall) Turn back to page 5 for Nicola’s bio.
ELENA COTTON After graduating from the University of Manchester in 2018, Emefa earned a place on the prestigious Channel 4 Production Training Scheme beating out almost 3,000 applicants. After working as a Production Researcher in Manchester she moved to Brighton to take up a role at multiaward winning Ricochet TV. Emefa now works as a Development Researcher coming up with new programme ideas and pitching formats to all major UK broadcasters and Netflix.
Elena is a Junior Researcher specialising in Children’s TV and Documentaries with experience working on location and in the editing suite. Since graduating in 2018, she has worked on a number of television and commercial projects including: Editing video content for JD Sports Spring 2019 Campaign, assisting on behind the scenes for Danny Boyle’s “Yesterday”, working on prime time Channel 4 and BBC One documentaries, and working on location for BAFTA award winning CBBC show Operation Ouch!
Sat 14:00 Building Your Brand Workshop (Meeting Room) An interactive workshop on how best to promote yourself, find Louise has 20 years experience in the industry with organisations such as the BBC and commercial brands including Lloyds Bank, Superdrug, HSBC, and Lloyds pharmacy. Her practical knowledge comes from a vast career in TV, radio and newspapers, as a broadcaster, reporter and journalist and newspaper columnist. In 2012 Louise launched Soundbite Media – a media communications company that encourages businesses to share stories of success with the media, using marketing
Sat 14:00 Social Media Panel (Coal Store) SOPHIE MONTAGUE Sophie Montague is Actor, Presenter and Managing Director. She trained at the London School of Dramatic Art and has gone onto a successful career in the performance industry. Her credits include Virgin, BBC 2, ITV and WeSprinkle TV. Most recently Sophie was the face of the Ernest Jones 2019 Christmas Campaign. Sophie is now MD of her own Digital Content Creation Company, Soyza
SOPHIA ROSEMARY Sophia studied Fashion Marketing as university and worked within Fashion for a number of years. Five years ago she started her blog as a hobby and over time grew a substantial following from which she was able to turn her hobby into a business. Having a five year career as a blogger means that Sophia has vast experience with social media and working with
Abby is most well known for creating the #milifandom social media campaign in 2015 when she was 17. Since then she has gone on to write for a number of high profile publications such as The Guardian, Metro, and CNN. She has also appeared on political discussion shows such as NewsNight and Victoria Derbyshire. After graduating from the University of York, she worked for the youth wing of the Peo-
Sat 15:00 Media In Manchester Panel (Coal Store) VIC ELIZABETH TURNBULL
ANNA GLEDSON
Turn back to page 6 for Nicola’s bio.
ABIGAIL ETIM-REID Abigail Etim-Reid is the Northern Correspondent for The Voice newspaper. The Voice is a national newspaper committed to celebrating black excellence, campaigning for positive change and informing the black community on important issues. She has been working in the field of journalism and communications for almost twenty years after commencing her training with the Guardian and Manchester Evening News in 2000. Her early career began as the Editor of a travel magazine. She then progressed to various PR roles and was the Marketing and Communications Manager for a large social housing organisation. As a qualified teacher she also combines her love of literacy and writing with teaching children.
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Sat 15:00 TV News Panel (Engine Hall) Gilberte is a TV news producer who has covered some of the biggest events of the past 20 years; including the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, the Syrian refugee crisis and many elections, both in the UK and US. She is adept at gaining access to institutions, locations and contributors. She has written and produced documentaries for Sky, including the New York Festival’s Gold Medal winning, ‘Nelson Mandela: The Struggle Is My Life’. Currently Gilberte is Graphics Editor at Sky News where she is the editorial lead for the newsroom. In this role she uses her flair for creative storytelling to find ways to break down complex subjects and help
Cait FitzSimons began her career at 5 News in 1997 but has also worked for Sky News and ITV News. As well as running general election and referendum coverage at 5 News, she’s programme edited across ITV News’ output, and worked on ITV’s coverage of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the channel’s Election 2010 programme. She’s also spent time on the road – covering the Asian Tsunami, the death of Pope John Paul II as well as stories closer to home for Sky News. She became Editor of 5 News in Feb-
This is Dorothy Byrne, head of News & Current Affairs at Channel Four Television. During her tenure, the Channel’s news and current affairs programmes have won numerous awards. Dorothy was made a Fellow of The Royal Television Society for her “outstanding contribution to television” she has also received a Grierson Trustee’s Award for “extraordinary achievements” and in December 2019 at the Women in Film &TV Awards The Argonon Contribution to the Medium Award. Also in 2019, she published her first book, ‘Trust Me I’m Not a Politician’ and has also contributed to various books on media ethics and regulation. She is a Visiting Pro-
Sat 16:00 Keynote speech from Joanna has over 20 years’ experience in the Media Industry. As the Country Manager at Freeda she is responsible for the leadership and development of the UK business. Working with her incredible team she is on a mission to spread stories of people who are having a positive impact on our world through Freeda’s powerful social media platforms. Jo began her career at Mindshare as a digital buyer in 1998 working with IBM, Kellogg’s and Ford who were amongst the first brands to enter into digital advertising. Through the first dotcom boom she worked with startups including Handbag.com and Cahoot.com. She then became Head of Digital at Mindshare and launched the SEO and Social operations. From there she led the content creation, partnerships, planning and client leadership teams. Jo worked with every sector of clients in the agency which included Unilever, Land Rover, HSBC, Chanel, Red Bull, General Mills and Mango. Ultimately, she became Managing Director from 2017-2019. During her time at Mindshare she created Huddle, the festival of ideas that remains one of Mindshare’s key moments and events each year. She set up the specialist division, Grow, designed to support startups in their growth and transition from digital only to offline media. Grow worked with Birchbox, Treatwell and Deliveroo.
Sunday 10:00 Radio Panel (Engine Hall)
‘Young broadcast journalist of the year’ 2002. Emma began her career reading news bulletins at commercial radio stations in the North West before moving to BBC Radio Manchester where she worked for six years as a producer and a reporter. She moved to Gaydio full time in 2013 when she co-presented the breakfast show until Jan 2018. She now presents Drive Time on Gaydio and the Dead Good show on BBC Radio Manchester on a Wednesday night. She hosts LGBT podcast – ‘Coming Out Stories’. “I’ve been in the radio industry since 2002 and at Gaydio since it’s humble beginnings in 2006 – presenting a Pride show and then moving on to co-presenting Gaydio breakfast until January 2018. I now co present the drive time slot with my handsome radio son Dean McCullough. I pride myself on being one of the nosiest people on the planet and have been lucky enough to interview / interrogate celebrities ranging from David Cameron to Little Mix. I’m passionate about LGBT rights and as well as working for Gaydio I’m proud to be a mentor for the Albert Kennedy trust too. I’ve been out as a lesbian since
Jodie is the Assistant Producer for one of the UK's biggest commercial Breakfast Radio shows - KISS Breakfast with Tom & Daisy. Since graduating from Manchester University in 2018, has worked on Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp and the launch of the new station Scala Radio. As well as producing, she specialises in new music and presents a new music Youtube show, as well as a radio show on Hoxton Radio
OLIVIA JONES
Olivia is a radio presenter based in Manchester and presenting on the Total Access Network reaching an audience of 250,000 listeners a week. Online she presents for MTV socials, writes a monthly column for DIVA magazine and has previously worked with Popbuzz, Huff Post, Social Chain and Hits Radio. Most recently
Sun 10:00 How to Cover Breaking News Lucy is the editorial development manager at News Associates – officially the UK’s number one NCTJ journalism school. She is responsible for securing trainees across all postgraduate and undergraduate courses on their pathways into journalism. She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and former editor, with a passion for social media and mobile journalism. Lucy has worked in local and national news and women's magazines. She specialises in breaking news and has also covered general
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Sun 11:00 Publishing Panel (Engine Hall)
This panel will explore the different types of jobs available in publishing, what skills you need and tips if you want to start self-publishing your own magazine, zine or news site.
Angelica is Editor-in-Chief at About Time Magazine and Founder at the About Time Academy. An entrepreneur who launched her business straight out of university, at 22, Angelica knows first-hand the challenges faced by business owners in the UK today. Through the About Time Academy, Angelica Malin hosts sell-out festivals and events in London, including #SheStartedItLIVE. Angelica is a regular commentator on TV and radio, including TALK
Suzy is the editor of Actual Size Magazine: a publication for creative, cluedup women. She's been working in the field of magazine journalism for two decades now, both as an independent publisher and also for several
Zabby is a maker and designer from South London who runs the Procrastination Paper, a monthly mini magazine which encourages people to spend a little less time on their phones and to ‘# Waste Some Time Offline’ instead, embracing adventure, creativity, play and more. She is also the editor of Emily Coxhead's The Happy Newspaper and has previously worked with other indie mags Caboodle and the Lucky Dip Clubhouse. When she's not making mags, she's usually walking her rescue dog or chatting to her colour-loving friends in the In Colourful Company community, which she co-runs with illustrator
KELLY FALCONER Kelly is the founder of the Asia Literary Agency and before that was an editor of fiction and non-fiction for publishers including Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Virgin Books, Granta magazine, et al. She was the literary editor of the Asia Literary Review in 2012 and
Hannah is the The Times Turkey correspondent who has reported from inside rebel-held Syria and on the frontlines of the fight against Isis in Iraq. She has followed the migrant crisis throughout 2015 from the smugglers’ bazaars of Istanbul into the heart of Europe. In Turkey, she covered the coup attempt of 2016 and its aftermath, the war between the PKK and Turkish security forces, and President Erdogan’s authoritarian turn. She also covers the Balkans and Black Sea region and contributes to other
HANNAH LUCINDA SMITH
Sun 11:00 Just Made It In The Media Panel (Coal Store) Turn back to page 10 for
Kirstie is a digital researcher at BBC Bitesize, writing features and creating video content for a young audience. Her career began in student media, whilst also volunteering with LGBTQ+ radio station Gaydio. She then went on to work with BBC Breakfast as a runner, as well as becoming the Editor-in-Chief of the University of Manchester's student publication, The Mancunion, after graduation in 2017. One of her proudest achievements is chairing the third annual Women in Media Conference in 2018.
Isobel is a journalist specialising in culture and entertainment writing. Graduating from the University of Manchester in 2018, she began her career as an intern at HELLO! magazine before joining Metro.co.uk as an entertainment reporter. Now fully freelance, she splits her time between reporting for the Metro and feminist news website Bustle, as well as writing features, op-eds and interviews for publications including The Guardian, The At-
Turn back to page 7 for Emefa’s bio.
Sun 12:00 Flexible Working in the Media Rhiannon Lewis is a senior producer and managing partner at The Gate Films, with over 15 years experience, she is passionate about creating film content. She prides herself on striving for that balance between the Director’s interpretation and the Client’s requirements, to find the best possible creative and practical solutions to any brief. Rhiannon has produced TV campaigns for brands such as Umbro, Very, Coors and Tresemme to name a few. She has created award winning cross platform content campaigns for brands such as Debenhams and Missguided. Her production for Missguided campaigns is now in it’s 9th year, including the award winning #naughtylist campaign featuring 88 year old instagram legend Baddie Winkle. Rhiannon is an enthusiastic mentor to many film students across Manchester and the North West. A mother of four, she champions women in film and flexible working hours.
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Sun 12:00 STEM and the Media (Coal Store) Q&A with Mhairi Finlayson is a recent graduate from the University of St Andrews, where she graduated with a BSc. (Joint Hons.) in Computer Science and Physics. Now, she works for the BBC, in the Research and Development department on their graduate scheme. Currently, she is working within the AIMP (Artificial Intelligence in Media Production) team, developing ways of using artificial intelligence to improve and augment the way we currently produce media.
Sun 12:00 Pitching Workshop (Meeting Room) JEM COLLINS
Jem is the founder and editor of Journo Resources, a non-profit which works to diversify the media industry and was awarded the Georgina Henry Prize for Digital Innovation in Journalism at the Press Awards. She is also a freelance journalist whose work has been published in outlets such as the i Paper, Metro.co.uk, PinkNews and more and is a lecturer in online journalism at the University of Kent. She is also a trustee for the Student Publication Association and a co-founder of the Second Source.
Sun 13:00 CV Advice Drop-In (Meeting Room) Jem is the founder and editor of Journo Resources, a non-profit which works to diversify the media industry and was awarded the Georgina Henry Prize for Digital Innovation in Journalism at the Press Awards. She is also a freelance journalist whose work has been published in outlets such as the i Paper, Metro.co.uk, PinkNews and more and is a lecturer in online journalism at the University of Kent. She is also a trustee for the Student Publication Association and a co-founder of the Second Source.
(Coal Store) Sun 13:00 Talk with Emma gives a talk on working at the BBC and new forms of media such as Tiktok – can the big media corporations keep up? Emma Bentley is a Digital Camera Journalist at BBC News. “I work as a Deployable News Crew, for BBC Newsgathering, London. There is no ‘typical’ day, but I spend most of my time driving around the country - usually to wherever the story is, in a Transit Van, filming and editing things for the News!”
Sun 14:00 Getting Into the Media Panel (Engine Hall) JEM COLLINS
Sun 14:00 DJing Workshop (Meeting Room) New to the scene but still a queen, Daisy Wilson McNeal aka DaiSu specialises in house, disco and a little bit of techno. Daisy is part of the all-female Manchester DJ collective Not Bad For A girl. NBFG champion gender equality in the music industry as a home-grown, ethically sourced group of women who just want to have fun and play good tunes.
Slots on the DJing workshop are limited so you will need to put your name on the sign up sheet at the start of the day. If your slot begins part way through the Getting Into the Media talk, please sit near the stairs so that you can exit the engine room quietly and proceed up to the meeting room without disturbing the talk.
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Sun 15:00 Women in Conflict Journalism— (Engine Hall) Sue Turton and Hannah Lucinda Smith in Conversation Sue Turton is the current Series Editor for Channel 4’s Unreported World. She moved into documentaries, with films in Afghanistan, the Philippines (award-winning), Indonesia and on the ISIS attacks in Paris, after 28 years on the road as a correspondent. She joined Al Jazeera English as Afghanistan Correspondent before covering the Arab Uprisings as a roving war correspondent reporting on the Libyan revolution from beginning to end, the Syrian war with missions alongside Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al Nusra and embedded with the Peshmerga during Iraq’s battle against ISIS. Sue began her career at Sky News but worked as both correspondent and anchor for Channel 4 News for twelve years where she won two RTS awards. Sue led a campaign to free her colleagues from an Egyptian prison after she and six other Al Jazeera staff were wrongly convicted of terrorism offences. She is still on the run.
HANNAH LUCINDA SMITH Hannah Lucinda Smith is the The Times Turkey correspondent who has reported from inside rebel-held Syria and on the frontlines of the fight against Isis in Iraq. She has followed the migrant crisis throughout 2015 from the smugglers’ bazaars of Istanbul into the heart of Europe. In Turkey, she covered the coup attempt of 2016 and its aftermath, the war between the PKK and Turkish security forces, and President Erdogan’s authoritarian turn. She also covers the Balkans and Black Sea region and contributes to other media including the Atlantic and Wired. Her first book, Erdogan Rising: The Battle for the Soul of Turkey, was published in