About me
I’m an experienced and passionate product leader with a deep knowledge of the cultural sector and the startup world.
I understand the unique problems of cultural organisations, while also knowing how to shift mindsets towards user-centric and agile.
I trained as a theatre director at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where I worked with immersive companies like Punchdrunk, Blast Theory, dreamthinkspeak and others.
At Central, I co-founded my own immersive theatre company Parrot in the Tank and started producing. Over the years, we created over 15 shows, events and experiences.
Producing and completing a Master’s in Enterprise & Business in Creative Industries from the London College of Communication led me to offer my producing and marketing skills outside of theatre.
I became fascinated with startups and I knew my next stop was learning how to make them grow.
Between 2013-2016 I worked as a marketing manager with a number of startups across San Francisco, London and Berlin, but one of them shaped me the most.
When I joined Knotch in 2014, now a content marketing intelligence platform, the company began to pivot. My focus changed from marketing to product management overnight. My job was to find Knotch’s product-market fit – and deliver its first product to market.
In a startup, everyone’s job is to bring value to customers and investors, fast. With the company’s runway diminishing in front of our eyes, I had to learn very quickly how to build products that were user-driven, revenue-creating and technically robust – sometimes not all at the same time.
I loved navigating this.
After unveiling Knotch to the world in 2015, I knew I wanted to bring these skills and expertise back to the cultural sector.
In 2016 I joined the V&A, where I worked as a product manager in the in-house digital team. My job was delivering a large scale digital transformation project under the brilliant leadership of Kati Price. Over 3 years, I helped to shape, lead and launch over 20 digital products and services.
Knotch is now a thriving company with a valuation of over $100 million and the V&A an industry leader in digital services in the cultural sector. I’m honoured to have worked with and learned from these teams.
In 2020, I went freelance to help more cultural organisation define, develop and deliver great digital products and services – and never looked back.
Focus and interests
I have worked on many product-related challenges in finance, advertising and fashion, but my passion is creating industry-leading excellence in the cultural sector.
I care about it because cultural organisations have immense power and responsibility to build bridges between communities.
I especially love the V&A, Battersea Arts Centre and New York Public Library, and companies like Pixar, LEGO and Airbnb.
Other experiences that have shaped me include:
Working with Design Against Crime Research Lab, where I learned how to prototype and design products that matter
Co-creating the Master’s programme in Creative Producing at Central to develop the next generation of producers
Co-founding a premium spirits company Animal Spirits in lockdown, and bringing a new craft gin to market
Training and credits
As an experienced speaker, lecturer and coach, I can upskill and train your teams to become more product-focussed and user-centred.
Speaker credits include Creative Mornings, Global Service Design Conference, MuseumNext, CultureGeek, We Are Museums, Digital Works, JAM conference and more.
I have led workshops and given lectures at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Central and Hyper Island amongst others.
As a coach, I have helped project managers, creative producers and others become more effective and confident product leaders.
In 2019, I became a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.
Since 2024, I’ve been a Digital Advisor on the Bloomberg Philanthropies Digital Accelerator programme.