For me, 2024 as a freelancer has been varied, challenging, creative and exciting, all against a stressful homelife supporting 4 teenagers going through A-level and GCSE exams simultaneously.

Here’s a quick rundown of the highs, lows, learnings and randoms.

The Highs

• Supporting Eating Distress North East through a comms glow-up. Everything from a website revamp, brand refresh, creating content, templates and training their wonderful staff – great to see them embrace the changes and run with it.
• Preparing to launch the Charity Freelancers Connect & Co-work meet-ups – watch this space for our first event in 2025!
• Giving a talk on digital marketing trends at a VONNE (Voluntary Organisations’​ Network North East) Digital Day.
• Sharing my love of Canva, delivering some really fun training courses to charity staff all over the North East.
• Mentoring – both giving to 2 lovely people and receiving it.

The LOWS

• The riots over the summer – dropping everything to support Middlesbrough Voluntary Development Agency with emergency comms and watching events unfold in shock.
• Struggling with work-life balance, sometimes clients need you all at once, that’s the nature of comms.

The RANDOM

• Writing a book for Community Action Northumberland on the heritage of village halls, plus the added thrill of giving a talk at the book launch, being asked to sign copies, and having my parents in the front row! #15minsoffame
• Filming and editing 2 videos on wildflowers and wild spaces for Prudhoe Community Partnership, enjoying flexing my creative side.
• Delivering workshops on how to navigate the NHS to people who have English as an additional language for Involve North East using their fantastic animated videos.

The LEARNING

• It can be lonely being self-employed, hence deciding to set up a network of fellow charity freelancers in the North East imminently.
• Starting work with a mentor Laura Smith who has helped me grow my business and set the direction for the next 20 years.
• The power of AI, like a second brain helping generate ideas and refine work, and enjoying seeing other’s reactions when I show them what it can do!

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And that’s 2024 nearly wrapped up!

If you’re looking for charity comms support in 2025 in any of the myriad of ways I can give it, please get in touch quickly. I have some limited space for new clients but it’s filling up.

Wishing all clients new, old and waiting in the wings a peaceful break over the holidays, we’re nearly there!
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*The relevance of the picture is I came across recently online and remembered recreating it for my Art GCSE so know every brush stroke of it. ‘Wanderer above a sea of fog’ seemed poignant!