New year, new decade, new starters! This time around, we’ve netted some top talent for our Midlands office in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire – otherwise known as The Cowshed.
Let’s start with fresh-faced developer, Adam Thompson (not to be confused with Suffolk’s Adam Pescod).
Adam kicked off his digital career studying for a Games Programming degree at Derby University. A keen gamer, Adam put his hobby into practice with his degree, which has given him a varied set of skills in building sites as his career has developed (haha – get it?).
Adam’s career took an unexpected turn when he ventured into print, creating a student magazine with a group of close friends. However, this is where he first discovered his love for building websites, which later became his specialism. From there, Adam honed his skills and started freelancing for a marketing firm, which eventually led to his first permanent development role. Adam continued to work on his development skills with various employers, but much like Goldilocks and her porridge, none were quite right. Until now.
A bit more about Adam…
As we know, Adam is a fan of gaming (hence spending a number of years studying how to build them), especially games such as The Witcher, Uncharted and The Last of Us, as well as personal favourites Rocket League and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
He’s also a huge fan of stand-up comedy, particularly Stuart Lee, so often spends his time away from work watching shows or just generally having a laugh! When he’s not giggling away or tossing a coin to his witcher, Adam loves to travel. His recent expeditions have seen him conquering Copenhagen, Budapest and Japan, and he already has trips planned to Berlin and Iceland this year.
Why did you choose us, Adam?
“I always kept an eye out for StrategiQ advertising for developers. At the last three firms I’ve worked for, I’ve used StrategiQ’s website as an example of how they should advertise their services when they had meetings about improving their websites and internal marketing. So, when I initially sent my CV to James, I mentioned how I’d championed your site for a long time and said I might as well just bloody work for you! At each of those firms, client work got in the way, as it does, and I never got to make my StrategiQ-inspired website – but I got the opportunity to be part of the real deal, so it worked out pretty good!”
Our second new recruit is Hatii (short for Harriet), account manager to the stars…
Hatii’s interest in marketing began at age 19, when she realised she could happily combine her four passions: business, art, psychology and languages into one mega subject. She took a Marketing Management degree at Manchester Metropolitan Business School, spending a year-long interlude in a lovely little village in the French mountains called Vichy, where she studied at the Université Blaise Pascal (exotic!). She graduated from her ‘interlude’ with a Diploma in International Business with French, and all her hard work paid off as she left university with a first-class degree and part of her CIM diploma!
After her millions of qualifications and languages at uni, Hatii landed an account exec role at CAB Studios, where she worked with clients such as (take a deep breath!) TeamSport, Woburn Estates, Playboy Club London, Côte Brasserie, Cosmo Restaurants, Octopus (Healthcare & Property) and RedKangaroo, ‘the trampoline place’.
Being a foodie, her favourite project before StrategiQ saw herself and two designers flying out to Paris, Rome and Verona with Cosmo Restaurants to taste pizza and croissants! Who said marketing was boring?? After her success with Cosmo, she earned a well-deserved promotion and worked with a range of high-quality, luxury hotels and resorts.
Her next stop after all the pizza tasting and spa days was BlueChip, a Manchester agency specialising in shopper, experiential and promotional marketing. From there, it was on to Cogent in Birmingham as a relationship manager.
SO, what does Hatii do when she’s not earning ALL the qualifications??
As we previously discovered, Hatii is very much a fan of food and cooking. While stress relief might be shopping or yoga for some, Hatii turns to the stove and cooks up a mean dish to get rid of those blues, experimenting with fresh ingredients and flavours to create something extraordinary. Hatii is such a foodie that you’ll often find her examining the street-food-esque delicacies at local Digbeth Dining Club in Birmingham.
Hatii’s family is half French, so she’s accustomed to learning about other cultures and languages since she was young – proven by her ability to speak both French and German to a high standard, plus the fact she’s studied Italian and Spanish and can speak a few words of Polish and Turkish.
If that wasn’t enough, Hatii also has a side hustle that revolves around her dog Red, who is a Bavarian Mountain Hound. As the breed is rare in the UK, Hatii arranges walks with other Bavarian owners all around the UK. Her most recent was the November ‘BIG’ Bavarian Walkies, which saw 15 Bavarian Hounds and around 25 ‘hoomans’ walk 9K up to Thor’s Cave and through the Manifold Valley in the Peak District.
Oh, did we mention that she also played county cricket for three years (Warwickshire and Worcestershire) and is afraid of milk?
So, why did she choose StrategiQ?
“I found StrategiQ on a job site and am one of the few who weren’t aware of the agency previously. James Bavington got in touch with me on LinkedIn, and when I met Andy and James at the Cowshed, my first impression was that I totally loved the office – it’s awesome! But primarily, I realised when I was speaking to Andy that a lot of my own values aligned with the way he spoke about StrategiQ. His passion and excitement about where the company is going made me realise how cool it would be to be a part of that journey and watch the company grow – so I made sure I was!”
We’re pleased to have you both on board!
Feeling a bit FOMO and wanna be part of this awesome team like Hatii and Adam? Check out our careers page to see what we’ve currently got open, drop us a message or even just pop in for a chat. We’re a friendly and welcoming bunch.
