Leading figures from across the creative industries offered Third Year Hamptonians first hand insight into the wide range of fascinating and rewarding careers in the creative fields.

Speakers representing publishing, marketing, PR, advertising, music, events, film, TV and journalism introduced pupils to their varied and fascinating working life. They also spoke about the immense rewards that can be gained for a creative career. Hamptonians took the opportunity to discover more about the range of opportunities in this field and the steps they can take to best prepare themselves for a career in the creative industries.  We are immensely grateful to our guests for taking time out of their busy lives to share their experiences with the Third Year pupils.

Annie Atlay – Managing Director at Advertising Agency, Deloitte Digital
Annie studied Art and History at art college and university. After a spell as marketing lead at Waterstones,  Annie became Managing Director of a 700-strong business of PR, advertising, direct marketing and communications experts, before moving to Deloitte Digital, the largest digital provider of tech and marketing transformation in the UK.

Martin Denny – Director of the Windsor Arts Festival
Martin Denny is Director of Windsor Festival, which under his direction has seen unprecedented growth in audiences and content; this includes the addition of, amongst other things, the Education Programme, the Spring Youth and Community Festival, singing projects with local schools, and the International String Competition.

Sariel Heseltine OH (2007) – Documentary Filmmaker
After leaving Hampton, Sariel studied Theology at university. Always passionate about crafted story-telling, he pursued a career in film-making and editing and has worked on a wide variety of projects from commercials, music videos, and long form documentary.

Simon Hewitt – Head of Marketing for the Outdoor Powertool brand Stihl
Simon has worked in marketing for 25 years and is currently Head of Marketing for outdoor powertool brand STIHL GB. Simon’s career spans a number of different industries including a decade in consumer electronics, the pharmaceutical industry and publishing.

Fayida Jailler – Assistant Producer and Social Media Content Creator
Fayida is an assistant producer and social media content creator with almost ten years’ experience in the media industry. She has worked both in documentaries and longform audio, and produced content for the BBC and Netflix.

Rebecca Kelly & Rob Harvey – Oscar-winning Visual Effects Supervisors
Rob Harvey is an Oscar-winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Creative Director. He won an Oscar for his work on the film Gladiator in 2000 and has been nominated and won many other awards since. Rob and Rebecca established their own Visual Effects company 24 years ago which continues to thrive.

Dayo Shittu-Balogun – Architect and Director of Projects for Eurban, a mass timber construction firm
Dayo is a UK trained and registered Architect. After over a decade in architectural practice, she decided to pursue her passion for sustainable design and modern methods of construction (MMC). Dayo now specialises in the design and delivery of mass timber buildings that are manufactured off-site and assembled as a kit of parts on building sites.

Rebecca Sinclair – Chief Brand and Communications Officer at Penguin Random House
Rebecca is Chief Brand and Communications Officer at Penguin Random House, the world’s leading book publisher. Her role is to increase discoverability of their authors and sales of books, and to use the power of the brand to achieve commercial and social success.

Stephen Titherington – Editor, Times Podcasts, Former Senior Commissioning Editor, BBC World Service
Stephen is Editor of Podcasts at The Times and Sunday Times, launching new shows such as ‘The Royals’ and ‘Your History’. Before working at The Times he was the Senior Commissioning Editor for News and Factual Programming at the BBC World Service for more than a decade.

Chris Webb OH (2006) – Bassist and Music Producer
After leaving Hampton in 2006, Chris set about becoming a session bass player. He was lucky enough to pick up a gig with the pop band the Sugababes in his teens and went on to play professionally for six years. Music production came next and he’s built his own company, the Friary Studios, out in the Bedfordshire countryside.