About Andrew

When I made the decision to leave the comfort of the BBC to help launch a start-up company in the UK called “MySpace”, I never thought where the next 3 and a half years would take me. Hey, this was when Facebook was only available to students, around 90% of YouTube traffic was on MySpace and a Tweet was something you heard from birds. You can find out more about my adventures on this site but here is a brief rundown of my career highs, and lows, so far.

2000 – 2001

My career online began. I started working for small company called Chatmoderators & moderated chatrooms and forums for Pop Idol season 1 (The birth of Simon Cowell), Playstation (number 1, waaaay before ps2), Friends Reunited (Remember them??) and Liverpool Football Club (im an Arsenal supporter but they paid well).

2002

The BBC were looking for people to help launch this new Digital radio station called Network X. I managed to beat over 2000 entrance to be 1 of 16 Broadcast Assistants. Network X soon changed its name to 1Xtra.

2002 – 2006

I Worked across a number of shows including drivetime, RnB & Hip Hop. Defining my day to day role is difficult but it included dealing with musical copyright, interviewing and producing radio shows in the UK and beyond (Working in Japan was an eye opening experience).

April/May 2006

I was asked to produce a show in San Francisco & was told to contact a lady who worked at MySpace called Roslynn for advise on the US market (I almost didnt contact her because I thought MySpace was ran by 1 person…Tom). Good job I did as it led to the most interesting part of my career so far…a job at MySpace.

September 2006

I was originally asked to work as urban marketing co-ordinator but that changed by the 2nd day. Over the years my job role differed but I finally ended up working as Marketing Manager and Content Producer, sitting between the 2 Marketing and Content departments.

2006 – 2009

I helped explain and execute numerous strategies in Social Media and entertainment to a number of brands and artists. This is when I first came up with The Worst Kept Secret and the free ebook “10 Commandments of Music & Social Media”.

2007 – 2008

Things were going great. The Guardian newspaper ranked me as number 17 in its 2007 ‘Minority Report’ – a countdown of the Top 30 most important ethnic minority contributors to the British media industry. I was even more pleased to find out that I was the only entrant aged under 30.I followed this up in 2008 by becoming the only person listed in both the prestigious Media Week Top ‘30 under 30’ rundown of the most talented individuals in the UK and Broadcast magazine’s ‘Hot Shots’ list of media insiders tipped for future success.

2008

Then it all went wrong and I got struck with Repetative Strain Injury aka RSI. It started in Feb 2008 when I used to have pain in my right index finger and escalated fast. Having 200/300 emails a day didnt help. I started using speech recognition software, special ergonomic keyboards, even had typist help me with my work. I went from winning awards for my work to struggling to do the most simple tasks, and my nightmare 2 years began.

To make matters worse, i was misdiagnosed by Drs and was told it was Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and advised to have an operation. I wrestled with the idea for 8 months but eventually decided to take the plunge adue to the Dr’s advice (I thought they knew best) and also by now the pain became unbearable ….So you would not be surprised to hear that the operation didn’t work.

2009 and beyond

2009 started off slowly due to recovering from operation. Months of sitting at home not having the ability to use my hands for someone who is used to being on computers or studios all day, is hard. However, during my time at MySpace I was always asked to speak to schools and colleges about the world of Social Media. During my recovery I was approached by the Head of English at a boys school in East London. He wanted me to talk to his students but I wanted to do something bigger than that. “Give me a week”, i said. “I will come up with something”….and thats when the idea for my first Social Media course (Social Media Fundamentals) was born.

Social Media Fundamentals was an instant hit with the school who liked it so much they they used it to assess their year 10 GCSE English Coursework. The newspapers liked the idea as well and was featured in the Telegraph, Times Educational Supplement, Teachers TV and Brand Republic.

The course went amazingly and now I have found myself creating and teaching more courses for not only students but to professionals. I’ve also started getting involved in public talking engagements offering people advice in the world of social media, career advice and motivation.

Looking forward to 2010 and the adventures and stories the Worst Kept Secret will teach me. Sometimes tragedies (RSI) can be a blessing in disguise