Simone Kelly
Simone Kelly is a Marketing and Communications Manager for the international arts organisation Metal and a spoken word artist.
About Simone
Current occupation: Marketing & Communications Manager for Metal and a spoken word artist.
Current location: Leeds, UK
Degree studied: BA in English Literature (2019)
About Simone's career
Describe your current role:
I’m a Marketing & Communications Manager for a non-profit arts organisation. We champion the right for artists, creatives and other curious people to follow hunches, explore dreams and probe problems through creativity to inspire positive change. The marketing approach is focused on engagement, storytelling and encouraging social change through digital. I’m a key part of the senior management team, and work across the three sites of our organisation, being responsible for communications, marketing, social media, audience development and digital, including reputation, brand and stakeholder engagement. Working at a multidisciplinary arts organisation means I’m able to market a range of activities from festivals to new programmes, artist sharing evenings and community arts workshops.
[My] marketing approach is focused on engagement, storytelling and encouraging social change through digital.
How did you get into this field after studying English Literature at Newcastle?
I started in my current role towards the end of 2020, after studying an MA in Corporate Communications, Marketing and Public Relations at University of Leeds. I had completed a few marketing placements just after finishing my English Literature BA degree, and had experience of copywriting whilst at Newcastle University writing for Her Campus Newcastle and Vybl. I’m an artist myself and perform my poetry in spaces across the UK. I set up my own website and social media where I marketed events I attended, events I had created, and my poetry itself, which I think helped to boost my portfolio when applying for my current role.
Studying English Literature at Newcastle University
How has studying English Literature at Newcastle helped you in your career?
In a marketing and communications role, you are constantly writing to suit different audiences and purposes. It’s really important to be able to adapt and write in different tones of voice, as well as having strong written, verbal and communication skills. Studying English Literature really helped me to hone these skills, from writing essays to poetry and short stories, and reading a range of texts which helped me learn about different styles of writing. It’s also helped me as a writer when it comes to poetry, I absolute love using word play and metaphors in my work.
What advice would you give to a student interested in studying English Literature?
Go for it! It’s such a great course with so many opportunities. Say yes to things. I think it’s always better to try, rather than ruling it out before you do. If you’re currently studying Literature, keep going! I know it’s tough at times, so make sure to reach out to your lecturers and seminar leaders, and make use of the Royal Literary Fellows - I discovered them towards the end of third year and wish I’d have found them sooner.
What was the best thing about studying English Literature at Newcastle?
The texts! I’m obviously not at university anymore, but constantly say I wish I had access to all the latest reading lists for the modules as I discovered so many books and writers that I hadn’t heard of before. I’ve revisited so many of the books and essays we read, and still have loads of them on my shelf now. Getting to try out so many different modules was great too. I’d never considered reading Children’s Literature but I really enjoyed it. The lecturers and Literature staff were always really supportive too, be sure to reach out if you need it. You’ve got this!
