Online CV.
INTRO
INTRO
Hello, I’m Charlie! 👋
A multi-disciplined digital specialist with 10 years of experience collaborating with global brands, cultural institutions and savvy start-ups to harness the power of digital and tell stories.
My experience is deep-rooted in creativity and problem-solving, crafting a truly unique, well-rounded and valuable skillset. It’s this understanding that helps me genuinely connect the dots and create meaningful solutions.
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
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Freelance Digital Specialist
(Sept'25 - Present) • Freelance
After 10 years of becoming a multi-disciplined digital specialist (across marketing, strategy and project management), I leapt into freelancing as I turned 25.
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Photographer / Writer
(Feb'24 - Present) • Freelance
Established in 2015, Northern Exposure is a non-profit music magazine with a mission to help promote and celebrate the diverse and vibrant world of music.
✯ Writing reviews and opinions for new music and live concerts. This has included: YUNGBLUD, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, The Snuts, Feeder, Swim School, Artemas, The Magic Gang, Royal Blood, The Hunna and many more.
✯ Photographing live concerts and events. This has included: Kasabian, The Amazons, Lime Cordiale, Alfie Templeman, Royel Otis, The Prodigy, South Arcade, Tom Walker, The Darkness, Orla Gartland, Rizzle Kicks, KEO, Don Broco and many more.
✯ Travelling around the UK to photograph and report on leading festivals. This has included: Truck Festival 2024 and 2025, BLUDFEST 2024 and 2025, All Points East 2024 and 2025, Boardmasters 2025, NBHD Weekender, BST Hyde Park and many more.
✯ Supporting the magazine with marketing and digital technologies.
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Digital Account Manager
(Jul'23 - Sept'25) • Full Time
Effect is an expert-led digital experience, marketing and technology agency specialising in first-party data based in Leicester and Leeds.
✯ Approached by SMT to lead a portfolio of high-profile brands and world-renowned arts and cultural organisations.
✯ Managed a high volume of projects, retainers and relationships simultaneously. This included a mix of websites, apps, campaigns, strategy, OOH and everything in between. Upon joining, this involved the three largest clients, before asking to pivot into arts & culture.
✯ Stepped up beyond my role to proactively drive efficiencies in traffic management, scheduling, file management, and documentation while the agency built its project management department.
✯ Created and led a wellbeing initiative, which focused on mental health, to ensure the agency's renowned culture remained during a period of growth. This initiative allowed us to train up the entire senior leadership team as Mental Health First Aiders, and encouraged others to launch a run club.
✯ Led Effect’s internal social media output, including ideation, content creation and asset creation, in addition to daily account management responsibilities, to support new business.
Main Accounts: London City Airport, Serpentine, Panache Lingerie, Way Of Life, Camden Art Centre, Phoenix, Japan House London & Effect.
Case Studies: Serpentine, LCYCC
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Senior Account Executive
(Jan - Jun '23) • Full Time
Born in 1912, McCann Worldgroup is the world’s most prestigious agency network and the most recognisable in advertising. Through countless award-winning campaigns, McCann has spent over a century shaping culture and helping brands earn a meaningful role in people’s lives through the vision: Truth Well Told.
✯ A multi-disciplined (and the youngest) SAE across McCann Central on track to be an Account Manager at age 22, working on the fastest growing client (£1.7mil) in the Birmingham division.
✯ Led several pitch initiatives and trained the Business Leadership Team on delivering websites, and offered suggestions on streamlining the process.
✯ Became an active member of the Conscious Inclusion Council and a Mental Health First Aider with a mission to evolve and instil a consciously inclusive/wellbeing-centric environment.
✯ Stepped down from the opportunity earlier than planned to re-evaluate career path.
Clients/Pitches: Nordic Spirit (JTI), Arriva, Miele, Cedral, Scottish Power.
Case Studies: McCann Pitches
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Account Executive
(Nov'21 - Dec'22) • Full Time
Cite is an award-winning creative agency specialising in brand, insights and design.
✯ To pivot further into account management, I began leading a diverse portfolio of digital-first brands. I was the Social Lead for SEKONDA, Account Manager for Puzzel (managing 6 clients in 6 different countries), Project Manager for creative requests from Kahoot! and Project Manager for a range of NHS projects.
✯ Alongside this, I continued owning internal marketing, nurturing agency culture, and organising charity events for mental health (another example)
✯ Trained two Junior Account Executives (recent university graduates) on best practices, processes and digital marketing.
✯ Partnered my client, SEKONDA, with LAMP (through good relationships) in a special charity campaign to raise mental health awareness.
Main Accounts: Sekonda, Motimate (Kahoot!), NHS and Puzzel.
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Digital Creative
(Sept'19 - Nov'21) • Full Time
Cite is an award-winning creative agency based in Leicestershire, specialising in brand, insights and design. They created a bespoke position to welcome me into the team.
✯ Working in Client Services supporting end-to-end project delivery, campaigns, digital marketing and account management. This included leading Cite’s internal marketing and charity fundraising in addition to daily client responsibilities.
✯ Nominated for “The Drum Awards” in 2021, and voted by peers to win the cultural bonus the same year, a reward scheme which applauds team members who display innovation, collaboration & brilliance.
✯ Mastered WordPress 5.0 (Gutenberg) to expand Cite’s service offering and redefine the way we approach, build and manage websites.
✯ Supported the delivery of dozens of successful websites for major brands, including Motimate (Kahoot!), International Timber,Roofspace Solutions, Pasquill, NHS Nottingham Research Hub, DawsonGroup Global and more.
✯ Organised charity agency quiz in 2019 to raise money for Hope Against Cancer, raising over £900 for the charity and spreading awareness for cancer.
Key Clients: NHS, Saint Gobain, Puzzel, Motimate (Kahoot!), Nicky Tissues, WARD Recycling, Continental Tyres, DawsonGroup, Elis, Sekonda, Connect, G4S.
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Digital Marketing Executive
(Apr'19 - Aug'19) • Contract
Swordfish Marketing are a content-driven agency residing in the beautiful countryside of Market Harborough in Leicestershire.
✯ To recalibrate my work/life balance over the Summer, I joined their close-knit team on a part-time basis.
✯ Took ownership of internal marketing, defining their tone of voice and creating content plans across Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
✯ Trained the team on best practises and new tools, introduced SEO as a fresh offering, delivered social media workshops and supported data analysis on email campaigns.
Key Clients: Electro Kabuki, Validair
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Digital Marketing Assistant
(Sept'17 - Mar'19) • Apprenticeship
Williams Commerce is the UK’s fastest-growing e-commerce agency, transforming brands into multi-million-pound businesses every day. As a full-service agency and Google Premier Partner, they work with a huge portfolio of fast-moving B2B and B2C clients.
✯ Joined the marketing team on a 15-month apprenticeship, allowing me to learn and understand the full range of digital disciplines - exploring SEO, PPC, CRO, content, social, email marketing, and PR, while also being exposed to the world’s leading technologies.
✯ Alongside daily responsibilities, I owned social media for the Williams Commerce group of companies, including WCL, Un.titled and Cloudfy.
✯ To become more versatile, I learnt how Magento 1/2 operated, and became proficient in HTML 5.0.
✯ After passing the apprenticeship with a MERIT, I was offered the role of ‘Digital Marketing Executive’ but declined.
Key Clients: Mick George, John Smedley, Poundstretcher, Stone Tile Company, Direct Vacuums, Hancocks, CH Video, Macfarlane Packaging and WCL Group (Cloudfy/Un.titled).
Case Studies: Un.titled
ABOUT
ABOUT
Get to know me…
It’s all me, me, me.
Let’s make it fun. Time for facts.
Some interesting and some boring. All true.
25
…times I’ve been around the sun. A fancy way of saying I’m 25. And yes - I am existential as we speak. Why else would I go freelance?
12
…was the age I made my first website, out of curiosity. It was pretty sh*t, but crucially, that curiosity has stuck to this day.
1m
…is the number of hours I’ve re-listened to Karl Pilkington on The Ricky Gervais Show (XFM). I’m exaggerating, I think.
3
…daily cups of coffee. Sometimes, I just pour the granules into the cup without a spoon. Colleagues have called me ‘the alchemist’.
5
…is how many stars I’d give my music taste. I’m yet to convince anybody of this. I’m starting to doubt my confidence on this one.
0
…the number of sandwiches I’ve eaten in recent times. Yep, I just don’t. It’s as baffling to me as it probably is to you.
2
…I was the runner-up as 2025 Photographer Of The Year hosted by London Camera Exchange for my shot of YUNGBLUD.
12
…European cities explored so far (give or take), and many more to come. My favourite was Stockholm - it’s beautiful.
I refuse to compromise on these x3 values…
1.
No deadline should cost your mental health
Read that again. It doesn’t mean deadlines aren’t important. Spoiler: They are. It means applying a conscious mindset that protects and supports your team’s mental wellbeing.
2.
Team is always no.1
The best work happens when everyone is united towards a common goal through collaboration, understanding and sharing. Backstabbing and toxicity aren’t welcome.
3.
Anyone can be a leader
Leadership isn’t a job title, it’s a mindset. Leadership comes from building an environment where everyone feels heard, understood and trust is at the heart of everything.
Why I’m different
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Mental Health, first ❤️
I’ve struggled with mental health challenges since I was a teen. After a conversation with a colleague at age 17, I realised I’d been dealing with anxiety and low mood, finally giving my feelings a validated label. That conversation practically changed my life and truly showed that open communication can make a world of difference, which is why I now prioritise the well-being of myself and anybody I work with. It’s also the reason I became a Mental Health First Aider.
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Experience, not job title 👋
Over the last 5+ years, now 22, I’ve had a squiggly career, dipping my toes into every element of advertising before most have even started. I believe passionately that everybody is creative, and skills are ultimately more important than a job title - when this approach is applied, often the best work happens.
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One step further, always 🚶
I believe digital and advertising can be a force for good, both on a global scale but also in the workplace. It’s the same reason I thrive when nurturing teams, working with charities and building inclusive cultures. And hey, who doesn’t want to love what we do?
“Charlie is that rare and enviable combination of relentlessly enthusiastic and entirely capable. There is no project I have worked on - whether internal, external, or extra-curricular - which has not been improved by Charlie’s involvement. I cannot recommend him highly enough.”
TOM O’CALLAGHAN, HEAD OF DESIGN