What made you want to work in publishing?

I’d like to pretend it was always my goal but the truth is that I landed here by happy accident! I was inspired to explore a career in publishing by my cousin, Sian, whose first job was with Penguin Books. I’ve always been an avid reader, love to write, draw, design and make things – publishing allows me to do them all and get paid for it.

Chart your career from the start to where you are now.

I landed my first job – as editorial assistant at Redan (independent publisher of mostly-licensed children’s magazines) – in 1995, after completing a post-graduate diploma in publishing. Armed with a scalpel and a set of markers, my job mainly involved photographing artwork on a huge flat-bed camera, cutting and pasting pictures and words onto cardboard templates and marking up colour guides for the repro houses. I loved it! I stayed there for about 6 years (during which time the scalpel was superseded by QuarkXPress), rising quickly to editor and then managing editor, and learning everything I needed to know about creating, printing and publishing magazines.

From Redan I went to BBC Worldwide to edit their children’s factual and educational magazines portfolio, then onto Eaglemoss in 2004, as development editor. There I learned the art of the partwork and helped devise and launch collections in partnership with brands including Roald Dahl and the Royal Ballet. The role married creativity with meticulous planning – the collectibles, cover themes and editorial features for a full series of 60 issues would be mapped out well before launch.

I joined Egmont as Group Editor in early 2010 overseeing the editorial teams responsible for some of their branded pre-teen titles. At this point in children's magazines the covermount really had become king, and I spent at least as much time discussing the design and packaging of the ‘free’ gifts as I did the content. By this time I had two children aged under five and was struggling to get the right work/life balance. My eventual solution to this was to quit my job and take my chances as a freelancer.

Luckily I wasn’t short of work. I continued to work with Egmont, freelance editing a variety of titles and I worked with Eaglemoss as a consultant on a number of new collections. I also took on the role of Project Manager for World Book Day – an annual children’s literacy campaign. The latter was immensely rewarding (and challenging!) and offered me the opportunity to develop digital skills and learn more about children’s book publishing. Planning and executing a multi platform event for young adults was a personal highlight.

In early summer 2015, I received a call from Kerin O’Connor (CEO of The Week at Dennis) who invited me to meet up with him to discuss a new project. That new project was The Week Junior and in September 2015 I joined Dennis as the launch editor, tasked with building a team and getting the magazine out into the world. The Week Junior launched two months later. Fast-forward six years and we’ve won numerous awards, smashed all our targets and our circulation continues to grow.

Now, as Editorial Director I oversee The Week Junior portfolio. This includes the weekly magazine and the digital edition (launched last spring), its sister title TWJ Science+Nature (launched 2018), the two podcasts (The Week Junior Show and Mysteries of Science). We’ve also published a number of annuals and puzzle books, and in March 2020 The Week Junior launched in the US, where it is matching the success of the UK edition. I work closely with the brilliant publishing teams on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s an exciting time for the brand – there’s a lot going on – and I feel very lucky and proud to play my part in its success now, and into the future.

The Week Junior launched a wellbeing section back in January – why was it important for you to support children in this way during national lockdowns?

The mental health of young people was an increasing concern even before the pandemic and we had regularly run news stories and features on the subject since launch. But of course Covid-19 and all the challenges it has brought have further amplified these issues. One of the objectives of The Week Junior is to help children to develop resilience through knowledge and understanding of world events. It’s a natural extension for us to help them to understand themselves a bit better too – and to provide them with some key tools and strategies for managing their mental health and dealing with adversity. My hope is that the information that we provide on the Wellbeing page will give our readers solutions to some of the problems they are likely to face now, and in the future, building their confidence and bolstering their emotional resources.

What was the inspiration behind launching the Summer Reading Challenge?

Encouraging children to read for pleasure is at the heart of The Week Junior: it’s proven to have huge benefits for wellbeing as well as contributing to myriad other positive outcomes. Given that many of our readers would likely be spending their summer holidays at home we really wanted to offer them another way to escape – through books! We wanted the campaign to be simple, achievable and easy to communicate, so we settled on challenging children to read three books, rate them out of three stars and review them in three words. We’ve always had a good relationship with children’s book authors and publishers (we have a weekly Book Club page in The Week Junior) so we knew that we could rely on their support to create a buzz around the campaign too. So far it’s been a great success. Last year over 1000 children got involved and we’re well on our way to even more this summer.

There is a strong tone of environmentalism across TWJ and TWJ Science and Nature magazines. Is this an editorial decision or something that has been encouraged through feedback from your readership?

Environmental news stories have always played a key part in our editorial mix – both on the news pages and within the Animals and environment section of The Week Junior, and throughout TWJ Science+Nature. Stories about climate change, plastic pollution and endangered animals are never far from the front pages of newspapers and we know that our readers are passionate about protecting the planet and keen to know what they can do to help. We endeavour to combine clear, common-sense reports on environmental problems with examples of small ways in which children can contribute to finding solutions. We are also acutely aware of the anxiety that can result from reading about the climate crisis so we are very careful to balance the bad news with more positive stories and to never suggest that children are solely responsible for solving the world’s problems. That said, we really do love hearing from children who get in touch to tell us about their environmental efforts– and we value their feedback on ours. It was a series of complaints from subscribers that fast-tracked our decision to ditch the plastic wrap back in 2019 in favour of mailing copies out ‘naked’ – which I believe was an industry-first.

Across the print magazine and The Week Junior Show podcast, how do you make sure your tone is accessible and informative, without being patronising?

We’re not teachers or preachers so we simply imagine we’re having a conversation with the readers. We anticipate their questions and consider what context or explanation they might need to make sense of a story. We avoid dry, technical terminology and focus on communicating clearly and engagingly. Fundamentally, we treat our readers with the respect they deserve – we take their curiosity (and their opinions) seriously.

The Week Junior’s subscribers rose by nearly 22,000 in 2020, do you think the events of the last year and a half have given people a greater appreciation for magazines?

I’m sure there is a degree of that, but more importantly I think people have gained a greater sense of the value of news from trusted sources. The past 18 months have been really tumultuous for our readers and their families. I think the weekly delivery of The Week Junior not only provided some calm to cut through all the noise, it also created punctuation to each week, a small comfort and something that could be relied upon at a time when all other routines had been upended. I hope that the relationship that so many new subscribers have built with us as a consequence of that, and their confidence in our ability to inform and entertain their children will continue well into the future. We’ve had a lot of lovely feedback from parents, teachers and children –and that’s really boosted team morale too. Everyone has worked so incredibly hard so it's very rewarding to hear that our efforts really do make a positive difference.

What’s on your radar?

The question I constantly ask myself is “how can we be better?” That applies to what we’re already doing and what more we could be doing. The Week Junior has gone from being the small new kid on the block to a burgeoning global brand. That brings both challenges and opportunities to grow and expand. As a team we have no shortage of ideas for new products and extensions – so the biggest challenge always is to prioritise time and resources smartly and strategically. At the same time I am trying to work out (along with the rest of the world) what the future of work looks like and what that means for creativity and collaboration in the longer term.

What magazine do you stockpile?

I have an ever-increasing collection of Conde Nast Traveller magazines. Every issue offers a chance to escape – and it’s been even more of a treat during the past year of lockdowns and limited opportunities to travel. I like planning imaginary journeys and losing myself in photos and descriptions of fabulous far flung places.