We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the working day: so what was on the menu this morning?

Nothing; I don’t eat breakfast. Once you’ve served up a whole smorgasbord of different stuff for three kids it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm for your own breakfast. If this whole media industry thing doesn’t work out I guess I could open up a cafe.

Sum up what you do at News UK in the shortest sentence possible.

I make content for clients.

Lay a bit of context on that?

I’m the Content Director for Bridge Studio: we develop content marketing campaigns for clients to run on our platforms including digital, print, social, video, events and radio.

What attracted you to the role in the first place?

The diversity.

From planning a (socially distanced) photoshoot for a fashion brand to liaising with government and top business entrepreneurs to create an event about running a business in lockdown or figuring out how to make gin cocktails or banana bread people actually want to eat – there’s always something new, fun and challenging.

What’s the most interesting/challenging part of your job?

Keeping an incredibly talented team of people from getting either bored or overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff we produce. Also, inspiring them to reach higher, win more clients and revenue and awards and survive a billion zoom calls while keeping a smile on their face.

What are the three most important things on your working agenda today?

Checking in on Studio PI – the new photography and illustration agency I co-founded with my Creative Director Sachini Imbuldeniya.

As an agency, we only champion artists from underrepresented groups in the industry: women, people of colour, people living with disabilities and people from working-class backgrounds.

Launching a new business in lockdown has been tremendously difficult, but we’re starting to see real positive change and action in the industry as a result. It’s wonderful to see.

I’ll also be looking at some of our workflows and practices to see if we can be efficient. We are beholden to our queue of briefs from clients and agencies, and there are typically fifteen to twenty every week, so anywhere we can save time, energy and brainpower is a big plus.

Then I’ll be homeschooling with my three children – colouring maps, trying to vaguely remember how fractions work and wincing at my daughter’s spelling.

Who is your role model? And why?

Pablo Picasso because he lived his life without compromise, and said some pithy and clever things. My favourite quote of his is: “The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.” He could paint pretty well, too.

What is your most treasured possession?

My phone because it has all my pictures of my kids. I should really back the thing up – it’s ancient and doesn’t work properly.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

What a boring film that would be. I think Damien Lewis or more likely Brian Blessed with some orange hair dye given how hirsute I’ve become in lockdown

Last holiday destination? And why?

So, so long ago now. I was in Lyon with my parents for a wedding. My brother flew out (he lives in New Zealand) and it was the first time I’d seen him in the flesh in four years, so it was good fun and very, very boozy.

You’ve won ten million on the Lottery – what do you do?

All the boring stuff: pay off the mortgage, set the kids up for life, give to family and friends. Then I’d buy an island somewhere tropical and an enormous pile of books, and you’d probably never hear from me again.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

This, too, shall pass. Supposedly King Solomon ordered one of his aides to inscribe it onto a ring so that a happy person might wear it and become sad, and a sad person might wear it and become happy.

It seems very appropriate for the work we do – every brief, every campaign, every challenge is different, and they move pretty quickly. If you don’t like this one or didn’t win that one then don’t worry; another is on the way. Similarly, when we win an award it reminds us not to rest on our laurels but to try just as hard for the next one.

What one bit of advice would you give someone wanting to do your job?

Only the work – and the people that make it – matter. It’s easy to get distracted by the latest shiny thing or to be sucked into difficult conversations with agencies, clients, rivals and even colleagues. None of that matters.

Tell us something not many people know about you…?

People tend to assume I’m quite posh (because I’ve lost much of my Northern accent having lived in London for twenty years) but I’m from a very poor neighbourhood in Leeds – the kind of place where people aspired to be working class because it meant they had a job.