Who we are

I come from a background in interior design, and I’m really interested in style, design and structure. As Head of Creative I put my heart into making sure our creative projects have a real edge, and that our designers are happy and producing their best work for our clients… even if it takes baking them ‘medals’ so they do their timesheets! I’ve been described as a ball of energy fuelled by coffee, and I’d say that’s pretty accurate! Give me a challenging project and I’ll find a way to breathe fresh, creative life into it. I’m always knee-deep in scribbles and flipchart paper (my notebook is illegible to anyone but me). I also love getting to know our clients – building good relationships is a huge perk of the job. But the biggest love of my life is my labradoodle, Maya. She’s part of the H&H family too – she even has her own desk!

If my career has been about one thing, it’s communication. I’ve had my fingers in basically every comms pie you can think of – from marketing and PR, to media relations, investor relations, community comms, and of course – internal communication. So you wouldn’t be off the mark if you described the vast experience I bring to H&H as eclectic!

Coming to H&H off the back of a long and fulfilling tenure at another local company, I relish the opportunity to utilise all my strategic IC skills and know-how to help our clients overcome the trickiest internal comms and engagement challenges. But I also have the unique responsibility of heading up the consultancy team – ensuring we’re constantly enhancing our already talented team with the latest knowledge and understanding from the ever-evolving IC and engagement landscape.

Having spent the best part of two decades on the front lines of the internal communications industry, I’ve seen first-hand just how much the profession has grown and changed in such a short time – from simply sending out a weekly email or newsletter, to becoming a respected and fundamental strategic enabler for business success. Experiencing this transformation from a front-row seat has only confirmed what I’ve believed since the start: that through robust, informed and imaginative internal communications that take people on an authentic and engaging journey, you can make real shift happen – no matter the challenge.

When I’m not wearing my comms cape, you’ll find me in my kitchen (probably cooking up a nice curry), or helping to support local charities through my work with the Smile Foundation. I also have the distinction of being H&H’s first ever client – so it’s safe to say my comms journey has ended up coming full circle!

As part of the creative arm of H&H, I get stuck into everything from design concepts to giving our artwork and designs their final flourishes. Primarily though, my role is to bring the creative team’s ideas to life through animation and innovative digital approaches.

My passion for animation lies in its versatility – there are so many elements and components that can be used to visually tell a compelling story and capture people’s emotions beyond just a static image. I’m constantly on the lookout for and being inspired by new and exciting approaches to telling stories through animation.

But the best thing is that I’m able to put my capabilities in digital to good use every day in helping to make people’s working lives more fulfilling and rewarding. Everyone deserves to feel engaged at work, and the opportunity to make that happen is what makes being a part of H&H so uniquely special for me.

Outside of H&H I use my animation and digital design prowess to help promote local music events and club nights. I’m a massive music geek, and it's great to get involved in Hull's vibrant music scene and get the word out about local arts projects that are trying to create something a little bit different. You can check out some of my work here. I’m also an outdoors-type (there’s plenty of us here at H&H) and can often be found often whizzing through the local forest on my mountain bike. Although you probably wouldn’t recognise me, as I’m usually caked in mud!

With an extensive background in journalism prior to setting up shop at H&H, it’s safe to say words have played a leading role in my career. As a copywriter, I love playing around with language to communicate exciting messages in the most compelling way. I find great joy in interpreting complex client briefs and finding the best words to condense them into simple but inspiring communications that everyone can understand. And with journalism in my blood, I love meeting new people and understanding what makes them tick – perfect for getting to the heart of the stories people are trying to tell! When my fingers aren’t tapping away on my well-worn keyboard, they’ll be busy mixing ingredients for my egg-free baking (my son’s allergic – and egg-free bakes aren’t as strange as they sound), or gripping the steering mechanism of some sort of vehicle (I’m not choosy) as I take in the sights across Europe (my favourites being the Black Forest and the Italian Lakes).

I'm H&H's brainbox for all things PRINT. I'm a Master Coach, Trainer and NLP practitioner (so I guess you could say that Personal Development and I go hand in hand), and I love using my skills to facilitating learning and awareness with the PRINT tool. My role involves a whole lot of coaching and facilitating, particularly PRINT Discovery Sessions where I help people to uncover their Unconscious Motivators and find their Best Self (you can learn more about PRINT over on the website).

Helping people grow and develop to fulfil their potential really makes me tick. I'm incredibly proud to have kept PRINT in the spotlight, bringing huge advantages in employee engagement and productivity to all kinds of organisations. The way I see it is - if you haven't got happy, productive employees, you don't have a hope in having a happy high performing business.

Outside of work, you can usually find me clutching my trowel, growing beets, parsnips, garlic and many other veggies on my home allotment. I also keep 4 chickens - Glitzy, Eta, Beyoncé, and Nina.

Coming from a background in illustration I’m told my drawings and designs have set the bar high for the rest of the creative team (a snail with a big wrinkly forehead was a particular favourite!). I try and pack my illustrations with genuine character and personality to communicate concepts – sometimes an image is more powerful than words. Every day is interesting and fun, and I’ve got really high standards for myself to make sure I’m always improving. In my spare time, you’ll find me swirling about doing ballroom and Latin dancing. I have my gold medals in sight...

As Managing Director of H&H, much of my time is devoted to constantly improving the way we do things at the agency, ensuring we offer the best service and value for our clients. There’s process-y and backroom things that need constant tending to, but my biggest buzz comes from leading our strategy and direction and inspiring and supporting our marvellous team to achieve it.

I feel enormous pride, satisfaction and fulfilment at what we’ve accomplished together at H&H. The team here are so special, giving everything they’ve got to ensure we not only deliver extraordinary results for our clients, but that H&H isn’t just a great place to work, it’s a great place to be – full stop. As for me, I’m constantly reading, learning, studying and developing my knowledge of communication and employee engagement, looking for ways to apply new ideas to our business and approach – to ensure we remain the best internal comms agency in our field. Even tarot cards have been brought in as a potential tool for us to use!

When I’m not burning the candle at H&H, you can find me trotting about on horses – I recently won my first rosette at a dressage competition – or eating scrambled eggs with Eamon Holmes (okay, that was only one time). And after 15-or-so years ‘umm’ing and ‘ahh’ing about it, my hubby and I finally took up ballroom dancing recently – it’s so wonderful to know that we could pull off a fairly competent waltz, foxtrot or tango should the need ever arise!

It’s safe to say that digital design is a big part of my life. I love being creative, and when I can fire up Adobe Creative Suite and get stuck into some exciting new visuals, I know I’m in for a good day. Working at H&H brings so much vibrancy and variety to the projects I’m involved with, but what I find most exciting about my work is the blending of creative design and comms strategy – it just brings that extra substance to the visuals we create.

It’s the potential to really be your creative best that I think sets H&H apart. We’re always thinking – how can we make these internal comms innovative and different? And I think it helps that H&H have such a clear, inspiring purpose. It certainly helps to keep me focused on developing my skills in my role, since I know that the designs I’m creating are having a positive impact on people all over the world.

I’m H&H’s Senior Designer, and I’m usually found with my head buried in all things Adobe - experimenting and finding the perfect visual look to bring brands and messages to life. I love that the work I’m doing is having a positive impact on people all over the world.

From my very first day, I’ve found the culture at H&H to be totally awesome, and that’s what appealed to me in the first place. Everyone here is super supportive and goes above and beyond what is required to help one another, which I believe is integral to building a successful team!

When I’m not forehead-deep creating masterpieces for our clients, you’ll find me at the gym breaking a sweat - either kick-boxing or indulging in a spot of weightlifting. Failing that, I’ll likely be on an adventure with my husband and our little pup Rue.

Words, numbers, music, pictures, peculiar noises ... every sentient creature has a variety of ways to communicate, but it's probably only we humans who call it delivering strategic messages to our target audience. I arrived at H&H after spending donkeys' years ricocheting between journalism and PR, plus a more recent adventure in research and data analysis. (Even Excel formulae are a mode of communication. Really!) I'm one of the creative copywriters here, and, like my teammates, I stick my oar into the wider creative process as we put our heads together to dream up punchy phrases and sparkling concepts.

Once the day's work is over, I might be up a hill or on a beach, trying to play music (current fad: saxophone), studying for my Open University degree or writing fiction. I might also be putting some dough in the airing cupboard to fester for the following week's pizza night.

I thrive on spinning plates, problem solving and bringing projects to life and I’ve done plenty in my career as an account manager. Animation, website builds, brand identity, and a whole lot of creative content are all things I’ve had my mitts on. It’s great to be able to draw on all this and bring it to our hugely varied and ingenious internal comms projects. I’ve also worked in Visual FX in film and even have a production credit to my name, but it’s safe to say that I haven’t let the glamour of the movie industry change me. For example, a highpoint was working in India where one of the jobs was to digitally remove snot from the nose of a very famous British actor (her secret’s safe with me).

When I’m not at my desk, I love a bit of yoga and meditation and walking my whippet Magnus around one of Scotland’s many beauty spots. But for breath-taking scenery, fantastic music and a great attitude to life, Iceland is my favourite place in the world - I’ve visited 7 times and counting. Wherever I find myself, my fave thing in the world is a huge cup of tea – I have not yet encountered a cup that’s too big – and getting my head into a good book. Bliss!

I've been a researcher for nigh on 26 years, and still love the excitement of getting past the surface to really understand what’s going on in people’s minds. Because we often don’t say what we mean, or mean what we say, I'm an expert in figuring out what’s really going on and what that means for our clients.

When I'm not unlocking the secrets in our heads, I love growing my own veg, country walks…and baking bread.

Since then, I've been helping creative agencies with client relationships and new business for over 20 years. I've worked with many well-known brands such as Mars, Alpro, Vauxhall Motors, Seiko and Lloyds Bank. I was drawn to H&H for their deep expertise in the area of internal communications, their strategic know-how, creative energy and track record of building enduring partnerships with clients. It has been a joy to bring my experience and insights, a fresh perspective and a generous dollop of fun to the H&H team.

Outside of work I run. Sometimes slow and far. And sometimes short and fast. I live by the sea so salty air, sandy beaches and seafood are my thing. I like to think I’m quite handy with the DIY but my wife tells me I’m not. Let’s just leave that there.

I’m usually found surrounded by hectic schedules and cups of tea, making sure we deliver all our projects on time and keep our clients smiling. I’m friendly and approachable (so people say!) which has served me well in my 12 years in customer service. I’ve just finished my MBA, which combined English and Business Studies – I’m a bit of a language nerd (quite fitting for a communications agency). When I’ve got some free time on my hands, I love seeing my friends and keeping up with exercise at weekly classes. It can be rather gruelling at times!

I’ve been an L&D specialist and enthusiast for as long as I can remember, and I get a real buzz out of supporting and developing people to reach their full potential in the workplace. A lot of what I do is based around transforming behaviours to enable people to be at their productive best. I advise on the psychology and strategy behind H&H’s creative internal comms projects, so that they really make an impact and engage the organisation.

I’ve racked up plenty of experience in internal communications along the way too, which made H&H a perfect fit for me. It’s great to be able to spread the message that actually, internal comms is vital to business success, through the projects that H&H deliver to drive productivity, growth and employee engagement in organisations across the world. And the icing on the cake here is the sheer creativity and imaginative flair that goes into each and every piece of work – it’s stunning to see!

Rather like my passion for unlocking others’ potential, I’m always looking to further mine by burying my head in a good non-fiction book. I love learning something new in everything I do – it’s a wonder my brain can cope with the strain!

Putting my passion for great design into results that impress and inspire our clients (and put smiles on their faces) encourages me to constantly improve. I guess my biggest achievement so far has been putting us on the shortlist for some of the IC world’s biggest design awards – as well as winning an Award of Excellence from the IoIC. Having the creative freedom to experiment and find the perfect visual look to bring brands and messages to life is better than a bag of Hula Hoops… and I really love Hula Hoops. Elsewhere, my main loves are cooking tasty vegan food, anything animal related, horror films, travel, delicious gin, loud music and my lovely friends.

I thrive in fast-paced, highly creative environments with others who really care about the quality of the work – exactly what I’m finding at H&H. As project manager, I spin multiple complex project plates at once and geek out on ensuring they deliver on time and on budget and really enjoy being the central contact for clients and for our internal H&H teams. I love building rewarding client relationships and understanding how we can make their lives easier and campaigns work that bit harder.

In my spare time, I love being outdoors, never happier than getting lost on a long country walk and saying hello to every dog I meet (and sometimes the owners). I love twisting myself into torturous Pilates or Yoga positions and occasionally like a cold open water swim to numb the brain and senses – I once swam Lake Bled, Slovenia with ‘Big River Man’ (aka crazy Slovenian who swam the Amazon).

That happened during a round-the-world trip in ’94 after finishing my art and media studies. With my life in a rucksack I travelled clockwise around the globe, sparking a lifelong passion for experiencing new places and different cultures. I knew at the age of seven that my career was in art – I reckon my mum spotted that too as the house was covered in doodles! But it was at a youth hostel in Hong Kong when I met two incredibly talented designers whose work really inspired me, that I realised graphic design was my true calling. And I’ve never looked back! Over the years my passion has extended well beyond design, stretching into the strategy and theory behind communications. Understanding how powerful it can be in making people feel connected and engaged. The world of IC, particularly around change, can be complex and challenging, but I absolutely thrive in it. I love leading and inspiring our team of creatives, strategists and psychologists to be innovative and original. And when times get tough I can de-stress by making beautiful sparkly creations, thanks to my qualification in silver jewellery making.

I’m in the H&H driving seat when it comes to all things finance and HR. I’m often forehead-deep in invoices and spreadsheets (yes, I shoulder that particular burden), making sure everything is always running smoothly, establishing budgets, and keeping the pipeline flowing seamlessly. And crucially, making sure the rest of the team can do their jobs without having to worry about whether payments have actually come in for the work they’re doing!

I love what I do because I’m part of an amazing team, and being at H&H makes you inspired to come into work every day and really give your all. I’ve always been aware of the importance of internal comms in ensuring that everyone understands the role they play in the organisation, so it’s nice to be working for an agency that’s constantly bringing that to life for others, as well as for the team right here.

When I’m not managing bank accounts or balancing the books, yoga is my biggest hobby – probably because of the craziness that comes with raising four little ones!

I’m on a personal mission to get people properly engaged in the workplace, and I’ve definitely found my calling in internal comms! Connecting people through the power of effective communication is something I’m hugely passionate about. Meeting comms challenges head-on and overcoming them is probably what I enjoy the most about working here – it’s safe to say I like getting things done! It’s great to be able to see the bigger picture of internal comms from all angles – something I’ve had tons of experience in – to find the best IC strategies for our clients and ensure they always pay off. When I’m not playing with my kids, you’ll likely find me playing several musical instruments (though probably not at the same time!). I’m a master of the piano, double bass, and clarinet.

My role is deeply rooted in the strategic thinking behind H&H's IC programmes. Essentially, you could say I'm a bit of an architect, building them from the foundations up and making sure they're structurally sound, tick every box of the brief, and will exceed the client's expectations and objectives. I'm at my best when I'm thinking strategically, and internal comms and employee engagement is definitely a passion - having spent most of my career working in IC from inside the walls of a diverse range of UK and global organisations.

IC's importance is likely to keep growing as organisations have to learn to adapt more rapidly to a variety of changing circumstances. Change is now a constant in the workplace and it makes the job of engagement tougher than ever before. IC has a critical part to play is helping organisations and their employees to flourish during turbulent times - so how exciting, to be at the forefront of thinking around internal comms and change management right here at H&H!

Aside from my love of internal communication, at some point in my life I'd love to own a cocoa plantation - mainly so I could have all the dark chocolate I wanted right at my fingertips (what can I say, milk and white simply don't cut it for me).

I came to H&H fresh out of a photography degree, looking for fresh opportunities to broaden my creativity and pick up new skills – and it’s safe to say I picked the right place to achieve both.

H&H has an exciting, innovative and inventive culture, and that’s partly what appealed to me in the first place. I’m having a swell time cutting my teeth in all things Marketing, learning how to build a successful brand on social media and create engaging, high-ranking content for the web.

I’m a newcomer to the world of internal comms and employee engagement, but my past experience of working for different organisations alongside my studies has taught me just how important it is to create the best culture possible for people – whether that’s communicating consistently, offering great perks and benefits, or providing the right opportunities for growth. And it’s so exciting that I get to be a part of a company that makes people happier at work every day, all while developing my own skills as I go!

Outside the workplace I enjoy socialising with my friends at our local pub ‘The Star’ (which certainly to me lives up to its name), and hijacking other people’s tastes in music to widen my own playlist (my favourite listen at the moment is the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman!).

Some might call me a complete control freak. Others say I’m detail-orientated, deadline driven and passionate about making the rest of the team’s lives easier and our clients happy. Either way, my role as office manager and administrator is a pretty good fit.

Having spent 15 years honing my business development skills within the property sector, I’ve developed an appreciation for traditional property features and interior design. That said, I often yearn for a much bigger budget and a more practical approach to DIY to turn these dreams into a reality!

I’m a product of the late 90s to early 2000s indie generation that’s now referred to as “landfill indie”. So, some would argue I have questionable music taste – but I have many fond memories of live music in a dark, sweaty club where your feet stick to the floor. Not sure I would go back to those days now, though, as I much prefer a glass of red on the sofa with the dogs by my feet once my daughter is tucked up in bed.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a talker. I prefer “communicator” – so I’m thrilled to be part of the H&H team, where great communication is at the heart of everything we do.

I’m one of H&H’s Account Managers, helping to build close relationships with every one of our clients – really exciting when you work with some of the biggest brands from around the globe! I’m often the main point of contact when organisations partner with us, and keep constant tabs on every deliverable that gets sent back to them – ensuring they’re always of the highest quality standard, and meet the brief to a tee.

My background in IC means I can really connect and empathise with the challenges our clients face on a day-to-day basis. This is super helpful when trying to dissect a brief, or figure out what the client actually needs us to deliver. And of course, it makes building strong relationships pretty easy too!

It also means I have an acute understanding of the difference IC can really make within organisations. As an IC professional, you play a major role in shaping a solid culture – encouraging transparency, openness, and inclusivity so that everyone feels they can be themselves, connect with the organisation’s journey and make their voice heard. This is why being a part of H&H is so rewarding for me – because I have the opportunity to help make this a reality for our clients.

When I’m not helping to solve comms challenges, drafting budgets and filling up the coffee pot, you’ll likely find me hitting the gym, moving the furniture around in my new house, or organising pseudo-Come Dine With Me’s with my friends (quesadillas and guac, anyone?).