An experienced public relations and communications professional specialising in media relations, influencer marketing and — more recently — digital and social media, it was a sports media module on her Sports Science degree that shaped Lucy Vowles’ career path. Completing a post-grad in journalism, she found her feet in PR after spotting an opportunity to intern at Mulberry – the first of the big brand names she’d go on to work with over her career: House of Fraser, the Swatch Group, Longines and Tudor Watches being just some of the clients gracing Lucy’s portfolio.

Helping set up a PR agency (where she grew the client roster from 2 to 11 in less than eighteen months), Lucy notes one of her key achievements to be rebuilding the brand reputation of Ugg via a new creative approach to storytelling that drove reappraisal and boosted engagement with customers. It was this that led her to be approached by an ex-Mulberry colleague to head up PR for a new private own-label handbag brand, working with an inspiring Creative Director from Stella McCarthy. Unfortunately the label went into administration, but Lucy found herself at the Swatch group where she spent the next 15 years establishing herself as a leading voice for the watch sector.

Transitioning to freelance in order to fit work around her two young boys, Lucy continued to take on clients within the sector and recently tied up a maternity cover at Tudor Watches. Covering for the Head of Communications, she was responsible for both building and leading the teams in authentic engagement campaigns as part of their Ambassador programme — a role that saw her work with celebrities including David Beckham and Lady Gaga  — and, alongside PR duties, getting more involved in brand marketing and how digital and social media channels drove business outcomes.

Hoping to gain greater insight into the media industry, Lucy joined Visible Start to further develop her digital media knowledge in order to both explore and expand her career opportunities and gain the confidence to challenge her clients to be braver in their digital media and social commerce.

Outside of a busy freelance career, Lucy loves spending time with her family and — when time allows — swimming (the thing that originally drew her to Sports Science). We bonded over my own newfound hobby of braving the cold water at Hampstead Heath Ponds – it’s good to know I won’t be the only one scraping ice off my car to go and get ice on my swimsuit this winter!