You completed our Diploma in Digital Marketing just over a year ago. What have you been up to since?
As you know, my background is in TV production but I had taken a career break after having my daughter and then our family moved to Qatar with my husband’s work. One of the reasons I took the course was to get back into work and doing something for me.
Just before the end of the course, I got a job working for ITN, helping them with logistics and TV production for the ITN coverage of the World Athletic Championships. I procured local runners, found drivers, organised catering for the crew, worked with the local organising committee and several other roles. It has been a busy year and we are just finishing up the final aspects of the project!
That is fantastic. How did you get that job?
Doing the Diploma in Digital Marketing course, built up my confidence in my own abilities. I also learnt about using LinkedIn to create a good profile, to build a network and how to reach how to people to offer help rather than trying to sell myself. So I reached out to people within ITN and was fortunate to land the job (even before I finished the course). The individuals I reached out to thought it was brave of me to do reach out and because I phrased it as ‘what can I do for you’ rather than “give me a job”, I stood out.
Do you remember why you took our course? How has it helped you grow as a business /person?
I lost some personal confidence while I was a ‘mum’ and doing the course and talking to Mary has enabled me to regain confidence in myself. I first started on the Diploma in Social Media for Business course as I felt out of touch with the new way of marketing and using all the social media channels. I wanted to get myself prepared for work by updating my skills. I soon switched to the Diploma in Digital Marketing course as I realised that the bigger, more in-depth course covered additional valuable skills like website design, marketing, newsletters, etc.
Even though I didn’t follow the route of the course to become a social media or digital marketing manager, it really, focused me on how to get back to work and I think that is really important to put out there to other prospective students. If anybody is considering doing this course, even if you don’t eventually go down the social media / digital marketing route it really is a fantastic way of getting your confidence back. If I look at myself now, I’m like I was before I left work, if that makes sense. Going through the course gave me confidence to reach out to people in a very tailored and helpful way as I learnt during the course – and I ended up with a fantastic job. In addition, learning all the social media stuff was good because when I went back to work I understood it all, so I wasn’t like a dinosaur, I knew about Trello and social media management systems, etc.
Would you recommend this course to others?
I would absolutely recommend this course to others. I’m glad I upgraded to the Digital Marketing Diploma. It was tough and it was a lot of work but doing the extra work including putting my website together and creating my branding was good. I give my business card out now and people comment on how much they like it and that was a result of the work Mary and I did together with colours and fonts. So that was another great outcome – creating strong branding has created the company which created the work. I also know now how to update my own website as a result of the course – I don’t have to pay somebody else to do it!
Throughout the course, I was given unbelievable support and Mary had the belief that I could do it – which rubbed off on me. I did struggle with some aspects of the course but because of the support available I was able to complete it.
What are your business / personal aims for 2020?
First is to have a rest. We worked hard during the IAAF championship and I need to take some down time to spend some time with the family. Next, who knows – I’m talking to a few people about some of the new exciting projects starting in Qatar during the next few years and I also want to further develop my company, Media Queen to offer TV production services to other companies.
Thank you for your time Shaheen. It has been fantastic seeing your journey since we first talked and I look forward to hearing about your next exciting project.
Shaheen Gould can be contacted…
M: +44 7956 189816
T: +974 5036 2820
Website: http://mediaqueen.tv/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MediaQueen_TV
LinkedIn: Shaheen Gould
Instagram: @mediaqueen_tv