“I felt like a hindrance”: Prolific North’s quotes and features of the year 2023

In 2023, Prolific North continued to shine a spotlight on individuals and companies working across the North’s digital, creative, media and tech sectors.

Whether it was uncovering issues with diversity across the North’s creative sectors, addressing sexism challenges in tech or big interviews with industry leaders, we continue to not only celebrate the success stories across the North, but tackle the important topics affecting people working in these sectors through our series of regular features and reporting.

As we move into a brand new year, with plenty more to come, here’s our round-up of some of our most popular features and quotes from 2023…

Tamara Samuel, Senior Digital PR Executive, Rise at Seven

“No job comes without its challenges but I’d say in PR, you’ll find that your ‘to-do’ list is never completely finished…”

Joining Rise at Seven in 2021, Tamara Samuel shared her career journey and tips for aspiring digital PRs in our regular ‘How I Became’ features.

“I’ve faced sexism”: Female founders open up about their battles raising investment in the North

“It’s a depressing thought knowing you’re at the back of the queue before you have even kicked off raising.”

In this deep dive piece, we had lengthy chats with female founders and investors across the North on their experiences raising investment – the good, the bad and what needs to change.

Vivek Ganotra, CEO, THG Ingenuity

“The early signs of us pivoting and focusing on our strategy are working…”

More than 12 months after Vivek Ganotra joined ecommerce group THG as CEO of Ingenuity, he chatted to Prolific North about what’s next for the division.

“I’ve been turned down for jobs because I’m black”: Why some of the North’s PRs and marketers are calling for better diversity

“He told me that I was the best candidate for the job but the owner of the business didn’t like people of colour. He especially didn’t like black people – that’s why I didn’t get the job…”

A number of people working across the North’s marketing, digital and PR sectors shared their experiences and explained why they are urging for action – not just words – for greater representation and better opportunities across their industries.

Lee Benecke, Digital strategy director, Manifest Group

“I think coming from a working-class Northern background has 100% given me a filter like no other…”

From a stint in music journalism, moving on to music PR and then copywriting, Lee Benecke shared his career lows, highs, and advice in our regular ‘How I Became’ feature.

Why the pitch is out-dated and flawed… and how we can fix it

“Accountants wouldn’t do it either. Neither would builders or plumbers or heart surgeons. So why do we?”

One of our most popular opinion pieces of the year came from Richard Midgley, founder and group strategy director at Ponderosa Agency in Leeds, on why it’s time to change the flawed pitching process.

Stuart Clarke MBE, Founder, Paceline

“I was the youngest of nine children brought up in a three-bed council house. My parents worked manual jobs, and there wasn’t a lot of money to go around, but mum and dad instilled a work ethic, a deep understanding of honesty and a sense of community in me. Anytime I’m unsure about which way to go, I go the way they would have.”

In one of our popular regular features called ‘What I’ve Learnt’, Stuart Clarke shared his luckiest break, the one piece of advice he would give his 21-year-old self, and plenty more words of wisdom.

“I felt like a hindrance”: Uncovering the battles facing the North’s neurodiverse creatives

“I worked myself into the ground until I had four breakdowns in three years because I couldn’t understand what was going on with me mentally.”

In another of our deep dives, whether it was unsupportive bosses showing “microaggressions” to being labelled ‘lazy’ or dishonest, neurodivergent creatives opened up about the issues they’ve faced working across marketing, digital and journalism in the North.

“It’s lovely to be constantly surprised by what we can do”: Rob Shaw on why he’s shunned “semi-retirement” for a new home at HUB

“There are a huge amount of talented people here and this agency deserves to be recognised for what it can do.”

Our editor David Prior had a tour around HUB in Leeds, finding out why Rob Shaw, formerly CEO of Epiphany, Jaywing and CreativeRace, decided to shun a “semi-retirement” of non-exec directorships and take on another agency role. 

If you’d like to get involved in some of our regular features in 2024 or want to tell us about something important we should be covering – please contact news@prolificnorth.co.uk / rachael@prolificnorth.co.uk.