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Citiec Women in Tech Event 2016- Antonia Heslop
- 1. Antonia Heslop Senior Creative Designer at BuzzFeed UK AntoniaHeslop.com | @AntoniaHeslop
- 2. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Women in Tech 2016
- 3. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Who am I?! Women in Tech 2016
- 4. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Who am I?! • WTF is BuzzFeed? Women in Tech 2016
- 5. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Who am I?! • WTF is BuzzFeed? • What does a Senior Creative Designer do? Women in Tech 2016
- 6. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Who am I?! • WTF is BuzzFeed? • What does a Senior Creative Designer do? • What is it like to work at BuzzFeed? Women in Tech 2016
- 8. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 9. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 10. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Batman & Comics Who’s Antonia?
- 11. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Batman & Comics Movies Who’s Antonia?
- 12. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Batman & Comics Movies Video Games Who’s Antonia?
- 13. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 14. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 15. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 16. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer You will now! Who’s Antonia?
- 17. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer << ART Who’s Antonia?
- 18. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 19. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 20. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 21. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 22. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 23. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 24. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Who’s Antonia?
- 25. WTF is ?
- 26. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer WTF is BuzzFeed? A global, cross-platform network for News and Entertainment
- 27. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer WTF is BuzzFeed?
- 28. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer WTF is BuzzFeed?
- 29. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer WTF is BuzzFeed?
- 30. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer WTF is BuzzFeed?
- 31. What does a Senior Creative Designer actually do?
- 32. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do? Work with clients to create branded content on the BuzzFeed platform “ ”
- 33. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Native Advertising What do I do?
- 34. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do?
- 35. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do?
- 36. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do?
- 37. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do?
- 38. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do?
- 39. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer What do I do?
- 40. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Silver - Media Idea Under 250k | Media Week Awards What do I do?
- 41. What is it like to work at ?
- 42. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Working at BuzzFeed
- 43. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer DIVERSITY Working at BuzzFeed
- 44. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer We care about diversity for moral reasons, but we also know a diverse staff is a competitive advantage that allows us to recruit from the broadest possible pool of talent and have team members with a wide range of experiences and perspectives. - Jonah Peretti, founder of BuzzFeed “ ” Working at BuzzFeed
- 45. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Kate Burns GM BuzzFeed Europe • First international hire at Google as Director of UK • Vice President and MD at Bebo Europe • CEO of AOL Europe Working at BuzzFeed
- 46. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Janine Gibson Editor-in-chief BuzzFeed UK • Respected journalist and editor in the world • Ex editor-in-chief at Guardian US • Edward Snowden scoop Kate Burns GM BuzzFeed Europe • First international hire at Google as Director of UK • Vice President and MD at Bebo Europe • CEO of AOL Europe Working at BuzzFeed
- 47. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Working at BuzzFeed
- 48. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Working at BuzzFeed
- 49. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Working at BuzzFeed WRONG!
- 50. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Women Men 52.1% 47.9% Working at BuzzFeed
- 51. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Having a role model is inspiring Working at BuzzFeed
- 52. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Having a role model is inspiring • Motivating Working at BuzzFeed
- 53. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer • Having a role model is inspiring • Motivating • I’m excited to go to work everyday! Working at BuzzFeed
- 54. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer I feel like I work for a company that encourages me to be different, diverse and opinionated. I genuinely feel I have a voice here and am part of the movement - being in a position to positively shape our future in a collaborative effort rather than the 'right way' being dictated down and the inflexibility to change mindsets. - Abbie “ ” Working at BuzzFeed
- 55. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer We don’t need to just shout loud to compete with the boys, it’s great to be able to just do the work and let it speak for itself. - Patricia “ ” Working at BuzzFeed
- 56. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer I feel empowered to be a woman and encouraged to excel as opposed to feeling intimidated. There are so many great female leaders and it makes you also want to achieve that in the workplace. At other places, I have felt like a "little girl" and have not felt respected because I am small and a woman. - Amanda “ ” Working at BuzzFeed
- 57. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Previous companies have felt very traditional and often dated in terms of their strategies and processes. The men and women at BuzzFeed celebrate each other’s successes, fight for equality and encourage creativity and individualism - what a refreshing and positive approach this is to business. - Louise “ ” Working at BuzzFeed
- 58. Antonia Heslop / Senior Creative Designer Working at BuzzFeed
- 59. Thanks! AntoniaHeslop.com | @AntoniaHeslop BuzzFeed.com | antonia.heslop@BuzzFeed.com
Editor's Notes
- • Thanks, it’s great to be invited to speak to you today • I’m Antonia Heslop and I’m the Senior creative Designer at BuzzFeed Uk
- • Today, I’m going to talk about about 4 things
- • Who am I?
- • What is BuzzFeed?
- • What do I do?
- • What is it like to work at one of the fastest growing media companies in the world
- • So a bit about me
- • This is where it all started. • Here’s me aged 3 in my garden in East London • Wearing my bat-cape and pink willies running around pretending to be Batman
- • And this is where I am at now • Not much has changed really, although luckily I wear a few more clothes now • There have been 3 main influences for me throughout my life
- • First up, as you might have guessed, is Batman and comics • I used to spend hours on end watching Batman: The Animated Series and reading through my uncle’s old, yellowing comics from the 70s
- • Next up is movies • From Rocky Horror Picture Show, to The Terminator and the Goonies • Their stories captivated me and I always wanted to make my own • I used to create my own stop-motion animations having been brought on Ray Harryhausen films
- • Last but not least, video games • Being able to interact with the stories and characters captured my imagination and it’s always been a dream to make a game one day • All of these have story-telling in common • and have Built the foundations of what I love to do now
- • Growing up I thought differently to other kids • Struggled a bit with reading an writing and had different ways to work out sums to everyone else • Being competitive I worked 20 times harder than rest of class • So much so my teachers never realised my struggles as I was always the swot at the top of my class • Wasn’t until uni I found out I was dyslexic • I only took the test because of the possibility of a free iMac • Turned out I was really dyslexic and everything made sense • I’m not worried though, dyslexia can be quite fun • How many of you can say
- • Every time you walk past Topman
- • You see Tampon?
- • Well you will now!
- • Went to Central St Martins College of Art and Design and graduated with a 2.1 in graphic design and moving image • However my time after graduating was difficult • I had a part time job working in a trades counter stacking cardboard boxes and selling items • Saved up annual leave to be able to do unpaid internships which didn’t lead to anything I applied for hundreds of jobs, but was always knocked back for not being experienced enough, or my favourite ‘too creative’ I actually got told that on 3 separate occasions • Post production runner for 8 months, but that didn’t turn out to be me • Office runner for an ad agency • Liked more as I was helping out the designer there as well as answering phones • Designing logos wasn’t what I wanted to do either • Made redundant after 6 months which made me feel I had failed
- • Desperate for a creative outlet, revisited an old uni project where I created a video documenting my journey to university • 2 years I spent all my spare time re-imagining it as an 8-bit game called rush hour • Doing this at lunch breaks, weekends and any moment I could because I simply loved doing it • I don’t know how to code so I made this trailer to show how the game would play
- • Posted trailer on social media • Picked up by Mirror, Student Beans, London 24 • And most importantly…
- • BuzzFeed! • There’s me having been made redundant and facing unemployment • No word of a lie very same day I went to sign on for Job Seekers Allowance • Received email from editor of BuzzFeed who had seen Rush Hour and Commission me to make some 8-bit animations summarising TV show Sherlock
- • First couple of posts did well • commission again to create post for game of thrones
- • I made Game of Thrones 14 most brutal deaths as 8-bit GIFs • Article when Viral • Garnering hundreds of thousands of views • Traction from scores of websites
- • HBO actually contacted BuzzFeed wanting to know who I was • But luckily BuzzFeed snapped me up before anyone else could • Rest is history! • I’m just going to let this run a once more - the Red Wedding has to be the most distressing moment in the whole of Game of Thrones
- • So that’s a bit about me • Now I guess it makes sense to explain a bit more about Buzzfeed
- • Buzzfeed is quite simply a global, cross platform network for news and entertainment • We have four main divisions
- • First up, Buzzfeed Buzz • Content we are originally best known for • Listicles of cute animals • Humorous content • Quizzes where you can fnd out which Disney princess you are
- • Buzzfeed news • Created in 2012 when ben smith joined • Make serious investment in foreign reporters and Pulitzer winning investigative journalists • You may have seen recent tennis fixing scandal first reported by Heidi blake of buzzfeed uk
- • Buzzfeed life was just an experiment • Without making conscious effort to, we quickly became 2nd largest lifestyle site under AOL
- • And finally a team of 100 people in our LA studios • Focus solely on video creation • They create anything from 7 second vines to documentaries and everything in between • We now deliver over 3 billion video views a month
- • Now you know about Buzzfeed it makes it easier to explain what I actually do
- • As senior creative designer of buzzfeed uk • I work with clients to create branded content on the buzzfeed platform • Most will know this as…
- • Native advertising • I create bespoke illustrations, animations, photography and more • Engage audiences and bring a brand’s post to life • Here’s my favourite examples of work so far
- • Transport for London came to us wanting people to be a bit more considerat to eachother on public transport • I created 11 most annoying commuters in 8-bit
- • Comedy Central were celebrating Friends 20th anniversary and wanted something special • So I created 8bit animations reimaging the greatest moments from friends • Yes, of course I included that time when Joey wore all of Chandlers clothes and did some lunges
- • Last autumn, captain morgan were looking to raise brand awareness with buzzfeed • We commissioned a photographer and I art directed this photoshoot for genius tips for throwing an autumn barbecue
- • Most proud of co-conceiving this quiz for Alzheimer’s Society • It was designed to help people see the world through the eyes of someone living with dementia • Starts off like a normal buzzfeed trivia quiz • Question get more and more confusing as you go along • For example it asks you what time you have your dinner and the correct answer is 8am • And where you have to identify a random person in a photo and you’re told she’s your sister
- • Quiz had a fantastic response • 100s of comments commending the quiz for how it made people understand more about dementia
- • This comment here is my favourite • “off to go raise awareness for dementia research” • Couldn’t ask for more really
- • On top of that, it also one Silver at Media Week Awards. • Here’s me dressed as Bruce Wayne with my colleague who I worked on this with
- • So what is it like to actually work a buzzfeed?
- • Pretty darn cool • Moved into new UK office in Oxford Circus in March • Hiring so much new talent we have already out grown it • Everyon wants to do fantastic work and great to be given the room and trust to do so • Plus we have a huge snack room! (not so great for the waistline though) • However, through all of this, one of buzzfeeds biggest priorities is…
- DIVERSITY.
- • Quote from Jonah Peretti about diversity in the company • The main point he makes is that at buzzfeed we know a diverse staff leads to a HUGE competitive advantage as well as being the morally right thing to do • I am proud to work at a company that sticks by its word • Most people don’t know that Buzzfeed UK is run by two women
- • We have Kate Burns who is Buzzfeeds general manager or Europe • Her past includes being first international hire at Google, as Director of UK and Ireland • And CEO of AOL Europe where she rebuilt the business into a profitable model
- • Also have Janine Gibson running UK editorial as Editor in chief • One of most respected journalists and editors in the world • Editor of Guardian US • Presided over scoop of the century that is the Edward Snowden Story • Both women could have furthered career anywhere in the world, yet they decided to run Buzzfeed UK
- But what about those further down the hierarchy?
- • In 2015, we officially had more women working at buzzfeed than men • You might be thinking “that’s pretty damn good, but I bet the majority of managers and decision makers are men.”
- Wrong!
- • In fact in 2015, 52.1% of BuzzFeed managers were women. • I find this fantastic for many reasons
- • Personally its great to have a role model • To be able to think ‘blimey that woman there is at the top of her game, that means I can do that too!’ is really inspiring
- • Incredibly motivating • Makes me feel there are less barriers and don’t have to worry about that dread glass ceiling • Simply concentrate on doing the best work I can
- • All in all make me excited to come to work, collaborate and ready to do best work I can for BuzzFeed! • I also asked some of my female colleagues about what they thought too
- • I genuinely feel I have a voice here and am part of a movement
- • It’s great to be able to just do the work and let it speak for itself
- • I feel empowered to be a woman and encouraged to excel as opposed to feeling intimidated • I want to achieve in that workplace
- • The men and women at buzzfeed celebrate each others successes, fight for equality and encourage creativity and individualism
- • And that, ladies, is what makes a fantastic team.
- • So that’s it from me! • There are some really exciting projects coming up at buzzfeed this year so keep an eye out • Feel free to get in touch with me at any time on twitter or email • Thanks for listening!