Jonny Winter
Communications and Marketing Manager at Forestry England
Key Details:
| Current industry | Visitor Economy & Tourism |
|---|---|
| School attended | Keswick School |
| College/training provider attended | Keswick School |
| University attended | University of Manchester |
| Year completed GCSEs | 2007 |
| Favourite lessons at school | English, History, Maths |
Q&A
— Give a short overview of your career journey after school
After completing A-Levels at Keswick School I studied at the University of Manchester for a BA (Hons.) in Ancient History and then an MA in Classics & Ancient History.
After graduating I returned home to Cumbria and spent nearly five years working for Cumbria Tourism in a range of marketing and communications roles, particularly focussing on corporate communications, influencer marketing and press trip organisation before joining Forestry England in 2021.
In this role I cover marketing and communications for forests across the north of England including Whinlatter and Grizedale in Cumbria. Whilst the main part of my role involves encouraging people to visit and enjoy the nation's forests (through walking, cycling, running, nature-spotting and more) I also enjoy telling our story around producing sustainable timber for the nation, planting new and resilient forests suited to our changing climate and sharing news on our work to support increasing biodiversity and native species.
— What do you love about your job?
The variety! Every day's different, I can be planning or evaluating marketing campaigns one day and then be out and about photographing forestry or biodiversity work the next.
— What piece of advice would you give to young people about finding their best next step?
Give things a go - the more experiences you take up the more chance you have of finding what roles and industries work for you. There's a fantastic range of work experience and volunteer experience opportunities in Cumbria (check the Centre for Leadership Performance website for a great list) as well as great organisations like Cumbria Scouts.
— What three essential skills do you think have helped you to be successful in your job?
Creativity, Aiming High, Leadership.
— What advice would you give to someone considering working in your industry?
Take the time to learn from colleagues - good marketing is all about storytelling and it's your job to find the things in day to day activities that will really resonate with audiences. The more you're on top of what's going on the easier it is to pinpoint that interesting seed that can grow into a really interesting feature.
— What is the best piece of advice you have been given that has helped you on your career journey?
Pick your battles - save your energy for those causes that really mean something to you - as well as helping save your energy things are always more powerful when coming from a place of authenticity.