Daddy's Girl

The time for honouring our parents always springs at the start of the year, while New Year’s resolutions and good intentions are still somewhat present in our ever-harried minds. Case in point, Father’s Day approaching with quickening pace on 19 June and for all of you who feel your Daddy is worthy of some appreciation, why not find out what Heather, owner of blooming London cake company CompletelyCakes.co.uk, has in store…

1)What does Father’s Day mean to you?
Father’s day for me is a great opportunity to show my father that I care and appreciate all he does for me. Since we are all so busy with our everyday lives, it’s great to be able to take some time out and remember those important to us.

2)What ideas have you had for celebrating this day in true baking style?
At Completely Cakes, we like to come up with something new and original for every season and event. Since cupcakes, and especially novelty cupcakes, have become so popular, our Father’s Day cupcake range this year features gorgeous ‘shirt and tie’ cupcakes, alongside other hobbies and more traditional ‘Happy Father’s Day’ cupcakes.

3)You offer personal and bespoke designs across your ranges – can you give us some idea of the requests you’ve had in advance of Father’s Day?
People often tend to be stuck for new ideas for times such as Mothers and Father’s Day, when they really want to come up with something special. We find that a lot of inspiration comes from seeing our unique designs on our website. In view of this, we always aim to have new and exciting ideas on our website well in advance of every season/event to keep our customers inspired!

4)What’s the most bizarre request you’ve received so far?
I would have to say that the most bizarre request we have had so far was from someone wanting to order a ‘saucy’ cake, carved to exact specifications…….!!

5)How will you be treating your Daddy this year?
I always struggle for something to buy my own father, as he has had plenty of ‘Best Father’ mugs and socks over the years! This year, instead of this, my sisters and I will be taking him out for a lovely Father’s Day lunch, which we are all really looking forward to. He will also be receiving some of our new ‘Shirt and Tie’ cupcakes!

6)Looking ahead, what treats will you be serving up next…?
There is always something new and exciting coming up at Completely Cakes. The next main event is Wimbledon, so stay tuned for our tennis-themed range!



If you would like to order a bakelicious treat for your Dad this Father’s Day, you can place your order with Heather at www.completelycakes.co.uk and discover what other delicious surprises she has to offer.

Follow her on Twitter at @completelycakes or join the facebook group facebook.com/completelycakes.

Facebook Me!

You know those girls (and guys for that matter) who pose for their Facebook pictures like they think they’re modelling for Vogue (or GQ). We all have them somewhere in our online trove of “facebook friends”.



They pout, they pose, they strike the old-favourite over the shoulder maneouvre as though they were reacting to paparazzi on the red carpet when in fact they have specifically asked a friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/stranger to capture them in exactly this pose in exactly this lighting and then post it up on their profile as though they just happened to be looking like that at the time the camera just happened to be in use…

The ones where they’re naked or semi-naked are even funnier, not to mention the bizarre individuals that are literally making love to the camera. Why the F do they think this is something their fellow facebookers wish to see? The joke is that the aforementioned ‘fellow facebookers’ merely regard these images with an arched eyebrow and quizzical expression, not deigning to believe that this loser actually took the time to pose for said pictures and then uploaded them.

These pictures are essentially the work of a serial attention whore. You know the person. The one that cannot survive without the spotlight shining directly on them at all times. The one who in school always had to be the lead in the school play and threw a tantrum if she/he didn’t get it. The one who pulled the most outlandish (and overtly sexy) dance moves at every party you went to. The one who always wore/wears the skimpiest, most ridiculous outfits – regardless of the season. The one who always, without fail, makes a scene about something – just in case people weren’t already paying attention.

The people who litter their facebook photo albums with these poser-esque types of pictures are of course mega show-offs – crying out for people to observe their looks… from every, single, angle. Of course, every facebook user is a show-off of sorts, posting updates about your night in a 5* hotel in Korea, updating your relationship status to ‘engaged’, uploading photos of you and your significant other ensconced in each other’s arms while reclining on a sandy beach on a remote but expensive island while your friends sit at their office computers staring out at the rain and harbour inner hatred and jealousy.

However, the posers are the biggest show-offs of them all. Just saying!!



With the 2010 release of The Social Network, facebook has recaptured the attention of those defecting to the likes of Twitter and Flickr and so on, as people rediscover the fascination of Mark Zuckerberg’s digital brainchild and their equal fascination with what and who their “friends” are doing.

Breaking News: Incidentally, star of the movie, Jesse Eisenberg, has just been nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars. If ever there was a time to get your pose on…

A Blog's Life

I have become a sort of mentor of late, with friend's parents deferring to me as the guru of 'how to get into journalism'.



Despite my 20-something years, I have been through the media mill (to some extent), from education and careers fayres to countless work experience placements and even redundancy (not entirely shocking given the current economic climate), but still the past 5-6 years has provided me with a microcosm of events that appear to bestow me with insider know-how and tips for wannabe writers.

Of course the first thing I would recommend for those reading this that may indeed be thinking about how to get started on the path to journalism is to consider where in this diverse industry you may fit. Essentially, if you have a certain skill set (writing, design, proof-reading, editing etc) it can traverse across many different areas within the media industry. But decide if you want to go down the newspaper route, the broadcast route or the fiction route. And how do you discover where you fit if you are currently unsure? Work experience.

I knew I wanted to write. I knew I wanted to write for a magazine. So I did work experience at local titles, niche titles, national titles and even international titles. Each experience endowed me with some new nugget of expertise and insight. It taught me where I fit in personally and how to adapt myself to each unique house style. It may take several placements and jobs to finally find where you fit - it is only now at Christie's that I finally feel I'm somewhere that's me.

And if you can freelance, great. It's more for the self-motivated individuals who can network and multitask, but it's great work if you can get it.

Depending on where you are with your career/life, journalism courses are a good option also. I did a masters at London College of Communication (formerly Printing), and there are plenty of other courses via the University of the Arts London [http://www.arts.ac.uk/] that will enable you to specialise in whichever sector of media you wish to pursue. The NoSweat Journalism college [http://www.nosweatjt.co.uk/] is great for shorter courses and is recognised and approved by The National Council for the Training of Journalists. London's City University offers one of the most widely sought-after post-graduate diplomas though can be tough to get onto and is rather more expensive than other options, and Cardiff offer an equally covetable course.

N.B. Work experience and a portfolio (of your by-lined works) are crucial when applying for these courses. Try the smaller publishing houses and local publications first before approaching the big names (IPC, National Magazine Co, Conde Nast, Hachette Filipacchi, emap etc) as you are more likely to get a placement and get to write, thereby building your portfolio. If you are at university, join your student paper/magazine and/or radio station - great experience and great for your portfolio.

Network!! I cannot stress this enough - seize every opportunity to speak to people, you never know who they know and who might be able to give you a leg up. Make a good impression at all your work experience placements, even if you're only making the coffee and feel completely invisible - you don't know who might be watching and whether a role might be about to appear that needs filling.

Read!! Newspapers, magazines (even the trashy ones), newswires (reuters, bloomberg etc), twitter, journals... from helping you out in interviews ["oh yes, Martin, I loved your feature on the impact of the iPad on the next generation" / "exactly, the issue of IVF is an increasingly pressing topic for the current medical landscape"]; to keeping you informed and providing you with educated conversation when networking - it is vital.

Social Media - get on Twitter, link it to your blog, share it on your Facebook page and update your LinkedIn with all the new contacts you accumulate. Social Media sites enable you to network, promote your skills, and raise awareness of your profile to a broad and international audience. Don't underestimate it!!

With these fundamental tools under your belt you are ready to set off on your path to written success. Laptop, set, get typing...

Social networking to the rescue...

Facebook and Twitter are proving their worth in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake as survivors use the social networking sites to let their loved ones know that their okay.



With phones not working and e-mail being down, people are using social networking sites to share news and photos, as well as posting alerts to help with the search for those still missing or to request donations for the Haiti relief.

A spokesman for Facebook, Andrew Noyes, spoke to USA Today saying there have been more than 1,500 status updates per minute containing the word "Haiti" since the quake. This disaster has really brought into focus the power of social media as people find the need to truly engage with it.

• Twitter: People are using it to share firsthand accounts and photos of the earthquake. Celebrities are also getting involved, using the site to raise money themselves for the cause.
• Facebook: Charities including Oxfam America and Catholic Relief Services have been raising money through dedicated Facebook pages and using Twitter and Skype as well to share updates and communicate with relief workers and family members.
• Blogs: People are using blogs written by others as online message boards to track down missing people.

In this new technological age the world is becoming a much smaller place, easier to navigate as the lines of communication cut across new boundaries and deliver a faster and more effective dialogue.

NYC & Social Media

Having spent a week in New York meeting a variety of PR and ad agency folk, it would appear that the importance of social media in securing the success of current marketing campaigns is high on the agenda, however they are crying out for people with these digital skills.

Moving further into 2010 the internet will continue to provide brands and companies with free and essential advertising opportunities. Digital marketing is central to any PR and marketing strategy and for most people nowadays, the web is their first port of call for information and research. Twitter is the most powerful form of free marketing, so companies utilising it to full effect in this current digital media climate will thrive. For example, Stephen Fry has been using it to promote his new book in time for the Christmas season and subsequently driving people to his website. For PR agencies and their clients Twitter has become the most effective way of spreading the word about what a PR agency is doing for its client, but also what the client itself is doing. The online visibility afforded via social digital media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and their synergy in working together to create a widespread and dynamic network gives agencies and clients a portal through which to generate new business and effectively maintain existing clientele by staying current and ahead of competitors. The iPhone and Blackberry and other social networking mobiles, including the new Samsung Genio, have become integral in assisting the functionality and success of social media and digital marketing. The Compare the Market front-animal, Aleksandr the Meerkat is another great example of digital media worked at its best, with almost 6.000 fans on Facebook and hordes of followers on Twitter. Understanding how these networks work and exploiting them effectively will play an important part towards the success of PR agencies and their clients in 2010.