Roy’s keen. And so am I.

Today marks one year since our marketing manager, Emily Grimes, joined Prominent! Take a look at what she says about her experience so far.

 

A year ago today I was not the same person.

Just two days before I started working at Prominent, I packed up my busy life in London to move back home to Suffolk. I looked around North Greenwich one last time, spying the orange spikes of the o2 arena that had always welcomed me whenever I was walking to the tube in the morning, and I said farewell to what had been two years in the big smoke.

I had experienced heartbreak and grief and was feeling indescribably low and at a loss. It’s not easy for me to relive that but without sounding overly dramatic, Prominent saved me.

From the moment I set foot in the office for my interview I felt at ease. There were these lovely smiles to greet me and I left hopeful and excited.

I hadn’t even unpacked my clothes on my first day at Prominent. I had to scrape together something wearable, so I looked semi-professional and would make a good impression. Like anybody starting something new, I was nervous.

The first thing I saw when I arrived was Helen unlocking the office door carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I thought it must be someone’s birthday and I kicked myself for not knowing who but when I walked in after her she was putting them in a vase with a gorgeous pink ribbon and placing them neatly on my desk.
That was the start of something incredible.

From the get-go I was given the nickname “Roy” because they thought I was keen. They were right because I immersed myself in my new role, making friends and finding my feet quickly. But it still came as something of a surprise when, after six months, Helen told me she wanted to promote me to Senior Marketing Executive.

“Really?!” I exclaimed.
“Yes.” Helen said. “You completely deserve it.”

I bounced back into the office and found a “Chief Roy” badge lovingly written on my desk and I wore it with pride.

Three months later, when Helen and my manager Abi asked me for a “chat” out of the blue I thought I might have done something terribly wrong and I walked into the meeting room wide-eyed and silent. Abi immediately told me to “chill out Grimes” which told me that thankfully, this wouldn’t be bad news.
“I’m promoting you to marketing manager.” Helen said.

“I can’t quite put into words the impact you have had here, and we are truly thankful.” Abi said.
I was speechless. The only words I could manage were: “Thank you for seeing me.”

And they had. Both Helen and Abi had seen me. They had seen my determination. They had seen my enthusiasm. They had seen what I could do. They had tested me, and they had seen that I could pull it off.
One year on, all I can say to Prominent is thank you. Thank you everyone I work with, colleagues and clients alike. I’ve never felt more at home in my place of work.

Just this week I was fortunate enough to be part of the communications team for when TRH’s The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visited Ely Markets! Safe to say it was an incredible experience being on the frontline of such a prestigious event.

We also won Gold for Education Campaign of the Year at the CIPR Pride Awards this month, for one of our clients, East Cambridgeshire District Council, for the creation of their recycling hero, Michael Recycle!
To say my year has ended on a high is an understatement.

It’s been an incredible 12 months and like I said, I am a different person to the lonely, lost girl who left London.

After all, I’m not longer just Emily. I’m Chief Roy.

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