Get A Life: Finding a opportunity in everything

Sometimes i'd wish my brain would switch off and stop conjuring up ideas or soultions for problems, but then i wouldn't be me!!

So my dearest mother is from Barbados and every week she gets their national paper called The Nation. It's just another way of keeping up to date with things. Anyway there was an article in there titled 'We need new ideas" well you know my attentiveness grew and i wanted to know more...


To cut the long story short is was all about them needing new ideas brought to the table to entice more tourists to the island, as the number have dwindled since the recession. After reading that article ideas came to like night and day. Whether they were over the top ideas i just wrote then down.
I didnt stop there, people have said in the past once im hooked on something i will research so much i could tell someone i invented it and they would believe me!

In the article it mentioned the president of tourism for Barbados, my investigative soul couldn't help but the use my catch-phase i've been using for years that i used to get bullied for in high school! 'Google It' How the word changes, in your face! I found him on Linkedin and sent him a short message with a few rough ideas, i never thought he would get back to me. He did! He liked what i had to say (i think he like my initiative approach more than anything) He passed on my details to the new president of tourism as he was finishing his term.

A nervous wait, but soon she got in contact and quoting her words... 'I had a look at your ideas below and I think that many of them are really good and worthy of further discussion.  I believe the best idea would be for me to forward your ideas to our Marketing Committee Chairperson so that you can meet and determine the best way to move some of these ideas forward.' 

Well this had made my night, as at that moment of time i was sat in bingo trying to pay my next phone bill. It made me feel like maybe i did had a skill to offer to organisation. If you have been in my shoes after a while you start questioning yourself and your abilities if no company will give you a job. Especially in the creative world, when your skill can't be physically seen like a web designer, graphic designer, fashion designer etc. 

It gave me an extra boost and incentive to show someone what i'm made of.  

Tip: Make your own opportunities, if you have an opinion about something or a suggestion to solve  a problem don't just keep to yourself or tell your friends. Tell that person/organisation what have you got to lose? What you got to gain? Well in my personal circumstance they now know my name, who I am, I have shown that i'm not afraid to voice my opinion, that i want to help solve a problem and i have gritty determination.


Find out what my next step was...

Get A Life: Looking further afield

As you know from the previous blog I graduated in July 2011, brimming with excitement doing everything possible to get noticed. I went to numerous networking events, with my final group project i was one of three who went out to numerous companies to pitch so i was collecting business like i was collect shoes. By January 2012 my optimism was wearing thin, people telling me how brilliant i was was getting hard to believe because the ultimate way to show this wasn't happening. I was still un-employed. I either didn't have enough experience, even though what i did have for just being 5 months out of university was pretty good. My writing skills weren't good enough, I can't really blame my dyslexia fully. I was over qualified for the position i was applying for. Someone had more experience than me. It's not what you know, it's who you know ringed in my mind a few times.

I knew a lot of people at the time were moving aboard or moving cities as they had secured jobs or decided to take the plunge and look elsewhere. As much as i didn't want to move, not because i would miss Manchester but the finer details of finding somewhere to live, finding a job, building new friendships would be hard work.

Throwing caution to the wind nerves me, ask anyone i'm a planner but March came round and application to America and Barbados starting flying out. Why these two places you say? Well my friend went to New York for 3 months; she's a fashion photographer her experience of meeting people and been given chances to showcase her talents in the industry; made me think. My sister's friend left for the big apple 10 years after emailing a company with her ideas, got job and then eventually set up her own successful business.

Barbados, the sun, sand and beach for one. Two I just believe there's more that be can be over there to exploit the island. I googled every sort of creative agency there could be, not thinking there would be many. However  i was wrong. I then started emailing them all asking for an internship or work placement with their company when i return to the island. Within 3 days I had over 6 replies expressing their interest in taking be on for a few days a week. I was amazed, as I had been constantly emailing companies for any sort of job in England and had no replies, not even to say I didn't get the job. I wanted to hop on a plane and go then!

It was something to focus on, even if nothing came out of it. They replied, which implied my cv was good or my opening spiel in the email caught their eye. I started to feel positive again, I started to feel my luck may finally change.

Tip: Be flexible, it would be nice to stay in your hometown but sometimes when the tough gets going, you just have to cast your net a little further. Make yourself known go to networking events in your area, sign up to twitter and have a business card handy.

Who am i?

Alisha Forrester. T: @maverick2design

It's been a long time I've been signed up since March 2011, i'm not a big blogger but I've decided to try and start. If it's not work, life, love or trying to gain a degree its having a cocktail in my right hand and a interesting book in my left that stops from getting started on my blog. So let's by having a little background on the one and only shall we.....

Born in the late 80's surrounded by noise from 3 older siblings and nephew, the constant pirate radio station playing the latest reggae and calypso tunes and a mother whos trusted best friend was her cake making machine and sewing machine.  Ever since i can remember,  i was always the type of person that liked plan my life out, i decided i wanted to be a computer programmer. Not knowing what that involved i was adamant that was my job role plus a ranger rover parked outside my house that was the size of buckingham palace.

Fast forward to the days when Britney spears was toxic and 50 cent was 'in da club'  still my job role was to become a computer programmer so I took information Technology as a GCSE which wasn't the greatest.
    College, I studied a btec national diploma in ICT, each module covered every aspect of ICT and that's where as if a light shone bright above my head, I decided I wanted to become a Website designer.  Why? because i enjoyed making something astehically pleasing to the eye.

In 2007, I enrolled at the University of Salford onto a course that unfortunately was all geek and no design. I stumbled onto the course I graduated in called Design Futures, which was right up my street. From being on this course i came to the conclusion that there is more to design then designing something and that there is more behind the scenes and more roles to produce art work or a product.

With all the projects we were given, it gave me the chance to 'play' different roles in an organisation and that eureka struct! Marketing strategies, business development and idea generation are my passion and even before i graduated i started building up my portfolio with a 3 month internship at Photolink Creative Group. Working with another intern, on then a new venture which has sky rocketed, Little Black Dress, we worked together coming up with ideas and Stephanie writing fantastic content.

From there on i did a few more paid work for them and got myself a mentor, who happened to be the founder of NorthernSoho. Time went by and my positivity and enthusiasm slowly was fading as every headline in the paper was 'Students coming out of university will have a hard time finding a job'. The economy was taking a nose dive and getting any type of job was hard. That was then(graduated 2011). That is still now, the end of 2012 and all i've managed to secure is a one day a week job. Keeping myself occupied in the mean time i have been doing some freelance jobs, writing a marketing strategy for a jazz band, Yasmin and the Wild Things.


My entrepreneurship has never left my side. I tried to set up a networking organisation, Creative Championships,which had great feedback on the idea however the team all found jobs and couldn't commit which i fully understood.

So thats me really, you're are now fully up to date with my 23 years of existence. If you want to know how it came about me travelling aboard in a few weeks to try and impress important to maybe land a job just read my next post!


p.s Apologies on the aesthetic at the moment, i'm a newbie!