Name: Melissa Hancocks
Job title: Marketing Services Executive
Tell us a bit about yourself:
I’m 27, ‘Ull born and bred and live with my husband, Andy and our two cats, Pippin and Millie. We’ve just started the mammoth task of building our own house on a 3-acre patch in the middle of nowhere, which, when finished I will be filling with all the rescue dogs, cats, goats, chickens and maybe a donkey. Other than spending every spare moment working towards building the house, I enjoy gardening and used to have my own allotment. Cooking and eating everything I grew was the best and felt so rewarding!
Describe your job to a five-year-old:
I help everyone in my team get their jobs done.
What do you like most about your job?
The variety
How did you get here?
I started my marketing career working for a military academy on an Army base, which was interesting to say the least! I then moved on to work for a digital marketing agency managing a team and working for clients such as Argos, Hobbs, Carpetright and Habitat. Wanting to move ‘client side’ I’m now here. 🙂
What motivates you?
People. I love to feel like I’m making a difference.
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be?
I’d love to run an animal sanctuary, however I’m not sure you actually get paid to do that!
Your favourite song lyric or line from a film
Can I be awkward and choose a book? I’m more of a bookworm. It’s a passage from my favourite book ‘A Man Called Ove’ by Fredrik Backman. It’s definitely not a short one, so grab yourself a cup of tea…
“Loving someone is like moving into a house," my wife used to say. "At first you fall in love with all the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren’t actually supposed to live in a wonderful place like this. Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather for its imperfections. You get to know all the nooks and crannies. How to avoid getting the key caught in the lock when it’s cold outside. Which of the floorboards flex slightly when one steps on them or exactly how to open the wardrobe doors without them creaking. These are the little secrets that make it your home.”
Your favourite app?
I’m really into Podcasts at the minute, so I couldn’t live without the podcast app.
Biggest facepalm moment at work?
It was the morning after the London Design and Specification Centre launch party. The events company were coming bright and early at 7am to pick up some equipment they had left. As I was getting an early train back to Hull that morning, I volunteered myself to go and let them in so everyone else could have a bit of a lie in after an exhausting few days. As they arrived I went to open the door with the key I had put in my purse. It didn’t work. I started to search through my pockets, bag, and suitcase for the key that Yiota had given me. I couldn’t find it. In a bit of a panic I called everyone… Katie, Yiota, Bart, Lindsey with no luck. While the events agency waited impatiently, I returned back to the door and thought I’ll give the key one more go and when I looked in my purse I realised there were actually two keys and I’d been trying to get into our London Showroom with my spare house key. I tried the other key and it worked – after 30 mins of flapping, calling the entire team and probably waking them up at 7am, the job was done.