Jordan Harris CV

1www.jordaneharris.wordpress.com

Jordan Harris

www.jordaneharris.wordpress.com

Curriculum Vitae

Masters in Magazine Journalism

Cardiff Universityfrom

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WelcomeOh wow, my CV has escaped the perils of the Royal Mail, safely found its way into your in-tray and avoided being chucked out with all the pizza delivery menus, found itself into your hands and you’ve actually opened it to see what the mustachioed journo has to say for himself.

Here you have my CV; a snapshot into my professional life as a fledgling journalist.

Within its pages you’ll find out about my

qualifications, my skills, my experience, and maybe a little bit about me.

If it tickles your fancy and you want to read some of my articles, interviews and features in their entirety, check out my personal blog www.jordaneharris.wordpress.com, or if you want to have a little chinwag with me, send an email my way at [email protected] (the ‘e’ stands for Edward by the way).

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Education

Awards

A wise doctor once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

A firm believer in Dr. Seus’ words, my time in higher education has seen me obtain two degrees and has taken me to three separate institutions across two continents.

With an undergraduate degree in Business Adminstration (2.1) from The University of Bath, and an exchange year studying at Singapore Management University, as well as a Masters in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University (Distinction) under my belt, I believe that I have a firm grounding on which to build on my fledgling journalism degree.

Starting out with aspirations of being a high flying, city slicking big wig, raking in the big bucks at a top London bank, my career took a drastic change of course when

I realised that number crunching and pencil pushing just wasn’t for me.

It was after multiple internships, including working for Google and the Bank of New York Mellon, that I realised that my forte was in writing and therefore decided to go back to school, because if the pen is mightier than the sword, I’d need to sharpen mine.

A decision that saw me pack in London, apply for a journalism course and move to the foreign land of Wales, may seem like a step back but was ultimately the best decision I’ve ever made.

With a year spent learning the fundamentals in journalistic practice, including news reporting, feature writing, interviewing, conducting voxpops, as well as the basics in Adobe programs, such as Photoshop and InDesign, I feel that I have a solid base of skills on which to now build on and to develop.

Do something because you love it. Don’t do something because you want recognition. Write because the power of a pen and a piece of paper, or a Mac keyboard, fires the passion burning within you.

That said however, it did feel pretty good to be awarded The Best Design Award for a university project that tasked us with creating niche mini magazines for a specific market in Cardiff that was currently uncatered for.

The project, entitled The Wall, championed the growing street art scene in the capital and its minimalistic, yet gripping design, grabbed the award.

It felt even better nearly a year later to have two of my ideas and projects shortlisted at the Magazine Academy Awards for The Felix Dennis Memorial Best Digital Award.

First up was my dissertation project, Vagabond; a mobile app and magazine for

g a p y e a r students a n d s e c o n d l y The Grill & Barrel; my own food blog that my university class made into a printed and tablet magazine.

Despite not actually winning, being shortlisted twice in a prestigious ceremony that saw entries from the UK’s top journalism schools, was a huge achievement.

Awards can go one of either two ways; you win or it’s fixed but when you write for the love of it, not to be recognised, you’re winning from the get go.

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Work ExperienceThe UK’s largest online sports retailer hired me as a Marketing Executive and Social Media Manager on a six month internship whilst studying at Bath.

Under my management, their social media presence rocketed 300%, their competition entries increased from an average of 50 entries to an all time high of over 200,000 (a story that was featured in the trade press) and I successfully enhanced fan engagement.

Google’s in-house video agency, who also count YouTube and Band Aid, amongst their client list, headhunted me on a month long contract to manage and consult them on their social media, after my work at ActivInstinct.

During my time there, I implemented a social media business plan, as well as bringing their blog back to life to document their many exciting projects.

Other than writing, my passion is with food. Up until now I’ve only ever written about food, but now I am about to embark on a culinary adventure of my own in the form of a pop-up waffle and hot dog shop.

Drunken Sailor, set to launch in April, utilises the great local produce on our front door step, to put a Welsh twist on the Belgian dessert and the American frank and also shows my entreprenieurlal flare for identifying a niche in a growth market and filling it.

As part of my Masters degree, I undertook a couple weeks of work experience with two separate magazines; Cardiff based ‘what’s on’ publication, Buzz Magazine and Bath based foodie mag, Crumbs.

It was whilst at Buzz that I scored my first bylines with local news and food stories, a profile piece on a local artist, a feature on the best veggie joints in Wales, as well as contributing to their summer festival guide, plus a couple of web stories.

My second week was spent in Bath with local food magazine, Crumbs. Although I didn’t get a byline, I contributed heavily to their website with news stories and cook book reviews, as well as contributing to two print features.

Both of these week long work placements gave me crucial hands on experience, as well as a valuable insight into the workings of a magazine, but also taught me to quickly adapt to writing for extremely diffferent audiences.

On top of this, I am the editor of a recently launched events and lifestyle magazine, but more on that across the page.

Web Portfolio

Print Portfolio

Drunken Sailor

Across the Pond

ActivInstinct

From writing news stories, in-depth features, voxpops and personal profiles for Cardiff University’s news website, Alt.Cardiff, to pitching and writing a feature about Newport based brewery Tiny Rebel for Hot Rum Cow; a Scottish magazine and website dedicated to the alcohol industry, I have written a variety of pieces on an array of different subjects from food to football and from crime to Cambodian temples.

If you want to take a peak at these web articles, they are all on my blog so head on over and get clicking.

If however you just want to take my word for it, the websites I have written for are; The Singapore Globalist, The Global Commentator, Yuppee Magazine, Alt. Cardiff, It’s On Cardiff, Buzz Magazine, Crumbs Magazine, The Daily Touch, a guest piece on a local food blog and I am also Pub Hub’s beer writer.


It’s On Cardiff

The Grill & Barrel

Working as the Editor of It’s On Cardiff, the city’s largest online database for events, has been a huge learning curve and an incredibly valuable experience.

After starting the position and injecting the website with a bit of oomph with regards to engaging, interesting and informative content, I have undertaken the launch of a brand new monthly A5 magazine with a circulation of 15,000 copies.

Flatplanning, writing and designing the magazine, almost in its entirety, as well as selling advertising space, I am sharpening all the skills in my journalistic tool box to help me become a much more competent journalist and editor.

In my time with It’s On Cardiff, I’ve not only overseen the launch of the magazine, I’ve also been responsible for a team of

contributors and delegating relevant tasks to each, thus giving me good teamwork and leadership skills.

I have also grown as a writer, having interviewed celebrities such as Status Quo, The Script and a handful of Game of Thrones stars, as well as unearthing events and stories and breaking them before the main local and national media and have amassed a huge network of contacts and sources across a variety of fields. As well as this, I am competent in operating a Content Management System and have learned the significance of social media in journalism, both in terms of finding stories, but also promoting them.

All of these highly transferrable skills have helped me to evolve as a self starting digital and print journalist.

What started as a project for a Digital Journalism module has quickly snowballed and is now one of Cardiff’s most followed food and drinks blog.

Tasked with creating a blog for a specific

community and writing content that would engage that audience, I have written a variety of different articles from recipes and restaurant reviews to chef and brewer interviews, as well as event previews and tasty slices of news. I have also written harder hitting features, such as an investigative piece on Welsh veal, plus lighter articles such as the best local produce to put on your burgers.

Starting just over a year ago, The Grill & Barrel now has a combined following of nearly 4,000 people across all of its channels and has moved offline to host events at local pubs, print a special edition journal distributed throughout Cardiff, as well as being nominated in the Magazine Academy Awards after I pitched the idea to my university to make the blog into a printed magazine with an accompanying tablet and mobile version, plus a YouTube channel.

If you want to see more, all of the it can be viewed at: www.thegrillandbarrel.com

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Life through a lensAs much as I love writing, a picture truly paints a thousand words and therefore you’ll never see me without my camera. A self taught photographer, still getting to grips with the basics of shutter speed and all that technical mumbo jumbo, I’m passionate about capturing the moment; whether that moment is the tastiest souvlaki that will ever cross my lips or an orphan, desperately trying to make ends meet in his home of the Cambodian killing fields. Furthermore my photos have been featured on a variety of websites and blogs, as well as for adverts for local food and cinema pop-ups.

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@jordsharrisC

Thanks for reading and don’t hesitate to get in touch:

[email protected] give me a buzz: 07817689996

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Jordan Harris CV