About me

My professional background is in broadcast media and print journalism.

Print:  As a journalist I’ve had articles published in national press including Olive and Delicious magazines as well as The Evening Standard and The Independent.

Radio: I previously produced and presented an award-winning radio show for the former TLRC network. My first radio job was in 1998, reading traffic reports for Chris Evans on Virgin Radio. Since then I’ve presented on commercial radio as well as the BBC.

Publishing: Food is a great passion and along the way I’ve also written a cookbook which went on to be published in four languages, with national media coverage.

TV: I’ve previously worked with ITV and Sky as a food / consumer affairs reporter. Please get in touch to see a copy of my TV reel.

Why hire me?

• Because you don’t have time to do it. Or at least, you don’t have time to do it well.
• Because I get results. The majority of my work comes from returning clients or client recommendation. Do feel free to ask for testimonials (I prefer to keep my current client list off the public domain).
• Because I’m happy to charge per project rather than per day, per hour, or per word. Meaning you’ll know exactly what will be on my invoice.
• Because I can offer an objective eye, a steady hand, and someone who knows their way around an Oxford comma (I’m with Philip by the way).

Oh, and I guarantee I’ll never capitalise words unnecessarily. 

Words, and the process of writing

Words are powerful little things. And it’s my job to choose them carefully, deciding which ones can live together.

Some ideas land. Others I need to let go of. Or at least file away for another time.

I might think of a brilliant word, but it doesn’t quite behave with the others. Or a paragraph becomes so busy that I need to break it all down before I can glue it back together.

I can be thisclose to losing swathes of work, frustrated, distracted and on the verge of wasting another 20 minutes on Instagram. And then something magical happens.

In the end, I love getting lost in a mesh of words, and then finding my way out again.

I also love the tools I’ve been given to do this. How you can throw the small stuff in parentheses (brackets, like these) and it can sit there quietly without distracting from the big stuff you want to focus on. I love how a bit of copy architecture – from bold to bullet points – can transform a wall of text into something you actually want to read.

My favourite is the em dash – the dashes you can see here – and that’s because they can do so much. From adding emphasis to recreating fast, interrupted thinking. They’re a pacier alternative to brackets. A more interesting device than commas. As I once read, the em dash is the cool kid of punctuation. A rebel without a clause. And one of my signature staples.

What’s my style?

Short sentences. People are too distracted to read reams of content. Still here? Good. 

Accessible language. We all know a few impressive words. But it takes discipline to know when to hold back and keep it simple.

First person. Because when Fiona talks about herself like this it has slightly less impact. But I’ll always use your brand’s established tone, assuming you’re happy with it. In this way we can ensure that my work blends with yours, and no one will spot the join.