Madeleine Treharne Jones
Enterprising alumna Madeleine Treharne Jones was three years into a marketing job she loved when she was made redundant. After making a brave decision to go travelling in the middle of a recession, she returned with new inspiration and determination to pursue her career goals.
London calling
After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Business Administration, Madeleine knew she wanted to move to London. Taking the first job she was offered, she found herself working as a PA to a real-life knight; ‘He didn’t wear armour, disappointingly, but he did teach me valuable skills like taking pride in your work and how to earn respect in the workplace.'
Madeleine then progressed to a catalogue company, where she became Marketing Manager. This role saw her responsible for all online and offline marketing – a challenging job with long hours, but a real learning curve and one she loved. After three years within the role and in the middle of a recession however, Madeleine was made redundant.
Finding inspiration in India
After years of working hard straight from leaving University, she saw being made redundant as an ideal opportunity to jet off and see some of the world, and plucked up the courage to do just that – despite having no job to return to. Madeleine travelled to Nepal and India, where her creative and entrepreneurial juices started flowing and she gained fresh energy to pursue her ambitions.
Now back in the UK, she works as a PA by day, and on a variety of freelance projects by night – one of which was sparked by helping to edit friends’ essays during her time at UWE. “I was always being asked to help one friend or another in exchange for dinner or beer – so much so that when I graduated, my study group gave me a red pen as a gift.” And that’s how Red Pen Proof Reading was born – a service for proofreading everything from 10,000 word theses on youth crime to blog articles, CVs and web pages.
Not content with just one new enterprise, Madeleine also utilises her marketing experience to work with small businesses as a consultant, as well as selling handmade products sourced during her travels to India; “I love the scarves, bags, pashminas and clothes that you can find in India, and I think there’s a big move towards unique items you can’t find on the high street”. She’s also working on a new women’s network for the creative industries – Women of the World Create - sparked by discussing the lack of such opportunities with a friend.
A freelance future
With so many exciting projects to work on, it’s no wonder Madeleine’s looking forward to the future; ‘although being made redundant was really challenging, it opened up a whole new world of opportunities that I otherwise would have buried.’
Now focused on going freelance full-time in the next year, planning her wedding, and moving to Thailand, it seems her time at UWE is still playing a role in encouraging her to follow her dreams; ‘It showed me the independence and freedom I knew was out there, and the courses I took were valuable in laying the foundation for what I hope continues to be a promising and exciting career.'
Page last updated 1 November 2011