We are giving away a LIMITED EDITION Clemson National Championship football to one lucky subscriber in the new year. Sign up today to help us continue to grow! D.J. Uiagalelei - 6-5, 243-pounds, St. John Bosco, Bellflower, CA

Five-star quarterback D.J. Uigalelei arrived on campus at Clemson today after participating in the Army All-American Game yesterday in Texas.

Uiagalelei finished the game 16-of-25 for 252 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw one interception, but one of his two touchdownthrows showed why he was the top quarterback in this cycle.

As you can see, Uiagalelei rolled right, felt pressure and adjusted to make a beautiful throw to his tight end.

Unfortunately, Uiagalelei and the East team came up short33-20, but he looked the part. Also, if you wanted to see some videos, earlier this week, we put links to some videos from San Antonio in The Roar.

Here are some additional highlights from yesterdays game.

Notes on D.J. Uiagalelei

Head Coach: Jason Negro

Overview: Listed as the top player in the nation by PrepStar and ranked second according to Rivals.com behind Clemson signee and classmate Bryan Bresee top quarterback in the nation according to Rivals.com and PrepStar led his team to No. 1 ranking by MaxPreps and USA Today after guiding them to a 7A state championship in California will play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 4, 2020 in San Antonio, Texas National Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-American by USA Today in 2018 as a junior threw for 10,496 yards in his high school career and had 127 career touchdowns against just 11 interceptions completed 585-of-871 passes for a 66 percent completion mark averaged 18 yards per completion also rushed for 1,103 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career, a 6.1 yard-per-carry average.

Rankings: Ranked as the No. 1 overall player in the nation, the best quarterback and best player in California by PrepStar ranked as the No. 2 overall player in the nation by Rivals.com, which also called him the top quarterback and top player in California 247Sports ranked him the No. 2 overall player in the nation, the top pro-style quarterback and top player from California.

In High School: Played for Jason Negro at St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, Calif. led his team to a 13-1 record and state championship in 2019 won state championship on Dec. 14, as he was 24-of-29 for 410 yards and four touchdowns while also gaining 67 rushing yards on just five carries with another touchdown on the ground led team to thrilling semifinal victory over Mater Dei, which had beaten St. John Bosco in the regular season and entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today and MaxPreps led St. John Bosco to victory out of a 28-5 deficit in that game, completing 26-38 for 446 yards and five touchdowns completed 222-of-344 passes for 4,225 yards and 48 touchdowns against just two interceptions in 2019, averaging 19 yards per completion and 12.3 yards per attempt added 412 yards rushing and eight touchdowns as a junior in 2018, led team to a 13-1 record with only loss coming to Mater Dei in state playoffs had exceptional game against Miliani, completing 25-of-31 passes for 380 yards and six touchdowns completed 13-of-15 for 361 yards and six scores against Oaks Christian completed 179-of-257 passes for 3,366 yards and 48 touchdowns against just seven interceptions on the year and added 50 carries for 312 yards and six rushing touchdowns as a sophomore in 2017, completed 184-of-270 for 2,905 yards and 31 touchdowns against just two interceptions posted 67 rushes for 379 yards and four touchdowns as a sophomore helped team to 10-2 record that year helped lead team to 40-38 victory against Santa Margarita by throwing for 405 yards and two scores and followed that performance with 320 yards and four touchdown passes against Servite completed 20-of-21 passes and two scores against Mater Dei in state playoff game.

Personal: Committed to Clemson on May 5, 2019 wore No. 5 in high school recruited to Clemson by Brandon Streeter expected to enroll at Clemson in January 2020 name pronounced ooh-ee-UNGUH-luh-lay.

Lowell Likes:

The first thing you notice is the size, obviously. 6-5, 243-pounds and somehow still mobile. He certainly has the ability to run, but he would rather sit in the pocket with his Howitzer of an arm and chuck the ball 80+ yards down the field (yes, he can actually throw the ball 80+ yards). He widely gets comparisons to Cam Newton, but to me, hes more comfortable in the pocket. Even with the talent thats come through recently, Clemson has not had a quarterback prospect this intriguing before.

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Uiagalelei arrives on campus after solid performance in All-American Game - Clemson Sports Talk

One Yellow Rabbit will present the ecological comedy The Land, The Animals during High Performance Rodeo.

Calgary's annual three-week theatrical festivalHigh Performance Rodeo kicks off this week, featuringeverything from pop stars to podcasters to 10-minute plays.

High Performance Rodeo starts Wednesday and runs to Jan. 26 in venues across Calgary. The festival features 27 shows at 13 venues across Calgary's downtown for three weeks.

"If you've made a New Year's resolution to get out and see more art to spend some more time with your friends, have we got something for you," festival producer Laurel Green told the Calgary Eyeopener. "If you have any nights off in January there willbe something we like to promise 'something wild' for everyone."

Ensemble troupe One Yellow Rabbit will kick off the first week of the festival with a play called The Land, The Animals.

The ecological comedy was first produced by the ensemble in 1991 and is being brought back with new performers, choreography andmusicin light of today's environmental concerns.

The production is directed by Blake Brooker and performed by long-time ensemble members Denise Clark and Andy Curtis, with new music by David Reimer.

The Land, The Animals runs Jan. 8 to 14 at Big Secrets Theatre.

Another highlight of week one is a chance to meetOlympian Mark Tewksbury up close and personal.

"He's trying something new, bringing his story to the stage with this one-man show," Green said.

Tewksbury is best known for winning a gold medal atthe 1992 Summer Olympics. He'snow a public speaker and the director of the Special Olympics.

The one-man show is based on his book Belong and is presented in collaboration with Wordfest.

"He's a force to be reckoned with," Green said. "Mark Tewksbury is a great Canadian, great Calgarian and an impressive speaker."

Belong runs Jan. 9 to 11 at the DJD Dance Centre.

If you can't get enough American satire in the vein of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, you'll want to check out It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel F****d)featuring political blogger Lee Papa.

"It's gonna be a really funny show that really delves into some American politics and talks about the state of the world today," Green said.

The show runs Jan. 8 toi 12 at Motel Theatre at Arts Commons.

Jamie Dunsdon mounts an intimate and heartfeltperformance that examines her own life.

The show is set during a birthday party, and the whole audience is invited to examine ignorance, bliss and everything in between.

Bliss runs Jan. 8 to 12 at The Studio atthe Grand.

Music and dance hit the stage together in week twoof the festival, starting with Room 2048.

The ensemble group Hong Kong Exile combines pop music, dance and fog in a mind-bending performance that runs Jan. 14 to 16 at Engineered Air Theatre.

A brand new one-woman show called How To Fail As a Pop Star fromVivek Shrayachronicles the Calgary performer's rise through the Canadian music scene.

"Vivek, of course, is a celebrated author and the face of MAC Cosmetics,"Green said. "It's so exciting to get to see her up close and personal."

Vivek will takea humorous look at a career in the entertainment industry.

How to Fail as a Pop Star runs Jan. 22 to 25 at Engineered Air Theatre.

Don't miss a free podcast recording at Calgary's Central Library of one CBC'spodcasts,The Secret Life of Canada,on Jan. 10.

"So the audience part of the event is just listening in quietly.There will be some audience participation and then, of course, we'll get to hear the podcast when it's broadcast later. We'll be really focusing on stories from Calgary," Green said. "We'll have some special guest stars and lots of chances to make some noise."

Green said one of the festival fan favourites is an audience participation show called Queer Blind Date.

"A member of the audience is selected as the romantic hero and with their permission, they come on stage and get to go on a date," Green said. "We'llget to see audiences of all descriptions represented.All couples are welcome."

Ifyou're a romantic comedy fan, this one's for you.

Green said no one has to participate in any productions unless they want to, adding the festival is all about fun.

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks will bring back bring the classic Juliet + Romeo, just having completed a national tour.

The show will feature a live musical score and, of course, dancing.

"I like to think that there's a spark in it for everyone, that everyone's a little bit adventurous that comes to the festival," Green said.

Juliet + Romeo runs Jan. 16 to 23 at DJD Dance Centre.

With files fromthe Calgary Eyeopener.

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Satire, podcasts and an Olympian: High Performance Rodeo brings the 'wild' to Calgary - CBC.ca

In 2017, it felt as though diversity was winning. Well, not necessarily winning, but at least making progress towards equality in film. Scooping best picture at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes, the success of Barry Jenkins' Moonlight seemed to signal a turning point in the film industry, an indication that Hollywood had finally learnt some valuable lessons from the #OscarsSoWhite debate of 2015. The following year, Get Out received a few nods of approval, but fewer major wins. That's OK, we thought, real, meaningful change takes time and, besides, we've got Black Panther! The upward trajectory continued in 2019, giving us Green Book, BlackKklansman and If Beale Street Could Talk, which between them won many of the top prizes at the Golden Globes, Baftas and Oscars. But now it's 2020 and not a single non-white face is seen in this year's Bafta nominations. Hollywood, what happened?

Ill disguised efforts to appease audiences with faux wokeness, that's what. This year's Bafta nominations, along with a noticeable lack of people of colour acknowledged by the Golden Globes, only work to reveal the industry's true attitude towards diversity: it's regarded simply as a trend, something to cash in on when #BlackLivesMatter is trending and cast aside when extreme right-wing politics takes over even Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker demoted Kelly Marie Tran's character, Rose Tico, after she was set up to have a bigger storyline in The Last Jedi. Show business is fickle, yes, but to drop efforts to promote diversity in the industry so quickly and so dramatically is shameful, particularly for institutions such as Bafta, who only last year introduced new diversity requirements to ensure people from all backgrounds are represented both on and off screen at the awards. Seems like they devised a really effective system, doesn't it? So effective, they don't even need to acknowledge diversity at all.

But it's not just the fault of academy voters; the studios have a lot to answer for too. In 2019, a plethora of films hit the screens that were deserving of more recognition at awards season, including Us, Harriet, Hustlers, Dolemite Is My Name, Blue Story, Just Mercy and Parasite, to name a few, yet out of those films only Us and Hustlers were given decent marketing campaigns. Films made by white, male directors starring predominantly white, male casts were splashed across billboards, buses and editorial spreads all year, while the rest were left to quietly creep into cinemas and streaming services through the back door. Why didn't Netflix's Dolemite Is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy, get at least half of the same push as The Irishman? Why did Harriet only land on most people's radar once Cynthia Erivo received a Golden Globe nomination, despite being released last autumn? And why, oh why, did the wider public only become aware of Blue Story once it accidentally found itself at the centre of a racism and youth violence controversy?

The marketing teams at these film's respective studios failed them. They assumed that the audiences they felt they were made for would find them themselves and that it wasn't worth trying to convince other cinemagoers that these films were worth their time. They segregated both cinema and audiences, ignoring the outstanding success of films such as Black Panther and Moonlight, that were evidence of the fact that films with diverse talent behind are for, and can be enjoyed by, everyone. I can only wonder how this attitude towards promoting these films trickled down to awards season campaigns.

Universal/ILM/Kobal/Shutterstock

There is also something to be said about the kind of diverse films that are typically acknowledged at awards season. Only those that are explicitly about the experience of being a person of colour are typically rewarded and, more often than not, these films are not particularly uplifting viewing. Hollywood loves to depict the suffering and trauma of POC, yet it doesn't appear to like it when cinema simply treats them as normal people. The widespread snub of Jordan Peele's Us this year makes this abundantly clear. Although the film's lead characters are a black family, their blackness is of little consequence to the plot. They're depicted just as a family of any other race would be, because guess what? We're all pretty much the same!

Lupita Nyong'o's performance in Us as both a kind family woman and her evil doppelgnger was nothing short of exceptional and the fact that Margot Robbie received double Bafta nominations for her role in Bombshell and her five minutes in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, over Nyong'o's double performance in Us, both baffles and enrages. Scarlett Johansson also receives two nominations for Marriage Story (fair enough) and Jojo Rabbit (er?), making it seem as though the voting body was just desperate to nominate anyone but an actress of colour. The biggest nod given to any diverse film went to The Personal History Of David Copperfield, but when nominated for best casting while other categories remain very, very white, it's a move that reads more like a panicked "Dev Patel's in a period film and we have to at least pretend we like diversity" than a genuine acknowledgement of achievement.

There will no doubt be those who will cry, "Why does it always have to be about race?" and "Awards season should be based on merit, not diversity quotas!" But if this batch of award season nominations prove anything, it's that it is always about race not because of the #BaftasSoWhite backlash, but because Hollywood refuses to properly acknowledge its own subconscious racial bias. People are often quick to berate positive discrimination, while neglecting to acknowledge that white people have essentially been negatively discriminating in their favour for, well, ever. It's clear that Hollywood won't wake up to diverse films unless they're aggressively reminded to, because if awards season were truly based on merit, the nominations this year would look dramatically different. If we really want diversity to win, we need to let academy voters know. Otherwise, they'll keep handing out prizes to the only people they want to win: themselves.

Everything you need to know about the Baftas 2020

Heres who will win big at the Oscars 2020

Why the Baftas needs to throw more curveballs into awards season

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The Bafta 2020 nominations prove the industry treats diversity as a fad - British GQ

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Im a fan of reading inspirational and motivational quotes. I often find a great quote and share it with my team at Shepard Presentations, and sometimes with the readers of this column as well.

That brings me to Dan Sullivan, creator of the Strategic Coach program. Dan is a great coach who is full of great sayings. When I first met him, I asked why I should pay to be coached by him or one of his trainers. He gave me the same answer hes given to thousands of others, which, in a way, makes it a quote. But instead, Ill call it his brand promise. Its simple. Dan said, I want to help you grow your business 10 times and take off 150 days a year.

Ive been a part of the Strategic Coach program for more than 20 years now. Ive learned quite a bit. Ive grown my business and I take more time off than ever, although some years Im better at it than others. The point is, Im experiencing his promise first-hand.

Dan is a content machine, producing new material every few months to share with the thousands of clients he coaches. He comes up with sayings and phrases that make great sense. At our last coaching session, we were given a book, The Best Of: The Always Quotable Dan Sullivan. And today I want to share with you three of my favorite Dan Sullivan quotes:

1.There are two kinds of people: Batteries Included and Batteries Not Included.

I have a lot of energy. People often say Im like the Energizer BunnyI just keep going and going. As I read that quote, I recognized myself in those words. Im a Batteries Included kind of guy. And, I like hanging around people who are also Batteries Included. Those people are positive, energetic and motivated; they take charge and embrace challenges. They move in a positive direction. Batteries Not Included people are negative, cant see opportunity, complain a lot and dont take initiative. Who would you rather be around? Who would you want to work with? Who would you want as the leader of your organization? My answer (and probably yours, too) is a Batteries Included leader.

2.Sometimes growing pains can feel like failureand sometimes failure is part of the growth.

Failing isnt fun. There are many different types of failure: business, relationship, financial, athletic, personal, professional the list can go on and on. One thing Ive learned is that all failure leads to a lesson. This is something Dan teaches. Sometimes you may feel like youre failing when youre actually moving closer to growth and success. If you follow Dans methodology, youll realize success doesnt happen by accident. So, when you set out to do something new, first identify the best and worst possible outcomes. By identifying the worst in advance, you can recognize obstacles and find ways to lessen the likelihood of failure. Yet as carefully as you plan, remember that the best laid plans dont always result in success. Everyone is allowed to feel sorry for themselvesbut not for long. You must, metaphorically, get up and dust yourself off. Understanding what went wrong is crucial to avoiding it in the future. Failure is part of growth. Sounds like common sense, doesnt it? Well, unfortunately, its not so common. The best people will analyze both wins and losses/failuresand learn from both.

3.For a company to grow 10x, it doesnt need your managing, it needs self-managing.

This is the big secret to the Strategic Coach program. What Dan and his coaches teach is that the best leaders dont manage the company. They manage the process that creates a company that can manage itself. When I attended my first year of coaching sessions, I quickly realized what my talents were and what I needed to delegate. The only way to grow my business was to give it to others to growin other words, delegate and oversee. Ive yet to master this concept, but Im much further along than when I started. Study successful companies and youll discover that their leaders are often people who recognize what theyre good at and then surround themselves with others whose strengths complement their own. That is how you build a great teamand a great company.

There you have it. Three great quotesthree great pieces of advice. Consider how you can apply these quotes to your own lifeboth professional and personal. Look up some more of Dan Sullivans quotes, or find quotes from other thinkers and leaders who inspire you. Share these with your team. Let these nuggets of wisdom inspire and guide you toward success.

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Three Quotes That Inspire Great Leadership And Success - Forbes

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Coming Home contains truths about the relationship between African-Americans and Donald Trump that will not be reported by the media. Vernon Robinson and Bruce Eberle have broken new ground and explain how this relationship is key to President Trumps reelection. Ken Blackwell, former Ohio secretary of state

What do Kay Coles James, Ben Carson, Star Parker, Candace Owens, Ken Blackwell, Diamond and Silk, and Alveda King have in common?

They are bold, compassionate leaders who believe that every person is created equal by God himself. They understand that every human life has infinite value and limitless potential. They have suffered from some sort of discrimination but are not bitter. Instead, they seek reconciliation, believe in redemption, and work to advance a more just society. They know that hard work, economic freedom, the preservation of the traditional family, and reducing government control are the keys to success.

And they are black Americans who support the policies of President Trump.

If you listen to their personal stories and read their excellent writings, you will understand why they believe that if black Americans or Hispanic, Asian, white or any other Americans are to have a better chance of achieving personal success, then Donald Trump must be reelected president.

Leftists, who seek to enslave minorities and hold them captive to government control, dont want you to read the works of these brave Americans. They use cruel ridicule and slander in an effort to silence them and other heroes from the black community, because they understand that if more people of color knew the truth, they would vote for the freedom policies promoted by Mr. Trump.

We must read and spread their messages so that all Americans can continue to have their lives improved. Read Ms. James brilliant writings at Heritage.org or Mr. Carsons many inspiring speeches at hud.gov. Log on to Ms. Owens BlexitFoundation.org or to Ms. Parkers UrbanCure.org to be inspired. Become educated about the rights of a persecuted people at Ms. Kings CivilRightsForTheUnborn.org.

A fantastic new book by veteran political strategists Vernon Robinson III and Bruce Eberle, titled Coming Home: How Black Americans Will Reelect Trump, explains why black Americans will unleash freedom for all of us as they show up in record numbers to vote for Republican candidates and Mr. Trump.

As the authors point out, all we have to do is cut through the noise and lies and share the truth to the black community about who has their best interest at heart, and they will respond. Available on Amazon.com, Coming Home has lessons that will lead to victory in this election and for years to come as black Americans come to realize in even greater numbers why the GOPs policies of freedom and faith are essential for human thriving.

Mr. Eberle (on whose board I serve) has long known that black Americans embrace the freedom message when they hear it. Hes been active in the battle for equality and liberty longer than just about anyone, and spearheaded information campaigns that provided the margin for victory in the black community that Mr. Trump needed to win in 2016.

And the result? American blacks, Hispanics and Asians are enjoying record low numbers of unemployment. The percentage increase in wages is the highest since 2009, and is growing the fastest for low-income workers.

Mr. Eberle continues to make it his mission to obliterate leftist policies designed to keep minorities in poverty, divide Americans and make us all slaves to government.

America cant afford to be a divided nation. What gives us strength is unity. When we allow others to divide us for political gain, America is weakened, Mr. Eberle says. While Coming Home is the story of black Americans coming home to the party of Lincoln and Trump, its also a rebuttal of the idea that conservatives have a history of racism and that we are today racists.

In reality, conservatives are the champions of the downtrodden and of those who have been betrayed by those on the left. And, the very good news is that the sound economic policies of President Trump have helped those at the bottom of the economic ladder the most. What we are witnessing is a rebirth of the American Dream for all our citizens.

Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at [emailprotected]

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Black Americans are coming home to the GOP - Washington Times

How do you coach your sales teams?

Its a common challenge across sales teams throughout all industries: the natural tendency for many salespeople is to react versus create in the sales situations they find themselves. Like in other aspects of our lives, reacting to a situation as opposed to creatingor being in control ofa situation will not yield the success you want.

The problem is, as it relates to sales, if people arent held accountable, they will look for shortcuts and be reactive rather than creative. Thats where effective leadership comes into play. Salespeople want a leader that they look up to and trust. If you put processes in place that allow them to follow an effective and proven leader, they feel more ownership of their work.

Ive found that all too often, sales leadership will hold people accountable in the wrong way. They use the carrot and the stick approach rather than giving them the tools they need to succeed along the way. Instead, successful organizations focus on coaching, training, and providing the resources needed to create success rather than react to situations they didnt create.

This is why we created The Dakota Way. We believe there are distinct ways of working and doing a job. We aim to avoid shortcuts and focus on doing business in what we consider to be the right way. By right way, we mean doing the things other people don't want to do. Sales is hard; rejection is hard. But it's not personal. If you have a high-quality product, there are people who want to hear about it.

As a leadership team, we created a sales approach that defines how to sell an investment strategy to a professional buyer of investment strategies. Our goal has been to put an extreme amount of detail around the sales process so everyone on our team knows what works, how it works, and how to follow it. The buck stops with the leadership team. The tough reality about sales is this: most salespeople, without proper sales leadership, will do things that avoid doing what's most important because it's not easy.

Your goal as a sales leader is to hold people accountable for doing what is most important. However, before you can do that, leaders need to take responsibility for how they engage and interact with their teams. For me, I focus on my people personally and how to help them grow individually.

Its safe to always assume that your salespeople dont know what is needed to succeed, that they want to be led and shown how to succeed. As leaders, its your responsibility to help develop them according to your best practices. Ensure there is a high level of interaction with your sales team focused on reporting on how they are doing within the process you have designed.

There are many different levels of leadership and sales leadership, but to put the bare bones in place you want to be, in the words of the great leadership consultant and author, Robert Anderson William Adams who wrote Mastering Leadership, you must move beyond the Reactive leadership style to Creative leadership style.

Continue reading here:
The Key to a Performing Sales Team is Its Leadership - Forbes

Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson Its been a little bit crazy. Photograph: Mike English

Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson were at a Spice Girls concert last spring, just two figures in a sea of people. As they gazed around the stadium, Kay broke down in tears. Not because of anything the Spice Girls were singing, but because the two chefs were consumed by the thought of their own followers; they have more than 900,000 on Facebook. When we go to a gig, its like: We could fill this space so many times! It becomes very, very scary, Featherstone says.

They got the same feeling at Fleetwood Mac. Featherstone has sweaty palms just thinking about it. She and Allinson, who are business as well as life partners, try to forget the noughts and imagine a community of 900, but its still a long way from the days when they had their own restaurant with customers who came in every Sunday and even brought the pair presents if they went on a cruise.

No wonder Allinson, 48, and Featherstone, 34, sound bewildered, if not downright terrified. Their success as the chef duo Pinch of Nom has been sudden. Last spring, their first book of simple slimming recipes sold 500,000 copies in just five weeks (and recently passed the 1m mark). Last months follow-up, Everyday Light, sold nearly 130,000 in its first week, knocking David Walliams from the top of the bestseller list.

It has been a little bit crazy, Featherstone whispers, as if danger lurks nearby. They have had offers for TV shows offers for everything but have declined them all because they are really shy, says Featherstone, although she is the gobbier half because Kate doesnt usually like to talk. (Thats fair, says Allinson, whose T-shirt is emblazoned with the slogan: Introverts unite separately in your own homes.) When I ask if they might choose to meet their followers Im thinking of events they say that they did bump into some once, and you cant say it wont happen again. But it has never been about us, Featherstone says, and Allinson, a sort of quiet chorus, echoes her words. Its never been about us.

This is something of a mantra for Featherstone and Allinson, and Im intrigued by their wish to deny they are protagonists in their own enterprise. After all, many of their recipes are autobiographical. Tin of praters, a bacon, potato and onion bake, is lifted straight from Featherstones childhood, while the entire Pinch of Nom adventure took off when the two went along to their local Slimming World in Wirral four years ago, then began to post their own recipes to a growing Facebook community.

Their personal story is at the heart of their business but so is their disavowal of it. We dont spout about ourselves. Were not that sort, Featherstone says. They dont take selfies; even on their first date, the only picture they took was of a gull. Photographs of them are rare.

Neither of them has ever followed a specific diet; not Atkins, 5:2, keto nor intermittent fasting. In many ways, they are unlikely authors of a diet book. And this, I suspect, is at the heart of the pressure they feel a double bind in which the story of their efforts to lose weight speaks to their community, but also creates an expectation for a narrative of progress. I sometimes worry what people will think of us. Like, why the hell are you pushing a diet book when youre not a skinny minny? Featherstone says. Because its the accepted norm that people lose weight, [then] they do a book. But were still in that process.

In newspaper articles, Allinson and Featherstone are often described as two fat chefs. They laugh uproariously when I point this out. Do you know we have a little list of the things we have been described as? Featherstone says. Fat. Middle-aged. Jolly. Allinson chuckles. We found it really funny, Featherstone says. Then the tone abruptly shifts.

Sadly, it is the way that some people talk about people of our size. Fat is a word that people will use willy-nilly to describe people of size. And I personally hate it, Featherstone says. It makes me angry deep inside

In March, the pair revealed they were aiming to lose 190kg (30 stone) between them. Featherstone had so far lost 44kg and Allinson 31kg. Im curious as to how they divvied up the target. Featherstone says: We came up with that between us. They didnt figure out how much each wanted to lose? Weve never really had a target, Allinson says. Because I think that can put a lot of pressure on.

And we dont do pressure, Featherstone adds. But surely two books in the space of a year put pressure on them? We dont intentionally put pressure on ourselves, Allinson says. Is a better way of putting it, Featherstone nods.

Im curious to know if they have lost more weight since the first book, but Featherstone says that the numbers are still what they were.

The body of any diet author will always be taken as a measure of success. Is that on their mind? It cant not be, Featherstone says. We think about things a lot. Its why were both so anxious all the time We still struggle. Even now. We kind of fluctuate. We have a steady loss. And while fluctuation and steadiness may seem at odds with each other, no doubt those who are sharing their weight loss journey will relate to the apparent contradiction.

Weve always been really honest and open about it, Allinson says.

They have had an intense and challenging year, adjusting not just to huge public interest, but also to the loss of Allinsons mum. Or, as Featherstone puts it: Weve had a great year, but weve also had a shit year. Allinsons mother died in January, the day after the couple told her they were going to publish a book. When Allinson says this, her eyes are wet and shiny.

Has anyone got a tissue? Featherstone interjects. I assume she is asking for Allinson, but she quickly adds: Because Im wearing mascara and I know whats going to happen. Allinson fishes in her bag and passes her one. They happily rattle off their differences Allinson is organised, decisive and likes strong tea; Featherstone is disorganised, indecisive, talkative and takes her tea milky. But the two of them seem to understand and meet each others needs.

They met nearly 15 years ago, having seen each others profiles on Gaydar Girls. But I didnt message you for ages, Featherstone says. When they met, they got in the car and ended up in Rhyl, north Wales.

Within six months, Featherstone had moved into Allinsons family home in New Brighton, Wallasey, where the pair still live with Allinsons older sister, Lisa, and her dad (whom the three of them look after) as well as two cats. Ive been in the same house for how long is it? Forty-five years, Allinson says. Before this one, she lived in the house over the back, which was her nans B&B. I am trying to picture how the house just an old Victorian one, Allinson says must have felt with five adults in it. When they met, Allinson ran her own restaurant, Cromwells, in nearby Irby. Featherstone quickly took on front of house. Food was the driver of their relationship, and they went into work even when the restaurant was closed. I washed the pots. I wanted to learn how this whole thing worked. In their downtime, they watched, among other things, Two Fat Ladies (they have the DVDs) and ate lots of Chinese takeaways.

While Allinson had been to catering college and had gone on to be the head chef for the Boddingtons chain, Featherstone had left school at 16. She had helped a bit in her parents florist shop and did voiceovers at a radio station in Liverpool, but food and Allinson provided a place that felt like home.

The restaurant was hard work. Things came to a head when Allinsons mum, who did the accounts, had a brain haemorrhage. Within a few months, the restaurant closed, as they focused on caring for her. We grieved for the restaurant, Featherstone says. It hit us hard. Next they worked for a Canadian IT company which, if Ive understood correctly, speeds up the internet by using datacentres on the edge of the cloud. It sounds an unlikely fit, but both women say they wanted nothing to do with food after the restaurant shut. In between were months where we didnt do a whole bunch of much.

Then, in January 2016, Lisa persuaded them to go to Slimming World. They began to create the dishes that went into the first book in the tiny family kitchen that, they say, is smaller than the toilet in the offices of their London publisher, where we are meeting.

They photographed their food at the dining room table. It must have been a squeeze, but Allinsons mum said: If you want to do it, do it well. Allinsons dad lost a stone unintentionally just by eating their food. Then at Slimming World one week, they heard another person discussing a Pinch of Nom recipe and realised how far they had come. At that point, no one in the group knew who they were.

Now they have a test kitchen, a team of 11 and an army of followers they are scared to think about. Featherstone, Allinson and their family all eat the food they make. When people are trying to diet, and the rest of the family dont need to, it can feel as if youre on your own, Featherstone says. She knows this from personal experience. At her all-girls school, she was the tall one and the big one and dieted to fit in, but was bullied. The experience of being different hardened me, she says. But I suspect this hardening is a work-in-progress.

I am surprised, when I get home, and reread the articles that describe Allinson and Featherstone as two fat chefs, to see that the person who chose those words was none other than Featherstone herself. I email her to ask why, given how the description angers her, and she replies that it was a way of saying it first Its an ownership thing. I can call myself fat but no one else has that right.

Over the past six months, however, something has shifted; her feelings have evolved. Its not a word I like any more.

Pinch of Nom: Everyday Light by Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson is published by Pan Macmillan, price 20. To order a copy for 15, go to guardianbookshop.com or call 020 3176 3837. Free UK p&p on all online orders over 15. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99.

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Weve always been honest about our weight loss: the Pinch of Nom chefs on their recipe for success - The Guardian

An eternal intercontinental crossroads, its one of the most visited cities in the worldand as the capital of France, and the seat of many of its most important industries, Paris is equally valued on the startup scene.

Courtyard by Marriott captured some of the citys magic last month when it hosted a panel of two Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe listmakers about their paths to success. On stage at the Paris Gare de Lyon hotel, a hub for business travelers with global ambitions, the entrepreneurs shared what inspired their journeys and how their passions continue to fuel them.

Emma Smiths world has been growing. At 27, shes on an international flight every couple days, starting up Africas first international neobank, Eversend. But she was raised on tiny Orcas Island, off the far north coast of Washington State, with no internet or TV at home. You go a little crazy, she says with a laugh.

Eager to taste the outside world, she did her high-school junior year abroad in Costa Rica. It was the first time I realized that the kind of utopia I grew up in, people didnt have there. They lacked a lot of basic services.

At university in London, she studied economic development principles that would shape Eversend: I learned the capabilities approachits not about the things you give people to alleviate poverty but about the opportunities you give them to lift themselves. Its about access.

Smith established a microfinance initiative in Togo, but it was a challenge to deliver money to applicants. In Africa, 66% of the people dont have a bank account, she notes. To receive wire transfers from overseas, they usually have to pay 20% commission. But everyone has a cell phone.

There had to be a better wayand Smith found it when she met Ugandan fintech developer Stone Atwine and software engineer Ronald Kasendwa, who were working on an idea for a borderless mobile banking system to serve Africas rapidly growing population. They saw value in Smiths perspective and real-world experience, and the three joined forces to found Eversend last year.

With backing from a Swedish angel investor, a Berlin accelerator and a French government initiative, Eversend is now opening an HQ in Paris (in addition to its Kapala, Uganda, office), where all three now live, and has an international team of 14. Our competitors have raised millions, but weve been getting more traction, Smith says, because were scrappy.

Now, says Smith, the entire team needs to learn French, but theyre up for a challenge. When money was tight, Smith and her partners cadged buffet leftovers from networking events. For much of last year, she was nomading, with no fixed address. She learned she didnt need as much as she thought; Smith can fit everything she owns into a suitcase, and I stay ready to go at all times. Plans change, meetings pop up.

It takes energy to be that mobile. Smith finds it from knowing shes helping Africa unleash its full potential. People forget what an incredible opportunity Africa is. Its time the U.S. and Europe got on board.

When Julie Yan told her parents she was launching a travel startup, now part of the leading online travel agency in France, they were like, thank god we have two other children, she says with a laugh.

Yans parents, who moved from Yunan, China, to Paris before she was born, felt it was very important that I have a stable and noble job. Becoming a lawyer or doctor were my only choices.

Yan completed a law degree at the Sorbonne but never took the bar exam.

I wanted to be on the other side of the table from the lawyers, she says. I wanted them to work for me.

She took jobs in government and finance, but walking around her Paris neighborhood sparked an idea that excited her more. You see the busses full of Chinese tourists, and theyre treated like meat, shed observed. I decided Ill create cool packages for them. In 2015, she started Jolitel, a travel agency that designs European and Mediterranean tours for the Chinese market.

And eight months after launch, with Jolitels business steadily climbing, Yans mother left her own job to work for her daughters company. Today, shes director of operations for China.

In 2017, Yan merged her company with Karavel-Promovacances & Fram Group, the large French online travel agency, becoming its youngest executive director at age 28. Last year, the company brought in 600 million in sales.

Our parents worked for a paycheck, but for our generation, its not enough, she says. Young people need a purpose, and when they find one congruent to their own path and personal goals, theyll give 200%.

That notion drives her teams pay structure. Everyone is given the opportunity to become a shareholder, Yan says. To see an intern who was once too shy to speak become a manager and convince clients in meetings gives me great pride. She recently became a mentor with government-backed incubator French Tech Tremplin, which works with talent facing socioeconomic barriers.

Yan sees the travel agency as the first of many entrepreneurial pursuits. Her next will be at the intersection of wellness and environmentalism, but she wont reveal more than the name, Blue Dot, and that shes developing it with fellow Forbes 30 Under 30 listmaker Akash Mehta.

My first [goal] was to make a company that worked, she says. The next will be about impact. Ill allocate a portion of its revenue to organizations working on climate change and the environment.

Courtyard by Marriott was the first hotel built for business travelers. Since opening its doors 35 years ago, its been dedicated to helping guests pursue both personal and professional passions. Like its guests, Courtyard believes that success is not about a single achievement; its about the journeyalways moving forward and never settling.

Continue reading here:
Passion Driving Success: In Paris, Two Of Europes Rising Entrepreneurs Share What Fuels Them - Forbes

It did not take long for the Dallas Cowboys to find Jason Garrett's replacement. Less than 24 hours after the team announced that it was finally moving on from the long-time coach, it was widely reported that the Cowboys will hire former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy.

The merits of this hiring can be debated ad nauseam (and you can listen to me, Will Brinson, and Patrik Walker discuss them in the podcast linked below), but that's not what we're here to discuss. We're here to look forward, at what McCarthy needs to do to find success for however long he holds the position.

He's coming into a job where immediate success is the expectation, with Jerry Jones stating that he preferred a candidate with previous NFL head coaching experience to a coordinator or college coach due to his misguided belief that the latter types of candidates experience far less success in their jobs than the former. McCarthy has a strong roster on his side, but roster talent alone is not enough to find the kind of success that Jones envisions, as we saw this season.

Below, we'll detail five different ways that McCarthy himself can add value and help the Cowboys get back to where they want to be.

Prescott's contract has expired, but Jerry and Stephen Jones have stated on numerous occasions that he will be the quarterback for the Cowboys next season. Whether on the franchise tag or a long-term deal, Dak is going to be under center for this team, likely for McCarthy's entire tenure. And that means any success the coach has can and will start with how he's able to develop Prescott.

McCarthy himself admitted as such in an interview with The Athletic. "The offense has to be built around making the quarterback successful," McCarthy said. "That's what I've always believed, and that won't change."

Building around Prescott is far different from building around Aaron Rodgers. The two have in common the ability to make plays by using their athleticism to escape from the rush and create outside of the offensive structure, but apart from that they are not all that similar as passers.

Rodgers was able to find great success early in McCarthy's tenure with throws to the perimeter of the field on isolation routes, such as back-shoulder fades to the likes of Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, and later Davante Adams. Rodgers was also averse to play-action passing, as he was not very comfortable turning his back to the defense. Prescott is far better at attacking the middle of the field than the sidelines, which means the Cowboys should use different route combinations than those that populated the Packers' playbook. Dak has also been a far more effective passer when throwing after a run fake than out of straight drop-backs. The Cowboys incorporated a ton of play-action early this season, but their usage tailed off as the year went along. Getting back to that strength should be an important component of McCarthy's offense.

An increased use of shifts and motion (especially at-snap motion, which the Ravens and 49ers have led the way on this season) should be part of the plan as well, in order to keep defenses guessing about what's coming before and after the snap. Plays that include a shift and/or motion have tended to be more efficient than those that don't, and while they likely cannot be used on every play, their extensive use should be encouraged in order to put Prescott and his skill position corps in position to succeed.

McCarthy will have at his disposal one of the NFL's best offensive lines, with three multi-time All-Pros anchoring the unit. That should allow him to afford Prescott excellent protection on the regular, but that doesn't mean the majority of the passing plays should be as slow-developing as many of Green Bay's were. Prescott excels in the quick game, and especially on the RPO concepts that comprised so much of his offense at Mississippi State. The Packers did not use RPO action all that offense during McCarthy's tenure, but he would be wise to change that tune in his new job. Utilizing Prescott as a runner, especially in short yardage situations, should also be on the docket. He's a good decision-maker on read-option runs, and the Cowboys did not tap into that part of his skill set often enough under Garrett's leadership.

There will be a temptation to base the offense around the exploits of $90 million running back Ezekiel Elliott, but despite the fact that he is an obviously good player and should be heavily involved in the team's plans, it needs to be accepted up and down the organization that running is far less efficient than passing and thus Elliott should be viewed as a complement to Prescott as opposed to the other way around. That's true whether Prescott performs like the MVP candidate he was for more than half of this season or the above-average quarterback he has been for the majority of his career. The $90 million for Elliott has already been spent. (Or will be spent. The deal hasn't actually started yet.) You don't have to run the ball down opponents' throats to try to justify the price tag. Instead, you should utilize Elliott's versatility to buoy what Prescott can do.

The Cowboys can put Elliott in better position to succeed than he has been over the past few seasons by not tasking him with running into stacked boxes as often (Kellen Moore did a far better job of this than his predecessor, Scott Linehan); not running him up the middle on first downs as often; utilizing him more often in "and-short" situations and near the goal line, where running is often more effective than passing into windows constricted by a lack of space; and getting him more involved in the passing game than he was this season -- and not just in the screen game.

It's also perfectly fine for the Cowboys to lighten Elliott's load by reducing his snap share and giving a bit more work to Tony Pollard. The explosive rookie ranked first in the NFL in Pro Football Focus' Elusive Rating this season, forcing 26 missed tackles on only 101 touches and averaging 4.51 yards after contact per attempt. He was an excellent receiver during his time at Memphis, and that part of his skill set went under-utilized throughout his rookie season. (He had only 15 catches.) In addition to providing the defense with a different look and actually getting value out of last year's fourth-round pick, doing this would have the benefit of not over-working Elliott, who has had at least 350 touches in three of his four NFL seasons and is under contract for six more years. If the Cowboys want him to come close to making it through that deal, they need to pull back on the throttle a little bit.

Dallas would also do well to prioritize finding more Pollard types who can be threats in both the run game and the pass game, as well as receivers who can play either outside or in the slot. Keeping defenses guessing is an important part of success in the NFL these days, and that's far more difficult to do if you line up the same way on every snap. Versatility in the run game and the pass game can only help.

With that in mind, it's obviously important for Dallas to retain Amari Cooper in addition to Prescott. He slowed down toward the end of this season, but Cooper also played injured all year. He has flashed extraordinary talent throughout his career, and he has shown marvelous chemistry with Prescott at times. The same is true of Michael Gallup, who emerged as a legitimate co-No. 1 while Cooper struggled down the stretch, but it'd be best to keep them in tandem as opposed to having to find a No. 2 and a new slot receiver to complement Gallup. (Assuming Randall Cobb is let go, because he's likely too expensive to retain given the Cowboys' need to pay so many other core players.)

That third receiver spot is an important one, and it'd be good for the Cowboys to find a speedy type who excels with the ball in his hands, like the 49ers did with Deebo Samuel in last year's draft. That'd give them a technician (Cooper), a deep threat (Gallup), and a YAC guy (whoever), all of which you need to challenge defenses in a variety of ways, to a variety of areas on the field.

McCarthy has spent the past several weeks telling any journalist who will listen about all the learning he did throughout his season away from football. In interviews with NFL.com, NBC, and The Athletic, McCarthy detailed his extensive plans for a football technology unit and an analytics department, both of which represent significant departures from the way he operated in Green Bay.

There's a flow chart for his proposed 14-person Football Technology Department, including a six-person video unit and an eight-person analytics team. The Chief of Football Technology tops the department, which will run both video and analytics. The top analytics lieutenants will be a Coordinator of Database Management, Coordinator of Football Analytics and Coordinator of Mathematical Innovation. Below them: Football Technology Engineer and two Football Technology Analysts. And finally, a Football Technology Intern. McCarthy spent a day last summer at Pro Football Focus offices in Cincinnati, discovering how much more data is available than he realized. PFF data will be a key component of his analytics tree, as will GPS tracking of players and Next Gen Stats.

The mathematical innovation hire will be crucial. "This guy here has to see the world differently," McCarthy said, pointing to that job on the flow chart. "He will be very, very important."

But employing "computer folk," as Giants GM Dave Gettleman likes to call them, is not enough. You have to be open to incorporating these ideas into your decision-making process. Garrett famously told the media this season that not only did the Cowboys not utilize that type of information in their in-game decision-making, he did not even want to receive the information.

That doesn't mean McCarthy should do what "the analytics say" every single time, in every single situation. It just means that he should include evidence-based information as one of many factors in his decisions, so that if he does go against what "the analytics say," he knows that he's doing so, and can have a good reason why.

This is a big one. McCarthy is the same guy who once kicked a field goal on fourth-and-1 from inside the 25-yard line three times in the same playoff game, then defended the decision the following day, even after his team lost in overtime. I have written extensively on this website about Garrett's horrendous decision-making in fourth-and-short situations, and how his extreme preference for kicking field goals and punting back to the other team cost the Cowboys meaningful opportunities for points and wins.

Given the setup of the Dallas offense, with Prescott (6-2, 238 pounds), Elliott (6-0, 228 pounds), Pollard (first in the NFL in Pro Football Focus' Elusive Rating), and the NFL's highest-paid (and arguably best) offensive line, McCarthy should become extremely aggressive when faced with the same types of situations. He was ahead of the curve on fourth downs for much of his Green Bay tenure, but became overly conservative by the end. He needs to get back to letting his offense try to convert.

McCarthy had a pretty good record on challenges during his Green Bay tenure, with his 47 of 93 overall mark dragged down by two outlier seasons (5 of 14 in 2009 and 1 of 6 in 2014). Being more judicious with challenges -- which should almost always be saved for high-leverage situations and instances where the call is at least somewhat likely of being overturned -- is another improvement he can make.

The Packers were often among the better two-minute offenses in the NFL during McCarthy's tenure, but much of that was due to Rodgers' brilliance. The coach was criticized fairly often for his clock management (another thing he has in common with Garrett) and timeout usage, both of which are things that should be fairly easy to fix. If he can't, that's a concern.

The "more creative" here applies to both what McCarthy's defenses were like in Green Bay and what the Cowboys' defenses were like these past couple years.

In particular, multiple opponents publicly stated in the last two years that they knew exactly what the Dallas defense was doing before the snap. The Rams offensive line was very open that they knew what was happening on 90 percent of the snaps in their playoff win over the Cowboys last year. And this season, several opposing quarterbacks and coaches stated that they knew the Cowboys would be running Cover 3 or Cover 1 on a near every-snap basis. In Green Bay, McCarthy kept Dom Capers as his defensive coordinator long past the time when his defenses were effective, and despite the fact that Capers' defenses kept being beaten by the same types of plays in the same types of ways. (Go watch any game where the Packers faced a read-option run, but especially the one where Colin Kaepernick lit the field on fire in the 2012 divisional round.)

The Cowboys need to base their defensive strategy on confusing the opposing offense rather than merely out-executing them. Executing better than the opponent is obviously important, but given how complex NFL offenses are these days, and how smart opposing coordinators and coaches can take advantage of a defense when they know exactly what's coming, it's paramount that the Cowboys get a bit more exotic in their schemes, and especially in terms of disguising their post-snap plans.

Incorporating more blitzing should absolutely be in the cards, for example. The Cowboys have been among the most blitz-averse teams for a while now, and they sent an extra rusher on only 23 percent of snaps this season, the seventh-lowest rate in the NFL. If you take a look at the Ravens -- who are incorporating evidence-based decision-making into their play calls -- they sent a blitz on 55 percent of defensive snaps this season. The Ravens also led the NFL in quarterback knockdown rate, at 10.8 percent. It's difficult not to see the connection there.

The Cowboys as an organization should also be open to valuing different positions in different ways than they have in the past. They have not invested significant resources in the safety position since the Darren Woodson era, and it has been a weak spot for them for years. They have to admit it hasn't worked, and cannot come into next season with Jeff Heath and Xavier Woods as their starters. Expanding their idea of acceptable size measurements at certain positions is a must as well. They can't pass on the next T.J. Watt for the next Taco Charlton because the latter fits their rigid positional benchmarks and the former does not. You have to be willing to make exceptions for superior talents.

Multiple reports indicate that McCarthy is courting Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan to fill the position, bring their relationship full circle, as Nolan hired McCarthy to be his offensive coordinator in San Francisco back in 2005, which led to McCarthy's hiring in Green Bay. The defenses Nolan has coordinated throughout his career have been largely average, with a few seasons where they were very good and a few where they were very bad.

It's certainly possible that Nolan has learned a bunch of new tricks during his three years with the Saints, but it's at least worth noting that he has been willing to switch between 3-4 and 4-3 schemes throughout his career. The Cowboys have been a 4-3 team for the past several seasons, though those specific alignments matter less in the modern NFL, when teams are rarely in their base defense anyway.

You can't win if your players aren't on the field. Jason Garrett liked to say that the Cowboys prioritized the "right kind of guys," but in recent seasons his teams were repeat violators of the NFL's personal conduct, performance enhancing drug, and substance abuse policies, resulting in numerous suspensions.

Since 2014, Orlando Scandrick, Jakar Hamilton, Josh Brent, Greg Hardy, Rolando McClain, Joseph Randle, R.J. Dill, Randy Gregory, Demarcus Lawrence, Damontre Moore, David Irving, Ezekiel Elliott, Shaquelle Evans, Terrance Williams, Robert Quinn, and Rico Gathers have all been suspended for violating one of the aforementioned policies.

That's 16 different players, who were suspended a total of 24 times, leading to 102 missed games. All three of those totals lead the league, with the number of suspensions and missed games blowing the rest of the NFL out of the water. (The closest teams are the Giants and Jets with 19 suspensions, and the Bears with 84 games missed due to suspension.) The team was responsible for 7 percent of all suspensions during that time. That cannot be acceptable to the next coach.

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Here are five ways new head coach Mike McCarthy can make the Cowboys contenders and be considered a success - CBS Sports

Location: New York, New York Function: Marketing & Communications Specialty: Digital Marketing Level: Experienced (Non-Manager) Duration: Full Time Salary Description: competitive

About the Team

Working within a dynamic Global Marketing Team delivering visitors to our hugely successful events across the UK and US (includes NYC Television Week, OTT Distribution Summit, Wonder Women in Streaming, Advanced Advertising and many more across our 12 verticals - Education, Media Tech, Media Entertainment, Photography, Homes and more) this role operates at a fast pace, in the thick of campaign management, strategy and implementation. Working solely on our US based Media Entertainment vertical, this role is hugley instrumental in delivering registration and revenue to our events business.

Job Purpose

The role of Marketing Executive for the Global Events Team in New York, supports the Head of Marketing (HOM) with the key aim to generate high quality delegates and registration revenue for our Media Entertainment events within the B2B portfolio. The role will also strongly support sales to deliver awareness to our key potential sponsorship Clients.

Youll be responsible for working with the HOM to implement 360 degree marketing plans for our events including email campaigns, partnerships, PPC, social media, advertising, print and digital campaigns, sales campaigns and PR.

Experience in developing content and copy is key, with support from editorial teams.

Working with internal stakeholders including sales teams, market leaders and editorial teams to represent and market the event in the best possible way.

Responsible for supporting the HOM to implement and create websites whilst monitoring and reporting via Google Analytics.

Working with an internal Studio to deliver campaign assets for every campaign.

Experience of campaign management and managing a busy schedule is key as you will be working on numerous campaigns simultaneously to hit critical deadlines. Excellent communication skills are also required as you will be liaising with a number of stakeholders and external agencies and partners.

Experience in analytics, recording critical information for each campaign so we can measure against KPIs as well as make recommendations for future campaigns.

Key Responsibilities

Executing marketing campaigns with the support of the HOM, producing high quality, response-driven campaigns

Recording and monitoring key metrics to accurately track success of eachcampaign

Delivery of all creative assets including all campaign artwork for an event

Deliver on-site graphics and work

Making recommendations for future campaigns and measures KPIs

Writing and editing high quality, compelling copy, which is accurate and grammatically correct, making sure that all campaign execution supports the defined value proposition for the brand

Helping develop and maintain all relevant sales communication to our Clients with the aim of driving sponsorship

Developing accurate and timely reports and forecasts

Following and helping implement best practice within the team (US and UK)

Creating and maintaining effective working relationships with internal stakeholders and third-party partners via telephone, written communication and face-to-face meetings, ensuring activity is fully aligned to the needs of the portfolio

Demonstrating industry awareness and audience understanding across defined marketing products and broader portfolio, identifying key competitors, monitoring audience and marketing activity, highlighting changing marketing techniques and identifying opportunities for best practice process improvements and collateral development across Future

Attendance of the events in the US and a flexible working approach is key

What do I need to succeed?

Understanding the principles of marketing, ROI and measurement

Project management and organisation skills and ability to manage simultaneous projects to tight deadlines and to prioritise tasks that deliver greatest revenue opportunities

Ability to develop a deep understanding of audience and products

Excellent communication skills verbal and written and a strong track record of creating compelling and effective communications

Copy writing, proof reading skills and attention to details

Strong analytical skills

Exemplary interpersonal skills and team-working

Computer literate with good knowledge of I.T. including Office packages, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook

Would be useful to have knowledge of Adestra, Selligent and Media View but not essential

Able to utilise CMS to build websites in programs such as Swoogo

What will I get in return?

As well as our standard benefits, we have a number of awesome perks available to our staff including:

Unlimited paid time off (yes you read that right!)

A share in our success- every member of staff receives a profit pool bonus at the end of our financial year

Free food (monthly munchies, bagel Fridays, fresh fruit & snacks and coffee and tea on tap)

Central office locations with cool open plan working spaces

Free digital magazine subscriptions and access to back copies of our print magazines and bookazines

Discounted gym membership and onsite health & wellbeing (yoga at lunch anyone?!)

Annual Future conference - get together with your colleagues to celebrate success and look forward to what's next

Regular staff socials arranged by our wonderful Employee Community & Culture committees

Huge opportunities to learn and develop whether through professional qualifications, exposure to incredible business projects or informal lunch & learns, hosted by your colleagues

Give something back- Future will match your personal charity fundraising efforts up to 300

We are Future

Connectors. Creators. Experience Makers

We have big ambitions to transform media and change peoples lives. Together, we connect people to their passions through the high-quality content we create and the innovative technology we pioneer. Its an incredibly exciting time to join!

Future is the name behind market-leading brands in specialist sectors across technology, gaming & entertainment, music, creative & photography, hobbies, knowledge and home interest.

Were dedicated to creating loyal fans of our brands, and the number is growing all the time. Our global reach is phenomenal with over 250 million consumers across 180 + world-leading brands. Its an incredible privilege to have such a passionate audience base across our websites, magazines, social media and events.

Every kind of talent is celebrated here. We hire for person not for the role, looking for people who share our ambitions to be bold and innovate, making Future a global success story.

Lets do this!

To apply for this role, please submit your CV and a covering letter explaining why this is your dream job!

Applicants for employment in the US must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States and with Future.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other basis as protected by federal, state, or local law.

Job candidates will not be obligated to disclose sealed or expunged records of conviction or arrest as part of the hiring process.

Future is committed to providing veteran employment opportunities to our service men and women.

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Marketing Executive (Media Entertainment Events) job with Future Publishing Ltd | 408984 - mediabistro.com