Felicity Cowie (English Literature, 1992-1995) shares how her time at the University of Kent directly led her to publishing her first book in June

Felicity Cowie

Whilst a student at Kent University I worked for Kred (the name of the weekly printed university newspaper back then, an acronym of the colleges and I’m guessing a play on the word ‘cred’?). I also set up a magazine for creative writing called The Platform which was kindly backed with some funding by all four college masters.

Kred

Because of all of that I managed to get a foot in the door at the Kentish Gazette in Canterbury and was extremely lucky to get a sponsored traineeship which started the week after graduation. I went on to become a BBC News and Panorama senior staff journalist. However, for the last 12 years I’ve worked as a media relations troubleshooter for some of the world’s leading organisations.

Having insights into both the newsroom and corporate worlds I saw there was a real opportunity to help them understand each other much better. I wanted to put a book into the hands of the founders of the leading businesses of tomorrow.

So, I created a proposal for it which won a competition run by a key publisher of business books and smart thinking.

I was absolutely delighted and honoured when one of today’s leading venture capital investors in tech companies, Eileen Burbidge MBE, wrote the foreword to my book and called it ‘a must-read for founders. A truly game-changing guide.’

Exposure: Insider Secrets to Make Your Business a Go-To Authority for Journalists is published on 14 June and available from booksellers globally.