Ashleigh Davis is the Events & Communications Manager at Movio, a global leader in marketing data analytics and campaign management solutions for the cinema industry.
Balance the Grind spoke to Ashleigh about splitting her time between events and communications at Movio, a typical day in her varied role, tricks to manage her busy workload, life balance and more.
This conversation is brought to you by Teachable, a powerful yet simple all-in-one platform to create and sell beautiful online courses.
1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your background and career?
I graduated with a degree in event management and advertising in 2012, and spent the next few years trying my hand at a few different roles.
Marketing, content, events and even travel sales made their way onto my resume as I began exploring which area felt most like “me”.
Right the way along, I knew the main thing that kept me feeling motivated and passionate was the ability to create incredible experiences for people – whether that be through my writing, event organisation or the perfect holiday.
Now that I’ve looped back to events, I feel like I must’ve known all along where I would end up – and now I’m here!
2) What is your current role and what does it entail on a day to day basis?
I’m the Events and Communications Manager at Movio. Day-to-day, that means my role is roughly split into two parts:
- I handle the evolution of digital destinations such as our website, blog, social media, and monthly newsletter and,
- I manage Movio’s presence at global industry events, at the Vista Group Conference (the Vista Group are Movio’s “mother ship”) and any internal event at Movio that relates to our brand.
Lastly, I launched the W Platform in October of last year which is a group aimed at bringing the women in our business together once a month to develop new skills, share career advice, and hear from other professionals in the technology and business space.
3) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
My days are so varied, it’s genuinely hard to describe a “typical day”! The only consistent is checking my emails as soon as I get in, but even that could change if I need to take a call with one of our offices in LA or London.
As a small marketing team, I’m constantly working on all sorts of tasks:
- from blog post edits to website updates
- strategising for upcoming client events to executing on internal ones
- liasing with suppliers for new Movio swag to managing translations of our comms for other regions
Dull days are rare!
4) Do you have any tips, tricks or shortcuts to help you manage your workload and schedule?
1. Manage your expectations and the expectations of others. Biting off more than you can chew leaves you feeling tired, your manager feeling disappointed and your team feeling like they can’t rely on you.
Challenges are important, but be clear on the time, energy and resource you have available so that everyone involved has an accurate expectation of what will be delivered.
2. Always prioritise. I usually do this based on who’s asking and when they need it by. It helps you knock out the big, scary stuff first so that you can breeze through the smaller and less urgent tasks.
3. Tick things off as you go. It feels good, plus it prevents you from missing anything!
Balance, to me, is fundamental to having a happy life so I try to avoid thinking of days as ‘work days’ or ‘days off’ – they are just days. I tend to be more creative and productive this way, too.
5) In between your job, life and all your other responsibilities, how do you ensure you find some sort of balance in your life?
For some people, having clear lines between work and play and exercise and relationships etc. is the right way to go, but for me I try and blend them all up.
For example, I genuinely find event trends and the psychology behind marketing fascinating, so I’m often reading articles and listening to podcasts on the topic while I take a weekend walk or am doing my housework.
Equally, I love using my lunch break to watch interesting video content, take a yoga class or do some online shopping!
Balance, to me, is fundamental to having a happy life so I try to avoid thinking of days as ‘work days’ or ‘days off’ – they are just days. I tend to be more creative and productive this way, too.
6) What does work life balance mean to you?
To me, it’s just life balance.
My job is a big part of who I am, and I genuinely love the projects I get to work on – so I don’t mind Googling things at midnight from bed or writing ideas down in my iPhone when I’m at cool events in the weekend.
I think that’s a big reason why everyone should try to work in a field that represents their passions and values, because then work-life balance comes naturally.
If you’re ever unsure about whether or not you’re spending too much time worrying about work, ask your family and friends. Are they seeing you enough? Do you seem happy? They are usually a great indicator of whether you’re finding balance!
7) What do you think are some of the best habits you’ve developed over the years to help you strive for success and balance?
Goal-setting and reflection. Thinking big-picture about where I want to be in 1-3 years and setting up goals to achieve this makes it feel like I’m actually getting somewhere.
I tend to write down this list of 5-6 big goals – both career-oriented and personal – for the year and a bunch of mini actions for each that will help me reach them, then I tackle one or two at a time.
You get to the end of the year, look back, and realise how far you’ve come.
8) Are there any books on work life balance that have helped you over the years?
In all honesty, I rarely read career-specific books – I’m much more of a holistic happiness type of girl!
There have been so many books that have helped me find joy and life purpose, which have had a knock-on effect to my job satisfaction. I love:
- You Can be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective by Richard Carlson
- 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
- Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (currently reading – and loving!)
9) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
Lists! I am Queen of Lists. They keep me productive, focused and accountable.
10) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
The most powerful thing I ever did for my life and career was write down what I thought my dream life might look like. I now do this once a year.
If there were no boundaries, what job would I want? Where would I live? Who would be around me? What hobbies would I take up?
Once you present yourself with a blueprint for the life you want, you can actually take steps to get it.
The second most powerful thing I ever did, was realise that everyone has bad days – but they don’t have to last forever. Shake them off, write a list, get back out there. You’ve got this.
