GROOM SADIE
In 2017, CEO of Bubble Agency Sadie Groom decided that she΄d had enough of the male-only panels at trade shows, the male-dominated C-suite in broadcast and a mutual lack of confidence among women in tech. Taking matters into her own hands, she founded Rise – a global group offering mentoring, training and awards across all job roles, plus an academy for children and university students. She joins FEED to share all about her career, her own experiences of gender inequality, the launch of Rise and the critical progress that still desperately needs to be made.
was approached to do a marketing role for another publisher who produced magazines in the media and broadcast sector. They also published for Avid, which eventually led to me becoming their European PR manager. Afterwards, during some time of difficulty, I was made redundant. However, Avid promised me that they would grant their contract to whichever PR agency I joined. I interviewed at about four or five different agencies, the last one being the final straw. This was where I was interviewed by a man who still had his egg-and-bacon breakfast down his shirt – and also happened to be very condescending about my career and background, only giving me the time of day because he knew I had the Avid contract. That’s when I said: ‘Right, I’m doing it myself,’ which was when I launched Bubble Agency 25 years ago. I was 26 and had no clue what I was doing – it’s had massive ups and downs. I’ve done two recessions and had a child, yet we are still here! A large part of my career has been focused on Bubble and Rise, but a big milestone for me has been securing non-executive director positions, of which I hold three. I’m on the board with the DPP but the other two are completely different sectors, which allows me to learn and meet different people. Can you tell us the story of Rise? It began with the fact that I always noticed I was being treated differently. I remember meeting a company at IBC, and they were pitching out their PR contract. There were three men; it was quite embarrassing because they’d lined us all up – and the guys went in first. Then, it was me and another woman, followed by a bunch of guys after that… and then the two women didn’t get it. It might have been for other reasons, but it did go to one of the male-
FEED: What got you into the broadcast industry?
SADIE GROOM: Most people would be surprised to hear that my degree is in theology. So the route was either nun or teacher, and I didn’t want to do either. While I was at university, I was very lucky and got the opportunity to work at Vogue . First, I thought I wanted to go into journalism, then I realised that I actually wanted to go to the PR side. I first worked for a technology PR agency that carried out PR for the printing industry – not exactly glamorous but it gave me a good start. After that, I went to work for Centaur publishing. At the time, they published Televisual magazine, which is when I first became really interested in this space. Then, I
feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook