A weekly feature on the lives and loves of people from our city.
My day: My working day starts at 8am when I am rudely awoken by my alarm shouting at me to get up.
I’ve never been a morning person so the snooze button is utilised a fair amount at this point. Still, I manage to roll myself out of bed at around 8.20am, shower, chuck on my finest clothing (shorts and a T shirt) and head off to work via the underground, making it to work at 8.59am, on time. Promise.
Taking the underground to work is an experience to start off with, but slowly turns into a chore.
Living in Shenzhen – a city of about 16 million people – means the metro gets extremely busy at peak times. There is a lot of hustling and bustling for a space, though being tall (by Chinese standards) helps!
Once I arrive in the office I catch up on the latest news from home and talk to my team about the day’s work.
The creative team consists of a variety of different people from different countries and cultures: India, The Philippines, China, Spain, Portugal, and of course, the UK.
Together we work to conceptualise and produce creative concepts that will be used all over the world.
We’re active on a variety of mediums: the web, television and print and are involved in both B2B and B2C advertisement and marketing.
My general day-to-day tasks include creative brainstorming, written product info (website text, leaflet text), liaising with the design team to ensure creative concepts are effectively executed and being on hand to answer any English language questions!
Until recently I was the only Englishman in the office.
The job is hard. Engaging your mind daily to be creative and think outside of the box can be time consuming, frustrating and sometimes leave you scratching your head for days on end.
The end result though is extremely rewarding. You get to physically see your work featured all over the world and to be told, but also see, that your work is benefiting the company positively gives you that extra kick.
For lunch I usually hang out with some other foreigners (Westerners).
The menu usually consists of sushi, noodles, pasta, rice, McDonalds or my famous sandwiches. It is a nice time to relax – and sometimes sleep (a common phenomenon in China) – before you prepare for intense afternoons in the office.
I finish work at 6pm – though it is common to work overtime in China – and head home on the packed metro.
My evenings usually consist of teaching English part time, playing football, or going to the gym. Teaching is a great way to earn a bit of extra pocket money here, especially for a native speaker.
After that I will catch up on a bit more news from home, stick on a film, run around my room for five minutes trying to kill mosquitos and then go to sleep, around 12am.
Dress: I usually just chuck on jeans and a T-shirt, though with the hot weather picking back up here, I will stick on my shorts.
What is the favourite part of your job? Diversity. One day you’re working on product text, the other you’re creating a global advert that needs to be sent for printing the next day, the next day it’s something else.
I really enjoy the company of my colleagues – who’re generally a little bit older than me. They have so much life experience and stories to tell that you learn something new every day!
What is your least favourite part of your job? Overtime! It is incredibly common in China. The worst thing is you don’t get paid for it either! Unless you work till 8.30pm, then you get 15RMB – $1.50.
What would be your dream job if you weren't doing what you do now? Growing up as a lad I played football a lot. I represented Chester City for a number of years. I would have loved to of been a footballer, but that is just for the select few.
How do you relax when you are not working? I play football for an expatriate team called The Colombian Dream Team – full of Colombians. I also spend a few evenings a week in the gym and later, the sauna.
What is your favourite film? The Wolf of Wall Street.
What is your favourite book? Any interesting footballing autobiographies or fantasy adventure!
What is your favourite song? High Contrast – The Road Goes On Forever.
If a film was made of your life, who would you like to play you? Ed Helms.
Have you had your 15 minutes of fame? I starred in Alcatel Onetouch’s global Facebook campaign (which I also helped create!).
We want to hear from people from all walks of life – to take part, email jo.henwood@trinitymirror.com or fill out the form below:
