Beth Kirkbride

Founder @The Indiependent

Oxford, GB

I established this communal platform for aspiring journalists in 2014, and the site has blossomed into a cultural media outlet, producing a wide range of Music, Film, TV, Games, Books, Theatre, Opinion, Politics, Lifestyle and Art articles. We have published 5,500+ articles to date, and currently have over 650 active contributors. As founder/editor-in-chief my responsibilities include making sure the site is regularly updated with appropriate, engaging content. This requires elements of web-design (using Wordpress.org as our CMS), as well as management of social media accounts across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. As music editor, I communicate with PR companies and record labels to ensure we are providing relevant, current articles for our audience. One of the most important facets of this role is making sure that the team does not do anything that contravenes copyright law and making sure the editorial team do not publish or share embargoed content. We communicate with contributors via email and through a private Facebook group, where we post review opportunities. In May 2020 we published our first print edition, in a unique charity edition raising money for the British Lung Foundation. I oversaw the production of this magazine edition, budgeting and costing the magazine, marketing it online and securing pre-orders, designing and laying the magazine using InDesign, editing and sub-editing with the editorial team, and distributing to those who had purchased a copy. Considering our first print run was during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant we were not able to sell the magazine in any physical locations, I am extremely proud of how well it sold! We produced a second festive issue in December 2020 raising funds for Shelter.

News Associates

NCTJ Diploma, Journalism

Notre Dame High School

English Language and Literature, General

University of Oxford

Bachelor of Arts - BA, English Language and Literature