Natalie Rowan

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT NATALIE ROWAN

I’ve swum with sharks, fed penguins, play-wrestled an octopus, been “tortured” by a medieval inquisitor, been accused of witchcraft (worryingly, more than once), filmed an episode of BBC’s Sherlock and talked sharks with Benedict Cumberbatch (he’s a fan), fallen in love with London’s history – the good and bad bits, and learned how syphilis can affect the skeleton, whilst holding the femur of said skeleton. I’ve been to more live music, comedy and sports events at the World’s best venue than I can count (it NEVER gets boring!), launched premium fashion and lifestyle brands, restaurants and bars, and then supported those brands to maximise the retail opportunity presented by the arena events. No, it’s not some extended version of two truths and a lie, it’s my career so far. Those are the eye-catching bits, but I’ve also built brands, increased awareness, smashed revenue targets, handled crises, got into the minds of more audience segments than I can count, created and developed incredibly successful teams, run countless press launches, nurtured social media accounts, tweaked websites to streamline the UX and make more £, and most of all, I’ve loved every second, and made great friends and connections along the way. I really love what I do, and I’ve had some incredible opportunities over the years. But if I was honest? The bits I love the most are the quiet moments, the ones where I uncover a nugget of blinding insight in the data, when I see people pointing at our ad on the Tube, or read the reviews of people’s interactions with our business. Of course I’ll never say no to the fun stuff – like the moment a Firefighter asked “do you want to turn on the lights and sirens?” - yes, yes, always yes! But I take the same amount of joy from the day to day, of the problem solving, brain storming, team working, innovating, hard work. At the root of it all, I’m a marketer, and I never forget that it’s ultimately all about people. The brilliant people I work with, the people I’m trying to understand, to persuade to take action and the people who will never engage with our brand no matter what we do. They’re all important, and I couldn’t do what I do without any of them. I participate in our Women’s and Mental Health & Wellbeing networks, am a supporter to the Women’s Association and a mentor. I also like to lift weights, hoard and read books (alas, not quite at the same rate…the TBR pile is large) and perhaps unsurprisingly, I love a good day trip. If you’d like to connect, a great opener would be to recommend me a book or podcast!