How my time at salford business school has prepared me for a career in creative direction
Finding My Creative Direction: From Graphic Design to Digital Marketing
When I first started my academic journey, I did not begin as a Business Management with Marketing student. I was originally enrolled in a Graphic Design course because I have always been drawn to creativity, visual communication, and expressing ideas through design. At the time, I saw myself mainly as an artist and creative, but I quickly realised that having creative talent was only one part of building a successful career.
As an artist, I wanted to understand how to manage myself professionally, promote my work, build a brand, and eventually run my own business. I did not want to only create; I wanted to understand the strategy behind creativity. That is what led me to pivot into Business Management with Marketing at the University of Salford.
Looking back, that decision was one of the most important steps in shaping who I am today. It helped me connect my creative background with business knowledge, marketing strategy, digital skills, and a clearer vision for my future.
Discovering My Place in Marketing
At first, marketing felt broad. I knew I enjoyed creativity, branding, social media, and visual storytelling, but I was still figuring out how those interests could fit into a real career. Through my studies at Salford, I began to understand that marketing is not just about promoting a product or service. It is about understanding people, building relationships, creating meaning, and communicating in ways that connect with an audience.
Modules such as Consumer Behaviour, Advertising Strategy, Marketing in Action, Strategic Management, and Advanced Digital Marketing helped me understand how brands are built and how audiences respond to creative communication. These modules showed me that the strongest campaigns are not just visually appealing; they are strategic, researched, and purposeful.
This helped me realise that my creative background was not separate from marketing. It was actually one of my strengths.
Building a Career Around Creativity and Strategy
My goal is to build a career that combines creativity, strategy, content creation, social media management, and AI. I am interested in becoming a creative director, content creator, social media manager, and AI specialist because these roles allow me to bring ideas to life while also thinking about audience, brand identity, visibility, and impact.
Creative direction appeals to me because I enjoy shaping the overall look, feel, and message of a brand. Content creation allows me to express ideas visually and digitally. Social media management connects creativity with consistency, community, and engagement. AI interests me because it is becoming a major part of the future of marketing, helping creatives generate ideas, analyse trends, improve workflows, and produce stronger content.
For me, the future of marketing is not just digital. It is creative, strategic, and technology-driven.
How Salford Helped Me Develop My Skills
Salford Business School has helped me grow from someone with creative interests into someone who understands how to apply those interests professionally. Through lectures, group work, presentations, research tasks, and digital projects, I have developed skills that directly support my career goals.
Some of the key skills I have strengthened include:
Content creation
Branding and visual communication
Social media support
Canva and design tools
Research and information gathering
Communication
Teamwork and collaboration
Digital marketing strategy
Problem solving
Website development
Microsoft Office tools
These skills have helped me become more confident in my ability to work across both creative and business-focused areas. I now understand that creativity becomes more powerful when it is supported by planning, research, data, and strategy.
Gaining Real Marketing Experience in Bermuda
Alongside my studies, I have also gained practical experience in Bermuda, which helped me apply what I was learning in real working environments.
Last year, I worked as a Marketing Intern at Bermuda Health Council, where I supported marketing and communication initiatives through research, content preparation, administrative coordination, and team projects. This experience helped me understand how marketing functions within a professional organisation and how important clear communication, accuracy, and planning are when working on public-facing content.
I have also done freelance marketing support for Toast & Taste, a mixology brand in Bermuda. In this role, I developed content, supported communication, contributed creative ideas, and helped strengthen the brand’s presence and audience engagement. This experience was especially valuable because it allowed me to work with a brand that relies heavily on visuals, experience, lifestyle, and social media storytelling.
Both roles helped me see how marketing works beyond the classroom. They taught me how to think about brand image, audience engagement, consistency, professionalism, and the importance of adapting content to suit different types of organisations.
From Artist to Personal Brand
One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that as a creative, I am also my own brand. Before studying marketing, I thought mostly about the work I wanted to create. Now, I also think about how I present myself, how people understand my skills, and how my online presence can support my career.
Creating this website has helped me reflect on who I am professionally. I am not just a marketing student, and I am not only an artist. I am someone who can combine design, storytelling, marketing strategy, social media, and emerging digital tools.
My personal brand is built around creativity, confidence, culture, strategy, and innovation. I want my online presence to show that I can create visually engaging content while also understanding the business purpose behind it.
The Role of AI in My Future
As I continue developing my career, I am especially interested in how AI can support creative work. So much so that I am looking to further my studies in Managing Businesses with AI as a postgraduate option. AI is changing the marketing industry by helping with content planning, idea generation, audience research, trend analysis, copywriting, and design support.
I do not see AI as a replacement for creativity. I see it as a tool that can help creatives work smarter. Human creativity is still needed to understand emotion, culture, aesthetics, storytelling, and authenticity. However, AI can support the process by making research faster, improving productivity, and helping marketers explore ideas in new ways.
As an aspiring AI specialist, I want to learn how to use these tools responsibly and creatively. My aim is to combine human creativity with digital innovation to create stronger and more effective marketing content.
What I see for myself in my chosen career paths
Looking ahead, I want to continue building a career that allows me to work across creative direction, content creation, social media management, and AI. I am interested in roles where I can develop campaign ideas, create digital content, manage brand presence, support social media growth, and use technology to improve creative strategy.
My journey from graphic design to Business Management with Marketing has shown me that I do not have to choose between being creative and being strategic. I can be both.
Salford has helped me understand that my creative background is valuable, and my marketing knowledge gives it direction. My work experience in Bermuda has also shown me that I enjoy helping brands communicate who they are and connect with the right audiences.
Farewell Salford University
My time at Salford has helped me grow from an artist with ideas into an aspiring creative and digital marketing professional with a clearer direction. Starting in graphic design gave me a strong creative foundation, but moving into Business Management with Marketing helped me understand how to turn creativity into strategy, visibility, and value.
Through my studies, my internship with Bermuda Health Council, and my freelance work with Toast & Taste, I have developed a stronger understanding of the kind of career I want to build. I see myself moving into creative direction, content creation, social media management, and AI-supported marketing.
This website represents that journey. It is a space where I can show my growth, my skills, my creativity, and my future ambitions.
I am still developing, still learning, and still building my brand but I now have a clearer vision of where I am going and the confidence to keep creating opportunities for myself.
This is me in the library finishing off my last assignments for my undergraduate course in Business Management with Marketing.