Meet Our Team I Joanna Olesków

Joanna Olesków, our Marketing Communications Executive, has had a varied career before joining us at Advance Tapes, read more to find out how her previous experiences have set her up perfectly for this role.

How long have you been working at Advance?

Just over a year, I started on the 1st August 2018 and I actually can’t believe I’ve already been here a year! It has gone very, very fast and I’ve had such an amazing time.
I graduated from German Studies at the University of Warsaw (in Poland) and then I worked as a teacher and a translator for a while before moving over to the UK as a Project Manager with a translation company. However, I realised that wasn’t something I really wanted to do so I did another degree in Journalism at Nottingham Trent University and from that I moved into marketing roles. My role at Advance is a perfect fit as it combines German with marketing.

Have your responsibilities changed since you’ve been at Advance?

Over the past year, I undertook a comprehensive training program to develop my product knowledge and expertise in the markets we are operating. I am now responsible for my own projects such as creating internal newsletters to keep our company informed and providing relevant and tailored marketing support to our customers (e.g. E-Commerce pack, Marketing pack, etc.) to boost their sales.

Implementing digital marketing campaigns is also a big part of my day to day activities which includes creating social media and blog posts, conducting keyword research, developing our application picture database and optimising our website performance. There are quite a lot of exciting projects in terms of the digital work we have been doing and this is an area I’m really interested in. I like to be able to see data and analyse if something is working or not. I’m really happy that my team share this passion and enthusiasm as well, so we are always discussing the results of our digital campaigns.

Additionally I am providing sales and marketing support for our Key Account Managers and do market research. There’s lots of variety and that’s what I like.

If you could switch to another career what would it be?

I’ve wanted to be a vet for many, many years and I don’t think it was until high school when I realised that perhaps wasn’t going to be for me as I didn’t think I would pass my physics exam. If I could switch in general from the very beginning it would be to work with animals.

Who is the funniest person you work with and why?

That is very tricky as actually both Alicia Tissot (Senior Marketing Communications Executive) and Jeremy Simons (Product Manager) are very, very funny. We have lots of jokes around what we do and how we do it which makes it a very fun environment to work in. However, I would also have to say Maureen Nutting and Jayne Halford from our Customer Service Team, they always have a funny English expression which makes me laugh!

Do you have any interests that people at work may not know about?

I like taking photos which people might not know about, particularly of flowers. I like travelling as well, I don’t travel a lot but when I get the chance I like to explore new places.

If you had £10 million what would you do with it?

Definitely I would go travelling around the world. I would love to see India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Australia… there are so many places I would like to visit. With the rest of money I could help some charities and I would share the money with my family and friends.

What do you think you are best known for at work?

I think maybe my language skills as I speak Polish, German, English and a little bit of Spanish.

If you could have a superpower what would it be? And why?

It’s a tricky one. I think I would want to a superwoman and be able to do lots of good things, help the vulnerable and overcome the bad people.

What is your idea of success in your job?

I think it is about constant learning. You need to be open to what’s happening in your field and aware of new developments particularly digitally. I think work is also about being part of a team and when you are part of a team you are able to achieve so much more. It just makes it so much more fun and rewarding when you have people who you like sitting next to you and you are all working towards the same goal.

What do you like most about working for Advance?

I’m going to say the same as I know many have said before but it is definitely the people. From my first day I have felt so welcome. There is this non-hierarchical structure where you don’t feel you can’t speak to someone just because they are a director, it just feels like a big family.
Also, to be honest I love having Alicia as a mentor. She is an amazing person, just how hard she works and the support she gives me is great. It’s so nice to have this sort of relationship with my manager.

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