Kate
Wild
Managing Director
With over 20 years' experience in consumer and business to business
public relations, Kate Wild started her career at Hill & Knowlton,
having graduated from Exeter University. She spent six years in the
consumer marketing division at H&K working on accounts such as
Kellogg's, St Ivel Gold, The Post Office, The National Dairy Council
and Baxter's of Speyside.
Kate left Hill & Knowlton to help set up a small consumer
and corporate PR consultancy, Wearne Associates. There she
directed accounts such as
RHM Foods (encompassing, amongst others, the Bisto, McDougalls
and Robertson's brands), Marlow Foods (the launch of the meat
alternative, Quorn), John
West and Tupperware. Directing the work across all aspects of
these accounts, she had particular input on strategic consultancy
and brand development.
Kate was also responsible for issue consultancy and management
across all clients and worked with the company principal, Alison
Wearne, on the
development and execution of crisis management contingency plans.
In
1994, Kate left Wearne Associates to start working as an independent
PR consultant from her home. Early clients included Merchant
Gourment, KitchenAid and John Cullen Lighting (still clients
of Wild Card today).
Wild Card was established in May 1997 and incorporated in April
2000.
Lindsay
Stewart
Director
Lindsay served her PR apprenticeship in the Consumer Department
of The Communications Group. In 1986, aged 25, she set up Conal
Walsh & Stewart
Limited with one of her colleagues and successfully specialised
in the food and drink sectors for the next ten years. In 1996
she was appointed first to the board of Richmond Towers and
the following year to the board with The Grayling Group where
she headed up accounts
including the Glenfiddich Food & Drink Awards, Le Creuset cast iron
cookware and Screwpull wine and champagne accessories. Lindsay
joined Wild Card in September 2003. Here she oversees the Food & Restaurant
Division and is responsible for developing new business.
Nish
Assomull
Divisional Director
Having joined Wild Card in 2000 as an account executive, Nish is one
of the longest serving members of the team. She cut her teeth at the
Public Affairs department of the National Farmers Union where she
helped to launch the Little Red Tractor and managed campaigns to 'Bring
Back British Beef' and World Rural Women's Day. As luck would have
it, she left just before the foot and mouth crisis!
She is now a Divisional Director and is responsible for managing
a number of food and event accounts. Nish is also involved in the
strategic development of the company, heading up the new business
drive, and looks forward to growing with the company.
Celia
Clark
Senior Account Director
Celia started her working life at Louis Latour Ltd, the UK subsidiary
of Burgundy house Maison Louis Latour, having graduated with a music
degree from Oxford University in 1993. After a brief spell in advertising,
she gravitated back to the wine trade, joining Laurent-Perrier Champagne
as Marketing Manager.
Celia joined Wild Card in November 2000 and since the birth of Holly
and Jemima works three days a week.
Louise
Sansom
Senior Account Director
Louise began her career working at an international PR consultancy
where she gained a wealth of experience in the food and drink sectors.
'As an Account Director at Wild Card, Louise is responsible for the strategic direction of food, drink and homewares campaigns.
Jen
Eveleigh
Senior Account Director
Jen began her life at Wild Card as receptionist and account assistant, but quickly moved up the ladder and is now one of the longest serving members of the team. Jen now oversees a range of lifestyle, food, drink and travel clients as Senior Account Director for Wild Card Truro, having recently relocated from the office in London.
After completing a degree in English Language and Literature at The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jen travelled the world and fulfilled a dream of working a ski season in the Alps. A passion for travel and the Great Outdoors prompted Jen to relocate to Cornwall in July 2010.
Fiona
St. George
Account Director
After completing an MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University,
Fiona pursued a career in publishing, starting out with cookery book
publisher Quadrille. Promptly falling for all things recipe-based,
Fiona spend the next few years working in the publicity departments
for the UK’s most reputable cookery publishers, handling the
book campaigns of top chef and food writers. Fiona joined Wild Card
in July 2007 as a Account Manager and works on a range of food and
lifestyle clients.
Georgie Upton
Account Director
Georgie Upton is an account director in our Truro office. She worked with Wild Card London in 2002-2006, before leaving to work at consumer lifestyle agency Lexis PR. In 2009, after having a baby, Georgie was tempted back to Wild Card and now works primarily on food, travel and lifestyle. Her experience is varied having worked on a large cross section of FMCG and retail brands including Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Coca-Cola and diet Coke, TK Maxx, Baileys, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and Tassimo - to name but a few. When not at work, Georgie enjoys the Cornish lifestyle with her hubby and baby Ernest – plenty of walking, enjoying the incredible scenery, followed by eating some of the best food in the world.
Vaneetha Balsubramaniam
Account Director
Vinnie joined Wild Card in 2010 with 11 years experience in the PR world. Starting her career in the public affairs team at Hill and Knowlton, Vinnie has tried her hand at most specialisms within PR from fashion to consumer technology, across brands as varied as Boots, SC Johnson, Unilever and Packard Bell. She was involved in Johnson & Johnson’s Olympic Games sponsorship in 2008 which saw the brand receive their best ever consumer press coverage and was part of the team that launched Virgin Media in 2007.
At Wild Card, Vinnie works across several food clients.
Hannah Kent
Senior Account Manager
After gaining a 2:1 in Public Relations at Bournemouth University in 2006, which included a years internship in-house at the John Lewis press office, Hannah began her agency career at The Red Consultancy. Working on a diverse range of generalist consumer clients, ranging from Nokia, Debenhams, The AA and Heinz, Hannah left in 2008 to specialise in food, drink and travel PR. After a year working at a specialist restaurant and hotel agency on leading accounts such as The Royal Garden Hotel and Gidleigh Park, Hannah joined the Wild Card team in August 2009. Hannah works on a range of food, drink and travel accounts, which fits in nicely with her love of eating out at top restaurants and travelling whenever possible!
Charmaine Peterson
Account Manager
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in America,
Charmaine embarked her PR career in a small travel PR firm in the Midwestern
US before setting off to London where she received a Master's degree in
Marketing Communications with an emphasis in PR and Advertising. Since she's
worked in fashion PR on luxury brands such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Pronovias
and Sharpham Park, moving onto consumer PR and working on brands such as
Blue Dragon, Ryvita, Kingsmill and Patak's. Charmaine joined Wild Card in
November 2009 and finds it a perfect fit with her love of food and travel.
Shannon
Green
Account Manager
Shannon graduated with an 'A' from Auckland University of
Technology where she received a Bachelor of Communications, majoring
in Public Relations. Before moving to London from New Zealand, Shannon
worked for two top New Zealand consumer public relations agencies,
and was awarded by the PR Institute of New Zealand for her work with
a national charity. She joined Wild Card in April 2009.
Missy Mailly-Thompson
Account Manager
After graduating in English Literature at Manchester University in 2006 Missy began her agency career at Complete Media Group where she progressed from Graduate Intern to Account Manager. Working across both both PR and Media planning & buying disciplines, she gained extensive consumer and trade experience in the travel, property and wine trade markets. Missy’s clients ranged from Swan Hellenic, Hebridean Island Cruises, Jones Lang LaSalle and the London International Wine Fair. Missy joined the Wild Card team in July 2010 and is loving working across an array of food and travel clients – luckily enough eating out and cooking are two of her biggest passions!
Rosie
Halloran
Senior Account Executive
Rosie graduated with a 2:1 degree in PR and communications from Southampton
Solent University. She is also a graduate of the Unlocking Cornish
Potential programme. Rosie has international business experience acquired
when working in South East Asia for 5 years before embarking on her
career in PR.
Back in the UK Rosie took a PR and events role handling food, drink,
charity and professional services accounts. Her particular passion
for food, drink and lifestyle PR led her to joining the Wild Card
team in March 2008.
Edwina
Eddleston
Senior Account Executive
Edwina graduated from Cardiff University where she received
a 2:1 in Psychology. After completing her degree, Edwina traveled
around South America and Australasia before settling on her career
in PR. Prior to joining Wild Card in August 2008, Edwina gained valuable
work experience at Linaker Ltd and Ensham Resources (Australia).
Joss
Price
Senior Account Executive
Joss graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2004 with
a degree in Real Estate Management. Attracted by a career in the creative
industries he changed tack from property and embarked upon a role
with a design agency, spending two years in London working with a
range of publishing and editorial clients. Having always harboured
a dream to live on the coast Joss relocated from London to Cornwall
in 2007 setting up a business and getting his first taste for PR whilst
promoting his business to travel and lifestyle media.
Building on his growing interest for PR Joss joined the Wild Card
Truro office in January 2009 to work with a variety of South West
food, drink and lifestyle brands.
Laura Mckay
Senior Account Executive
After graduating with a 2:1 in PR and Media from the College of St Mark and St John, Laura began her career in PR working for an established agency in Cornwall.
Working across a varied portfolio of South West food, drink, events and professional service clients, Laura also headed up the delivery of all new media activity.
After a stint travelling in New Zealand, Laura¹s love of food, travel and a passion for all things Cornwall, brought her to Wild Card¹s Truro office in March 2010.
Natalie Charlesworth
Senior Account Executive
After graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a degree in English Literature, Natalie spent four months studying German in Luzern, Switzerland before returning to London to embark on her PR career. Natalie began her career at Jackie Cooper Public Relations, where she spent four years working on food and drink, travel and entertainment brands including The Sherry Institute of Spain, The Illinois Board of Tourism, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Lurpak and Bombay Sapphire. Following a five month trip around Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia, Natalie joined Wild Card in April 2010 and now works on a variety of food clients.
Emma Pengelly
Account Executive
Emma graduated from Sheffield University where she received a 2:1 degree in Sociology. After completing her degree, Emma attended Tante Marie School of Cookery where she completed a six-month intensive Cordon Bleu diploma. Although Emma loved food and drink she decided a career in catering was not for her, but she wanted to work in the food industry so she decided to pursue a career in food PR.
After finishing her cooking course, Emma worked for the consumer agency Nexus and worked on a range of accounts including Patak’s, Baxters, Bramley apples and Lion Quality eggs. Prior to joining Wild Card she freelanced at Freud Communications and worked at William Murray Communications.
Sarah
Kemp
Account Executive
Sarah studied Writing for Media Arts at London Southbank
University. During this time she completed 7 months work experience
in the Marketing Department of MySpace and following her degree worked
for 3 months as a part of the social media specialist team at Entertainment
Intelligence, before setting her sights on the world of PR. She was
brought up by foodie parents, is a self confessed chocoholic and loves
all things food related. She now proudly works on a range of food
and lifestyle clients.
Jessica Filbey
Junior Account Executive
Jessica graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a 2:1 degree in Spanish and History of Art, which involved spending her third year studying at the University of Málaga in Southern Spain. Jessica gained valuable work experience at Jori White PR and Redleaf Communications Ltd before brushing up her Spanish working as PA to the diplomats at the Embassy of Chile. She is an experienced and passionate cook, having worked as a chalet girl in the Alps and cooked extensively for private clients. Jessica has completed a Leiths cookery course and obtained a Wine and Spirit Education Trust certificate. She was delighted to join Wild Card in 2010 and now works on a variety of food accounts.
Antonia Harrison
Junior Account Executive
Antonia has an MA in Broadcast Journalism from City University and First-class honours from Reading University.
Her background is in journalism and she has worked as a newsreader for both television and radio. She is also a competent editor and camerawoman.
Her articles have been published on MSN, Yahoo!, The Publican and ITN Productions. Antonia has completed internships at SKY News Radio, ITN Productions and most recently for Sidhu and Simon Communications.
Antonia has a particular interest in travel and foreign cultures having spent much of her childhood overseas in Nigeria, Burma and Turkey. She has also travelled widely within Asia and the Far East.
Vicki Brewer
Junior Account Executive
Vicki graduated from the University of Kent with a 2:1 degree in English and American Literature and Drama. Vicki tentatively took her first steps into PR, gaining 3 months experience as an intern for Nexus PR in June 2009, working with clients such as British Eggs, Bramley Apples and Weetabix.
Upon finishing her degree at University Vicki decided that a career in the fast-paced world of PR was desirable and joined Wild Card in June 2010. This makes a change from the wide range of jobs that she has had, from working as a Retail Supervisor to doing Medical Admin and Clerical Work at her County Hospital.
Vicki would love to live abroad one day and hopes this will involve Australia. She has been fortunate enough to have travelled much of the world already; Sri Lanka, Peru and California to name but a few under her belt. Her love of travel links with her love of different foods and exotic cuisines that she tries, and not always successfully, to recreate at home.
Simon
Holborow
Human Resources and Operations Director
Simon joined Wild Card in May 2006. He was previously a soldier. He
had a number of employments, most recently undertaking strategic research
and analysis for the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office and other government departments, for which he travelled widely
around the world.
Prior to that he had appointments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans,
Northern Ireland, Sub Saharan and West Africa and also spent several
years with the Australian Parachute Regiment. He ran the human resources
and administrative component of the Army covering the west of England
and held an appointment for three years working for HM The Queen,
with particular responsibility for assisting in the coordination of
State Visits.
Kath
Teague
Payroll and Staff Manager
Kath joined the company in 2008 and brings a wealth of experience
to the finance department. She comes to Wild Card after having worked
for ten years with a local private company where as Payroll Supervisor
she had responsibility for over 2,000 staff; latterly she transferred
to the Human Resources department to work as part of the senior HR
team. Prior to this, Kath worked for the Inspector of Taxes where
her understanding of PAYE was gained. Kath's knowledge of the HR function
is supported by the qualifications she holds with the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development.
Katrina Milton
Finance and Human Recourses Executive
Katrina relocated from London to Cornwall in 1996 for a lifestyle change. She worked as a receptionist with an electronics company for the next nine years, during which time she gained a wealth of knowledge in both accountancy and payroll practice.
Before joining Wild Card she was responsible for the smooth running of the accounts and payroll systems for two companies as the Accounts and Payroll Manager.
Katrina joined Wildcard in November 2009 bringing her knowledge and skills to the finance team to work on the management accounts and enhance the provision of departmental analysis. She will also be supporting the HR function.
Rhiannon Martin
Office Manager
Rhiannon joined Wild Card in February 2010. After studying Media and English Language at A/S Level she went on to dabble in recruitment for a short while. In 2006 Rhiannon joined Pearl And Dean cinema advertising as Reception/Office Support working for Ginger Productions and Virgin Radio where she supported both teams in general office administration.
Rhiannon lives in Essex. She enjoys seeing the world, having travelled to the USA and around Europe. Australia is next on her list.
Rhiannon now happily supports Wild Card's London Office as Office Manager.
Pauline Hannedouche
Placement Intern
Pauline is currently on her placement year and will be graduating at the end of the year with a Master in Corporate Communication, INSEEC, (Paris-France). She undertook her M.Sc. after a double degree (B.Sc.) in PR and Integrated Marketing Communication both in France and in the US (Winthrop University, SC, USA). She was lucky enough to be offered a US work permit and worked for 6 months as a Marketing Executive Assistant for a local NC firm. Pauline gained a lot of experience during University. She worked in Paris, Spain and even Australia. In Paris she worked as a PR Account Manager Assistant for a French business magazine:
"Le nouvel Observateur" and for "Beaux Arts Magazine" a magazine specialized in Arts. She enjoys working with different cultures and loves to travel.
Pauline joined the Wild Card team in April 2010. She works on various Food and drink accounts.
Lucy Warne
Placement Intern
Lucy is currently on her placement year whilst studying Events Management at Bournemouth University. After completing the first couple of months of her placement conference organising, she was enticed by the marketing side of the industry and decided that PR was more the route she wanted to go down, so was delighted to be offered an internship at Wildcard. She's quite a jet setter and has been lucky enough to explore many different continents from Africa to Australasia, she also enjoys eating out and being experimental in the kitchen! She is now happily working on a range of food and restaurant
clients.
