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Storytelling, communication and clarity
About
I’ve spent most of my working life helping people tell stories and communicate clearly — often in public, often under pressure, and often when the stakes are high.
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For more than 30 years, I worked at the BBC in senior editorial and training roles. It was a hugely rewarding environment: creative, demanding and full of people committed to making work that mattered. I learned a great deal there — about judgement, responsibility, teamwork and what good storytelling looks like when it really counts.
From the BBC —
and beyond
Alongside that work, I began to notice something else. The skills I was using every day — listening carefully, asking impactful questions, helping people clarify their thinking, shaping ideas into stories others could understand — were just as valuable outside the BBC as inside it.
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That understanding developed gradually.
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Through cultural and community work alongside my BBC role, I saw how transferable those skills were. I worked with artists, volunteers, community groups and organisations who were trying to explain their work, find their voice, or navigate complex conversations in public settings. The contexts were different, but the fundamentals were the same: clarity, confidence, and care in how things are said.
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Alongside my own practice, I’m also a director of Whittle Productions, a community interest company that develops and delivers cultural and heritage projects rooted in place and lived experience. That work continues separately, but it has strongly shaped how I think about listening, storytelling and public voice.
What guides the work
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What matters most to me now is the work itself.​
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I’m interested in how people talk about what they do, how teams develop shared clarity and purpose, and how organisations listen — properly — to the communities they serve. Much of my work sits in the space between expertise and lived experience, where good communication depends as much on attention and judgement as on technique.
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I work with individuals, teams, organisations and community-led groups across media, culture and the public sector. Sometimes that involves training or facilitation. Sometimes it’s coaching, mentoring or structured conversation. Often it begins simply by working out what needs to be said, who it’s for, and what might be getting in the way.
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Purpose, then and now
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I care deeply about public service, creativity and good storytelling. What’s changed over time is not the purpose of the work, but where and how it happens — and the opportunity to bring a lifetime of experience to settings where listening, clarity and trust really matter.
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