Usman Khalid , London, United Kingdom

Dear All,

My main experience in Marketing & Communications comes from my recent positions with Music Action International (August 2018 - October 2019), Counterpoints Arts (January 2018 – July 2018) and working as a director on my own social enterprise, HAVEN Coffee. My MSc in Marketing & Communications also adds a vast understanding and knowledge of the marketing principals and techniques.

I joined Counterpoints Arts in 2018 as a marketing intern and worked there 6 months from January 2018 until July 2018. Working there gave me a deep understanding of Art world both visual and performing arts. I also had a chance to meet and network with so many art organisations and know their work and processes. Working in a small team with the project coordinator I explored and utilised a variety of different marketing techniques and tools. I managed social media campaigns including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As the 20th anniversary of Refugee Week, expectations were high and targets ambitious. Time and resource management were key in ensuring we delivered a celebration to rival previous years.

I was also responsible for website management, using of WordPress to maintain live blogs and pictures, and the letter campaign, using Mailerlite and MailChimp to design and distribute campaign letters. Due to tight deadlines and stretched resources, I also supported a number of non-marketing office-related tasks to help other team members, including packing and sending out shop orders. I was also involved in writing blogs and content for the website and participated in different events during Refugee Week, including public speaking and hosting over 20 Simple Acts campaigns.
While my stay at Counterpoints Arts, I learnt how an art organisation operates and how to organise an art-related event and marketing campaigns related to it.

Later, I started my own social enterprise (Feb 2019) with the name of HAVEN Coffee keeping the same ideology intact. At HAVEN Coffee the mission is to support and promote refugee artists (both visual and performing) and their art. I don’t believe in Survival of The Fittest, rather I believe in survival for everyone. At HAVEN Coffee we implement this concept of inclusion by bringing refugee community and UK society together. HAVEN Coffee is still at an initial level but we have successfully cover many art events of our partners (My vast networking list and skills help me building partnerships very quickly) along with organising our very first comedy evening in December where comedians with refugee background will perform.

After the internship period with Counterpoints Arts, I landed the job as Marketing Officer with Music Action International, a charity working with traumatised individuals and help them through music. As working in a small marketing team of 2, myself and another woman, I was managing much of the marketing for the organisation both operational and strategical. I was continuously in contact with other team members in relation to digital marketing requirements. I was personally proofreading all the content on the website and edit them to make them more SEO friendly. I was also continuously following the social channels and devising the strategies on how and what content can be more engaging and how we can increase our audience. The result was very positive with immense increment in our following for all of our social channels as well as our website visits increased also. I was also educating other members of the team what I was doing and how it should be done. I was continuously engaged in organising strategical meetings on a quarterly basis where I was presenting the past performance reports with the use of Analytics on all of the social media platforms and as of the website. I was then also adding my inputs and suggestions for the next quarter. I was also responsible for sending out newsletters with the help of Mailchimp and Donorperfect. As my work with Music Action International was part-time remote work, it helped me polish my time management skill. It really has given me an understanding of how to manage workload working from a café or a library on your own.

Some other highlights of my previous works include delivering a speech on Detention in the House of Commons and having my blog published in Huffington post, later retweeted by shadow minister Afzal Khan; http://*********.***

Kind Regards;
Usman Khalid
07757750774