Meet Your Colleagues - Fidelma Glass

Here at SERC we are keen to promote internal colleagues to allow staff the opportunity to get to know each other and put a face to the name, particularly due to the size and scope of SERC.

This week’s “Meet your Colleagues” features Fidelma Glass. Fidelma is the marketing officer (PR and Communications), working within communications and marketing here at SERC.

What does your role at SERC involve?   

My role involves communicating good news stories about SERC, our students, our staff, our facilities and all the work we do with industry and the local community. I write and issue press releases and articles which are uploaded to our website, plan photo calls, deal with media enquiries, pitch media stories to journalists and liaise with staff and students on possible coverage. I also monitor media which helps to see what journalists are interested in, what the other colleges are doing or what is topical which we can link to. We are very much a team in marketing, our jobs overlap, and we all pitch it especially for big events, campaigns or publications.

Tell us a bit about your background? 

I am a definite product of further education. I did a mix of CSEs and O Levels (shocking, I know, I only look 30!) and although I did well enough, when it came to do A Levels, the school would only let me do two. I spent all my time on (my choice) A Level English Literature and very little on the (recommended) Religious Education. I quickly realised I was going to be leaving with one A Level not many options. I left school and completed a BTEC National Diploma in Business and Finance at my local College of FE. I loved it and that fuelled my interest in advertising, marketing, law, travel and tourism. I applied to Queen’s University to do Law (unheard of for a BTEC student back then) and was accepted but I got cold feet and took a year off to live and work in London. During that time, the Communication, Advertising and Marketing degree started at UU so I applied and did it leaving with a BSc. My first proper marketing job was in the old North Down and Ards Institute. (I remember Andrew Emmett with flowing locks!) I have dipped in and out of FE over many years, gaining my CIM Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing, learning photography, how to make proper gravy and fresh pasta and patchwork quilting.

What 3 words best describe you? 

Creative and humorous.

What do you like to do outside of work? 

I love a good movie. It has been great introducing my children to Star Wars – though I was gutted when my boy went to see the last release with a friend and his friend’s dad, but I suppose this is all part of growing up (for me anyway). I also love crafts and arty things and a browse into a second hand shop. I love reading too. Eating out or cooking in with friends and family, big walks are all good – I am spoiled having Murlough, the Mourne Mountains, Castlewellan and Tullymore Forest Parks on my doorstep. I also love a trip – even going to the airport to pick someone up gets me excited – two weeks away, seeing something new and enjoying predictable blue skies every day is very good for me.

If you could swap jobs for a day who would it be and why?  

I would like to swap jobs with Jay Rayner, the food writer and critic. He loves his food and gets to eat in the best restaurants, but there is no mercy if they get it wrong. His reviews can be laugh out loud funny. The same man can make my mouth water when he describes a perfect meal.

List 3 items you would want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?  

These days it would be my husband Stephen, my son David and daughter Sarah. Previously, it might have been my trusty wind up radio and SS Survival pocket-book and swiss army knife (with over 30 features).

What is your favourite film and why? 

That’s a difficult one. Do I have to choose? I think we all need a good laugh – I am going for Young Frankenstein with the late Gene Wilder. The scene with the hot soup with the blind monk has tears rolling down my cheeks.

Where do you most want to travel, but have never been?  

I am lucky enough to have been to most of the places I ever really wanted to go - Newfoundland, Chile, New Zealand, Denmark and South Africa – and have great memories of these trips. I adore France, Spain and Portugal and although I have seen quite a bit off the beaten track there, there is still more to see. The place I would most like to visit is Norway to take a trip on the famous Flam Railway.

If you would like to partake in “Meet Your Colleagues” please contact Calum Donaldson (Marketing and Engagement Intern) at cdonaldson@serc.ac.uk for more details.