WHISKY TALKS
(DIRECTOR/CO-FOUNDER)
In November 2023, I launched Whisky Talks with co-founder Mitch Bechard (CopperCairn), kicking off with an inaugural event for seventy guests at The Sandman Hotel in Aberdeen.
The event was designed around a series of Q&A panels featuring influential and local guest speakers from the whisky, hospitality, media and tourism industries.
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We have since hosted Whisky Talks events in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness as well as a second event in Aberdeen, with more events coming in 2025.
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My involvement in Whisky Talks is entirely hands-on from start to finish. From designing the logos and social media tiles, organising speakers and managing sponsorship, developing drinks briefs, writing the panels and Q&A, coordinating the entire event on the day as well as co-hosting the talks throughout.
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For more updates or to register visit our page at whisky-talks.com
DRINKS JOBS
(DIRECTOR/FOUNDER)
When I moved back to Scotland, I was on the job hunt and got
pretty burned out by searching on LinkedIn, so decided to take
matters into my own hands and design an Instagram page
and website for job listings for the whisky, hospitality and drinks industries.
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A lot of people I spoke to were having similar issues of finding decent job opportunities, so Drinks Jobs was designed to make roles more visible for people who were not hanging out on LinkedIn.
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Ultimately I pulled down the website and Instagram after about eight months due to lack of traction, but it was still a good creative outlet nonetheless.
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WORK FROM BARS
(FOUNDER)
Between lockdowns in September 2020, the government announced a 10pm curfew on bars in the UK which created a limited window of time to generate revenue on top of a crippling year of minimal income due to COVID.
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To create a solution that increased daytime revenue for bars as well as giving people (who were fatigued by working from home) an alternative work space, I launched a project called Work From Bars.
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Bar owners and managers from the UK sent their venue details which I used to create a Google map that the public could access to find bars to work in with coffee, food and WiFi.
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The initiative was mentioned in multiple media publications including the Guardian, and the map has received over
370,000 visits.
THE GLOBAL BARTENDER EXCHANGE
(DIRECTOR/CO-FOUNDER)
While managing an award-winning cocktail bar in Melbourne called The Alchemist, I found it increasingly challenging to find and recruit well trained and experienced bartenders.
To remedy this problem, I created a Facebook group called ‘The Melbourne Bartender Exchange’ adding 200 of the most influential members of the local bar community. The membership of the group grew rapidly and created a platform for bartenders travelling from other cities and countries to arrange jobs and accommodation in advance.
With my friend and colleague Hannah Keirl, we launched The Global Bartender Exchange in 2012 whereby we launched a series of location-based platforms, including an app which resulted in a usership of over 150,000 members worldwide.