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Meet the team: Ella Bernie

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Community is all about connection. For Ella Bernie, that sense of connection has always played a big part in her life. Throughout her younger years, she was inspired by stories and drawn to work that allowed her to build relationships.

As she started to formulate a career path, she realised she loved working with people. Now, she is our Community Champion, which means she plays a fundamental part in helping our members collaborate, find opportunities and navigate their way through the exciting world of portfolio careers.

We sat down and asked her why she loves working with our community and how she found her way to TPC.

We’d love to hear a bit about your background and the journey that led you to TPC. What inspired you to want to work in community management?

I’ve always been interested in people. I grew up in a big family – my mum is one of five and my dad is one four – so I had lots of people around me growing up, which is one of the reasons why I’m such a chatty and sociable person.

Ella Bernie, community champion
©The Portfolio Collective 2022

I worked pretty consistently from the age of 15 doing a whole range of different retail jobs. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study at uni, so I took a year off to work, which turned into two years. While working at Topshop as a team leader, I realised I was interested in the business side of things. I wanted to find out how a business operated and that’s when I decided to study marketing at university. It wasn’t just about marketing – I wanted to study people. So I found a course at the University of Reading which was a mix of consumer behaviour and marketing. It focused a lot on psychology, which I found really interesting.

I really enjoyed learning about consumer trends and why people behave the way they do. With marketing, everything has become so digital and I wanted to learn more about how that affects people’s behaviour. So I wrote my dissertation on online communities and their relationship with a brand. That was my first real deep dive into the world of communities, and I found them fascinating. That’s what led me to community management.

When I saw the role at The Portfolio Collective, I knew it was the perfect fit for me. I started working for TPC straight after graduating.

How do you think working in retail shaped your career goals? And what kind of values did that work experience give you?

It definitely made me more driven. When I started out, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so the experience pushed me to figure a few things out. When I was at IKEA, I was working in kitchens helping people plan their designs and that really made me more confident in the way I interacted with people and how I built relationships. Working in retail teaches you a lot about being a nice person and having patience. It also teaches you about hard work. Working hard and helping others are values that are very important to me, whether that’s with customers or colleagues. I think they are so important.

Ella Bernie, community champion
©The Portfolio Collective 2022

What is it that drew you to the startup culture? Did you know you wanted to work for an early stage company straight away?

During my last year at university, I worked for a small company doing social media analysis. That’s when I realised I really liked working for a small company – it was more intimate and you had the opportunity to try out different things. When you’re at university, they push you a lot towards the big companies with graduate schemes. They want you to work for the big four agencies, and I did look at some of those. But I was always more interested in working for a small business or startup.

I like the responsibility that comes with working for a small company. You get to do a lot more and there is a certain freedom to it. You’re figuring things out as you go, and I think that that’s actually a really enjoyable way of working. It teaches you a lot more and you pick things up along the way that aren’t necessarily related to your job. You also get to see the impact of your work because you end up creating the structures and systems.

In your role, you play a huge part in supporting and nurturing our community. What do you enjoy most about working so closely with community members?

I think it’s really nice getting to speak to so many different, interesting people with such varied careers and lives. The knowledge and experience that people have is fascinating and I love having the opportunity to speak directly to our members. You don’t get that in a lot of jobs. I get to build those relationships and learn from others.

I also get to help them, which is such a nice feeling. I’ve always liked helping people. When you see how you’ve impacted someone, it’s really rewarding. It makes you realise that you’re making a difference to someone’s day. I help people find opportunities, launch collaborations, make new friends and find answers to their questions. We’ve got such a nice community here at TPC and it’s so lovely to see all these different things happen. I love being a part of that.

Ella Bernie, community champion
©The Portfolio Collective 2022

How has working for TPC shaped your understanding of what a portfolio career is?

A lot of younger people these days have side hustles and I know a few people who are freelancers. So I was aware of the roles which fall under the umbrella of a portfolio career, but I definitely didn’t know the term.

Working for TPC has given me such a better understanding of portfolio careers and it’s made me way more interested in having one myself. Being a part of the community and learning about all the advantages and benefits of having a portfolio career definitely made me want to embrace that more.

I think when you’re fresh out of university, the concept of a portfolio career can seem quite daunting, but TPC definitely makes you realise that anyone can have a portfolio career. It demystifies the concept.

So, what’s next for you? What do you hope to achieve with TPC and with your career?

I think it’s so difficult to say because everything changes and we are growing so fast. I would love to learn more about community and about marketing. I’d love to continue to grow the community and strengthen that positive and supportive environment. Working with people and introducing more exciting opportunities for our community is really empowering and I can’t wait to see how that develops.

I also can’t wait for us to have more events face-to-face. I know we’ve got this in the works, and I’m excited to have more casual meetups with the community. I think that will be really nice.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to jump into a portfolio career straight out of university?

It’s important to prepare while you’re still studying. One good thing about uni is that there’s a lot of opportunities to grow your skills while you’re there. You’ve got more time to play with because you aren’t working full-time, so build your skills while you can.

Then when you leave uni, be prepared for a bit of craziness. You just kind of have to embrace it. Many of us are taught you need to go into a full-time role and stay there. But that’s not everyone’s idea of success. It’s important to know that you can follow other paths. Your career will change and evolve over time, and that’s absolutely fine. It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do right away. Just know that your career isn’t set in stone and that you can always change things as the journey progresses.

It may sound a bit cliche, but just don’t give up. Be prepared for people to not reply to your emails or to not hear back from jobs that you’ve applied for. The right thing will find you. Having a portfolio career where you have all these different avenues definitely helps. So does finding a community like The Portfolio Collective that is supportive and can help hold you accountable.

Want to kickstart start your own portfolio career? Become a member of our community and you can learn from our amazing Community Champion. You can also reach out to Ella or the rest of the team directly to find out why we’re so passionate about what we do and discover how The Portfolio Collective can change your career.

Think this sounds like the right path for you? Come along to our monthly Get started event for new members to find out what a portfolio career could look like and how The Portfolio Collective can help you take those first steps towards professional success – and don’t forget to connect with our community!

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