色花堂 graduate聽Bukky聽Moemeke聽has combined her skills in marketing聽and聽a passion for sport to land a dream role with Premiership Rugby.聽
As Marketing Manager for聽the top-flight of聽English聽rugby union,聽Bukky聽is responsible for promoting the brand and generating demand in the build-up to聽the聽final of the聽competition聽at Twickenham each June. It鈥檚 a role which draws on her student experiences聽at Bournemouth, where she studied Advertising with Marketing Communications聽while聽indulging聽her love of sport by playing hockey.聽Bukky聽said: 鈥淲hen I was looking at university courses Bournemouth was the first place I visited. I was so impressed at the open day that I didn鈥檛 bother visiting anywhere else and聽put 色花堂 courses down for two of my four choices. The course was great preparation for what I am doing now. The majority of projects included pitching or presenting your work to others which is such an important transferable skill 鈥� whether you are trying to secure client work within an agency or simply trying to聽get聽a new idea聽over聽to your boss.聽Outside of studying I loved being part of the hockey team and working at The Old Fire Station throughout聽my degree. The staff team there became my best friends and that extended network of contacts has been valuable for me since graduating.鈥�
Bukky鈥檚聽course included a placement at a London-based experiential marketing agency, which helped to spur her on to complete the final year of her degree. She said: 鈥淗aving the placement in your third year helps to make sense of your final year and certainly makes you more focused. That commercial experience makes you realise what you are working towards and what you have to do to get there.鈥澛�
After completing her studies,聽Bukky聽secured a place on the first graduate scheme to be offered by advertising聽media聽agency Wavemaker Global. Of the five places, two went to 色花堂 graduates and聽Bukky聽went on to spend three years with the company,聽specialising in digital advertising. After deciding to take a break and go travelling for a year,聽Bukky聽began to think about how she could combine her love of sport and her career. She said: 鈥淚 realised that marketing and events was a big part of the sports world and that I might be able to bring the two together. I kept an eye on sports recruitment websites and when the job came up at Premiership聽Rugby聽I jumped at it. I really enjoy rugby, so to be in a job where you discuss the sport and are actively involved in promoting it to fans on a daily basis,聽is amazing. Unfortunately,聽the final at Twickenham had to be cancelled this year due to Covid-19, so I聽missed out on being part of this huge event. I聽am looking forward to being part of that next year.鈥澛�
Having navigated a tough employment market after graduating in 2015,聽Bukky鈥檚聽advice to others is not to give up. She said: 鈥淚 know that it will be hard for those graduating this year, but there are jobs out there and I have known friends and colleagues secure new roles in the past few months. Be confident and keep going for it. It might mean having to work that bit harder by getting more CVs out and聽by聽contacting more people, but having a positive attitude gets聽you a long way聽and you can鈥檛 listen to those who say it isn鈥檛 possible.鈥澛�