Victoria Scott's Blog, page 2

Copywriting for Mandarin Oriental

I was recently asked to write the Doha destination guide for Mandarin Oriental, who are just about to open their first hotel in Qatar. You can read it here.

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Need to find an aviation analyst to comment on a news story? Start here

As a former TV news producer, I know how hard it is to find credible, experienced aviation commentators when a story breaks.  A plane has crashed, or there’s a huge strike causing immense disruption, and your editor is yelling that they need someone air, now.

Who do you call? Pretty much everyone who currently works in aviation can’t talk to the media, so all current pilots, engineers and managers are out. Chances are, you’ll look through who your outlet has previously spoken to, and call them again. And that’s sometimes ok – but often, you’ll get someone who doesn’t actually have any particular knowledge about the incident (they have never flown that plane, for example, or are unfamiliar with the way the regulations work in that particular part of the world.)

And if you do book that person, I can guarantee that people who work in the industry will be yelling at the TV / tweeting their rage / emailing your boss to complain. #Avgeeks are a militant lot, and fair enough – this sort of thing makes them question whether news outlets really do practice due diligence when booking experts to talk about news stories.

So, as a former BBC Transport Producer and aviation specialist, I thought I’d use my particular area of knowledge to pull together a list of potential guests, and sources of guests, so that you can find the right person to talk to, quickly. Click on the names to be taken to Twitter handles.

Please note this is a work in progress, so I’m still awaiting some contact details. If you think I’ve missed somebody great off this list (and I’d LOVE to add some female experts in particular) please drop me a line.  

Also, you might find this previous post handy – it includes lots of other tips for non-specialist journalists faced with reporting on aviation stories.

NB: If you want to speak to a current pilot / ATC professional for background, I have a number of them who are prepared to provide assistance, unofficially of course. Please contact me if you would like their details. 

General contacts:

BALPA (The British Airline Pilots Association). BALPA have some recently retired pilots who act as spokespeople for them, as well as in-house BALPA experts. Give the PR reps a call (these mobile numbers work out of hours too) and they will find you someone. Charlotte Branson, Media and Communications Officer Tel: +44 (0)20 8476 4046 Mob: +44 (0) 7776 763 599 Email:charlottebranson@balpa.org or Nancy Jackson, Media and Communications Officer, Tel: +44 (0)20 8476 4024 Mobile: +44 (0)7889 087 943 Email: nancyjackson@balpa.org

The Royal Aeronautical Society, Dawn Nigli, Head of External Affairs. The Society puts forward experts to speak on a number of topics including aviation, space, defence, drones, Brexit, air safety. Direct: +44 (0)207 670 4362 Email: dawn.nigli@aerosociety.com,  Web:  www.aerosociety.com

Simon Calder: Aviation-specialist journalist, Independent and Evening Standard. Always reliable, relatable, speaks in language the layman understands. Particularly strong on issues that affect passengers directly. Email: s@hols.tv.

John Strickland: John has 36 years of experience in the air transport industry, holding senior positions with airlines including British Airways and KLMuk.  He founded JLS Consulting in 2003 to provide strategic advisory services for the air transport industry. john@jlsconsultancy.com

Gideon Ewers: Managing Consultant at Montgomery Aviation Consulting. Gideon has more than 20 years of management experience primarily in the aviation and air transport industry. Email flygidz@gmail.com.

Alastair Rosenschein: Former British Airways 747 pilot, Operational and technical advisor on aircraft accidents and incidents. 

Jon Ostrower: Editor-in-chief of The Air Current. ex-CNN, WSJ & Flightglobal. Jon@theaircurrent.com (phone number available from me on request.) Lives US West Coast. Areas of expertise are air safety, aircraft testing and development, aerospace manufacturing.

Mary Schiavo: US-based international Transportation Attorney, CNN On Air Analyst. Telephone: +1 843.216.9138 (office) or +1 843.834.2445 (mobile) mary@maryschiavo.com 

Grant Brophy: Air Safety Investigator/Consultant. Member: Royal Aeronautical Society, ISASI, Flight Safety Foundation, & American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics. More than 25 years  working in aviation safety and aircraft accident investigation, flight operations (B767-300ER, B777-200ER, B747-200, B747-400, DC10-10, DC10-30, MD10-30, and MD11F), and electronic engineering. Based USA west coast. Email grantbrophy859@gmail.com.

Suren Ratwatte: Ex-CEO Sri Lankan airlines, and also a pilot – has flown the B737, L1011, A300, A310, B777, A330, A340, A380, A320. surenratwatte@icloud.com

Chris Chalk: British Aviation Group vice-Chairman, Global Practice Leader for Aviation at Mott MacDonald. Mott MacDonald is one of the world’s most experienced aviation consultancies providing aviation advisory services to governments, civil aviation authorities, airport companies, equity investors and providers of debt finance. 

Jim Termini: Former airline pilot (British Mediterranean) now aviation security consultant. He’s currently Director of International Business for Redline Assured Security.  Get in touch via Redline +44 (0)1302 288360.

Graham Braithwaite:  Head of Transport Systems and Professor of Safety and Accident Investigation at Cranfield University, UK. g.r.braithwaite@cranfield.ac.uk

Sally Gethin: UK-based aviation journalist. Specialist areas – inflight entertainment, connectivity, airports and the passenger experience. Contact sally@gethinsinflight.com https://www.gethinsinflight.com/about

Saj Ahmad: Chief Analyst at StrategicAero Research. UK based but with specialist knowledge of the GCC aviation market. Worked in the aviation industry for over 22 years, specialising in Airbus/Boeing product development alongside market research into large commercial engines. Contact  saj.ahmad@strategicaeroresearch.com.

Chris Tarry: Runs his own aviation consultancy. After spending some 20 years as a top rated analyst in the City of London, Chris established himself as an independent aviation analyst and advisor in 2002. He has served as special advisor on aviation policy issues to the UK Government, to Parliamentary Committees and to the Civil Aviation Authority. Contact details here. 

If it’s related to business / private jets, try:

Dave Edwards: Ex-MD of Gama Aviation plc for Middle East and Africa, Group General Manager of Gama worldwide, EVP at Qatar Airways covering Qatar Exec and Ground Services. UK, UAE and Qatar Accountable Manager and Compliance Manager for AOC and MRO Maintenance. Currently owns and invests in five aviation businesses. Also part time CEO of BACA – The Air Charter Association, the industry body for air charter. Private pilot. Contact de@windscap.com(phone number available from me on request.) Specialist areas are business aviation, illegal charters

If it’s Air Traffic Control related, try:

Paul Creighton: USA-based ATC specialist. Call re any topic involving incidents on tarmac, departing/landing aircraft, ATC procedures and safety, the politics around the FAA, how they fight to keep funding when govt wants to privatize. PaulCreighton44@gmail.com. Time zone – Central USA. Phone number available from me on request.

The Prospect ATCOS’ Branch is a trade union which comprises of over 2000 members across multiple ANSPs (Air Navigation Service Providers).  All ATCOs’ Branch members are currently employed in the ATM industry.  The ATCOs’ Branch ‘Chair’, also sits as the President of The Global Air Traffic Controllers Alliance.  Contact comms@atcos.co.uk for access to spokespeople.

GATCO, the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers, is a professional organisation representing civil and military air traffic controllers and ATM personnel in the UK. GATCO is the UK member of IFATCA. Contact John Freeman, GATCO Comms, info@gatco.org

If it’s weather related, try:

Simon Proud: Aviation Safety Fellow at Oxford Uni, Meteorologist, Satellite data specialist. simon.proud@physics.ox.ac.uk

The post Need to find an aviation analyst to comment on a news story? Start here appeared first on Victoria Scott, Journalist & Author.

How carers can grow their careers while looking after loved ones

I’ve just written a blog post for the Hoxby Collective, a really inspirational group of freelancers who’ve just taken me on as an associate. They work on some really big projects with major brands, using a network of handpicked freelancers around the world. I’m honoured and pleased to be one of them.

The post was about Katerina Gilbert, whose son has special needs, and how she has turned to Hoxby to help her continue to pursue the career she loves whilst also looking after her son. Click here to read it.

The post How carers can grow their careers while looking after loved ones appeared first on Victoria Scott, Journalist & Author.

10 things I wish I’d been told before giving birth

sarahkoller.com

As the birth of my first child approached, I knew I had it.

I had it nailed, motherhood. I had read every pregnancy and childbirth book I could find. I’m a journalist – I read constantly and research things for a living, and this was no different.

I’d researched my birth plan (gas and air first please, epidural a last resort, try to avoid an episiotomy); the right equipment (the bouncer, the play mat, the Baby Bjorn and the buggy I didn’t yet know how to fold); and the strategies (at all costs, avoid rocking your baby to sleep – shush, pat, shush, pat in the cot ad infinitum instead.)  I was clearly onto a winner.

And yet, twenty four hours after my son had been delivered by caesarian  – that section in the back of What To Expect on breech deliveries had come in handy – I felt like I was on the losing team.

Despite my detailed examination of breastfeeding diagrams, I had completely failed to get my son to latch. He lay in a cot next to me crying, and the nurses said he’d probably need to be given a bottle.

All of the depictions of childbirth I’d read about and watched were a million miles away from an operation I’d found frightening, and post-operative pain worse than any I’d previously experienced. I’d almost fainted trying to sit up, and my husband and a nurse had pretty much had to carry me to the toilet. After which, they’d fanned my face as waves of nausea gripped me and refused to let go.

When friends visited in hospital I pasted on a smile and I look reasonable in the photos of the event, but I know the truth. I was drowning in what I perceived to be my failure. I was not ecstatic and full of the joys of my new-found motherhood; I was petrified, out of my depth, and finally facing up to an unavoidable truth – my life had just changed absolutely, and there was no way back.

I remember feeling very angry with the mothers I was close to. Why had no-one told me this was how I would feel? The books I’d read focused largely on the pregnancy and the birth, but stopped abruptly after the delivery. I realised I knew loads about growing a baby, but pretty much nothing about how to keep one alive. Or, when it came to it, how my life was going to change, and how best to deal with it.

Recently, a close friend in her 40s told me she was expecting her first baby. I was delighted for her, of course; almost six years on from the mind-fog surrounding my son’s birth, I know that motherhood is a glorious gift, one I’m incredibly lucky to be experiencing.

But I also decided to tell her the truth. As she sat opposite me in a restaurant, eyes sparkling with delight, I made a choice to be honest. And she’s still talking to me, luckily.

So, here it is. Here’s what I wish someone else had said to me before I became a mother. If they had, I’d have realised that I wasn’t alone, and that’s a powerful thing.

It’s ok to be a bit crap

Some mothers just look amazing. There’s a woman who drops her child off at my son’s school every day, whilst carrying another one in a baby carrier, and pushing two more in a buggy. Four kids, and she still wears nice clothes and manages to look like she hasn’t got dressed in the 60 seconds between nappy changes and cleaning breakfast from the floor.

Meanwhile, I know my clothes are often covered in child-detritus, our buggy is covered in mud, and my brain is so addled that I regularly forget things and have to return home to get my son’s gym kit, despite the fact that he needs it on the same day every week.

Letters from school asking for costumes for assemblies and plays make me come out in a rash (I feel sufficiently guilty to still attempt to make things rather than buy them, but I’m not sure how long my son will continue to tolerate this – my last attempt at a beard was an airline eye blind with cotton wool buds stuck on it.)  And then there are birthday cakes. I try to make these too, and I have cried Every.Single.Time. Mostly with laughter.

The thing is, most mums feel like this most of the time. That mum with four kids probably feels the same, and Lord knows, she definitely has an excuse. Be gentle with yourself. Love your kids with all your heart and they’ll forgive you most things (hopefully.)

Breastfeeding is very hard for some people

Both my mother and mother-in-law were breastfeeding advocates, so I felt an enormous pressure to feed my baby myself. And of course I’d read the books and knew the significant benefits. But Lord, I found it so hard.

I know women who’ve sailed through the whole thing.  I guess they have nipples that point out perfectly to help the baby latch, a baby without a tongue-tie and a lot of support in the beginning stages.

It turned out that my journey was a hell of a lot more complicated, though. It was only with the help of a dedicated midwife, silicone nipple shields and a breast pump that I managed to keep it up for nine months. I also turned to mix-feeding – supplementing with formula twice a day – and it worked for us. Sometimes it’s reassuring to see the milk disappear from a bottle – either formula or pumped – and absolutely know that your baby is getting the nutrition it needs. They don’t say that in the books, but there you have it.

Your career will probably to take a knock

I remember thinking that having a baby would be a great break from my career. I know! How bonkers is that. I had a very demanding job working shifts, and I was tired and stressed. I believed that having a baby might give me a new calling, and a reason to step off the treadmill. Little did I know that I’d actually miss it. I discovered that my job had defined me far more than I thought; I’d worked hard for years to get where I’d got to, and it really meant something.

By contrast, I realised my new job was motherhood, and that I really wasn’t very good at it.  It’s a 24 hour job, seven days a week, which you can never resign or take a sick day from. It’s poorly paid and it’s pretty thankless until your little one begins to interact with you, so that’s quite a few months of mopping up sick, poo and wee without so much as a giggle.

The realisation of all of this made me want to return to my old job quickly, but I also realised that motherhood had made that tricky. If you earn less than your partner (and of course individual situations differ), it’s natural that you will probably be the one who has to find a job that works around childcare.

One of you has to, at any rate, and in my case, it was me. You’ll need to find a job that allows you flexibility for kids’ sick days and school holidays, and that works around childcare options. Often, those jobs are not as well paid as your previous one, or as high-ranking.  On the plus side, stepping off the career treadmill can turn into a blessing – you get an opportunity to reinvent yourself, and that can be lots of fun.

Your nightlife is dead for the foreseeable

When my son was a few months’ old, I ventured out to a mums’ coffee morning. Everyone else seemed to know each other and they were densely packed together in tight groups, but I managed to perch on the end of a table and the two mums nearest to me gaily asked if we were planning to have another baby. I looked aghast. One of them laughed and said “Well, my life was ruined already, so the second one was easy”. She and her friend roared with laughter. I didn’t find it funny.

Now of course I wouldn’t say my life has been ruined (reader, we had a second baby, and I still have friends and a job) but golly, my social life is unrecognisable.  

To give you an idea – we just went to the cinema for the first time in FOUR YEARS.  In order to go out after dark, we now need to kid our five year old son that we’re staying in (he has the ears of a bat – he can detect a babysitter from miles away) AND justify the cost of someone coming. Plus we can’t leave until the children are in bed, because they are very fussy about who does their bedtime routines. So anything that starts before 8pm like, you know, concerts and plays – they’re out. For years.

Anti-depressants are not an admission of failure

Motherhood is the biggest adventure of your life, but like all adventures, it’s full of highs and lows, and for some, those lows are intense. The muddy cocktail of hormones you experience immediately post-birth causes many women to weep, but if it lasts longer, seek help. Several months after my son was born, it became clear that my baby blues were something of a permanent feature. A doctor put me on a low dose of an anti-depressant, and while admitting I was struggling made me feel like a failure, the pills themselves made me feel hugely better, very quickly. I was a better mother because of it, and I now strongly advocate more provision for mental health support for young mothers. Post-natal (and ante-natal) depression are both very real, for many women. Don’t feel embarrassed. Please.

So there you have it. That’s what I’d have like to have known before I embarked on motherhood. It’s certainly true that some women, the lucky ones, find only joy in motherhood, and that is a wonderful thing. But this is for the others, the ones who stumble a bit, who trip and fall before finding their feet.

Two very important things I’ve learned: Motherhood is a constantly evolving skill that cannot be learned from a book, however much you read.

And it’s also an incredible gift – but one that may just take a little longer to unwrap than you imagined.

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