A Day In The Life

Nicola Nolan

Posted 01 January 2014

New York Program

January 2007 Intake

Nicola works as PR and Marketing Director at NEAL'S YARD REMEDIES.
I've been with the iconic Neal's Yard Remedies for over 5 years now and have, over the years, taken on more and more responsibility, which I've thoroughly enjoyed. From the very start, I was tasked with taking on all areas of PR for the brand, getting our amazing blue bottles out into the public forum and into the very best magazines, newspapers and websites. Today, whilst I'm still very much involved in PR strategy, I also head up all areas of marketing and also feed into our new product development plans and strategies and I'm lucky to be doing a role I really love, that challenges me on a daily basis!

Day to day I do SO much planning – planning what campaigns go live when, what those campaigns look like, and planning what stories we pitch into various press titles and when. We also work incredibly hard planning our new product launches; what we're launching and when, which is just such an exciting process to be part of.

I'm based in our London offices in Neal's Yard itself, in the heart of Covent Garden, but our eco headquarters are actually in Dorset so I'm usually down there at least once a week. Escaping the city and getting out into the beautiful Dorset countryside is something I really enjoy. Arriving at Peacemarsh, our Eco HQ always makes me smile. From the minute you walk into the building, you can smell what they're making as it's all done by hand so we know exactly what goes into each and every one of our beautiful blue bottles. I'm really lucky in that I work with a whole host of people skilled in all kinds of areas – the PR team who are the talkers and partiers, the marketing team who are the doers, getting the messages and campaigns all pulled together and the super skilled Research and Development team who amaze me on a daily basis, creating new products and discovering the latest and great organic ingredients all the time so we can launch the very best certified organic beauty products around.

The Neal's Yard Remedies business is a family run and owned business and I report into the Owner and Chairman Peter Kindersley. Peter's passion in life is organic – he lives on one of the largest organic farms in the UK and I'm lucky enough to visit the farm several times a year, which I love! The farm is an amazing place and the Kindersley family grow calendula, motherwort, mint, and lots of other different herbs that go into the Neal's Yard Remedies products, which makes a great story to share with our customers.

Before I joined Neal's Yard Remedies, I worked at a PR agency based in Chelsea. Working on the beauty team there fuelled my passion and excitement for all things beauty and whilst it was probably the hardest year of my life, I enjoyed working across several different clients from hair and makeup to nails and teeth! Coming in house and seeing the level of detail we get here, and then comparing that to the knowledge you get in an agency, was amazing. For me, working in house really helped everything fall into place and I love detail, which is why the in‐house role works so perfectly for me!

So much care, attention and love goes into our products and I think that's what makes NYR such a special brand. When I talk to people just starting out on their career paths, or those wanting a new challenge, I would always suggest you find something you love (for me it was skincare and makeup) and work on getting yourself into that. Network and meet as many people as you can. As the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who you know.