Ruba Asfahani

The comms life chose me

As with most Millennials, I found myself falling into the role of “marketing manager” when marketing was still just a little bit of Facebook, but mainly PR and good copywriting skills.

From then, I kept learning; new platforms, various algorithms, ever-changing popularity of print vs digital. Ten years later, I found myself at a crossroads. The pandemic (and two babies) was the catalyst for my freelance career.

Today, I get to do what I love – listen, plan, and create. I also do this while listening to 90s music, with a dog at my feet, and savoury snacks on my desk.

I wouldn’t want it any other way. And yes, that’s me posing with my Bargain Hunt jacket – catch me in action here.

My actual experience

My foray into communications was as a freelance journalist in the early to mid 2000’s. Once I joined Sotheby’s as an expert, I didn’t have as much free time, but I still enjoyed working with the press department on anything to do with our sales.

After I left Sotheby’s, I went on to become a private gallery manager, and this is when I got to flex my marketing muscles – I was in charge of curating, copywriting, updating the website, running socials, garnering press interest, and making sure the window cleaner showed up every week.

Realising the corporate art world wasn’t quite for me, I moved into my first non-profit role with The Arab British Centre. Once their voluntary trustee, they allowed me to get stuck in and work on their communications.

Needing a break from my native London, I decided to opt for a role at Modern Art Oxford, so back to the art world, but still non-profit; that’s what we call a win win.

Next up, totally left-field – The Women’s Institute – the largest women’s organisation in the world, and one known for its jam and Jerusalem (trust me, there’s much more to it than that!).

Then, it was time for my first baby, and my first pandemic. Thanks to Covid-19, I lost my job, and a little of my confidence. Lockdown gives you time to think, and I was lucky enough to secure two part time roles, one with my old friends at Modern Art Oxford. The other, with Oxfordshire Youth – the county’s largest organisation supporting the youth sector.

And now, here we are. In-house wasn’t working for me as I brought another child into the world, and so with a few nudges from friends and family, I got my UTR and became self employed.

So that’s my origin story, if you’ve stuck with it this long, I applaud you… It also means you like what you see, so drop me an email!