I was using the internet back when it looked ridiculous.

I remember guestbooks and link-rings, geocities, the invention of CSS, and the birth of web standards. I had a livejournal back when it was cool, and a photoblog for a while. Once I'd learned how to register domain names and install LAMP, I started hosting websites for friends.

It sounds a bit clichéd now - the same as every other teen interested in how the internet worked.

But it remained something I loved fooling around with, whether that's plain old html/css, manipulating javascript, tweaking a quick bit of php or python to play with a raspberry pi.

Nowadays, if I need to create a website, app or service I'll use Squarespace, Statamic, Webflow or Bubble.

I studied at Cambridge and finished with a scholarship and a first class degree. But it took me a long time to get rid of a chip on my shoulder about the experience.

Before I applied, I was worried by common misconceptions: it's not for me, it's all work no play, nobody will like me, it'll be too hard, etc.

Much of this is untrue. I've heard this is common at well-known universities: many students worry and talk about whether they deserve to be there.

Naturally, there are also others who misinterpret opportunity for entitlement, and make false assumptions about how this extends into the rest of their life. In hindsight, this seems most likely to stem from a lack of diversity, as well as a complex and resilient culture of privilege.

In many ways, the lasting legacy of a Cambridge education — me included — is an over-confidence in your own ability and an expectation of life success. I try to remember this.

I studied Social & Political Sciences, which included papers in politics, sociology and social psychology, but later I chose to focus only on social psychology. My best work was on the role of patient understanding in mental health treatments.

Seated in a non-quiet section of the British Library's 4th floor, we were the Research Information Network.

We commissioned research into understanding and promoting the information needs of researchers - subjects like searching and accessing information, storage, information services, curating digital data, and e-research.

As their Communications Manager I was responsible for their brand, newsletter, website, PR, event planning, and so on.

I took over Punktastic when it was a tiny startup. Last year it was voted one of the world’s hundred most influential digital music services.

It is a side-hustle labour of love: we help you find your new favourite band.

I lead a fully remote team of ~50 volunteer editors, photographers, designers and engineers. Practically I spend my time on product, commercial and editorial strategy; understanding the ongoing structural changes to the music industry and ensuring our services match the changing needs of new music fans, bands, and our business.

Public Zone were a small agency on a mission to use digital to improve people’s lives. With my unusually diverse background, they hired me to bridge the gap between their project management, design and programming teams, who were not working together effectively.

I reinvented our production process and scheduling, led the delivery of our most technical projects, introduced a new agency emphasis on data and effectiveness, and helped hire new people in every department as we grew from 10 to 30 staff.

Two years later, Public Zone merged with sister agency Zone, and I joined their small strategy team.

Four years later, and as Zone's Strategy Director, my job is to ensure that every decision our teams make for our clients is the right one for their business.

In 2017, Zone became the UK's largest independent agency and BIMA Agency of the Year. Our team of ~300 strategy, technology and content experts help ambitious businesses define and deliver their digital futures.

In 2012, I wrote and published the agency's new flagship guide, The Digital Fundraising Handbook.

Six months in the making, speaking to fundraising directors and heads of digital across the world, it was a collection of new tips and challenging ideas about online giving.

Controversially, my research revealed that the average online donation is two to four times higher than offline, but that only 4% of UK adults say they have donated online. Another key finding, which still rings true, is that many people are giving, but they do not see it as charity - rather it is in lending, partnership or investment.

Even today, the vast majority of charities have not yet taken up the digital opportunity.

Go have a look: it's at supergnova.com.

But here's the quick overview:

Our new ability to easily, instantly access knowledge is a game-changer for society and brands. Knowledge is now our primary identity signal – the subjects we choose to know personally are key to who we are. The richest and most valuable kind of knowledge is anything that can't just be looked up.

Brands, however, are still pumping out junk knowledge into the world, even though it can be immediately disproved. For a brand today to claim that it stands for something, it must create new knowledge that consumers can't get anywhere else, and then give it away for free. Keep reading...

The portfolio includes:

Planning for retirement and checking your State Pension Forecast (how much? when?)

Claiming and receiving your State Pension

Applying for and managing your Pension Credit - a benefit for people over state pension age who are struggling to make ends meet

And calculating and receiving other seasonal benefits for older people such as Winter Fuel Payments & Cold Weather Payments