Isabel Nobbs

Can you tell us a bit about your journey before studying at Solent?

I kind of always knew that I wanted to go down the media route - it was the only thing at school that I really connected with. I ended up doing media, film and English at A level, and media and film was the thing that I really enjoyed and was excited for the lessons, which led me to doing Media Production at Solent.

What did like most about studying Media Production at Solent?

The media production course at Solent is right for you if you are really interested in the media industry, but you're not sure what specific field you want to go into - it opens your eyes to literally all aspects, so it's perfect if you're trying to work out your niche.

My lecturers have such deep experience in the fields they do so ‘they've been there and done that’. They really care about what they're telling you so it's really nice to see that. They can show you examples of their work, what they've done, and their journey that you're starting on.

What was it like living in Southampton?

I really enjoyed living in my student houses - we'd meet up for fajita nights or have a barbecue in the garden, that sort of thing. And I really miss living in a student house where you form a real bond and little family. And what I loved about Solent Uni was it felt like 99% of us lived in Bedford Place, so it's literally like a little Solent village.

All of your friends live a two minute walk away and everyone goes to the Common on a hot day and it's really a Solent community feel when you're living in your student house. I really liked it.

I think the best thing is, because it's a city campus, you are so close to literally everything. There are so many good walks - you can walk to the Common or get the nature of the New Forest which is not that far away, walking to the city centre for nights out - you can walk everywhere. And the shopping's really good, the restaurants are really good and there’s student discounts everywhere because it's a student town. So it was it was a really, really good place to live.

How did Solent prepare you for industry?

I think that the main thing that I did that prepared me was working was with clients. The modules you do where you're working with actual clients and you're going back and forth and you're changing things and you're keeping that professional relationship - that really helped me gauge how to do that, definitely.

Sometimes your ideas and aren’t always what they want, and you can’t take it personally and you’ve just got to keep going and keep it professional. But by understanding each other’s relationship, I think it helped me realise that in creative roles, communication is important - you really need to have good communication with anyone that you're working with.

You have to have confidence in your ideas and just say them and if they don't like them, don't let it knock you back, because that's what you're there for - you're there for more ideas. I really enjoyed working with clients.

What were your favourite memories of studying at Solent?

I loved working in the radio studios and doing the podcast stuff and like things like that. It’s a shame because I don't do it now. To actually work in a professional radio studio - I loved it! It was so fun and it was just so amazing to have that opportunity and if I could do something like that in the future, I definitely would, because it was it was really, really cool. I really enjoyed it.

What support did you get at Solent?

My mum got made redundant in the pandemic which meant she couldn't help me out as much as she would have wanted to. So, I had to get a financial grant and honestly everyone was so, so helpful. I went for meetings and I got the grant which really helped me. They asked me if I needed mental health counselling and things like that as well. When you ask for help, people do care and they really do try and help you

Tell us what you're doing now?

The company I work for - Jellysmack, as well as representing YouTubers, have their own channels. So I work for the Jellysmack content, such as a true crime channel, a conspiracy theory channel, a channel called Unfiltered Stories, which is inspirational stories of people who have been through a tragedy or things like that, and a gadget review channel and a science channel.

Right now, I'm a community manager for Jellysmack and that involves writing taglines, descriptions, and tags for YouTube videos, as well as moderating comments. I also do an analytics presentation every week. I really, really like it. I also do other stuff for Facebook for reels, and TikTok but generally YouTube is my main role.

Normally, I start off with my moderating and reply to comments, just because I like to get that done in the morning. I get sent video links and watch the videos and then write the description and we have we use a special software to help me find keywords to try and get the highest level of SEO so I can write the tagline, description and the tags.

Everyone works from home and we have quite a lot of remote meetings. We use Google Meet and Slack which is a communication software.

Do you have advice for others looking to get into your current role?

I spent a lot of days searching and applying. I think you can't be scared to throw your name in the hat for things - you never know where it's going take you, so you might as well just go for it.

When I researched the company I work for now, I looked at their LinkedIn and I saw it had many Solent alumni listed. Then I looked into the company a lot more and its values; and obviously they work with massive Youtubers so seeing these massive names on their website made me think "wow"!

In all my interviews I speak about media production because I speak about how I've kind of done everything, and I know exactly what my niche is.

I would say don't underestimate the value of a cover letter and definitely personalise them for each company, because we all know that most media roles get hundreds of applicants and you have to stand out some way.

And don't be picky about where you're applying for. Anything you see that you think might be good, apply, do the interview, and then see how you feel. At the end of the day, the more experience you have on your CV, the more likely are you are to eventually get the roles you really want. When you're starting out, it's just really important to get the experience.