Who on earth is Em Mackenzie?

Getting everyone together to film a Friends-style montage was proving tricky, so we settled on this: a series of candid interviews with our team members. Today we caught up with Em, one of our Project Managers. 

 

Who are you and what do you do at KOTA?

I’m Em, a project manager based in Hampshire, UK. I’m responsible for managing all of our SiteCare clients on a day-to-day basis (70 and counting!).

How did you get here?

After I graduated from university with a BA in Music, I worked in various music-related roles: music retail, music education, music events etc. I knew I enjoyed creative environments and organising pretty much anything (I’m an avid spreadsheet user for all aspects of my life).

I was working as a project assistant during the second lockdown and decided to get a proper qualification in Project Management that would not only help me stand out, but would also hone my skills. I qualified as a PRINCE2 Practitioner within a few months and took to searching for project manager roles in creative agencies. The KOTA job description was literally everything I had been looking for (it even mentioned spreadsheets!!!) and I’ve been happily working here ever since.

 

Three favourite brands and why?

Paytner – 100 billion items of clothing are made every year, 62% percent of which end up in landfill. Paytner jackets are made to order, hand numbered and are special to each batch – so cool AND sustainable. Their website really tells a story and takes the user through their journey, which I love.

Papier – Beautiful stationary, sustainably sourced paper, cardboard packaging and mostly produced on a made-to-order basis. What’s not to love?

FaceTheory – Finding vegan beauty products can be hard – especially good ones – but this brand is luxurious, affordable, VEGAN and I love the branding!

Good web design is…

…easy to use, fun to look at and makes me want to buy something!

When you were little you wanted to be…

Growing up, I flitted between wanting to be a vet or a singer – random, I realise. Whilst I’m technically neither of these, I do have a dog called Molly now and I still sing in my spare time so maybe I sort of achieved it? 🙈

Listen to DEEP SIX PROJECT on Spotify!

 

What’s your morning routine? 

I’m always up before 6am with our dog Molly (apparently it’s the best time of day for barking the house down and stealing all of our socks). Usually I then go for a walk with a coffee, come home and have some more coffee and then read my book with a coffee before I sit down at my desk for the morning meeting… and have another coffee. I am definitely a morning person (perhaps it’s all the coffee) and love the peaceful way I start each day.

 

What do you geek out over? 

I LOVE to use Notion. I spent my first six months at KOTA getting to know the ins and outs and I use it in every aspect of my life now. Daily to-do lists, holiday packing lists, wedding planning databases, recipes, address book, cleaning tasks… the list goes on and on. Whenever anyone asks me about Notion, I am always buzzing to talk about my setup.

I also love to crochet (let me anywhere near a wool shop and I’ll be lost for days). Same goes for reading fiction/any book shop.