Having grown up an English teenager in 80s Belfast, witnessing Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’, it came as little surprise to my family and friends when I chose a career in journalism.

Beginning at The News Letter, Ireland’s oldest newspaper, I moved to the Mirror when it set up its regional operation in Belfast.

From there, I took a move to London to work under Piers Morgan at the newspaper’s offices in Canary Wharf.

I later returned to the Mirror’s NI operation before opening a press agency in the province to sell news and features to London, Dublin and Belfast media.

In the course of my journalism career I reported from Afghanistan, was part of a successful election drive to re-elect New Labour, interviewed a raft of A-list celebrities and played an incendiary role in launching Gordon Ramsay’s showbiz career – among other war stories for another day.

In 2010, the care of an ill relative brought me to Manchester. Two years later, I settled in the city and began work as a freelance PR consultant, setting up Stones PR Ltd soon after.

Today, I provide media counsel, public relations, crisis management and content production support to some of the city’s most successful businesses, establishing them as household brands when I can.