Hi, I’m Debbie!

My Journey

My love for creativity and communication started early. At sixth form, I studied graphic design, photography, and words, and even got a taste of photojournalism during work experience at The Portsmouth News. From there, I went on to study Media and Communications, where I fed my inner geek by learning audio and visual editing.

My career has taken me on a fascinating journey. I started as an Assistant Manager for Odeon Cinemas (yes, I kept my cool meeting Richard Attenborough at a premiere!). Later, I became a trainer for Odeon, travelling around the UK to train new cinema managers and teach first aid and personal safety to cinema teams.

I’ve also worked in marketing roles for big brands in luxury retail, aspirational travel, fine dining, and high-end hotel groups. At Jobsite, I led candidate communications and developed national marketing campaigns. And in local government, a six-week contract turned into 11 years, where I worked on the foundations for gov.uk and led change management and communications for major IT projects.

Why I Started The Chichester Social

In 2016, I decided to combine my passion for marketing, creativity, and helping others by founding The Chichester Social. Since then, I’ve worked with a wide variety of founders, organisations, and charities, including Brake (the road safety charity), The Coal Authority, South Downs Planetarium, Chichester Community Development Trust, and even my local independent cinema, where I’m a Director and Marketing Lead.

WHEN I’M NOT BEING A SUPERHELPFUL MARKETING SPECIALIST

I’ve been a Trustee with Chichester Cinema for well over a decade and I cannot speak highly enough of the brilliant team there, the community outreach work they do and not to mention the deftly curated programme. I’m proud to be Chair of the Board.

Since 2016 I’ve been running a very successful business networking community with my BFF, Emily Perry - it’s called the Last Friday Club and if you’re local and running a business, come and join us!