Meet Jaida – Our New Online Marketing Executive

About Me.

Hi! I’m Jaida. I am 22 years old, and I have just started at Sokada. I am really looking forward to this new apprenticeship and role at Sokada, as I think it will teach me a lot and really help me get further in the marketing industry.

I grew up in Uganda. At the age of 7, my family moved over there, and I lived there for about 9 years before moving over to the UK to go to college. I studied Equine Management at college for 2 years before moving back to Uganda. It became difficult to get work there, so I moved back to the UK after 2 years to start searching for what I wanted to do in the future.

My main passion is horses. For as long as I can remember, my life has been about horses. I do have a dog as well, a Labrador called Pippin, who was named after Pippin the hobbit from The Lord Of The Rings. If I am not at the yard or working, I am usually found with a book. I enjoy reading young adult and adult fantasy as it is a sort of escape from reality when needed. My all-time favourite series to read would be Throne of Glass, which is a very popular book series by Sarah J. Maas.

My interest in digital marketing came from a few years ago when I started to manage my parents’ business’s social media accounts in Uganda (when I still lived there). I enjoyed every aspect of it, from creating posts to making posters and thinking of new video ideas. I never thought much of following this up, as when my mum sold her bar and we moved over to the UK, I went into the hospitality industry, purely as I thought that was what I was good at.

Previous Jobs.

Before marketing and Sokada, I have always been doing some sort of hospitality job. I have worked in pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, you name it! Both my parents working in hospitality meant I was sort of born into that industry. I never really enjoyed it; however, it seemed to be something I was good at – especially working behind a bar.

Aside from the long hours and late nights, working in hospitality definitely had its benefits. It taught me communication skills and how to talk to people, as well as problem-solving skills. Working in hospitality is exhausting, but definitely something that teaches you a lot about hard work!

Once I learnt to drive, I started doing freelance grooming for people. People would hire me to come and muck out, poo-pick, and look after their horses. It doesn’t sound very appealing; however, I always thought I wanted to work with horses, so to me, this was basically my dream job. I quickly learnt that it was, in fact, not the dream I thought it was! Even less sleep, plus physical work all day, no matter the weather. I decided that I didn’t actually want to work with horses and started to think about possible careers for me outside of this, but definitely away from hospitality.

That is how I reverted to digital marketing. I started thinking about what I have done before and what I actually enjoy doing. I have my own social media pages for my life with horses, and I really loved managing the social media pages for my parents, so I began to search for apprenticeships in digital marketing.

Working at Sokada.

After applying for a few apprenticeships, Vocate contacted me, saying they had a client who wanted to organise an interview. That was how I found out about Sokada. I was asked to put together a portfolio of the work I had previously done, promoting things to show my creativity and current knowledge.

When the interview came around, I was very nervous, as bad as it sounds, I had never been worried about messing up or not getting the job before! It was always bar-tending or waitress roles I applied for. I never worried about getting the job, as there were always jobs for those roles available, and it was something I had quite a lot of experience in. However, the apprenticeship at Sokada was something I had been researching and really wanted to do. This could be the start to a great career in digital marketing, and I was so nervous to mess up the interview.

I met Julian first. He was very friendly, and it took the edge off a bit. Followed by Jude, who was also very friendly. Then I was told the whole team would be in the interview! How nerve-racking! The team consisted of 3 other people, all around my age, which obviously then brought the nerves back. After meeting everyone, it became far less scary as everyone was so friendly and kind, so it made me really want to be a part of the team. Getting the call back to meet Jude and Julian again was definitely one I was excited for.

I’ve never worked a single full-time job; I’ve always juggled several part-time roles to add up to full-time work. I have also never worked in an office environment before, so I was not sure how well I would be suited to it. Going in with very little experience, I was very nervous that I would struggle to find my feet and understand the work. That being said, I think Sokada is the perfect place to begin my journey in the digital marketing industry, and I am very excited to expand my knowledge and learn from them.