PPA 30 Under 30 Podcast

Join us for the third and final episode of season 2 of the PPA 30 Under 30 Podcast as we delve into the rich world of food writing. Sorcha is joined by Liberty Mendez, Recipe Developer at BBC Good Food and Kathryn Lewis, Editor of Food magazine to talk about making the everyday interesting for your readers, top tips for a 30 Under 30 entry, and why apparently tiramisu flavours belong in everything...

This week our staff writer Sorcha Mondon speaks to Lucie Heath, Senior Reporter at Inside Housing and Elisabeth Mahase, Clinical Reporter at The BMJ to discuss the many joys of B2B journalism. Both Elisabeth and Lucie have reported some impressive investigative stories for their sectors that have had impacted the mainstream media.

The PPA 30 Under 30 Podcast is back for the new year! To kick off our interviews with the class of 2021, our staff writer, Sorcha Mondon, speaks to Who What Wear's Shopping Editor, Joy Montgomery. From Joy's beginnings as a journalist to how publishers can make sustainable fashion commercially viable, this episode will enlighten, educate and make you feel confident about the future of journalism.

Entries have now opened for our PPA 30 Under 30 Awards. We spoke with four judges from last year's panel to discuss what it is that makes a winning entry, the importance of recognising rising stars and the advice they wish they had received at the start of their careers. Featuring, Barry McIlheney, Vanessa Kingori, Tilly McAuliffe and Renee Doegar.

For episode eight I spoke with three of our winners, who all work at Hearst on titles that many of us have grown up with and I'm sure have stockpiled at some point. Dusty Baxter-Wright, Senior Entertainment and Lifestyle writer at Cosmopolitan, Becky Burgum, Features Assistant at ELLE UK and Gabriella Minchella, Senior Fashion Assistant for Red, Good Housekeeping and Prima chart their varied career paths into publishing, how you can get noticed by the big glossy titles and the unique challenges they have all faced over this last year. 

After working for a few years as a chef in hot sweaty kitchens, including as a pastry chef at the House of Commons, Liberty applied for the role of Test Kitchen Chef at BBC Good Food and is now a recipe recipe developer for the Immediate food brand. Esther took a slightly different route, training at Leiths cooking school and then moving to Italy where she worked as a chef, travelled and wrote about food. On returning to London, she honed her writing and food styling skills, which led her to into the world of magazine and newspapers, where she now finds herself as Deputy Editor of BBC Good Food magazine. In our conversation we cover how Instagram has expanded opportunities for young food writers, the new lockdown food trends and top tips for getting into the industry.