By Agency Works 
Next up in our Meet the Team series, it's Implementation Consultant, and resident hardcore punk fan, Chris Wilson.
Tell us about your early career? What was your first job?
"When I was younger, I always had this grand ambition that I was going to work in the film industry, and, as I got older, decided I’d be a journalist or critic and get paid to watch and write about lots of movies.
"I moved up to Norwich from Buckinghamshire to study for a degree in film studies. I’ve stayed here ever since, but when it came to the realities of actually working in that industry, I realised very quickly that I didn’t love it – or have the requisite talent or patience!
"I also did a Masters in Film, and focused on marketing strategies in the film industry, so I developed an interest in that side of things. When I left uni, I worked in marketing and communications for a charity that focused on heritage and historical buildings, before working for a biosciences institute in their marketing team.
"During those roles I was working with agencies a lot – as a client – and I found them really fascinating. I met designers and developers and creatives working on campaigns and branding and websites and all that sort of stuff, and I found that really interesting. They would always talk about the variety in their workload, and that led me down the route of thinking, ‘actually, that sounds great!’.
"I moved into the agency world as a project manager, before progressing to becoming Head of Operations at my last agency. I was there for six years before moving to Agency Works at the end of last year."
What do you like most about agency life?
"I think what really appealed to me was the variety, and everyone just seemed really passionate and enthusiastic about what they were doing.
"It can be a very stressful thing working in an agency. No-one's there counting down the days to retirement. Everyone's there because they want to do great work and make exciting stuff."
What do you enjoy about your role at Agency Works?
“I really like working with people who are in the same position I was, say, five years ago, and being able to help them through.
"Fundamentally, agencies are all dealing with the same problems. They're all trying to get better visibility. They're all trying to work better, work smarter, and sometimes all it takes is somebody to share an alternate perspective or bit of empathy, and some time to help you see the way through."
It's been really validating to be able to talk to all these people and give them reassurance, but also hear their perspectives as well and realise that, actually, we're all kind of dealing with the same problems.
What value do clients get from working with you?
"Having been in an agency that changed size, I've had experience of being an operations lead in a bigger agency and a smaller agency, and I really think that helps. It means my experience isn't limited to just one size and shape of agency.
"I moved from project management to operations, and operations can be quite a lonely role within agencies. You don't always feel like one of the team because you're working on a lot of the stuff that sits in isolation, away from the creativity and excitement that happens in delivery.
"It’s nice to be able to work with people who are in that position now and give them that reassurance, to be able to say “well, you know, here's how we tackled this, and it's okay that you feel worried about this big change that you're going through but I've been there, it will be okay".”
What would you be doing if you weren't in this job?
“My childhood aspirations for a job in the film industry are long gone, so if I wasn't doing this sort of work now, I'd probably be pursuing opening a cafe or something. I love coffee, and being a nerd about it.
"I imagine it as being this really idyllic, chilled out life. I bet it's absolutely not, but I think that there's a certain charm to the idea of making coffee all day."
Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions? Work or life-wise?
“It’s not exactly unfulfilled, but my wife and I went to Vancouver on our honeymoon and we’ve always said we want to go back.
"We’ve now got an eight-year-old and a five-year-old, and I’d just love to take them out there. It's probably the only other place in the world I'd happily live, so I'm desperate to go back out there and take the girls with me, and show them what is probably my favourite place on the planet."
What do you like doing when you're not at work?
“I love spending time with my wife and the kids. We love doing days out, going for walks and to the beach, that kind of thing. That's one of the benefits of living in Norfolk. You've got the countryside and the coast on your doorstep, which is an amazing thing to have.
I'm also a very typical nerd, unfortunately. I play a lot of video games, I read comic books, I listen to shouty punk music, and watch a lot of movies, and that's my way of unwinding."
And finally, any interesting talents or claims to fame?
"Is 'no' an acceptable answer to that?! Thanks to my degree I seem to have this weird knowledge of what year movies came out, which is probably helpful in five out of every ten pub quizzes, but I think that's about the extent of it!"
