Welcome Nick Madden, our fab new Content Director

Firstly, welcome Nick. Tell us a bit about your career to date and how you arrived as Content Director at Fresh Egg…

I began my career as a journalist doing colour pieces for a range of national magazines and newspapers (back then you could just waltz in off the street to a commissioning editor’s desk and pitch their ear off).

When digital publishing began to take hold, I pivoted into copywriting and web work, which saw me running the web and content operations for several companies. About five years ago, I fulfilled a long-term ambition to work in the charity space full-time and spent a few years contracting in that field. Then an advert on Indeed drew me here.

The people are amazing. There’s such a great collection of talent across loads of exciting specialties. The ambition of Fresh Egg is also very appealing, what it’s trying to do and where it’s trying to go. I love that Fresh Egg genuinely cares about all aspects of the work and the clients they’re serving. I also think it’s fantastic that Fresh Egg has just been given B-Corp status, which directly speaks to the commitment towards social and environmental responsibility.

Designing and building a new quality framework governance platform (where all best practices, policies and procedures are kept and used every day by thousands of global staff), along with installing a range of new best practices and processes for a major charity. The project will have a significant impact on both organisational efficiency and the people the charity is serving around the world

That it’s all about simply doing a spot of writing here and there (and that anybody can do it. We’re very similar to designers in that regard).

It has massively changed the way I go about my day-to-day work and has made many aspects of my role more efficient. I’ll be looking to formalise and harden some of these methods in the coming weeks and months, along with setting up processes for use and continuous improvement. It’s also helped further sharpen my attention to detail, as if you don’t pay close attention, it can make some things worse (you also need to know when not to use it)!

I used to churn out romance novels for cash (not under my own name, so Google will not help you).

Not sure how niche, but I collect art (I also do a lot of writing… but that’s certainly not niche for someone who works in content).

For the most part, something involving words, websites and publishing. To be fair to them, I have had a reasonably varied career to date.

That’s like asking me what my favourite song is! I’m a huge fan of the L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, the publisher and art organisation that represents some of my favourite contemporary artists. They put on great events, support loads of interesting artistic projects, and are run by very nice people. Unlike some other publishers / galleries / collectives, their outlook on society and the world is fun, disruptive and inclusive. They have much love to give.

Looking at my usage it’s a close tie between a well-known audiobook provider and a well-known music streaming service. I listen to a lot of music when working, and a lot of books and podcasts when I’m not. 6Music on BBC Sounds comes in a close third.

That’s like asking me what my favourite brand is! I have very eclectic taste, from rave to grunge, classical to country (Kris Kristofferson is my hero), hip-hop to ska and punk (big up The Lovely Eggs), The Beatles to The Kinks etc etc etc. Alice in Chains, KLF, The Band, The Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies are all on constant rotation. I regularly listen to a playlist entitled ‘Grunge forever’. For podcasts, I’m a big fan of The Rewatchables (from The Ringer). 

Can you eat a whiskey sour? If that’s ineligible, then poached on sourdough with smoked salmon, plenty of lemon and a spot of Tabasco.

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