Back to stories listingMarketing graduate Charlie Brunyate is focusing on the future and supporting a green economic recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Charlie chose the University of Gloucestershire as he grew up in the area, and wanted to study Marketing as he’d enjoyed it at A-Level.
“Having been to visit Park campus,” he said, “it felt comfortable and a great location I was familiar with, as well as having a good reputation for their Marketing course – especially as a stand-alone course, rather than as part of a Business degree.
“The atmosphere of the town and at the university is great – it’s a great place to live and study, with so much variety given the amount of downtime students have. Work opportunities at the racecourse were always good fun too!”
Charlie enjoyed being able to choose his own modules and tailor his course to his own interests, and he particularly enjoyed the Marketing Communications and the Business Simulation modules in his final year.
“The course gave me a great foundation in Marketing which has been beneficial throughout my career as you can apply the learning to yourself – for example, going after jobs or to interviews, you are marketing yourself, so you can gain a slight competitive advantage in your personal sales pitch.”
Charlie graduated in 2007, in the middle of the financial crisis, and was unable to find a marketing role so worked in financial services. And in 2014, he took his talents in a different direction.
“I created Freedom of Sleep – where for each jacket we sell, we donate a sleeping bag to the homeless, as I wanted to run my own business and do good. This has allowed me to use my Marketing degree for every aspect, be it web and product design, branding, PR and communications, as well as networking and running everything from end-to-end.”
Freedom of Sleep uses waste plastic from the sea and recycles it into wadding for his jackets, one of which he is wearing in the photo above.
Charlie is now a Business Consultant, and believes the world needs to, and is beginning to evolve to, a ‘do more with less’ approach, particularly in the face of uncertainty caused the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Now I’m using my consulting, project management, marketing and sustainability knowledge to help businesses grow and develop resiliency as we emerge from this current crisis, so they’re sustainably-placed to deal with a green recovery.”
And his advice for current students and new graduates is to not doubt yourself.
“It’s going to be hard to begin a career in this market, so have faith and don’t be afraid to explore opportunities out of your comfort zone.”
Read about Charlie’s Marketing BA (Hons) course here.
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