Abi, 28 - Director

I am the Founder of an innovation practice called Brink. I help organisations be better at innovation, using psychology to shape how people behave.

A-levels

Economics, French, History

Degree

BSc Economics with French at Nottingham University
MSc Industrial/Organisational and Business Psychology at UCL

How I got to where I am now

About 15 part-time jobs as a teenager and through university (from bar tender to packing envelopes to door-to-door sales to retail)

EU funding officer at a local council, designing projects across EU countries and helping them get funded

Business officer at Kings Cross, linking the local businesses to the new KX development

Independent consultant in innovation and entrepreneurship policy

Tech startup founder at We Are Pop Up, the world's leading marketplace for creative retail

Chief Marketing Officer at We Are Pop Up

Back to university for an MSc

Founder of innovation practise, Brink

My big tip...

I was always told my choices didn't make sense. But I saw how the combination of subjects I wanted to pursue fit together. If you see something nobody else does, pursue it like hell. What I saw at the time (20 years ago) has now become the well-accepted fields of behavioural economics and tech startups. By blending 2 or 3 subjects together I now have an edge that serves me extremely well, even though I was always advised against it.