A Life In The Day of...Tamiko Mackie (Marketing and Development Manager)

My alarm clock is set for eight o’clock but the ‘baby alarm clock’ goes off anytime from 5:30am onwards.  Some mornings, our daughter wants to play in her room with the radio on, but most of the time she wants to cuddle.  Recently, she’s figured out how to use the camera on my phone and takes pictures of her feet.  By the time we get up, it looks like a toy bomb has gone off.

My husband heads downstairs while I chase Ruby round her room to get her dressed, which she thinks it’s hilarious. 

By the time we get downstairs, Andrew has Ruby’s breakfast ready and is packing her lunch.  I seize my latte, dash out to the garden to put out birdseed for our feathered friends and have a quick fag. Then it’s time to pull on my coat, say my goodbyes and head out the door.  I’m a true night owl, not a morning person, so it’s great that the theatre is only a two-minute walk door-to-door. 

Once I arrive at the office at 10am it is a relentless rollercoaster ride, especially on Fridays.  I work in an open plan office with our Chief Executive and other staff, so it’s very lively.  There’s usually a constant stream of people stopping in and it can be hard to concentrate.  I scan my emails for anything urgent, then finish off the press release I’ve usually written the night before.  I attend the fortnightly heads of department meeting, then dash downstairs to the in-house radio studio in the basement to do our weekly ‘What’s on at The Maltings’ feature on Radio Borders live on air.  I’ll then grab a double latte from the Maltings Kitchen (the marketing department runs on caffeine).  I personally call each person that’s won tickets on Radio Borders in order to conduct a bit of market research.  If they’ve never been to The Maltings, I try and find out why so that we can break down those barriers in the future.  That kind of personal touch is really important to bring in new audiences and engage to with the community.

I spend a lot of time on PhotoShop creating posters and adverts.  If there’s time (ha!), I like to have one of the Box Office staff proofread what I’ve done – with so many show times and dates, it’s all too easy to get something wrong.   Some visiting acts don’t provide any print materials at all, which means that a poster and flyers need to be designed in-house.  I spend far too much time doing this, but it is important to get it right as the poster sells the show.  I also try and create a weekly poster highlighting the films we are showing - I also programme all of the films we screen, which I love. I am passionate about films and there is no reason that The Maltings shouldn’t be operating like a bonafide cinema – “everyone loves movies.”  It’s just going to take time for our audience to get into the habit of coming here to see films.

Lunch?  Lunch is for wimps.  More coffee.

Every seven weeks, the next quarter’s diary of events must be prepared from scratch.  This is the most enjoyable and most tortuous part of my job.  I did the last diary completely on my own and I estimate it took about 300 hours of work total.  I even stayed up for 2-1/2 days straight at one point.  All of the images for each show must be gathered, and the ‘copy’ must be written.  There is a lot of research involved and each description must be perfect, as the goal is to effectively sell each show to the maximum number of people it’s all about “bums on seats.”  No matter how many times we proofread, there’s always an inevitable typo or error and it drives me mad! 

Before I know it, the day is nearly gone.  I always feel really stressed because there’s more things added to my “To Do” list than I can physically get done.  It’s like a boat with a leak and the water pours in faster than I can bail it out.  With the office so close, I fall into the trap on evenings or weekends of “nipping in to get a couple of things done,” then hours later…  It was a reality check when my daughter referred to my workplace as “Mommy home.”  Despite all of this, and perhaps surprisingly, I love my job, truly.  That is because the “product” I am selling is fantastic, but most of all because of the superb people I work with.  Everyone is likeable, big-hearted and exceptionally good at what they do.  There are no egos and everyone mucks in.  It is wonderful to be part of such a pleasant, supportive team – no, family - of professionals - it really is quite remarkable and rare.

The real surprise treat at near the end of the working day is to hear the office door open behind me and hear “Mummmmmmy!” when my husband and daughter stop by to say hello on their way home.  If I don’t get home in time for Ruby’s dinner, then I make sure to make it home for her bath time, bedtime stories and tucking into bed.  Andrew and I have dinner, do some tidying and more laundry, then I usually crack open the MacBook and get more work done.  We’re the thoroughly modern couple, as he sits opposite me working on his MacBook.  We stay up far too late, then I usually fall asleep reading a book and it starts all over again the next day.