During my last years at school in Lithuania (where I’m from) I had no idea what I wanted to do next. I’d always leaned towards something creative – I used to go to art lessons thinking maybe I’ll be an artist or interior designer one day.

I knew I would like to study further, so the next logical step was to apply to university. Because my brother was studying in the UK at the time, I decided to go abroad and try my luck there too. I ended up applying to five universities across England – two in London, one in Birmingham and one in Leeds. I was accepted to two universities and in the end, I chose Leeds. Mainly because some of my friends lived close by!

It definitely took me time to settle in. Being far away from your family and your home isn’t easy. My English wasn’t as good as it is now, so I struggled to express myself properly. And I didn’t realise how many different accents there are here either – I couldn’t understand people that had a Geordie or Scouse accent! That first year was definitely the hardest but eventually I met some great people, started to understand the accents and culture, and with time I got used to living here.

At uni, I studied Art and Design and chose to include some marketing modules too. I soon realised that unfortunately, art wasn’t for me. It was the marketing bit that I was more interested in. I got the chance to meet a couple of people from a local agency and respond to a brief for them. I loved doing and presenting the work. However, it took me a bit longer to get where I wanted to be…

On top of studying, I’d been working in hospitality since the day I moved to UK (bills won’t pay themselves will they!). After my graduation, I was desperate to get a job in marketing, however, it was quite difficult to get one when I hadn’t studied marketing and didn’t have any prior experience in the field. I was still working in hospitality after the referendum to leave the EU. I remember people celebrating the news in a restaurant I was working in at the time, which was really challenging for me.

It was really tough balancing multiple jobs with applying for my first ‘career’ role - it took me almost a year to get my foot in the door. However, after applying for a marketing intern role at an estate agents based in Yorkshire, I got accepted! I was lucky to have a very supportive line manager who taught me so much about the whole field of marketing. I was responsible for multiple things there – organising events, booking door drops, running digital media, email marketing and so on. After being exposed to pretty much every type of marketing and running some aspects of digital media myself, I realised that digital was the field I want to get more experience in.

After spending over four years at the estate agents, it was time for me to move on and find a place where I could grow and get more knowledge, specifically in digital media. I always wanted to work in an agency, so I decided to give it a go. Again, it wasn’t easy to get a job at an agency without prior experience, but I was determined.

I saw an advert for HOME (as it was called then, pre-merger with IMA) and after three interviews I got the job! To begin with, I joined as a slightly more junior position to ensure I could manage multiple clients at the same time. But I worked hard and after 10 months, was promoted to a manager position.

I think a lot about where I would have I ended up if I had stayed at home rather than moving to the UK. A lot of things have improved in Lithuania over recent years, and advertising is a much bigger sector now compared to when I left, with a lot of amazing agencies based there. During Covid, I was adamant I would go back to Lithuania, but I’m happy that I ended up staying.

The key point of my story is to never give up and never doubt yourself. Go after the things that you really want to do in your life and just keep on trying. You will get where you want to be eventually, just be patient (and manifest if you believe in it!).