Pond Hopping with UK Zenoid: Hannah Williams

This week’s Day in the Life feature comes from Hannah Williams, Director of Technology, Zeno Group UK Operations.  

6am –Alarm goes off. I resist the need to press snooze. Just. Check my iPhone for emails and any messages that need to be responded to quickly and then I get on the rowing machine for a (very!) brisk 10 to 15 minutes to wake myself up while I listen to the news on Radio 4 (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – it’s always a good idea).

6:20am – Make a coffee and flick through the news on Flipboard and the Financial Times while getting my kids (and me!) ready for the day.

7:30am – The school run begins. I walk for most of it and I get a sense of smug, geeky satisfaction by following my progress with the Move app. This is the time when my kids, Alice (6) and Florence (3) talk to and (mostly) at me about the day ahead – a lovely start to the day.

8:30 – Train to work. I’ve been shocked (and embarrassed! by how much better my children’s French is than mine so I’m using the Babbel mobile app to try to get the language back – it’s a nice way to get my brain working on something different before I hit the office.

9:15 – At my desk. More emails. More news.

9:30 – Meeting with the team on all clients. We have an event, a new business pitch, and a ton of content to get on with today – it’s all good!

10:30 – Make headway on a presentation deck for a new business meeting this week. I also brief the designer on an infographic and a piece of animation we’re creating for a client on a tight turnaround – we’re all really looking forward to seeing the end result, so it’s an exciting piece of work.

12:30 – Sandwich at my desk and check the news.

2:00pm – Head out to a new business meeting. It’s a great company that works at the intersection of education and technology. We take a brief snack break and then head back to the office.

4:00pm – Finish off the deck I was working on earlier and have a brief chat with a client over the phone.

5:00pm – Proofread some client copy and head to another internal meeting.

6:00pm – New business call with Zeno New York and one of their clients.  Fab, friendly call.

7:00pm – Soho House to meet up with a former client. We talk geeky tech and gossip, gossip, gossip. We have a cocktail that seems to contain more salad than booze and eat an enormous bowl of olives.

9:30pm – Home. Got a good old London bus back to my place, so was able to check emails and spend enough time on Babbel on the way home to convince myself I can probably rise to most challenges in French (I can’t).

10:00pm – Final cup of tea of the day (as a proper British stereotype, I drink about a hundred mugs on an average day). I catch up with my partner, Phil and get everything I need ready for the morning so I’m ready to go again! This is also my time for current affairs on TV, with Newsnight, a household favorite.

5 Things you should know about Hannah

Fearless moment: Living and working in China and Tibet for three years. Wonderful.

Most Memorable Zeno Moment: I’ve never before worked in an office that has its own pub. Who wouldn’t love that?

If I wasn’t a Zenoid I’d be… an anthropologist (possibly…)

Social network of choice: Twitter. I love the richness and diversity of information and the fabulous opportunities to network. And the dirty jokes.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? London!