Originally from South Africa, Hayley studied Dramatic Arts at university, before finding her way to the world of advertising; and after moving to London, joined Macmillan Cancer support as senior copywriter before heading to innocent in 2015.

As a senior copywriter, Hayley collaborates with an in-house team of writers and designers to create copy and concepts for a huge range of platforms – from packaging and campaigns to work for TV, print and press. “We know that a good idea can come from anywhere. That could be a really clever line that comes from a designer or a visual idea that comes from a copywriter,” she tells us.

While a knack for good punctuation and grammar certainly helps, an ability to tap into popular culture is also just as essential. For this reason, Hayley and her team take time to stay up-to-date on current affairs, which in turn contributes towards crafting clear and personable copy.

Having worked at both agencies and in-house, she sheds some light on the crucial differences between the two: “In agencies you are exposed to loads of different brands, and work across lots of different kinds of tone of voice. When you work in-house, you are a guardian of that brand; you are a gatekeeper. You’re a bigger part of building that brand.”

Looking back, Hayley shares advice on portfolios and practising your craft: “In your portfolio, people want to see how your brain works. They want to see how you got from A to B – and that should hopefully be the weirdest way possible. They want to see strange, unconventional ideas that you can link back to some sort of human truth. And a killer line on the end of that doesn’t hurt.”