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Name:
Lynne Thomas
Job Title:
Head of Department: Content, Systems & Communications
e-mail:
lynnethomas@canllaw-online.com
Contact no:
029 20 853185
What I do at Canllaw Online:
I head-up the Content, Systems & Communications Department and am responsible for the organisation’s corporate literature, publications for young people, corporate website & websites for young people, internal databases & systems and marketing & communications. I also co-ordinate a Young Writers’ Initiative and manage the organisation’s relationship with EYCA (European Youth Card Association) and any EYCA projects.
Why I’m the best person for this job:
I love literature – reading and writing are my absolute passions - and I am very creative to boot. I have experience in product management, which includes the conceptualisation and realisation of projects, management of customer and supplier relationships and critical path development and implementation. In a nutshell, I’m a creative control freak that likes to talk and can keep those balls in the air. Perfect for Content, Systems & Communications.
Why Canllaw Online and information for young people:
Canllaw Online is a “can do” organisation that puts young people and their information needs at the heart of everything it does. Canllaw Online always strives to develop new, innovative, solutions to young people’s information needs and constantly looks to improve existing services and provisions. There’s no sitting on laurels at Canllaw Online. Better information leads to better life choices is the mantra of the organisation and is something I feel very strongly about.
Also, I’m a creative control freak that likes to talk and can keep balls in the air. Who else is going to have me?
What I did before Canllaw Online:
Having completed a degree in Industrial Design, I was working as a Product Manager for a novelty confectionery company when a friend spotted a Canllaw Online advertisement for a Publications & Content Manager. I’d always secretly wanted to be a writer and had started writing fiction for young people in my spare time, with moderate success. I entered some of my work into various competitions and was short-listed for the WH Smith Raw Talent competition (I also won a fun writing competition run by the Sunday People, but I’m not sure that’s anything to brag about!). I applied for the post at Canllaw, did the interview and got the job – yay! Now I head up the Content, Systems & Communications Department.
I also worked part-time in Tesco Upper-Boat between September 2002 and September 2008, while completing my A Levels, Foundation BTEC and Degree.
What I want to do, but haven’t done yet:
I have loads of unrealised ambitions – learn to tap dance, play piano, speak Italian…the list goes on and on. However, my biggest ambition is to become a published author and see the book I have written for young people sitting on a shelf in Waterstones (having just bumped Harry Potter 7 off the number one spot!!!).
What I wanted to be when I was little:
Rich.
No, seriously...what didn’t I want to be? I started off wanting to be an author, then a landscape gardener, then an interior designer, then an architect, then a graphic designer, then a product designer, before coming back to an author!
Funny though – when I was little I wanted to write adult books about mobsters and now I write children’s books about aliens!
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Favourite holiday spot:
Ooh – that’s a tough ask. I love so many places (and I love traveling). The Slovenian coast is beautiful, as is Salzburg in summer and winter, but Italy stands out – Malcesine on Lake Garda is stunning (and the food is soooooooooo good!).
Favourite dish:
Anything Italian. Other than that; salmon fillet in an orange, ginger and soy sauce on a bed of spinach with asparagus and baby carrots. I make a mean one of these!
Favourite cartoon character:
Batman – without question the coolest character around. So menacing, so tortured, so dark – what’s not to adore??? I do also have a soft spot for Eric, the cowardly cavalier from Dungeons and Dragons – comedy gold!
Favourite Album:
Use your illusion 2, by Guns ‘n’ Roses.
Favourite Music Artist:
Now, if I don’t put Whitesnake, some close friends of mine will never let it rest. If I do put Whitesnake, I’m leaving myself wide open for world-wide ridicule. What to do, what to do! I guess I’ll play it safe and go for…Guns ‘n’ Roses.
There – no one will mock me now!
Favourite Book:
Blimey – this is a toughie! I love books and to narrow it down to one is soooooooooo hard. I love the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the short stories of Neil Gaiman. When it comes to specific books, hmmm – Stephen King’s unedited version of The Stand, perhaps, or Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, or Dean Koontz’s “Lightening”, or maybe Robert Crais’ “LA Requiem”…”Holes” by Luis Sachar is also an amazing book, as is “God is a Bullet” by Boston Teran and “The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper. I guess my favourite of all must be “The Big Blind” by Louise Werner because it’s the most enjoyable and unexpected story I’ve come across.
Favourite Film:
Blade. So good I went to see it twice! I also love Hostile Hostages – best Christmas film ever! Can’t not mention Predator either, or South Park the Movie.
Any weird phobias?
Yes – I don’t like oversized things! I know how mad this makes me sound, but I have an aversion to leviathans and monoliths: skyscrapers, massive cruise ships, jumbo jets, whales etc - they give me the willies! What do you reckon – looped the loop, or what!
What I would put in room 101:
People who don’t put their car into gear until the light turns green – amber’s there for a reason people!
The opinions stated in this interview belong to the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Canllaw Online.
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