A Day in the Life of our Head of Copy & Medical Writing – Stephanie De Silva

A Day in the Life of our Head of Copy & Medical Writing – Stephanie De Silva

Initially joining us as a freelance writer at the beginning of 2019, and after a few months of travelling, Steph came back to us to join as a permanent member of emotive. With nearly 10 years of experience, Steph now heads up our writing team. We caught up with her to find out about her virtual working day.   

How would you summarise your responsibilities?

I head up the writing team and my time tends to be split between providing oversight on our accounts (reviewing work and providing guidance), general team management and creation of copy.

Where are you currently working from and talk me through your working day?

I wish I could say my day started with a run around Battersea Park (I live about 15 mins away) but that would be a lie. I have fully taken the opportunity to get a bit more sleep while working from home. I get up at around 7:45 am and, once I’ve had my coffee, tend to get started at around 8:30 am. I bought a milk frother/heater at the beginning of lockdown and it’s been a game-changer.

I then normally spend the first hour of the day getting on with any more urgent writing tasks as I find I work better in the morning if I’m working on more creative or strategic copy. The rest of my day is split between reviewing other writers’ work, client meetings, and general team management.

I’ll always try and make sure I get out for a walk at lunch; walking has actually become quite an important part of my day as it tends to be when any ‘bigger picture’ ideas seem to come to me.

What part of your day or your role do you love most at emotive?

For me, it’s all about the team and seeing them grow. I joined emotive as a freelancer and decided to go permanent because of the people and the culture.

A lot of our work is within rare diseases, why is this important to you?

I’ve been lucky to work on a number of projects within the rare disease space at emotive. Some of this work has included product launches for devastating diseases where there have been no previously approved treatments. We’re working on some patient testimonials in one of these disease areas at the moment, and seeing the difference that the availability of a treatment can make is just amazing.

What three words would you use to describe your job?

Diverse, collaborative, fulfilling

Outside of work, how have you kept yourself busy during lockdown?

It’s been very food orientated, especially during this third lockdown. At the moment, myself and two friends I live with have been having themed weekends that revolve around cooking different cuisines from around the world. Last weekend it was Bao buns from scratch; this week, we’re thinking Italian.

What are you most looking forward to when we get back to the office?

Just the simple things. While I’ve tried my best to recreate proper coffee at home, it just doesn’t compare with grabbing one from a shop and then getting to the office to have a chat with everyone.

Do you have any book or show recommendations for us?

Recently I’ve been watching a lot more foreign TV shows – having subtitles means you’re more likely to concentrate and it opens up 1000s of shows. I’d recommend Love and Anarchy (Swedish), Kingdom (Korean) and Money Heist (Spanish – have to thank Talia for this one).

emotive is an independent, London and US-based, award-winning global healthcare communications agency who inspire change that has a positive impact on people’s health through our medical, brand, patient, PR and advocacy services. If you would like to find out more about joining emotive, please contact jade.nuttaman@emotiveagency.com. For more information on our services, contact chat@emotiveagency.com