Introducing myself and my journal: Esme's Place

About Me:
Hello! I’m Esme and I am an intern working with the lovely people at Red Button Design.

If we were to go zoom back in time roughly ten years, and were to ask a littler (but not much) Esme what she wanted to be when she grew up, I think she would say she wanted to be either a ballerina or work in a bullet-proof vest for the BBC reporting from a war zone. Seriously - these completely polar career choices have been my aim for as long as I can remember. And I did work hard to turn both ideas into reality... I went to ballet school (but hated it and ran away) and ended up doing all sorts of journalism and media work experience. This work experience ranged hilariously from working on Home Affairs at The Independent to tape logging for Cash in the Attic. Glamorous eh?

So... It is completely by chance, and a lot of good luck that I have found myself, a true fledgling graduate, working with an amazing and life changing company who have already inspired me continue a career in the same field. I still feel an attachment to journalism and feel that it encapsulates much of what goes into social enterprise; you have to be great communicator, a people person, and a passionate, driven individual. You have to care about what is going on in the world around you. But what divides the two is that a reporter observes and comments on the world, a social entrepreneur changes the world - they see a problem and they hope to fix it, for good. Trying to establish myself within the latter seems more worth while to me...

The company I work for is Red Button Design, Red Button Design Ltd is an internationally award winning, for‐profit, social enterprise. It established in 2007 in order to design, manufacture and supply products exclusively for the humanitarian market. The inspiration behind the company was to design instantly effective interim solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. By doing so, we hope to mobilise the resources of international aid agencies away from ‘fire fighting’ missions long enough to implement truly sustainable infrastructure. Accordingly, the name “Red Button Design” is derived from the idea of an ‘emergency stop button’.

The main product designed by the company is Midomo. Midomo, is a household‐level water transport, purification and storage solution to be purchased by humanitarian organisations and deployed for use by individuals throughout the developing world. The device uses an internal filter system, powered by the rotation of the wheels, to transform harmful water to drinkable water on-the-go. A user would roll the unit to the nearest source of water, fill the 50 litre tank, and roll it home. Once home, the water drawn from the unit is potable to World Health Organisation standards. As the task of collecting clean, safe water often falls on women, Midomo could drastically cut the time they spend on water collection. This means more free time to play, work and learn.

I studied English Literature and Language (opting mostly for all the novels...) at UCL where I managed to drink a lot, perform and organise a lot of dance through the union, do a bit of volunteering and most importantly, get a degree. The great thing about English Literature is that you learn about the world in all its shapes and forms; I covered everything from Old English to Ian McEwan but the Restoration will forever be my favorite age for writing.

So what have I been up to? I have been writing a lot of copy, have already shimmied to a social entrepreneurial party (where not enough food was eaten and too much wine drunk) and been collecting ALL sorts of literature on the web about Red Button. I have also been working on an overhaul of Red Button’s website, their manifesto and most importantly, the enormous task of marketing their very shiny Midomo.

I look forward to leanring about all sorts of similar projects and especially those that involve women.

Esme x

My Passions:
Dancing, Literature and the World

My Challenges:
Helping somebody

My Vision for the Future:
Making the world fairer

My Areas of Expertise:
Communications, editing, marketing