Carina Maggar is a copywriter, creative, voice over artist and occasional presenter from London.
Carina specialised in Graphic Design and gained a Distinction in her Foundation Diploma in Art and Design in 2009.
Now a freelance copywriter, she has worked with brands including MTV, Nintendo, YouTube, Spotify, Edge of Ember, Twickenham Film Studios, Huffington Post, Marmite and Condé Nast.
Carina spoke to us shortly after the publication of How To Make Work Not Suck: Honest Advice For People with Jobs. Her book is a straight-talking, colourful career guide aimed at 18-24 year olds and, in its first two weeks of launching, it has peaked at #1 in Business Humour, #1 in Work and Sociology, #1 in Hot New Releases and #1 in the Most Wished For charts.
Here she explains what led her to write the career guide.
Image: How to Make Work Not Suck, Carina Maggar, 2022
“I couldn’t help but gather observations and insights over the past 10 years that I’ve spent at various jobs,” she says. “When I began jotting them down, it was obvious they’d be helpful to people starting out in the world of work. It’s the book I wish I’d had when I was at college, and it’s not like the others out there; it’s straight-talking and nonsense free.”
So, what are her career highlights so far?
“‘Career’ is a word that really scares me! I wouldn’t say anything I’ve done has followed a linear path,” Carina explains. “My highlight is that I’ve managed to try a lot of different things in a short amount of time. My book is my proudest achievement; it’s not easy getting published! It took a lot of patience.”
Carina gained a distinction in the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, we asked her what she remembers most about her studies.
“The thing that I enjoyed most about the course” she explains, “was the opportunity to give lots of different mediums a try, that I’d never had the chance to do before; things like screen printing. The facilities were fantastic, and my tutors were so clearly passionate about their jobs. It was my tutor Matt, at the time, who told me I should apply for a creative advertising course. I hadn’t considered it until that point. I didn’t even know what a copywriter was, but he saw the potential in me.”
Image: How to Make Work Not Suck, Carina Maggar, 2022
Image: How to Make Work Not Suck, Carina Maggar, 2022
We asked Carina if she has any advice for current students or recent graduates wanting to publish their work.
“Firstly” she says, “if you’re looking to be a copywriter; never stop reading and critiquing what you read. That doesn’t mean novels; my attention span is too short for that these days. But it does mean reading articles from a range of different sources, food packaging copy, tweets, billboards, scripts; anything and everything. Secondly, get yourself a website to showcase your writing and make sure you set aside some realistic time to write often. Keep finessing your skills.”
What is Carina working on next?
“My next book is out in September 2023” she explains, “so I’m busy writing that and interviewing people at the moment. It’s a collection of people’s coming out stories and experiences from around the world; very different to How To Make Work Not Suck; completely the opposite, in fact! It’s going to be really beautiful, full of lovely illustrations and it will be out in hardback.
How to Make Work Not Suck is out now.
Find out more at www.carinamaggar.com
