Nathan Bickerton

Nathan is featured in our ‘Humans of LJMU’ series in collaboration with the ‘Humans of Liverpool’ social media account, sharing the stories of the people who make our city, communities and university the vibrant, inclusive place it is in celebration of our bicentenary year.

In his interview he reflects on a life changing moment during his studies, when he created a Wikipedia page for businessman Steven Bartlett which went viral and saw him gain work experience with Steven’s team. Since then, his career has gone from strength to strength.

Nathan’s ‘Humans of LJMU’ interview

“Whilst I was studying for my master’s in digital marketing, I was made redundant from my job with barely any notice. I spent the next few days applying for graduate jobs. I wasn't really getting anywhere with it. It can be quite a deflating, long winded process, with no reward. I applied for PR agencies but was knocked back because I had no industry writing experience.

“I remembered my lecturer mentioning Steven Bartlett in one of my classes. I had a quick Google, and his Wikipedia didn't appear at the top. It turned out he didn't have one. I thought that was odd, this was at a time when he'd just sold his business Social Chain, he was transitioning from entrepreneur to influencer and his podcast Diary of a CEO was blowing up. So, I decided to write one myself, mainly just to post it as an example of my work about a notable person.

“I DM'd Steve to ask if I had permission to post it on my LinkedIn. I didn't think he'd even see it. About 20 minutes later he replied saying 'this is dope, do you want to come and work with me for a month in London?', he then posted it on his socials and it completely blew up. I had journalists getting in touch with me, I went on BBC radio to talk about it and the uni helped to manage all of the press requests. It was a crazy experience.

“I travelled down to London to work with his close personal brand team on brand collaborations and TV content. On the first day when I arrived, he said pick up a mic, we're filming. It was a promo video of him breathing fire. This was around the time when he was doing his Dragon's Den launch. It was an incredible experience. I then came back up to Liverpool to finish my dissertation. I've had some fantastic opportunities since, partly due to that decision to try something a bit different. Now after finishing uni, I'm back in London working for a creative agency.”