To celebrate the launch of the all-new Lovie Awards, we’re highlighting members of our community leading the next wave of culture, technology and business across Europe. The Next Wave Leaders showcases Lovie judges and winners — creatives, business leaders, innovators and thinkers who are shaping tech and culture in Europe.
First up in our series is Emma Clark, Director of Multimedia for The Business of Fashion in London. There, they lead a team of creatives to world-class, authoritative content on the global fashion industry to audiences worldwide. We spoke to them about what inspires their work, and what is the next era for the Internet.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and the work you do?
I work at the fashion media company ‘The Business of Fashion’, and currently oversee all multimedia content, which includes audio, video, creative content, and most recently BoF’s social and design teams.
What inspired you to want to join this field and create the kind of work that you do?
I would be lying if I said that my career was entirely planned as it really wasn’t. I tend to follow my gut regarding what I should do and where I should go, and in this instance, it was an alchemy of people, places and things that led me to BoF.
Having met BoF’s founder, Imran Amed, around 8-10 years ago, I was inspired by his vision and energy for BoF and his perspective on the fashion industry. Not long after our first I became BoF’s first employee.
There is nothing quite like joining a company that is shaking up an established industry and being referred to as a ‘disruptor’. The energy that comes from working at a start-up is palpable and one that pushes you to keep moving forward.
The fashion industry is an extremely powerful industry, and to feel like you are helping to drive change in this industry is something that keeps me going.
What digital projects have you looked to or continue to look to for inspiration?
From a publishing point of view, I am forever in awe of The New York Times and what they produce. During the pandemic they created a series called ‘The Primal Scream’ which was a series that examined the pandemic’s effect on working mothers in America. What they built for this was incredible.
A former employer of mine, R/GA worked with Nike to create ‘NikeSync’ which was the first ever cycle syncing training on Nike app. The app aimed to help educate women on how to sync their training to their menstrual cycle. I thought this project was an important one, and I really think that it will have made a difference. To me both of these pieces of work really had a purpose.
What are some of the main factors pushing you to continue to innovate and push the boundaries of digital?
The fact we are constantly evolving. I’m not sure one can sit still when working in a digital environment.
What area in technology and digital are you most interested in experimenting with?
AI for publishing. My current focus is on AI’s ability to take an article and narrate it using someone’s voice by extracting their voice’s tone, sound etc. It’s incredible.
What about the current era of digital excites you the most about its future?
How we are still figuring a lot of this out, which opens up multiple possibilities. This excites me but also makes me rather cautious about the future.
Who should we look out for next?
At our recent Tech Summit in New York, we had Alice Delahunt speak about her company Syky. Given Alice’s track record at Burberry & Ralph Lauren she’s most certainly one to watch.
Another company that I was recently introduced to is ElevenLabs, a very exciting AI company and the demo they showed me blew my mind.
Is your work up next? Enter the 13th Annual Lovie Awards to show that you’re the best of the European Internet.