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Ara Visual Communications degree helped Emma Cameron get creative – and entrepreneurial

13 July, 2020

Emma Cameron, recently described in a local magazine as a ‘someone you can’t put in a box’, is a woman of many talents. She’s also an Ara graduate who’s turned her qualification into a business operation that’s not just about the bottom line.

Her GiveBack agency not only puts the quality of her Visual Communications degree to the test every day, it also embodies the ethics that are important to both her. “I've created an agency based on my and my partner's own personalities and beliefs. We don't and won't do work where we don't believe in the product or service - and if we can find a way to help companies create more meaningful internal processes, culture,  external messages and connections then that's a great bonus.”

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This means that Emma often defines success using metrics that go beyond those traditionally associated with advertising.  “With not-for-profit and socially-conscious clients, we try to team them up with our more lucrative and traditional clients who also are ethically motivated, and collaborate on joint marketing projects together. I’m not here for smoke and mirrors, or promote the values of an agency from yesteryear.”

She has no doubt that her education at Ara helped her gain entry to her chosen field. “The Visual Communications degree covered the entire range of professional skills you might need or want for a design career, right through from clever creative message idea generation to website design and basic building, animation, photography, budgeting and quoting - it covered everything! There are heaps of things that need to be learnt on the job but I definitely feel I was prepared to take those on through the lens of learning I picked up at Ara.”

Emma is also a musician with a group and her own solo career, and in recent months, gained even more attention when her lock-down selfie series went viral, and caught the attention of local magazine ‘Avenues’.

In the June article, Emma says that her daily self-portraits were originally the product of her COVID-caused lack of access to professional photography for her solo music work. As someone who views modern digital culture as an important means by which to work collaboratively and supportively, her images going global were perhaps not too much of a surprise. “The digital realm has busted the doors wide open to global involvement and recognition. The opportunities are endless with the digital world... even if you're still creating physical and artisanal work. Viva la digitale!”

Emma is enthusiastic about the possibilities that await her, professionally and artistically, saying that she would urge young people to stay the course with study. "I know going to school and doing projects and tests that you're being marked on can be boring and annoying but it's going to be worth putting the mahi in for setting yourself up for the best life possible! Just wait to see what you achieve in the next 10 years.”