My Week in Food - Sara Carter

From the Aug/Sept edition of Courier Life in the Courier: Stories of Modern Business magazine:

The brains behind multi-faceted Clerkenwell London, Sara now heads up London agency To Another Level, set up this year. Carter shares her favourite spaces in London to get a bite to eat.

I'm interested in how different spaces can "blend" together when it comes to food and retail venues.
My local fruit and veg store has a takeaway juice bar in the back - I'm convinced people would stay if they put a few tables and chairs in.
On a casual evening I adore my local pub, The Wells in Hampstead. The menu changes occasionally, but largely the favourites remain and these include the goats cheese and beetroot salad and the Chateaubriand.
The ingredients are local and the meat has a traceable provenance - it comes from our local butcher, The Hampstead Butcher.

The dish
This is a recipe I created myself after experimenting with combinations of traditional Indian spices. I'm always looking for new principle ingredients. Dudhi, used here, is a squash-like vegetable. It's got a bland flavour naturally, but it holds its texture and takes on the flavour of the spices.
I've made the dish with lamb on this occasion, but it can also be served vegetarian.

The ingredients
As well as dudhi, which is renowned for its digestive health benefits, smoked garlic is an ingredient I love to use at the moment to add a twist to a dish. The ingredient that I'll never tire of using is turmeric; it's an all-round good-for-you spice.

CARTER'S TOP SPOTS

Margot
I often head for Margot in Covent Garden. The most amazing service awaits, with owners Paulo and Nicholas serving up plates of Italian salami and melt-in-the-mouth pasta. There's so much choice in London yet it's a rare thing when the service and quality of food match.

Curators Coffee
Curators Coffee is on Margaret Street in Soho. When I find myself in that part of town for a meeting this is where I head. For a coffee house, the menu is extensive and there is an additional light and airy space downstairs, which is great for meetings.

Artichoke
My local fruit and veg store in Hampstead, where you pick you own produce. Alphonso mangoes, cavolo nero and avocados are typical examples of the things I get here. Its range of nuts and seeds is really good too. I also like the 'number 6' smoothie from the juice bar.

(Featured in Issue 18 - Courier: stories of modern businesses - Aug/Sept 2017 http://www.courierpaper.com )

In Conversation with.... Rens Pels, VP of Solution Design & Strategy at SDL, previously Head of Global Marketing Operations at Philips

Rens Pels

We're delighted to kick off our "In Conversation With....." series by talking with Rens - a marketer, a digital transformationist, passionate about classic cars, architecture, technology, arts and media. 

2AL: Hi Rens, could you tell us a bit about your career to date, your current role and company?

Rens: Of course! I started as a Copywriter after studying Commercial Economics. A dream become reality when I became a managing partner in a Dutch advertising agency at 22 and then I moved to the customer side some years later.  I was head of Philishave/Norelco Global advertising for five years and then Head of Global Marketing Operations at Philips for another six. I started my own company in 2008 which was then sold to SDL in 2015. SDL is the global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management, allowing companies to optimise their customers’ experience by delivering engaging and contextual experiences across languages, cultures, channels and devices. I'm now the VP of Solution Design & Strategy at SDL Marketing Solutions working with customers like Fujitsu, Philips, Jaguar Land Rover, Huawei and Wolters Kluwer.

2AL: Where do you think Marketing is heading in the next 3 to 5 years?

Rens: I believe we're at the beginning of a new era where information relevant to a customer will present itself based on a customer profile and up to what level a prospect choses to expose that in a certain context or to a specific brand. The personal dialogue between a brand and a customer will be largely AI driven and enabled by virtual digital assistants that will filter information and prepare for decision making. Thus allowing people to cope with the ever growing magnitude of digital data, knowledge and information.

2AL: What does a normal work day look like for you

Rens: it's usually a dynamic mixture of online and personal meetings, regular travel and writing proposals or propositions for customers as part of multidisciplinary teams.
I'm often visiting and presenting to customers. All whilst trying to find some time to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing digital space.

2AL: What does a normal work day look like for you

Rens: it's usually a dynamic mixture of online and personal meetings, regular travel and writing proposals and propositions for customers as part of multidisciplinary teams.
I'm often visiting and presenting to customers. All whilst trying to find some time to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing digital space.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era where information relevant to a customer will present itself based on a customer profile”

2AL: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?

Rens: It has to be the role of digital in peoples' lives over the last two decades.

2AL:  Which Brand do you admire the most and why?

Rens: It has to be Leica. While rooted in heritage, obsessed by technical quality and design based on very conservative, traditional values they managed to reinvent themselves and create timeless products that are leading the pack in a segment normally defined by rapidly ageing digital innovations and short lifecycles. The Porsche 911 of cameras (my other favourite!).

2AL. If there was one event you could go to anywhere in the world, what would it be?

Rens: It would have to be TED’s main convention in California.

2AL - Thanks Rens, we really enjoyed working with you on projects at Philips and then when you had your own business - always offering great insight and a different perspective on the issue at hand. We're sure SDL are now benefitting from your expertise and humour! Thank you for kicking off our "In Conversation With....." series and we look forward to speaking with you again soon.