INKED: Pip Jamieson | The Loop Co-Founder

Hello! I have INKED the super inspiring Pip Jamieson and she took time out to answer some questions about why she is so damn amazing! 

Hey Pip! Tell me a little about yourself: I’m the co-founder of creative community The Loop (www.theloop.com.au), Australia’s leading networking site for creative professionals. I’m a kiwi born pom with a distinctive Marmite laugh (you either love it or hate it!) and I started my career working on the BRIT Awards in the UK before moving to MTV where I spent six glorious years working in a number of roles around the world. In 2009 I launched The Loop with my great friend Matt Fayle! The rest, as they say, is history!

How did The Loop start? My business partner Matt Fayle and I used to work at MTV. Matt was Director of Digital for MTV Networks Australia and I was Head of Marketing at MTV NZ.

In late 2008 Matt approached me with an idea. Being the “digital guy”, he was constantly being asked by creative friends & colleagues for advice on the best way to build their own websites to showcase their work online and promote themselves to potential employers, collaborators and clients. On the flip side, I was finding it increasingly frustrating to find fresh creative talent, being overly dependant on word-of-mouth. Incredible people were slipping through the net – that is how the idea for The Loop was born.

Our vision was to not simply be a portfolio site but to give our users a real tangible commercial benefit from being on The Loop, either by landing them their dream collaborator, client or employer.

What's a typical day for you? The great thing about The Loop is no two days are ever the same. I’m a complete workaholic, it comes with the territory, but I don’t mind pulling 70-hour-work-weeks when they’re so varied. I usually kick off the day walking to work listening to an audio book, then the day can include everything from planning new functionality for the site, presenting at conferences, doing a press interview, working with event and media partners, building the team and working out how we launch into new regions. I must admit I love every moment.

What have been the best moments for The Loop so far? For me it was the first time someone landed their dream job on The Loop. We’d only been live a week and we got this amazing email from one of our first users who had just been headhunted direct from the site. I can’t tell you how amazing that felt. Not only had we got the site up and running but it was working, major goose bumps.

What's next for The Loop? I just moved into a Houseboat in London to get The Loop up and running in the UK, which is sooo exciting. The UK site is set to launch in July and once it’s live it will open up a myriad of new opportunities for Australian creatives to land their dream job, client or collaborate in Blighty. 

A big thank you to Pip for taking part in my INKED series.

I've been a member of The Loop since the early days, it's allowed me to connect with like-minded creatives & industry peers. It's a matter of time before it's global domination. You can see my The Loop Portfolio here

p.s. I've always wanted to live on a houseboat! I saw Pip at Semi Permanent 2012 but I was a bit too shy to say hello, so if anyone has a snippet of Pip's laugh send it my way.