A business leader, consultant and strategist, Julie Atherton takes 30 years of experience and applies it to a social media strategy approach that is embedded in building a successful business or brand. Her career has spanned global publishing, building an award-winning digital agency from a start-up, partnering B2C & B2B brands from the automotive, travel, financial services, retail, luxury, utilities and digital sectors, advising charities and social enterprise businesses. Awarded IDM Tutor of the Year (2018) she trains marketing professionals and business leaders in digital, brand, social media and content marketing. This experience provides a detailed insight into the different ways that organisations function, how brands are built and can decline, and how brand, reputation, social media and marketing combine to build value into a business.Atherton is committed to the idea of using education and experience to expand opportunity and increase social mobility. She sits on the IDM Qualifications Advisory Board, and as a trustee on the board of Union of Brunel Students, Learn @MAT (a special needs multi academy trust in Bristol) and Fi's Enrichment Education Support (FEES) Fund (a charity set up in memory of Fiona Braidwood so that financial barriers could be removed for children and young people to take part in enrichment activities that would nurture a love of learning, inspire confidence and increase aspiration). She is also an ambassador and panel member working with the Institute of Apprenticeships (IoF) on the launch of the new T-level qualifications.