Hi, I'm Tom. 

​

From the council estates and clubs of East London to the world's best boutiques, bistros and bookshops, my life has been spent immersed in culture. You may already have an idea of what I do from the examples on this website, but how and why I ended up here is another story. 

​

I left school at 16 to work in a designer clothes shop. Staff discount sounded more attractive than higher education. It was the kind of place where boxers and villains paid for their weekend get-ups with shoeboxes full of cash. Any spare time and money I had was spent in tireless pursuit of loud music. Luckily that wasn't difficult to find in East London in the '00s. If anything it was harder to avoid. Cars, shops, bedroom windows, and market stalls would play UKG, Grime, Lovers' Rock and Dancehall with bass that made the pavement rumble. Plastic People and The End were a nightbus away. At weekends I'd go to football, Leyton Orient, my local club, decked in luxury Italian labels and Reebok Workouts. 

​

22 and driven by pure street confidence, that paradoxical combination of infinite possibility and crushing self doubt, I decided to become a writer. This was a lifestyle choice as much as a stable career path. At the very least I'd land guestlist into clubs and maybe some free clothes (there's a theme developing here).

​

This road led me to meet James Brown, the brilliant publishing entrepreneur who started loaded, the magazine at the heart of '90s British pop culture (you can read about it in his autobiography). James spent 6 years teaching me everything I now know about finding great stories, writing headlines, creating opportunities and getting to the point. I didn't always listen. He then helped me to set up a print magazine, The Move, in the hope of more free clothes.

​

It was at this time, around 2016, that I realised brands were often looking for problem solvers like me with an ear to culture and an eye for a great story. You could even become something called a "strategist", or a "brand strategist", even a "creative strategist" - and I was good at it! I've since worked across the fashion spectrum from streetwear to luxury, consulted for the V&A, written for The Times and Hypebeast and appeared in numerous documentaries and on industry panels.​