A bit about me
Hi, I’m Bridget, thanks for looking at my site! Here is a bit about me and Living Proofs.
I am tenacious and enjoy a challenge, so if you task me with something I will research the best way to do it. I love technology and finding more efficient ways to do a job. My partner says I would rather die than give less than 100% to a client. I don’t think that is entirely true (!) but my work ethic is second to none.
I am lucky enough to live on the shingle beach of Dungeness Nature Reserve in a converted railway carriage cabin with my partner who is an artist and runs Dungeness Open Studios. We have a rescue cat, affectionately named LC (Lost Cat) and we live between two lighthouses. Our garden is open to the public all year round.
When I’m not proofreading I have a sideline in horticulture (propogating plants from cuttings and seeds) to create plants that we sell on-site. I clear my tired head and eyes by getting some ions by the sea, storm watching, and I enjoy yoga and DIY. I help to paint some of the artworks sold at the studios and spend time away from the beach visiting my family in Wiltshire. Oh, and I design t-shirts and merch: https://www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/dungeness-studio-four.
How my corporate report proofreading service began
I was always interested in words and language and studied languages to degree level. After leaving university I followed a range of career paths including theatre and hotel package sales in London, regional newspaper advertising sales, reproduction furniture sales, and office management and accountancy. My last stint as an employee was as a finance director for an SME, where I qualified as an AAT accountant. But none of that was fulfilling.
A change of direction…
With a keen eye for detail, I’d always had the ambition to be a freelance proofreader, I just didn’t know where to start! So, in 2013 I decided to set up Living Proofs and give myself the push I needed. It wasn’t easy (I had zero leads and not the slightest clue where to begin) but I knocked on a few doors, metaphorically speaking, and gained experience.
After a disastrous book editing experience on a laptop that kept freezing, I spent some time in-house at a design studio at Allianz Insurance in Guildford, providing manual mark-ups for their underwriting clients’ paperwork then, around 2015, I began working on a quarterly report for a well-known pension provider and asset management company, a corporate proofreading client I work with to this day.
In 2017 I started a trial with Emperor Design in London who have contracted me for my proofreading services every annual reporting season since. In addition, I have picked up solid repeat work from other agencies. Since founding Living Proofs back in 2013, I have proofread hundreds of corporate reports and documents and they have become my area of expertise.
Memberships and qualifications
I have a proofreading qualification (‘Proofreading Today’) from Editorial Training. I am a member of the Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and undertake relevant training courses as part of my professional development.
To find out more about how to work with me, take a look at my Services page, or Contact me directly. You can also find out more about everything that’s new in the world of corporate proofreading over on my Blog page.