Social Media Expert Crowned 2014 BYPY Winner!
The coveted title of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) 2014 has been awarded to social media consultant Jodie Cole, founder and managing director of JC Social Media.
Jodie, who was also the winner of the Marketing & Communications category, set-up the bespoke social media agency in 2011 and outside of work has acted a ‘social media expert’ for a pilot TV show and been invited to act as one of 12 ambassadors for a ‘Start-Up Loans’ scheme, chaired by James Caan.
Jodie is also a co-founder of Clever Tykes, a set of children’s storybooks designed to introduce positive entrepreneurial role models to children.
It was this substance and depth that really captured the attention of the BYPY14 Judging Panel, “a natural leader who embodies everything that BYPY is about”, said Suzie Branch, chair of BPS Birmingham Future, MD of Branch & Co and Director of Greater Birmingham Professional Services Academy.
“Jodie hugely impressed with her refreshing attitude and really shone out as a person who we believe will continue to inspire other young professionals in the city to achieve greatness,” added Suzie.
Jodie succeeds Deutsche Bank’s graduate recruiter Sean Sales as overall winner.
Other category winners included Tony Bates, managing partner at IDEX Consulting in the HR, Recruitment & Training category while Jemal Omar, corporate banking manager at Handelsbanken took the financial services title. For legal it was Laura Cashmore, senior associate at DLA Piper collecting the award, and taking the top spot for Property & Construction was Marianne Horton, land manager at Barratt & David Wilson Homes. Chris Pyatt, founder and managing director of Class Creative was crowned the first winner of the newly re-instated Technology category.
The event has a number of high profile sponsors on board including No 5 Chambers, Birmingham Metropolitan College, Gateley, Forresters, Chiltern Railways Mainline, Staybridge Suites, SimkissGuy Recruitment, Connect Group and HTFT Partnership.
Each year BYPY also recognises an Inspiring Leader, someone all young professionals can look up to and this year the title went to Andrew Harrison, regional managing director of RBS. Currently one of the youngest managing directors within a global organisation, Andrew is widely recognised for not only his personal contribution to the city’s professional services community but also for his ability to offer a sense of empowerment for all his staff.
The Aspiring Talent award, aimed at 16-23 year olds, this year went to Magdalena Tulacz from Aston University.
Commenting on this year’s results, Claudia Santillo, chair of BYPY and managing director of legal recruitment consultancy Santillo Consulting, said, “I’m incredibly proud to have chaired this year’s awards, which not only re-introduced the Technology category but also received record levels of entries and the highest attendance in its fourteen year history. The wealth of young professionals that we have in this city is incredibly impressive and I really believe our finalists and winners to be the crème of the crop – I’m excited to see what the future holds for them all.”
This year’s event was the biggest to date with almost 1,000 guests attending the glittering award ceremony at the ICC last night. Hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter and journalist, Naga Munchetty, the awards are BPS Birmingham Future’s flagship event. 
To view the photographs from the event, please have a look at the album on Facebook.