Episode 9 - Young Leaders in Print
Host Lizzie Bentley of IST INTECH is joined by three past Rising Star Award winners: Connor Lonsdale of Paranova Print and Packaging, Sayeeda Rafique of Xerox, and Callum Richardson of Instant Print, for a candid conversation about how young people are finding their way into the print industry, and staying there.
Each panellist shares their own path in, and it's a strikingly familiar story: none of them set out to work in print, most fell into the industry through an admin role, an apprenticeship, or a marketing job that happened to touch on it, and all of them describe being genuinely surprised by the scale and sophistication of what goes on behind the scenes. Connor talks about being trusted with a nine-million-pound tender early in his career and what that responsibility did for his confidence, Sayeeda describes moving from content marketing into CRM by proposing her own strategy and being backed by supportive managers, and Callum reflects on discovering that the machinery on a factory floor can be genuinely awe-inspiring once you understand what it does.
A recurring theme is the Rising Star Award itself, and how the application process, the grant, and the community it creates have accelerated each of their careers, whether that's funding a leadership course, a CIM qualification, or simply connecting them with peers going through the same thing. The panel also gets into what the industry does well for young talent, apprenticeships, mentoring, and giving people real responsibility early, and what still needs work: greater visibility for print as a career path, more representation across different ages and experience levels, and a genuine willingness from businesses to invest in a future for the people they bring in, rather than letting them feel stagnant and drift elsewhere. The conversation closes with a shared sense that sustainability and continued innovation will define where the industry goes next, and that it's now on this generation to make print an easier, more visible industry for the next one to find.
Thanks to Sam Nelson and Liz Ross Martyn from The Printing Charity.
Find out more about FuturePrint: https://www.futureprint.tech
Find out more about The Printing Charity: https://www.theprintingcharity.org.uk
Follow FuturePrint:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/futureprint-tech/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/futureprint-podcast/id1567194406
