Anna Averkiou is an international media consultant specialising in communications strategy, crisis and reputation management. After training as a print journalist on local papers in North London, she spent more than 30 years as a journalist with national and international news organisations including Thames News, TV-am, BBC, CNN, TV agencies and SuperChannel and ran bureaux in Moscow and Sarajevo. She played a key role in setting up and managing BBC Newsgathering’s Picture Desk which became the forerunner to the BBC’s internal multi-media Newswire. She then moved to the BBC World Service where roles included News Editor and Business Development Executive. She now works extensively with high profile charities and NGOs, public and private organisations, and individuals around the world on the best ways to engage with the press and raise their media profile through bespoke consultancy and training. Still a journalist at heart, she still writes and produces for various news outlets and trade publications and is an assessor and mentor for a number of broadcast , film and content production apprentices and trainees.