MRSpride Stars: Maine Charlton
22 February 2023

Maine Charlton is a Community Manager at Relish and a new recruit to the MRSpride steering committee who will be co-leading a series of roundtable discussions for small agencies around EDI issues alongside Ben Sumner throughout 2023.

I wish someone had told me at the beginning of my career how fun work can be! And how much random stored up knowledge can come in useful in the right job.

I most admire the team that set up MRSpride, they’re so welcoming and kind, and seeing them do what they do it incredible!

A future-fit research world would be ever changing with the times. We don’t know how things will hold up in 2, 5, or 10 years and it’s important to change with the world around us and not get stuck thinking we’ve got the perfect solution.

My resilience tips for when times get tough are take a step back, use someone as a sounding board to bounce things off until you make sense of what’s happening. Remember there are always people around who would be more than happy to hear you out.

The most amazing or memorable experience I’ve had whilst working in research was going to my first ever MRSpride conference last year. It was eye opening just how many of us are in the industry willing to push for the things we want to see in the world. The overwhelming sense of community made me want to be a part of something bigger.

A research project I wish I had worked on is Inclusivity in Gaming! Any project like that is a dream to work on, and I would love to work on something that can influence the media, everyday life, and representation as much as that.

The main challenge in building a more inclusive world is listening and unlearning the things we’ve been taught from day one! Everyone’s experiences are different but that shouldn’t stop us making things better for those around us.

If I wasn’t doing this, I would be training dogs or doing art freelance!