Why I’m offering a large discount on my course

There was a time – in 2020 when the first Covid lockdown hit – when I lost 50% of my regular income overnight.

Certainly a scary thought, as a freelancer. But I was still able to function as a journalist. And the newfound pockets of time allowed me to think about how I might be more useful beyond writing blog posts for large hospitality-adjacent companies. 

At that time, Black Lives Matter was at its zenith. And Vittles, a food publication platforming underrepresented voices, was an instant hit. Both those things made me wonder – why can’t we have more diverse voices in food media? It would certainly make the publications I usually read a lot more interesting, and to be honest I’d become rather sick of stumbling on the same ones over and over again. A recent piece in The Conversation confirmed this inequity, pointing out that the vast majority of UK journalists come from privileged backgrounds.

And so, in the middle of Covid, I launched a very casual mentorship scheme for writers of colour. The idea was to offer hopefully useful bits of free advice to these writers or aspiring writers – and the odd confidence boost on the way – to help get their food stories into print. 

That wasn’t exactly the outcome of all the cohort who came on board, but at least the feedback was rewarding. “Working with Hugh absolutely gave me the confidence to be able to pitch,” said Shannon. “As a mentor, Hugh was always a step ahead in answering questions I was thinking about,” said Lonny.

Those kinds of comments encouraged me to broaden out the course further, it eventually morphing into a paid course-cum-mentorship available to anyone. One important thing, though, was to retain some of its original DNA as a measure that addressed the need for more diversity in food writing and food journalism. Which is why a significant discount is available to writers of colour yes, but also other marginalised voices, people on low incomes, and students.

This is by no means my preferred solution. Ideally, I’d love to offer the course for free to anyone in those categories. But, without the right funding, that doesn’t seem likely. Instead, as a kind of piece-of-mind, the course comes with a money-back guarantee, meaning that if it doesn’t fulfil its promise of helping a writer get a paid commission, they won’t be any more out of pocket than they were before they started the course.

After years of developing it, I now have full confidence in the value this £900 course brings. Its success so far speaks for itself – to the point where, at the time of writing, no enroller has asked for their money back.

I realise even with a discount and a guarantee the course is still way out the reach for many (if that’s you, send me a message about your situation and we’ll see what we can do). But that’s not to say I don’t still offer advice to underrepresented writers when they ask for it. Part of me wonders if this should be the bare minimum for anyone falling into the definition of ‘reasonably successful food writer’. If we expect to overcome the lack of diversity and fairness privileged backgrounds afford, it might have to be.

If you are a student, on low income, a person of colour, or consider yourself marginalised, claim your discount via the enrolment form on this page.