CASE STUDY
Company Assisted: Mary HD Entertainment
Support Programme: Business Start-Up Initiative
Support Activity: Support for a New Business
Background:
Since the age of three, Mary H Davidson had always harboured an ambition to work in the performing arts. In her youth, she attended the Pat Eakets School of Dance and also began to display a talent for poetry and song-writing. She studied acting and after her GCSEs, she landed parts in both television and film productions including Hollyoaks, Clocking Off and The Parole Officer.
By the age of 15, she had also begun to find work as a model, taking part in various charity fashion shows and finding work through a number of model agencies. She went on to appear in magazines such as Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and others. Although she was finding success in her various roles – including being invited to present Shop Manchester for Channel M – it was her song-writing career that she most wanted to pursue and, in 2009, she took the decision to launch her own business - Mary HD Entertainment Ltd.
“The original idea to start my own business came to me back in 2006,” explains Mary. “I had been contacted by Fred Jerkins of Darkchild Entertainment, a company that has worked with artists such as Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson. He saw my website and immediately saw potential in my work; he asked to hear some vocals and really liked the demo that I produced for him.
“This provided me with the initial impetus to set up my own company and the idea grew steadily as a number of other developments started to take place at around the same time. I was beginning to find work with other record producers and I was also invited to perform on a European tour with the dance act Uniting Nations. When I got back, I concentrated on finishing my first album ‘Beautifully Unexpected’ and made a concerted effort to launch my own business.”
Support Provided:
In order to ensure that she was addressing all the relevant issues and preparing herself for the challenges that lay ahead, Mary made contact with Enterprise4All. Following an initial meeting, the company’s advisors worked with her to guide her through the early stages of starting up the new venture and helped her with business planning, networking opportunities and invitations to a series of workshops.
Results:
“The help I received was really useful and the business was officially launched in April 2009,” notes Mary. “I have built up a great network of contacts, some very influential people are taking a great interest in my work and I now run my own company through which I’ll be promoting and selling my music.”
In addition to her commercial work, Mary HD also supports a number of charities including Action Aid, Amnesty International, the British Red Cross and Save the Children.
For more information about Mary’s work, visit www.myspace.com/maryhdmusic or www.maryhd.com.