Menu

Feeling Fab Features: Denise Parkinson

Denise Parkinson

Denise Parkinson joins Angie Greaves to discuss her new role at the Telegraph and how she balances a busy career with home life (and still feels fab).

Self-confessed movie geek Denise Parkinson is making waves in the entertainment industry. She’s worked for Artificial Eye, Bauer Media, Disney and Yahoo and joined the Telegraph as their Global Entertainment Director earlier this year.

Feeling Fab founder Angie Greaves was interested to find out more about Denise’s career and what it’s like to be a woman working in media. Watch the video and read highlights.

You work in a very male-dominated industry, how do you manage?

I look at the women who have been my role models, like Jacqueline Onassis. I think she did everything with dignity and grace but she was out there.  She also morphed into many different roles; a president’s wife, and then went into publishing, and was an editor.

I don’t emulate that but I look at that but I look at that as paving the way that you can go.

Do you have to adopt any masculine energies at work?

Balancing the power ultimately just comes down to being yourself and not trying to put an act on of being feminine or pretending to be masculine either. That’s a façade and all façades fall down and break.

Be in touch with who you really are.

How do you balance your busy career with being a wife and mother?

The honest truth, the ugly truth, is that you don’t balance it. I can’t sit here and tell you that I’m the perfect wife and perfect mother.

If you’re really going for your career and you’re really passionate about it, it’s really hard to tick all the boxes.

I guess the balance is that I’ve picked people in my life that support the fact that I work really hard.

When you do get the opportunity to relax what do you do to feel fabulous?

Pilates, yoga, running, rollerblading, skiing. I’m active, I love sports and to me my body’s a temple. If you’re not in control of your health you’re not in control of anything.

All that stuff and working in business all goes hand in hand. The more you work on yourself the better you feel. The more confident you feel in meetings, the more confident you feel with your colleagues, and the more energy you have to work those late hours.

Watch Angie’s full interview with Denise Parkinson

Talk movies with @DeniseVancover on Twitter and follow her work on the Telegraph website.

About Feeling Fab Features

This is our chance to celebrate people out there who we admire. Whether it’s for their role in the business world or as a homemaker, style guru or charity founder, Feeling Fab Features is where we’ll showcase the people out there who set a positive example and have great experiences to share.