Lauren Davidson: building confidence and creating content with impact at British Airways

Lauren Davidson did not expect to build her career in communications – in fact, it happened almost by chance. During the first year of British Airways’ apprenticeship scheme, she was placed in a team that had not been her first choice, with no particular plan to end up in content. That team turned out to be comms and it changed the direction of her career.

“I absolutely fell in love with the team. I absolutely loved the work”.

Content creation with a twist

Lauren’s role challenged some of the usual assumptions about content. Working in the NDC Comms & Engagement Team, she supported a specialist area linked to pricing on travel agent sites and direct channels such as BA.com, a niche brief and not the kind of role many people would immediately associate with content creation.

“When you think content, you think photos or video or social media. I didn’t do any of that”.

That was exactly why the apprenticeship worked so well. It broadened Lauren’s understanding of what content could mean and helped her apply creative and technical skills in a specialist business setting and it gave her confidence in areas she had not worked in before, particularly photography and videography.

Photography became one of her favourite parts of the course; she took on taking staff headshots at BA after learning more about camera work through the programme.

lauren davidson

The learning connected closely to her day-to-day role. She was not learning in isolation and applying it later, she was building new knowledge and using it straight away on live projects.

“It’s very much every aspect to content. You cover everything from animation to SEO to email marketing, social media, lighting, photography, you name it”.

Projects that Lauren worked on:

For her Assessment project, Lauren focused on a major piece of work linked to British Airways’ apprenticeship and graduate schemes: a new careers website, supported by social content including TikToks and Instagram posts using her own photography and video. It brought together content planning, visuals, trends and audience engagement in a way that was easier to communicate than some of the more technical elements of her role. It showcased how the apprenticeship could support recruitment and employer brand activity through content.

Lauren used the apprenticeship to strengthen work she was already doing around website accessibility and SEO. Using a tool recommended during the programme, she supported improvements on one of BA’s websites by checking areas such as interlinking, alt text, colour contrast and keyword performance.

“We actually still use it in that team now to crawl the whole website to check for things.”

She didn’t just use the tool for her own learning — she introduced an approach the team continued to use afterwards.

Lauren described the redesign of the NDC website as one of the more challenging parts of the apprenticeship, since website design was not her background. The site was aimed mainly at travel agents and developers and sat in a highly technical space, but Lauren was clear that technical content still needs to be clear, well presented and easy to navigate.

“It’s a very technical website, but even though it’s technical, it still needs to look nice.”

Alongside the redesign, Lauren took ownership of a wide range of NDC content and communications. Her work included stakeholder reporting across several BA portals, including the Daily Report & Health Check and the Service & Technology Partner Portal and she created SendGrid email templates for the NDC programme to improve consistency in stakeholder communications. She also developed practical resources to support users and colleagues, including a Tone of Voice Guide for NDC communications and a Welcome Guide and Playbook for travel agents registering for the NDC platform, designed to make onboarding clearer and reduce helpdesk queries.

Lauren designed and launched an NDC Training Module via British Airways’ digital learning platform to help colleagues across the business upskill and learn the foundations of New Distribution Capability – a very technical modern retailing method. She also supported tracking and communication around planned maintenance and quarterly updates for ndc.ba.com, helping improve operational transparency and cross-team coordination. Her managers also referenced her contribution to projects including the DOM Duty App, the Outage Notification API and the Planned Maintenance Page, all of which supported stronger communication and user experience across British Airways.

One of Lauren’s most memorable projects combined content, events, internal communications and charity fundraising. She led the marketing and communications activity for Runway for Mind, an event at London City Airport where around 450 colleagues ran on the runway in aid of Mind. Because it was an unusual event in a secure airport setting, getting the tone right mattered.

“It was trying to find the right wording for the email marketing side so people would want to get involved.”

The event raised over £12,500 for charity, with Joe Wicks joining colleagues on the day. Lauren captured a large volume of visual content from the event and used tools she had learned through the apprenticeship to support the editing and post-production work.

Impact and recognition

Lauren’s impact was felt well beyond the standard expectations of an apprentice. Over the course of her apprenticeship, she received 31 digital #ThankYous through British Airways’ internal recognition system — reflecting a wide range of strengths, from creating high-impact digital content and supporting urgent communications needs to championing accessibility, sharing knowledge and introducing new formats and approaches. She was also the first apprentice hosted in her placement, setting such a strong example that the area wanted to continue hosting apprentices in future.

As Elliot Hogan-Keogh, Digital Content & Comms Specialist, put it:

“Lauren Davidson is a truly outstanding member of the NDC Communications Team. Since joining the team, Lauren has consistently demonstrated a level of maturity, creativity and drive that far exceeds expectations for someone at the apprentice level”.

That breadth of impact across so many teams fed directly into her Apprentice of the Year nomination. Because Lauren had worked with so many teams, a wide range of colleagues put themselves forward to contribute supporting statements and the application highlighted everything from NDC content development and training resources to accessibility, stakeholder communications and cross-team support — backed by those 31 #ThankYous.

She was nominated by Paula, her Learning Progress Advisor, which made the recognition especially meaningful. Lauren said being nominated by Paula meant a great deal, because Paula had seen her progress throughout the apprenticeship and understood how much she had achieved. Paula said:

“From our very first meeting, Lauren was excited to learn and develop her skills. Whilst always enthusiastic, Lauren initially underestimated some of her own best qualities – her high work ethic, her dedication, enthusiasm and tenacity. It was such a pleasure to witness the growth in Lauren’s self belief as she simultaneously grew in knowledge and experience over the course of her apprenticeship.

Lauren is a great role model – a wonderful example of what can happen when you work hard, have the right support around you and maintain a positive attitude.

I was very happy to nominate Lauren for Apprentice of the Year and was delighted that her personal development and achievements were recognised by her win and the Distinction she achieved for her apprenticeship was a well deserved icing on the cake.

I loved working with Lauren and I’m so very proud of her.”

As John Dale, NDC Engagement Lead, said:

“Lauren consistently goes above and beyond in everything she does. She sets a brilliant example of what good looks like and demonstrates that apprentices in British Airways can lead with confidence and impact”.

Winning the award was a major moment for Lauren, especially as it came just a week before her EPA. Alongside that, she completed the apprenticeship with a distinction.

Support throughout the apprenticeship

Lauren spoke positively about the support she received throughout the programme. A key part of that was Paula, her Learning Progress Advisor. Within JGA’s wider support model, that role helps learners stay on track across the apprenticeship journey — including regular progress reviews, support around milestones, check-ins on confidence and wellbeing and a consistent point of contact alongside the tutor and skills coach.

For Lauren, that support was especially valuable when she felt uncertain about what was being asked or needed help structuring tasks in a way that worked for her. It was not about doing the work for her — it was about helping her make sense of the process, break things down and keep moving forward.

Lauren also shared that when she is under stress, her Tourette’s can become more noticeable and that around key stages of the apprenticeship, that reassurance and emotional support helped her stay calm and focused.

Lauren has spoken about her Tourette’s developing during a trauma in her teenage years.

Reflecting on the award, Lauren said it meant much more than simply being recognised in the moment.

“After everything that happened, for a long time, I didn’t think I would ever really do much. I thought I would just coast through everything. So to then be recognised in that way meant a lot. It showed me how far I had come from that place as a kid. It showed the world that I was capable of achieving great things”.

What came next

Since completing the apprenticeship, Lauren has moved into a new role with Euroflyer, British Airways’ sister airline, where she now works in air operations administration for flight crew.

Although content is no longer the main focus of her role, the apprenticeship gave Lauren a strong platform in communication, confidence and project delivery that she has carried into the next stage of her career. Anthony, her tutor said:

“Lauren was one of those people you could tell was going to keep progressing. She had the drive, the confidence and the people skills for it. Even early on, it felt obvious she was not going to stay still for long and would probably move into management. I look forward to seeing what she does next”.