We sat down for an interview with former King's student Annie Bird to talk about her life and career since leaving school, her commpany TD360 and the new virtual tour of King's that they have produced, that you can enjoy below...

Hi Annie, thank you very much for joining us. First off, what year did you leave King's?

I left King’s at the end of Sixth Form in 2017.
 

What House were you in?

I was in the best house, Laud!
 

What are your favourite memories of your time here?

I have so many amazing memories, it’s hard to choose but I would say Games over at Archdeacon, Geography and History in Little Cloister House (Miss Colson would let us drink a cup of tea in class which I LOVED). However, Sixth Form was my favourite period of time, having Dulverton as our base and Politics with Mr Evans, were particular highlights. The School trips cannot go without mention, and I had so many amazing experiences including the sports tour to Sri Lanka, ski trip to Italy, MFL trips to France and Spain as well as Pompeii and New York. Great memories.
 

What have you been up to since leaving?

A lot! Immediately on leaving King’s I went to the University of Birmingham, to study International Relations and Politics, with a Study Year Abroad, I studied in the USA at the University of Illinois for a year, it was a ‘Big 10 University’, so the experience was incredible. I graduated in 2021 and immediately started working at SLG Brands, a phenomenal experience where I learnt so much about branding and marketing. After SLG, I moved to London and started as an Account Manager at a global branding agency, SGK. As my 25th birthday loomed, I had a burning feeling that I hadn’t experienced all that life had to offer or tried a different line of work. So I quit my job and headed to Indonesia for a month for travel and a reset. When I returned from Indonesia, I realised that I wanted to travel more and in particular, explore Central and South America. I had been interested in opportunities in television and was approached by the BBC to work on 25th Anniversary series of Strictly Come Dancing! I jumped at the chance and juggled working on Strictly and my freelance marketing clients. It was a great six months, but it was clear to me that I didn’t want my future to be in TV, so with money saved up, I travelled to Central and South America, working remotely for my freelance clients and my partner’s business, TD360. Which leads me to now, working and living in Cheltenham for TD360, an immersive creative agency…
 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE NEW VIRTUAL TOUR OF KING'S - Created by TD360
 

We love the new virtual tour of King's! How did this project come about?

Thank you, we are very proud of it! I was chatting to the Headmaster, David Morton, about TD360 and the work we have created for our clients. David mentioned that an Interactive Virtual Tour would be great for King’s. Naturally, I agreed, and after a couple of meetings, the project began. - What’s the process of making the tour? It’s quite a long and detailed process, if you click on this link you’ll be able to watch how we do it and behind the scenes on the actual day.

How did it feel to be back at King’s?

It felt great to be back, I cannot believe how much the School has changed and all the new exciting new developments that have taken place, and yet still has that warm, welcoming feel.
 

What other projects have TD360 worked on?

We have worked on a wide variety of projects, this time last year we were creating a bespoke virtual tour for a Mexican hotel chain in Tulum, so travel and tourism is a large sector of our work. We also do a lot of work in the property sector, including virtual tours or digital twins of sites for developers to aid with development and land planning. Additionally, we offer a wide range of services, such as computergenerated imagery (CGI) environments, we call this ‘Imagined Worlds’. Using this tool, we create virtual showrooms and an area I particularly love is creating virtual art galleries, Artcan is a long standing client and we are currently working on a virtual art gallery for BIC pens!
 

What does the future hold?

What a question! Professionally, we want to grow and expand TD360, 90% of our work is inbound, so we are focusing on outbound and let’s hope we see some results! Personally, I would like to keep travelling as seeing the world and experiencing different cultures is a true passion of mine. I hope to continue prioritising my health and fitness and trying new sports and at some point, I would love to start a family.
 

How can people find out more about your company?

They can head to our website: https://td360.co.uk/ and connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annie-rose-bird-a681b1196 
As a growing business we really appreciate any feedback and support and would welcome a conversation.

What advice would you give to the current crop of Year 13s who are about to leave school and enter the wider working world?

Pick people’s brains about their work or what they do, whether it’s people on your course at university or your parents’ friends or random connections, talking and learning from others is so important and you never know where it can lead you or what ideas it can spark for the kind of life you want to build.

Treat your final year at university like a 9-5 job. If you clock in and out of the library as if it is work, I promise you will get a First.

Don’t be scared to pivot in your 20’s, try different lines of work. I know people who are 30 who are changing careers - it’s better to be happy knowing you tried than saying what if!

Finally, travel!