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Lucie arrived at Earnshaw Hall in 1992 with a briefcase and perm, ready for business and looking like a character from the popular TV series Press Gang. She became heavily involved with the student newspaper Darts, and was runner up for the Guardian Student Journalist of the Year Award in 1995. The friendliness and welcoming nature of the people of 91̽�� won Lucie’s heart. The fun of the Pyjama Jump, the great music scene, the opportunity to develop her writing skills and making lifelong friends all added up to three of the best years of her life.

After graduating and moving to London, Lucie landed her first role at cable TV station, Trouble TV, starting in research and production and ending up presenting. She remembered: “I was on the road covering things like the Smash Hits Roadshow. Filming all the boybands – Westlife, Boyzone and 5ive!”

Shortly after this saw the rise of reality TV, and on the back of this Heat magazine arrived, where Lucie landed the role of Deputy News Editor: “It wasn’t really news; it was called News and Stuff – just silly stories, very much fuelled by Big Brother. It was a new concept for TV and I was really in the thick of it, following this new breed of reality stars and writing about them.”

However over 15 years since she started with Heat magazine, Lucie has seen the whole media landscape develop with new interactive media platforms, the rise of the internet and the 24-hour onslaught of social media. She has risen to become Creative Editorial Director for commercial content across all of Bauer Media’s brands, including Heat, Grazia and Closer magazines and radio stations Kiss FM and Magic FM. She is involved with different editorial teams, coming up with bigger audience-led campaigns and launching new brands. Lucie is driven by finding out what her audiences want and how their attitudes are changing.

However, her first love will always be interviewing. She has become a respected ghost writer for autobiographies of reality stars, including the late Jade Goody and Joey Essex, and she recently finished the book for last year’s Love Island winner, Dani Dyer. She even married a reality star - her husband, Ben Lunt, appeared on the original Shipwrecked series.

She is particularly proud of her interview with the then Prime Minister David Cameron. A real coup for Heat magazine, he appeared on the front cover and Lucie asked him silly questions - not the norm for a prime minister - such as “Do you know the words to Let it Go?”

Lucie recently launched the campaign, across all the Bauer brands. Run with Mental Health First Aid England and Natasha Devon MBE, the aim is to promote legislation for mental health first aid in the workplace. The campaign has delivered a petition with over 200,000 signatures to parliament, and created a manifesto that encourages employers to do more around mental health. Lucie has signed up celebrities to support the initiative and been involved in parliamentary debates and processes. She says:

It seemed the right time to be doing good with your brand rather than just purely entertaining.”​​​​​​

Lucie Cave

Creative Editorial Director, Bauer Media