Julia Hobsbawm

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 15 August 1964) is a British writer and public speaker.

Early life

Born in 1964 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, Julia Hobsbawm is the daughter of historian

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...

and music teacher Marlene Schwarz, both European emigres. She grew up in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, attending

Camden School for Girls The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialis ...

. In the early 1980s, she studied French and Italian at the Polytechnic of Central London (now the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

), leaving without qualifications after failing to transfer to Media Studies. She worked in publishing, and then as a researcher in television, including on ''

Wogan ''Wogan'' is a British television talk show which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 to 1992 and presented by Terry Wogan. It was usually broadcast live from the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, until 1991. It was then broadcast ...

'', before moving to political fundraising for the Labour Party before the 1992 General Election.

Career

In 1993, Hobsbawm founded the public relations firm Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications with her friend Sarah Brown. She has held Honorary Visiting Professorships at the

University of the Arts, London The University of the Arts London is a public collegiate university in London, England, United Kingdom. It specialises in arts, design, fashion, and the performing arts. The university is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of ...

, and more recently at

Bayes Business School Bayes Business School, formerly known as Cass Business School, is the business school of City St George's, University of London, located in St Luke's, London, St Luke's, just to the north of the City of London. It was established in 1966. Bayes ...

(formerly Cass Business School), including a roles as Honorary Visiting Professor of Networking in 2012 and Honorary Visiting Professor in Workplace Social Health until 2020. Since September 2022 she writes the "Working Assumptions" column for

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

' section on work, Work Shift, having formerly been an editor-at-large for wellbeing portal Thrive, and a columnist for ''

Strategy+Business Strategy (from Ancient Greek, Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sens ...

'' magazine. She began hosting The Nowhere Office podcast with Stefan Stern in March 2021. Hobsbawm was appointed an OBE in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

list in 2015 for services to business. She is a patron of the Facial Surgery Research Foundation and the Zoe Sarojini Trust, a charity educating girls in South Africa, and was a founding trustee in the UK of OurBrainBank.

Personal life

In 2024, Hobsbawm was one of five women who accused

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

of sexual assault and abuse. Hobsbawm described an encounter in 1986 at her studio flat in London, where Gaiman made "an aggressive, unwanted pass," "jumped her," pushing her onto a sofa and forced his tongue into her mouth. Gaiman characterized the incident as "no more than a young man misreading a situation," according to the report.

Books

* ''Working Assumptions: What We Thought We Knew About Work Before Covid and Generational AI - and What We Know Now'' (White Fox Publishing with Fully Connected, 2024) * ''The Nowhere Office: Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future'' (Basic Books UK and Public Affairs, 2022) * ''The Simplicity Principle: Six Steps Towards Clarity in a Complex World'' (Kogan Page, 2020) * ''Fully Connected: Surviving and Thriving in an Age of Overload'' (Bloomsbury, 2017) * ''The See-Saw: 100 Ideas for Work-Life Balance'' (Atlantic Books, 2009) * ''Where the Truth Lies: Trust and Morality in the Business of PR, Journalism and Communications'' (Atlantic Books, 2006)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobsbawm, Julia 1964 births 21st-century English women writers Alumni of the Polytechnic of Central London English people of Polish-Jewish descent Julia Hobsbawm Jewish English writers Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Camden School for Girls People from Hampstead Writers from the London Borough of Camden