A BARRY-BORN businesswoman who started up by recording career advice videos with a £25 second-hand camera has become a world-wide hit since an awards ceremony event.

Aimee Bateman first attended the Canmol: Wales Marketing Awards and Inspired by the evening, she developed her business, Careercake.com, and won the Canmol New Marketer award in October 2013.

She has since worked with job seekers across the world, inspired students at 17 universities and appeared on national news programmes offering her expert advice on career confidence.

Aimee said: “I remember the feeling I had while sat at the Canmol Awards 2012. Looking at all the talent in the room made me feel extremely proud to be Welsh and I was truly inspired by all the nominees.

“The feeling was so overwhelming, that I whispered to my friend: “I’m going to win one next year.”

“I had not long left my job as a recruiter and had just started making careers advice videos for YouTube.

The videos were filmed on a second hand camera that cost me £25 and were are all recorded in my kitchen - not exactly the big budget marketing campaigns that many think necessary to win a national marketing award.

"For the next twelve months I focused on adding value to job seekers and my brand grew and I won at Canmol 2013.”

Aimee has now worked with job seekers in many different countries including Australia, Canada and in the US and also become the Welsh Ambassador for National Careers Week.

She partnered with TotalJobs.com to host the award winning careers reality show, The Job Academy, where she took five young people and put them through a weeklong job-hunting boot camp, worked with LinkedIn on their national ‘Career Control Campaign’ and appearing on Sky News, to discuss my thoughts on career confidence in the UK.

But she still finds time to update her YouTube account?

She said: “Nothing compares to receiving wonderfully honest and motivational emails from job seekers who have used my videos to help find their voice in this very competitive market place.

She added: “The night I won my Canmol was, without doubt, one of the proudest moments of my career. I showed myself, and hopefully others that you do not need to be a multi million pound business to compete.

“We all have the choice to create our path, be seen, be heard and be valued. We decide.”

The Canmol: Wales Marketing Awards 2014 will be held at St David’s Hotel and Spa in Cardiff on Friday, October 10.

To enter, visit www.canmol.com and complete the application form by Thursday, July 31.