Edith Bartell

Why this persona fits the audience

Manages a 9-person remote marketing agency in Manchester. Client SOPs and campaign FAQs are kept in Notion, while support and handoff questions are handled through Gmail and a shared Google Sheet by two account managers.

• Age: 38
• Location: Manchester, UK
• Occupation: Operations manager, marketing agency
• Income: £48k-£62k
• Education: BA Business
• Company size: 9 employees (fully remote)
• Years in role: 4

“If the process isn't written down and easily found, it doesn't exist, and then we're just guessing until the client gets angry.”

Edith Bartell, 38, is the operational anchor of a nimble, fully remote marketing agency based in Manchester. With a BA in Business and nearly two decades of experience in organizational development, she transitioned into her current role four years ago after realizing that even the most talented creative teams falter without a solid operational framework. She manages a distributed team of eight, overseeing everything from client onboarding to internal resource allocation. Her office is a hybrid of physical and digital; she works primarily from a dedicated study in her Didsbury home, equipped with dual monitors displaying Notion dashboards and Slack channels. Her primary challenge lies in the fragmentation of information. While the agency has invested in Notion for its comprehensive knowledge base, the utility of this tool is hampered by the sheer volume of unstructured data. Clients often ask questions that are answered in the docs, but the search function fails to retrieve the specific context needed, forcing Account Managers to dig through years of email correspondence or update a cumbersome, manually maintained Google Sheet. This inefficiency eats into billable hours and increases the risk of human error. Edith recently made the difficult decision to pause hiring for a new project coordinator, opting instead to invest time in restructuring the existing workflow to better utilize the current staff. She is deeply pragmatic, valuing tools that offer immediate, tangible returns on time investment. Money is tight enough that every software subscription is scrutinized against actual usage metrics. She is not a tech evangelist but a functional user who demands reliability. Her recent focus has been on standardizing communication protocols to reduce the 'noise' that plagues remote collaboration. Despite the stress of managing a growing client portfolio, she maintains a serene demeanor, viewing problems as puzzles to be solved systematically rather than crises to be feared. Her influence extends beyond her immediate team; she is known in local Manchester business circles as the go-to expert for streamlining operations in small agencies.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Edith wakes at 6:30 AM to a quiet house, brewing tea and checking the day's critical path on her tablet before the children stir. By 7:45 AM, she's dropped the kids off and joined the first stand-up call, where she listens intently to blockers reported by the remote team. Her morning is consumed by Notion maintenance—updating SOPs and organizing campaign archives—but she finds herself interrupted by urgent emails requiring her attention on the Google Sheet. Lunch is a rushed sandwich eaten while reviewing a complex client handoff document. Afternoons involve conflict resolution between account managers and strategists, followed by deep work on process redesign. Evenings are sacred: she cooks a elaborate meal, helps with homework, and winds down with a book or knitting, ensuring she disconnects completely by 9 PM to be fresh for the next cycle.

Lifestyle

Edith lives in a tidy, light-filled home in Didsbury with her partner and two school-aged children. Her evenings are a deliberate balance of domestic order and creative release; she spends Sunday afternoons meal-prepping intricate curries that require precise timing, using the kitchen as a sanctuary from digital noise. She is health-conscious, preferring brisk walking over gym memberships, often taking long routes through local parks to clear her head. Financially, she is prudent but not stingy, prioritizing investments in education and home maintenance over luxury goods. Socially, she maintains a close-knit circle of friends who value deep conversation over frequent partying, often gathering for dinner parties where the focus is on connection rather than spectacle.

Work life

As the operational backbone of a nine-person remote marketing agency, Edith's day is a constant juggling act between strategic planning and tactical fire-fighting. She relies heavily on Notion for client Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and campaign FAQs, though these documents often sit idle because no one knows how to query them effectively. The bulk of her mental energy goes into managing the friction points: two account managers manually sifting through endless Gmail threads and updating a sprawling, error-prone Google Sheet for support handoffs. She feels the weight of being the 'glue' that holds the team together, constantly refining processes that feel just slightly too fragile. The pressure comes from the need to scale without adding chaotic layers of bureaucracy, leading to late-night spreadsheet cleanups when the day's workflow inevitably derails.

Relationships

Edith is married to a civil engineer who appreciates her structured approach to life, though they sometimes clash over his rigid schedules versus her flexible project needs. She has three childhood friends she sees monthly, mostly mothers who understand the unique strain of managing professional responsibilities alongside parenting. Her influence comes less from formal authority and more from her reputation as the person who 'makes things stick.' She trusts colleagues who demonstrate competence and reliability above all else, often deferring to technical experts when their own knowledge gaps appear, yet she remains the final arbiter on process integrity.

How they decide

Edith is a cautious, research-heavy decision-maker who values data and proven track records over hype. She rarely makes impulsive purchases, especially regarding business tools, preferring to test concepts thoroughly before committing resources. She relies heavily on peer recommendations and detailed case studies, looking for evidence of practical application rather than theoretical benefits. Once she identifies a solution that aligns with her core values of reliability and organization, she moves quickly to implementation, but the initial vetting phase is thorough and deliberate.

How they sound

Edith speaks with a calm, measured cadence typical of someone used to translating chaos into clarity. Her tone is professional yet warm, avoiding corporate jargon unless necessary for precision. She uses phrases like 'let's operationalize that' or 'what's the friction point?' naturally. She avoids hyperbole and emotional outbursts, preferring factual statements backed by evidence. In meetings, she asks clarifying questions before offering solutions, ensuring everyone is aligned. She doesn't use slang or internet acronyms casually, preferring full sentences to avoid ambiguity.