Ellie Mears developed a passion for journalism as a teenager, writing for the youth consumer magazine Yomag and interning at the Kentish Gazette. She was editor of her school magazine, and later wrote for the Oxford student newspaper, Cherwell.

After studying English Literature and German at Oxford, Ellie took up an internship at BBC World Have Your Say. She then became a web journalist at UK Web Media, writing consumer-focused articles and reviews for several price-comparison websites, now under the Recombu banner.

A passion for East Asian culture took her to Taiwan, where she worked as an English Teacher, learnt Chinese and later became a broadcast journalist at International Community Radio Taipei.

Wishing to broaden her knowledge and further her career, Ellie won a Scott Trust Bursary to pursue an MA in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. It was here that she developed her filming and editing skills, which she used most recently to create a series of marketing videos for the Sheffield-based recruitment company, Authentic. During her time at Sheffield Ellie interned at the Guardian.