SIX factS about sam cheeseman

1) My full name is actually Samuel Lawrence Jefferson Mark Cheeseman. (Filling out forms is not fun). My mother gave me all those names because she couldn't decide what to call me. Then, a few weeks after I was born, she decided she was going to call me 'Charlie' instead. She and my family still call me Charlie to this day. Nobody else does.

2) I'm a story nerd. I'm completely obsessed with the structure and mechanics of storytelling. Why do some stories work and others don't? I've read practically every book there is on the subject, and I'm always tearing apart TV shows, films and novels to check out their engine. 

3) I recently discovered that I'm Jewish. 

4) I'm the proud father of two daughters, Bluebell, four, and Lyra, one and a half. 

5) I grow yeast. I'm currently working through a sourdough starter. I like fermenting in general, next I'm planning to make ginger beer. It's fun coming home to check how your little bacteria buddies are doing.

6) I’m a tournament-level chess player.

I always wanted to be a writer. but then i became a chef. 

I studied English Literature at the University of Sussex. And when I finished, found the world in a state of disarray: the financial crash. 

There were no jobs, no opportunities. So I went travelling. And I ended up in Cambodia. I liked it so much there, living on the beach, so I stayed for two and a half years. 

My job was 'western manager' of a restaurant. My duties? I walked along the beach and handed out fliers, and drank cocktails in the evening with the guests. It was great. It was also a complete waste of time.

So real life called. And I returned to England. Only to find the world still suffering from the financial crash. (Well handled, Parliament.)

With no jobs and no opportunities, I took an opening in a kitchen at a local pub. I'd got into cooking at university and soon found a passion ignited. Not long after, I got a job at one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants. I loved it.

But I missed Asia. And the London weather started getting me down. So I hopped on a plane to a place I knew a few people – Hong Kong.

I started off working on the opening team at Brickhouse, with my good friend and head chef Austin Fry. It was a spectacular time. We were a hot restaurant. Winning awards. Packed every night. Drinking tequila during service.

But. I saw that chef life is long and unforgiving. And how hard it is to make a good living. So, I decided to take the leap and pursue my writing again. 

Armed with... no writing experience, and only a short story I'd written, I managed to land a job at a small agency in Hong Kong. 

Things progressed fast. Really fast. A year and a half later I was a Brand Manager. And a year and a half after that, Associate Creative Director at Hong Kong's Agency of the Year, BBDO. It seemed I'd found my calling. I was an ad man. 

It was an amazing time. Travelling the world, filming TV commercials from Moscow to Milan, working with Cannes Grand Prix winners. But with two baby daughters at home, I couldn't do the hours anymore. I wanted to see them grow up. 

It was still not an easy decision to leave. But I decided to go freelance. I still do what I love. What I'm naturally good at. And I get to spend time with my family. I also get to help real businesses with real problems, and feel like I'm making a real difference.

Now hire me. I have kids to feed.