Freelancer of the fortnight: Helena Iveson, Beijing, China

Click here to look at Helena Iveson's full freelance profile on Journalism.co.uk.

Why did you choose to become a freelancer?
Lifestyle reasons: I love the freedom of being able to write what I like, when I like, and it means I can move between Beijing and London quite easily and work from either place.

If you trained, where? If not, how did you become a freelancer?
I have an MA in international journalism from City University and won an internship at the China Daily newspaper in Beijing. After that had finished, I decided to stay in Beijing and work on my Chinese skills and freelance. In the lead up to the Olympics, there was huge demand for freelancers.

Do you specialise in any particular field and what areas do you write about?
China is a difficult place to write about politics, so I steer clear of that and write lots of travel features and people-based features.

Which publications have you been published in?
The Independent, the Guardian, the Australian, the Age (Melbourne), Time Out. I've also written the first Moon guide to Beijing and Shanghai and helped write the Time Out and Fodor's guides to Beijing and China.

Which articles, in which publication, are you the most proud of?
I wrote a feature for the Guardian recently on China leading the way when it comes to green technology and it was really nice to be able to trumpet some good news about China and the environment - it doesn't happen very often.

What are the best and worst aspects of freelancing?
Worst: sending off pitches, which take ages and no one replies; pay seems to be in free fall; and chasing up late payers.

Best: the freedom.

Do you have any interesting anecdotes in relation to your experience as a freelancer?
One week I went from interviewing Chairman Mao's personal photographer to then interviewing Zhu Pei, a Chinese cutting-edge architect - it was amazing that I could experience so widely differing aspects of Chinese life.

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