"I started to learn in November, but I refused to do all the classical and boring stuff, so I've now got a teacher who allows me to be more experimental. I now excel at Perfect Day and Fever and am working my way through the Beatles' catalogue," she enthusiastically explains.

Arnold studied graphic design at London's St Martin's College and, upon graduation decided to go for a career in advertising despite the fact that her portfolio did have a distinctive fine art bias and was crammed full of illustrations a la Norman Ackroyd. "I got all the D&AD annuals and found the names of a couple of women who worked in advertising - there weren't very many in the business. I got a placement at CDP via Judy Smith and managed to get some work through and then I went to BBH as a freelancer."

She didn't have a copywriter partner at the time, so in order to impress her new employers she pretended that she had a terribly busy, successful American partner who was always in power meetings. In reality however Arnold was bashing away at the old keyboards herself.

She teamed-up with Kiki Kendrick to produce two successful print campaigns for Levi's Spray On Jeans and Pretty Polly, the latter of which was featured in the D&AD annual. After Kendrick, Arnold worked with Derek Payne to produce "Smooth Running" for Pretty Polly which was directed by John Marles. The sensual spot showed a woman replacing her car's fan belt with her stocking.

She then partnered Charles Hendley and the duo created Levi's "Great Deal" ads and "Old People" posters. They also created Shell "Red Indian" during this period. After Hendley, Arnold was to partner Will Awdry for four years during which time they created the award-winning "Magic Painting" Web site for Levi Strauss which allowed the user to paint the jeans blue in an environment akin to a child's paint book. "There is such a big deal about new media creativity at the moment," says Arnold. "But really, it's just another tool. When I designed the site, I didn't want to just list boring facts about Levi's. The problem was that the technology didn't allow me to do as much as I wanted to."

Last year Arnold was promoted as a creative director and has carved out a role for herself managing accounts such as Lynx, Levi's Dockers and Ready2Wear. Keen to get her own work out, Arnold works as a roving art director and after the day to day running of her department tries to make time to sit down with copywriter Sean Preston to crack briefs. The duo's most recent work 'Ideal Woman' for Lynx was awarded a Gold Lion at the recent Cannes Advertising Festival.

The spot, directed by Paul Goldman out of London's 2am Films, shows a bevy of beautiful girls speaking to the camera as if it is their lover and saying the sort of things that men fantasize about, such as: "If I'd wanted foreplay I'd have asked for it".

"I tend to have a million ideas and love the beginning of the process with writers when you're thinking up as many ideas and solutions as possible. 'Ideal Woman' was quite a different strategy for the brand in that it targets a more sophisticated audience. Sean came up with "Would you like some money for a lap dance?" which I wasn't that keen on and I came up with "Do you mind if my best friend joins us?" which Sean didn't like that much. Eventually we called a truce and I said that "lapdance" could stay but only if "best friend" was included."

As to the next generation of young creatives, Arnold says that she is disappointed by the caliber of fresh talent entering the profession. "Young creatives are being trained to understand the medium and the idea, but are lacking in the knowledge of the craft disciplines, which are necessary to be able to fulfill that idea."

Arnold does have a reputation as being a BBH lifer: "I feel like I've earned my stripes and sometimes I think that maybe I should have moved, but I have a lot of respect for (agency founders) John Hegarty and Nigel Bogle."

Undoubtedly Arnold's drive and loyalty will allow her to set fresh creative agendas within BBH. "I'm very competitive," she leans forwards and whispers as if she's admitting a homicide. "I have to be the best art director, the best mother, the best wife. I continually try to push that bar. And I'm horribly energetic," she adds rolling her eyes heavenwards.