This week I’m joined by the incredibly talented Lighting Designer, Lucy Carter. Whilst studying dance & drama, she discovered lighting or (in her words) ‘lighting found her.’ She began exploring the creative possibilities for her own assignments but before long she was working with her fellow students lighting their work. After her degree, she continued to pursue how to ‘paint’ with light, working with a number of theatres and dance companies by assisting and learning on the job. She went on...
Jun 19, 2019•46 min•Season 1Ep. 40
For episode 39, I’m joined by the outstandingly brilliant photographer, Kasia Wozniak. She discusses discovering wet plate collodion photography, capturing her imagination and teaching herself the process from Victorian manuals in the British Library. For those of you unsure - wet plate collodion is a camera/photography process, from around the 1850s. A big wooden box, a lens and black piece of cloth at the back. You have to prepare chemicals on either glass or aluminium plates in complete darkn...
Jun 12, 2019•30 min•Season 1Ep. 39
This week I’m joined by Åste Amundsen. She is a theatre maker, experience designer and founder (and so much more). Åste shares growing up in intentional communities and attending a Steiner School, which validated the freedom to explore things she was interested in learning. In her early teens and after hearing the scientist, James Hansen talks about the impact of climate change, she joined an environmental group and went to protest, in what was then Soviet Russia, scaling factories to hang banne...
Jun 05, 2019•39 min•Season 1Ep. 38
For episode 37, we visited the wonderful Printmaker & Illustrator, Kate Gibb in her studio in north London. Kate discusses her creative journey, scraping into art school with a couple of charcoal drawings, through to having commercial success producing prints for the likes of Apple, Penguin and the Chemical Brothers. She shares her creative silkscreen process - unorthodox! Favouring happy accidents, the desire to ensure no two images she produces are exactly the same and valuing traces of wh...
May 29, 2019•41 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Liz Nottingham is a super creative and award-winning Executive HR Director at R/GA. In this bonus supplement to episode 36, she discusses the ‘inner critic’ and how identifying it and separating yourself from it, can be a game changer to moving your professional and creative life forward. She also undertakes an exercise with the 300+ audience on our ‘body brain’ and how getting in touch with it means we can be more present in general. Liz is incredible, we loved this session of Creative Equals: ...
May 28, 2019•18 min•Season 1Ep. 36
For part 2 of episode 36 we continue with a number of fantastic interviews from Creative Equals: Rise, that took place on the 15th May (a week ago). In part 2 you will hear: A Fireside chat between Managing Editor, BITE Trends at Creativebrief, Nicola Kemp and Mary Portas , Founder & CEO of Portas Agency. A mentoring session with Ursie Downes , Assistant Producer at Hub and Natalie Graeme , Founder of Uncommon London. A really interesting insight from Commercial Director, Rosa Rola of Major ...
May 22, 2019•51 min•Season 1Ep. 36
For episode 36 we were at Creative Equals: Rise, which took place on the 15th May (a week ago). Creative Equals is all about inclusive creativity - creativity for all, designed by all. You can find out more about their mission here: http://www.creativeequals.org/ The day unfolded with an abundance of incredible, inspiring and sometimes challenging; speakers, panels and a fishbowl! With my colleague and Greater than 11% alumni (episode 17 in the playlist), Ursie Downes, we set to capturing a flav...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 36
For episode 35, I’m joined by the awe-inspiring Deputy Managing Director, Jackie Scully. Jackie breakdowns what her role, as Deputy Managing Director for Think Publishing, involves: a lot! No day is the same - from research & innovation to the organisation's profitability, through to content strategy for clients. She is also responsible for leading & motivating the team and talks about how important it is to manage with kindness and compassion and to support colleagues to find their edge...
May 15, 2019•44 min•Season 1Ep. 35
This week I’m joined by the wonderfully organised, Studio and Events Producer, Amarat Seghal. Amarat discusses she had a real desire to work in the media industry from a young age. She studied Media at university, but on graduating found it really difficult to get her foot in the door. Her sisters and friends encouraged her to ‘westernise’ her name on application forms and she got a job for a major magazine publisher (this was only 18 years ago!!!) Not enjoying the experience and feeling dejecte...
May 08, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 34
For this episode, we are joined by naturally inquisitive and adventurous, Creative Designer, Tania Conrad. Right up front, Tania sets the scene, laying out what graphic design is in its raw form. A subset of visual communication which, through the use of typography and imagery provides solutions and artwork for corporate design, editorial, packaging, experiential and wayfinding. Her role, as a Creative Designer, takes graphic design as a base and extends to include conceptual thinking and strate...
May 01, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 33
For episode 32 we are joined by the wonderful Empathy Designer, Artist and Strategist, Enni-Kukka Tuomala. Enni is one of those people who shines brightly and you are immediately drawn to as soon as they walk in the room: kind smile, super smart, emanating positivity. Enni discusses what it is to sculpt a purpose from really listening to your gut and trusting your instinct. She focused on what shape that would take, carving into a functional role. Through combining all she has learnt; from her u...
Apr 24, 2019•42 min•Season 1Ep. 32
This week’s guest is the super creative and technically patient Jeweller, Lucie Gledhill. Lucie runs her own makers studio where she creates exhibition pieces of jewellery, collections and also teaches and runs workshops. Knowing herself to be a maker for as long as she can remember, her process is completely involved. She makes her own alloys - melting metals together, which gives her a complete understanding of how what she produces will behave. Conceptually she is drawn to myths and contradic...
Apr 17, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 31
For episode 30 we are joined by Dance Company Director, Choreographer and Consultant, Kerry Nicholls. You are in for a treat - Kerry is incredible. Not only does she run Kerry Nicholls Dance (KND), she has taken the many challenges that life has presented and fashioned them into skills and tools to propel her forward. She coaches, mentors, teaches, consultants, directs and choreographs performances across the globe. Kerry discusses what it is to set your own version of success, not being sidetra...
Apr 10, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 30
From script to premiering on the big screen (and everything else in between), this week's guest is Film Producer, Samira Musa. Samira started off thinking fashion was where her career lay before switching to film, completing a Film, Media & Cultural Studies degree. On graduating she got a runner job on an indie film and quickly moved up the ranks to become first assistant director. Once the production wrapped she felt well and truly broken, owing to the intensity and long days and decided fi...
Apr 03, 2019•37 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This week's guest is kick ass copy writer, Christina Olympia Angus. Whilst working as a PA in advertising agency, Christina and her fellow PA would steal creative briefs and then submit their ideas to the creative department. The tenacity paid off and one of their concepts ended up as a 10 second spot on TV. She then moved into the Creative Department as a copywriter, building up her craft over the past 15 years. Christina shares what skills are needed to become an exceptional copywriter, the im...
Mar 27, 2019•34 min•Season 1Ep. 28
This week I'm joined by the multi-award winning and incredibly witty author, Jackie Ryan. A comic book series titled 'Burger Force', a spoof romance writing project called 'The Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary' and recently published book - 'We'll Show the World: Expo 88' are but a few of her creative outputs. She is prolific. Jackie discusses being inspired to write early on when given a 'creative writing book' in primary school and marveling at being able to make up stories and not get in trouble. S...
Mar 20, 2019•33 min•Season 1Ep. 27
For episode 26, I’m joined by Live Sound & Studio Engineer, Nell Forster. Nell discusses how she found her way to sound engineering through her love of music, applying to do a music technology degree when she was 30. She also discusses the intricacies of setting up and running the sound for a live venue, the importance of establishing what people want when recording an album and her love for supporting artist develop their music. Nell is absolutely awesome, full of energy and shares a great ...
Mar 13, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 26
This week I'm joined by the delightful and super talented experimental poet, Pascalle Burton. Pascalle’s poetic output meets at, and crosses over many creative junctions: writing, performance, visual, music, film, jewellery and zines. With both conceptual art and cultural theory being the seedbed of her work, she often responds to existing texts and imagery and transforms them into something new - extending the energy. Pascalle discusses her creative process and how editing - and not being preci...
Mar 06, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This week I'm joined by Production Manager, Kelly Hewitt. Cool, calm and collected Kelly details what it is a production manager does, what skills are needed for the role and her techniques to ensure the many responsibilities of the role don't slip. She discusses the adrenalin rush she gets from the job, what keeps her up at night and her love of budgets (the bigger the better). She also shares her experiences on her first agency production and how despite including top models, panthers and a ca...
Feb 27, 2019•30 min•Season 1Ep. 24
This week’s guest is Marilyn Ford, arts educator and artist. Marilyn discusses her role as Head of Art, her love of teaching at special needs school and how this connects to her practice as an artist. She shares her drive to ensure that the process of artistic endeavour is at the heart of her students’ education by focusing on exploration, trying things out and making mistakes. Marilyn also discusses the importance of intuition in the classroom and not being rigid when things aren’t going to pla...
Feb 20, 2019•33 min•Season 1Ep. 23
This week I'm joined by Digital Media Director, Jess Geary. Jess, a self confessed digital evangelist breaks down exactly what digital media is, how it functions and how her role facilitates where content is places and then how it performs. She is also the founder of Margots, a resource that helps build confidence and grounding. She shares what lead her to produce a series of talks, the website and toolkits that gently promote self: work, empathy and compassion to improve wellbeing. You can find...
Feb 13, 2019•44 min•Season 1Ep. 22
This week’s episode is with the magical Helena Gaunt, Principal of The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Helena is a highly experienced musician - a professional oboist, a conservatoire teacher, professor, researcher and author. Prior to her current role she was Vice-Principal & Director of Guildhall Innovation at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She is super passionate about in supporting others creativity both in their practice but also how they may apply their skills in ...
Feb 06, 2019•41 min•Season 1Ep. 21
This week I'm joined by Senior Colourist, Jet Omoshebi. With nearly 30 years in the industry, Jet has worked on numerous: films, tv series, music videos and commercials. She shares her early experiences in the industry - initially training as dubbing mixer but quite quickly being advised to 'go and learn to type as the role is too technical for you.' She states 'this was the best bit of advice as it made me really angry and I thought I'll show you!' She found her way into the telecine department...
Jan 30, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 20
This week’s guest is the infectiously enthusiastic Production Designer, Anna Pritchard. Anna initially trained as a goldsmith jeweller as a practical way to stay close to her desire to be a sculptor. She found herself making objects and props for films and made her way to Los Angeles to work for Paramount Studios for a number of years. During this time she discovered the Production Design department and loved the diversity of the roles within it. She returned to the UK and completed a Masters in...
Jan 23, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 19
This week’s guest is Creative, Scarlett Montanaro. Forging a career within advertising is something Scarlett knew, from a young age, she wanted to do. Since graduating from the London College of Communication in 2012 she has trailblazed her career - literally jumping on a flight to Singapore, the day she handed in her final year dissertation, for an internship at BBH. She then went on to land her first permanent job, on the back of a winning pitch within weeks of being at AnalogFolk followed by ...
Jan 16, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 18
This week's guest is the wonderfully dynamic Assistant Producer, Ursie Downes. Relatively early in her career, she shares her journey from solely focusing on working in fashion, to making a decision to explore other options on graduating from the London College of Fashion in 2016. From research to running events, Ursie breaks down exactly what an assistant producer does - a lot! She also generously shares how she manages anxiety and the things she does to ensure she stays well and healthy. I'm l...
Jan 09, 2019•38 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Happy New Year! This week’s guest sublimely ushering us into 2019 is artist, Michelle Williams-Gamaker. Michelle discusses her own artistic journey; graduating from a BA in Fine Art to working a 9-5 job, moving to Holland and returning to London a few years later, completing an MA & then PhD all the whilst making work and getting to know her practice. She also shares her love of celluloid film, the vitality of having a creative discussion with other artists and the value of taking time to pa...
Jan 02, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Alexandra Waring is Senior Strategist for global advertising agency RAPP. After graduating with a degree in Modern Languages, Ally wasn't exactly certain of her exact career ambitions until she discovered the role of 'Strategist,' whilst interning and knew it was for her. Her path to becoming one was more like a quest, where she encountered many set backs but she triumphed and has gone on to win many awards for her talents. Ally shares her difficulties in finding a role that suited both her crea...
Dec 19, 2018•37 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Lauren Pleydell-Pearce, Executive Creative Director for PWC. Coming from a design background, Lauren has worked for many big global agencies such as Wunderman, Fabric and Razorfish. She discusses her current role and learning new ways of working - without a brief 😱. She also shares how she manages her responsibilities - imbedding ‘deep working time’ within her daily schedule and the importance of setting objectives as a way of driving your career and personal development forward. Lauren is supe...
Dec 12, 2018•44 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Alexandra Zsigmond is an editorial art director and artist. She worked at the New York Times for a seven year period on the Sunday Review and Opinion sections. In this episode, Alexandra discusses managing tight deadlines (on a weekly basis), the importance of research for fuelling creativity, the need to take time to develop her own art practice and her interest in visual metaphor. 🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share ...
Dec 04, 2018•42 min•Season 1Ep. 13
