This Way Up

“I was able to do things very differently that year [her year long gardening leave imposed by Sir Martin Sorrell], I spent a lot of time outside of the industry. Purposely, I wasn't trying to look at the industry. I was trying to explore how other people, other creative industries, and the world sees coms. As a result, I came back with renewed vigour as to where it is we can add value and what's exciting about it, but also where we waste a lot of our life. You know, there's so much faffing. And there's quite a lot of complicity between clients and agencies that use each other as a bit of a crutch.”

In this episode, I talk to Natalie Graeme who famously founded the creative studio Uncommon 18 months ago with partners Nils Leonard & Lucy Jameson, one of the UK’s only majority female-founded creative studios. 

As per usual with the podcast we go in deep, discussing a variety of subjects and advice from how to avoid burn out to the importance of creating headspace in order to come up with ideas.

We also go through her amazing career journey and how she landed at the advertising agency Grey managing and leading over 550 people, along with the importance of putting a structure in place so you can let your team thrive and avoid micro-managing. 

But most importantly, we talk about why it was so important for her to start her own agency. Starting with the famous year-long gardening leave imposed by Sir Martin Sorrel before her and her partners could open up shop. Uncommon is already a successful creative studio that has a different, and some might say unconventional, approach to creating better work.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did recording it!

Something I did, [when looking for investment] is that I made a list of all the asshole investors that I heard about in town. And for the first month, I pitched them first. And it was horrific. I was pitching all these awful alpha males [and] I was literally coming home to my husband in pieces. But what was great about that process is by the time I got to the investors I really wanted; I was pitch ready – Pip Jamieson, CEO of The Dots 

This episode of This Way Up was recorded live on stage at the famous Design and Advertising festival in London in May 2019 and features the amazing Pip Jamieson.

Pip is the founder of The Dots, a platform dubbed “LinkedIn for creatives” - that is all about connecting, supporting and championing the people, teams and companies that make ideas happen. Pip has been named one of the Top 50 Leaders in the UK by Creative Review and The Sunday Times Top 100 Disruptive Entrepreneurs. 

During our conversation, I delve into Pip’s fascinating career. From embracing her crippling dyslexia from a young age and turning it into her superpower. She points outs during our conversation that everyone from Sir Richard Branson, Holly Tucker, Jo Malone to Steve Jobs had dyslexia - proving in the process an important stat: 35% of entrepreneurs have dyslexia, and 40% are self-made millionaires. 

She also talks about some big milestones in her journey - from ‘blagging it’ as the Head of Marketing for MTV, in New Zealand – “I'd never done marketing before in my life…I didn't have a traditional marketing education, because it was just as things were shifting digitally. And somehow, serendipitously, Facebook launched at the same time. And because I didn't have that traditional marketing background, I just sort of just did it. I just tried it and see if it was going to succeed or fail”

To starting her company ‘The Dots’ as a “non-tech, tech founder” and the highs, the lows, and what comes with being a female entrepreneur - from learning how to pitch in a room full of male VCs, responding to negative criticism, being ambitious and wanting to take on the goliaths of this world – she famously says during our conversation she fully intends to overtake Linkedin in 10 to 15 years - you heard it here first!

So whether you are embarking into the start-up world or just want to make the most out of your career, there’s something for everyone in Pip’s journey – if nothing else her infectious energy is just worth listening to and will make you feel like you can achieve anything!

“It's a tough world, it's not easy. Everyone's battling with something. But my battles definitely come from feeling I'm not where I want to be, but I need to look back because it’s just like climbing a ladder" - Chelcee Grimes

I’m pleased to announce another special episode of This Way Up. I was very privileged to talk with singer/songwriter, footballer and presenter Chelcee Grimes at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. 

Chelcee has written songs for the likes of Dualipa and Kylie Minogue to name just a few. She's also a professional footballer playing for Fulham FC ladies and a presenter for BBC Sport and Copa 90. And she is currently covering the Women's World Cup with her own show on BBC Sport #chelceeaway.

It’s during our conversation that Chelcee opens up about the ups & downs of football life as a young women, how she went from unknown artist to writing songs for Dua Lipa and Kylie Minogue and releasing her own singles but also the creative process behind her songs and how being a footballer has prepared her from the brutal world of music.  

We talk about not fitting into boxes and following your own path and how Chelcee is such a positive example of exactly that. 

Please enjoy this empowering and honest conversation with the kick-ass Chelcee Grimes.

“We're all striving, looking to make something of ourselves. And when we do make something of ourselves, then we worry that we're going to lose it or that we're not going to be able to sustain it” – Debbie Millman

I’m pleased to announce an extra special episode of This Way Up (www.thiswayup.io). It was recorded Live on stage at the famous Design and Advertising festival in London in May 2019 and features the amazing Debbie Millman.

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Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman) is a true design icon - she has helped design some of the most recognisable logos on the planet including  Burger King, Hershey’s, Haagen Dazs, Tropicana and Gillette to name just a few. She has been named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, and “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA.

As the founder and host of Design Matters, one of the world’s first and longest running podcasts, Millman has interviewed nearly 600 artists, designers and cultural commentators over the past 14+ years including Tim Ferris, Roxane Gay, Paula Scher, David Lee Roth, Stefan Sagmeister, Massimo Vignelli , Milton Glaser to name a few.

Debbie is also President Emeritus of AIGA, one of only five women to have held the position in the organization’s 100-year history.  She also an educator and co-founded with Steven Heller the world’s first masters program in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, which has received international acclaim.

Finally, she’s currently working with Law & Order SVU actor and activist Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation to eradicate sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and the rape-kit backlog.

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Above all this what makes this talk so special is Debbie's openness to talk about the bumps in her career. From the outside, it looks like she has had a smooth ride has achieved all she has set out to do. The truth is far more interesting. She faced challenges at every step of the way and it is her ability to walk headlong into these and be prepared to put herself out there is the key to her success.


There are a lot of fascinating stories in Debbie’s career and I was privileged to really dig into and draw out some really good lessons for all us to learn from. Stories such as how to recover from shame and rejection, ‘the slugfest’ as Debbie’s calls it, why she needed to start her podcast design matters to nourish her creative soul. We looked at how to handle bad bosses and the devastating impact it can have on your self-confidence, how desperation can sometimes be the best catalyst to push yourself over that difficult threshold and how to give ultimatums at work in order to get a promotion.

I really hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did and find it as useful in your own journey.

In this episode, I talked to Margaret Johnson, Chief Creative Officer of the famous Ad Agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners – known for producing big ads for the likes of Doritos, Pepsi and much more. There are a lot of great lessons that Margaret imparts during our conversation, including the fact that she sees having children as THE best thing that enriched not only her life but her career too. She also talks about her favourite motto to ‘stay scrappy’ and not look for inspiration in the traditional places but instead to go out, read books and experience life.

This is a special recording all the way from the South by South West Festival in Austin where I interview AJ Hassan, the VP Executive Creative Director at R/GA Chicago. In this interview, I uncover the stories behind her success. We talk about a multitude of things including the inspiration behind the Always 'LikeAGirl' campaign, the importance of giving a meaningful value to a brand and why female creatives bring such a great balance to the creative departments. Thank you to Inc Magazine who hosted me at their Founders House. The house was the first live event of the Founders Project, a multi-platform initiative in which Inc. and partners combine to inspire and guide entrepreneurs to be the next wave of innovators. You can check them out here: https://foundersproject.inc.com/

In this episode, I talked to Caitlin Ryan the Regional Creative Director EMEA at Facebook. During our conversation, I got the chance to really dig into the big demanding roles she's had across her career. The good, the bad and the ugly and everything in between. Her advice could not be more valuable for anyone at any stage of their career - from how to use meditation to block out negative voices, to knowing how to handle someone who is trying to oust you from your role and much more...

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Caroline Pay. Caroline is Chief Creative Officer at Headspace and sitting in her kitchen over a cup of tea, we discussed her captivating career- from her humble beginnings at Kessel and Krammer, to working at Mother with famous director Kim Gehrig, to her last UK role as CCO of Grey London, finishing on the serendipitous meeting that led to her new job at Headspace. Throughout these anecdotes and stories what stood out was Caroline’s unquenchable thirst for being challenged, her self-confidence and ability to play to her strengths to be the best at her role.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tasha Cronin. Tasha is the co-head of interactive at Droga5 New York and during our conversation I got to really uncover Tasha’s amazing career as producer. Starting in the film industry, she developed scripts and acquired films for the likes of Samuel Goldwyn Films before working at Google creative labs and finally landing at Droga5. But what makes our conversation so special is what her career has taught her over the years, including how to stand up for yourself when a cup of coffee is thrown at you (true story), how to ask the right questions in order to get to the crux of the problem and finally how as a producer being a yes person helps creative ideas flourish.

In this episode, I talk to Tea Uglow. Tea is the Creative Director of Google Creative Lab, Asia Pacific. She is also known as ‘Experimental person in charge’, which perfectly describes her personality and the way she thinks.

During our conversation, we discuss the importance of exploring ideas through culture rather than through profit, how to create safe spaces for creatives to flourish and the best way to problem-solve.

You can find more information about Tea on her website: http://teau.me/