What if creativity begins not with making something, but with paying attention?
In this episode, I sit down with Katie Mantwa George to talk about creativity, identity, work and the art of noticing what your life is trying to tell you.
Katie takes us from a childhood in Eswatini where making things was simply part of everyday life — painting, sewing, making jewellery, creating rather than buying — to the fifteen years she spent building a successful corporate career in London.
Along the way, we talk about writing as a way of processing the world; the poems Katie has kept since childhood as a kind of archive of her life; the very unexpected story of London Cupcake Tours; and the moment she realised she had stopped feeling excited about the next rung of the corporate ladder.
We talk about what happened when redundancy created space for a different kind of life, writing Meadow and Marley’s Magical Mix, training as a meditation teacher, and learning to pay attention to what her body, her energy and the people around her were already telling her.
And we come back, again and again, to noticing: what expands us, what drains us, what other people consistently see in us, and what becomes possible when we create enough quiet to hear ourselves clearly.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Creativity as noticing
- Growing up in Eswatini in a family where making things was part of everyday life
- Writing poetry from childhood as a way of processing emotion and experience
- Looking back at those poems as an archive of Katie’s life
- The creative side projects that helped Katie stay connected to herself
- The wonderfully unexpected story of London Cupcake Tours
- Reaching a point where the next promotion no longer felt exciting
- Learning to notice what her body was telling her
- Redundancy, gardening leave and the space to rethink her life
- Writing Meadow and Marley’s Magical Mix
- Meditation, identity and remembering who you are beyond your job title
- Paying attention to what other people repeatedly reflect back to you
- Building a portfolio career around leadership, meditation, writing and human connection
- Making space for solitude, honesty and whatever wants to emerge next
About Katie Mantwa George
Katie Mantwa George is a leadership guide, speaker, certified meditation teacher and author whose work centres on helping people navigate the complexity of being human.
With a background in psychology and more than sixteen years of leadership experience, she works with individuals, teams and organisations through Being Human Well, supporting meaningful personal and cultural change through human connection, compassionate leadership and meditation.
Katie is also the author of Meadow and Marley’s Magical Mix, a children’s book inspired by her South African and British heritage that explores identity, belonging and growing up in a mixed-heritage family. She has been writing poetry and stories for almost thirty years.
Mentioned in this episode
- Meadow and Marley’s Magical Mix
- Being Human Well
- Poetry and journalling
- London Cupcake Tours
- Meditation
- Mixed-heritage identity and representation in children’s books
- Portfolio careers
Espresso Press
Espresso Press is a new literary non-profit for Black women writers where we publish and platform our stories, craft and authorship, so we can exist in our own way, on our own terms.
We’re right at the beginning of building this world. If you’d like to help us bring it to life, you can quite literally buy us a coffee. Every coffee helps us create more opportunities for Black women writers.
Buy us a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/espressopress
Find out more: espressopress.org
Connect
Katie Mantwa George
Instagram: @cheekymantwabooks / @beinghumanwell
Website: beinghumanwell.com
Espresso Press
Instagram: @espresso.press
Website: espressopress.org
Ella Achola
Instagram: @ellaachola
Website: ellaachola.com
