In this episode of Fast Forward, I sit down with Kate Holgate, Executive Creative Director, Partner at Noble West and Co-Founder of Secondborn, to explore what happens when a 20-year creative career leads you to launch something entirely new — without leaving behind what you've built.
Kate shares how she went from being one of two women at her first agency job to leading creative teams, building brands in the food and agriculture space, and co-founding Secondborn — a creative incubator designed to close the gap between in-house brand teams and agency-level thinking. We talk design thinking, the culture of fear that's quietly killing innovation, and why Kate believes creativity is more important than ever — even in the age of AI.
If you're a founder, creative leader, or anyone trying to build something meaningful without losing yourself in the process, this one's for you.

🎙️ We dive into:

How Kate landed her first agency job at 22 because she could make things move on a screen — and what she learned over nearly 20 years from there
Why she made the move to Noble West, an agency that only works in food, agriculture, and sustainability
The gap she kept seeing between in-house marketing teams and the agencies hired to do the "sexy work" — and why that became the seed for Secondborn
What design thinking actually is, and how a teaching gig at Boise State University helped her crystallize the whole idea
The statistic that stopped her: 51% of marketers say a culture of fear is a barrier to creativity — while 56% of Fortune 500 CMOs still expect innovation from their teams
How Secondborn runs creative labs and workshops that bring brand teams into the process rather than just doing it for them
Why AI isn't replacing creativity — and how Kate uses it to prototype faster and free up space for bigger thinking
The creative muscle theory: why you have to keep using it, and what mountain bike trails in Boise have to do with her best ideas
What Noble West is actually fighting for — giving farmers and sustainable food brands the storytelling they deserve
How she leads alongside two business partners who cover the operational and strategic weight she doesn't naturally carry
Why she never wants to stop being in the room when ideas are being made — and what that means for how she leads

Kate's perspective is a reminder that the best creative leaders aren't the ones with all the answers — they're the ones who never stop being curious.
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🎤 Hosted by Jeffrey Mailey
📍 Fast Forward Podcast

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00:00 Kate Holgate's Creative Journey
08:28 Introducing Secondborn: Bridging the Gap
14:12 Leadership and Collaboration in Business
17:46 Noble West: A Niche Agency for Food and Sustainability
25:41 Future Aspirations for Secondborn and Noble West
28:11 Introduction to the Podcast