Greater Than 11%

For episode 97 we are joined by Claire Blyth, founder and managing partner of Red Setter -  a specialist PR agency for design consultancies and corporate design teams. Claire is also the co-founder of The Design Community Hub - a digital platform… for professionals across the design world to give their time, knowledge and expertise to support the next generation of designers.

Claire shares how poor career guidance at school lead her to study science, but on graduating a chance meeting in a pub set her off on the design path and she hasn't looked back.

She also discusses as design touches every part of our lives the importance of ensuring diversity is embedded in who gets the opportunities to contribute and the process, to avoid a world designed to work for one type of person.

Claire is generous and open with her experiences and shares her mission to chip away at the things she can change - she is in it for the long game.

If you are considering a career in design, do reach out to her brilliant initiative - The Design Community Hub to find support, guidance and community.

A joyous and reflective episode. Enjoy.

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

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For episode 96 we are joined by Katherine Maskell, Head of Sales at Blink - a British production company producing everything from commercials to long-form entertainment.

Katherine details what the Head of Sales role entails at Blink -  it is definitely not what you are thinking. Moreover, it is about representation. In a nutshell, it is about knowing the talent and capabilities of the directors Blink represents and making connections with different agencies, writers and producers to bring them together for new commercials or music videos etc.

She also shares how her various roles from account director to recruitment consultant unseemingly connected on the surface prepared her for this very role which she is very passionate about. She talks about the importance of culture in the workplace and trusting yourself when it doesn't feel right to make a change.

A fab episode with some beautiful reflections. Enjoy.

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

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For episode 95 we are joined by Ellie Hale, Managing Director at The Agency Collective - an organisation focused on helping agencies be better through their core values and their members' collective action and connection.

Ellie originally completed a Batchelor of Laws but straight out of her degree she pursued acting, something that is still her passion and love. She discusses she didn't necessarily have a plan in terms of her 'career,' but as someone who is creative and interested in people, she fitted naturally into business development and managerial roles. In 2019 Ellie joined The Agency Collective, firstly as their Chief Community Officer but took up the Managing Director role - soon after.

She also founded Mindfulworks in 2018 after she lost a close friend to suicide. Mindfulworks supports companies and individuals with Mental Health First Aid Training. It teaches how to spot triggers and changes in behaviours, and to have the confidence to start some meaningful conversations with colleagues and friends.

Ellie has the most soothing of voices - we could listen to her all day. She is also super passionate about diversity and change within the media and comms industry and is proactively contributing to social equity in the sector both in her role and through The Agency Collective.

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

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🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

Siân Blackman is Account Director at The Diversity Standards Collective (The DSC), an organisation which offers brands and agencies the opportunity to get behind the data - and closer to diverse views and opinions from across the globe -  to drive better representation - into communications.

She shares her journey from studying English Literature and how with hindsight, she can see her thinking around representation was forming through her final dissertation without her being necessarily aware of it at the time.

Siân talks about her creative journey, working firstly at Creative Brief for over five years before joining The DSC and how she has learnt to manage her anxiety when it appears (she even gives a few tips). She also discusses the incredible work that The DSC is doing, with big and small brands to ensure there is a greater representation of lived experience at the point of conception of a campaign / advert.

Not sure what an account director or account manager does? Heard of Client Services but are still unclear about what their responsibilities are? Siân does a great job of explaining the roles and functions of an Accounts team.

Such a fabulous discussion with a truly kind and generous being - a treat to listen to. Enjoy.

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

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🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

For episode 93 we are joined by the co-founders of Good Shout - Amy Kean & Nicola Kemp.

Amy Kean is a creative sociologist, advertising strategist, poet and author and Nicola Kemp - a journalist, editor and event host recently brought their incredible talents together to create training products that facilitate social learning practices -  to help people experiment with their own voice, talent and thinking - and they named the company - Good Shout.

In this episode, they share why they started Good Shout and the importance of embracing your weird and accepting we are all experiments.

It was such a great discussion and it could have gone on and on, as these two women are as much fun as they are intelligent. 

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

📸 Instagram: @greaterthaneleven 

🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

🔗 LinkedIn: Greater Than Eleven  

For episode 92 we are joined by Vick Bain who has worked in the music industry for 25+ years and recently has set up her own company VBain Consultancy.

She shares her creative journey - the first in her family to enter higher education becoming a musician (another first in her family) and then moving into the management and business side of the industry rising to CEO of The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors).

When starting her own business in 2019 to focus on campaigning, researching and training on all aspects of diversity in the music & creative industries she focused on a project she had wanted to tackle for some time - analysing the gender of who was on the rosters of over 300 UK record labels and publishing companies. Her findings were published in the report ‘Counting the Music Industry’ and demonstrated, with data how few women are supported financially by the music industry in comparison to men. This research evolved into the F-List - something that set the UK music industry alight in 2020 (listen to find out more).

Vick is an empathetic, generous campaigner and leader and it was an honour to discuss her career and be in awe of how her persistence has brought about change (and continues to do so). Enjoy

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

📸 Instagram: @greaterthaneleven 

🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

🔗 LinkedIn: Greater Than Eleven  

For episode 91 we are joined by Creative Producer and founder of:

 I LIKE NETWORKING -  Isabel Sachs.

Isabel shares her journey to discovering a creative life as a result of studying International Relations degree in her native Brazil. Not enjoying the course, she found solace in getting involved - at first running on film sets for friends and slowly she got more involved in all things creative. She decided to channel her energy into founding her own company. A brilliant choice as it evolved into an award-winning cultural agency, which she grew into a huge success with it producing 50+ events a year - including tours, managing artists and a theatre company, but in 2015 she decided to sell the business and move to London.

In the UK she worked for a number of companies in her capacity as a creative producer within the arts, cultural and entertainment sectors but when the Covid pandemic hit in 2020 she was made redundant. It is from this I LIKE NETWORKING was born.

To date I LIKE NETWORKING has established:

Isabel shares her journey, the importance of networking - it not being cringe as portrayed in movies - and her ambitions for a more equal and diverse cultural industries.

Enjoy

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

📸 Instagram: @greaterthaneleven 

🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

🔗 LinkedIn: Greater Than Eleven  

For episode 90 we are joined by Amy Smith - Head of Talent for the Oscar-winning, world-renowned animation and visual effects creative studio - Framestore.

Amy is uber passionate and committed to creating a more socially equitable global visual effects (VFX) industry. She shares all the initiatives she and her industry colleagues have been rolling out over the past decade to ensure they are playing the long game when it comes to diversity and inclusion in their sector. This includes; visiting primary schools, apprentice and intern schemes and getting involved in political campaigning for better creative education! SHE IS AMAZING!

Amy breaks down in eloquent detail all the touchpoints and roles involved in creating a film with heavy VFX . She also covers the different processes and the types of people who work on an advert compared to a movie.

She also shares how being made redundant from a dream job a few years back was devastating and took a lot of focused effort to both, find another role and manage her wellbeing. She reflects that experience has made her a more empathetic recruiter and Head of Talent.

Amy's enthusiasm and drive are infectious! This is a fabulous listen to! Enjoy! 

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

📸 Instagram: @greaterthaneleven 

🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

🔗 LinkedIn: Greater Than Eleven  

For episode 89 we are joined by producer and founder and host of Poducate, Anthea Agyekum. 💎

Still considered 'early career', Anthea shares the uncertainty and challenges of trying to find what creative career was the right fit for her, whilst trying to get her foot in the door of the advertising industry. Anthea is open, honest and direct in discussing what it meant to decide not to go to university and when asked about her successes, such as her work with D&AD and GAUP Magazine, she pointed out - 'there were probably as many 'f-ups' along the way too' and highlighted 'those are part of the journey and the reality of establishing a career.'

She shares her very personal experience of facing redundancy during the Covid pandemic in 2020 coinciding with the murder of George Floyd in America. At the time, the CEO of the agency, which was about to terminate her contract, sent an email to all staff in response to Floyd’s death and the systemic racism embedded in western culture, detailing 'that their company too needed to take action.' Anthea emailed the CEO directly to introduce herself, share her skills and contribution to the company - and started a conversation.

Anthea has gorgeous energy, is extremely talented and tenacious and shared so much in this diamond episode. 💎

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

📸 Instagram: @greaterthaneleven 

🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

🔗 LinkedIn: Greater Than Eleven  

We are back for Series 3 and are delighted to welcome both Samantha Hornsby and Mae Yip as our first guests after quite a lengthy hiatus.

Sam & Mae are both the co-founders of Eric - whose offering has evolved over the past few years but is currently taking shape in app form. The Eric app (download here: IOS or Android)  is a hot house of hot house of all the best career advice. Beneficial to all, but with a prime focus on providing 16-25 year olds with little to no experience and with career advice and guidance. It is awesome!

In this episode they share how they were originally guided away from creative careers, but found themselves distracted in the roles they took on early in their careers so decided to ditch them, join forces and found their own company - LY London and eventually launching Eric.

There is a lot of laughter, a lot of candid honesty and they share their thinking on the next move for Eric (which could involve Beyonce 🤞).

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🛎 We need your help pushing for change: a more diverse creative industry within years, not decades. Please share the podcast with others who you think may be interested or benefit!

💓 Leave us a review / rating and we will love you forever.

Be sure to follow us:

📸 Instagram: @greaterthaneleven 

🐦 Twitter: @Gre4terThan11

🔗 LinkedIn: Greater Than Eleven