The Lead by Emily K Thomas

MAKE THE WORK BEFORE ANYONE CHOOSES YOU

Katie Briefel on why specificity, visible proof, and genuine generosity make talented people easier to trust, remember, and choose.

WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERED

What if the reason you are being overlooked is not a lack of talent, but a lack of visible proof?

A lot of capable people are waiting for someone else to validate what they can do. They refine the pitch, rewrite the bio, and hope the right person will somehow recognize their potential.

But potential is difficult to choose when nobody can see it operating in the world.

That is why I wanted to speak with Katie Briefel. Katie is a brand and community strategist, writer, host, and founder of Love The Question. Her work sits at the intersection of identity, belonging, creativity, and human connection.

Katie’s central idea is both simple and demanding: “I would just make the stuff that you wanna be chosen for before anyone chooses you.”

This conversation is not about posting more for the sake of visibility. It is about creating evidence. Evidence of how you think. Evidence of what you notice. Evidence of how you make people feel. Evidence that gives the right person a specific reason to remember you.

THE PERSONAL ESSAY THAT BECAME A BUSINESS CASE

Katie once wrote a deeply personal Substack essay about the rituals surrounding a funeral and what they revealed about healing.

It was not a thought-leadership exercise. It was not optimized for a client brief. It was specific, honest work that showed how she makes meaning from human behavior.

A friend read it and recognized something larger than the subject of the essay. He saw how Katie thought laterally, how she connected ideas, and how she translated a difficult human experience into something other people could understand.

Later, he brought her into his startup. The relationship became a long-term opportunity that included work and events in New York and London.

The essay did not ask to be hired. It gave someone a reason to believe she could do the work.

That distinction matters.

Telling people you are thoughtful is a claim.

Publishing something thoughtful is proof.

Saying you understand community is a claim.

Creating a room where people feel seen is proof.

Calling yourself a strategist is a claim.

Showing how you interpret a complicated problem is proof.

The strongest personal brands do not repeatedly announce their qualities. They make those qualities observable.

THE VISIBLE PROOF AUDIT

If the right opportunity appeared tomorrow, what could someone examine today to understand why you are ready for it?

Use these five questions:

1. What do I want to be known for specifically?

Do not answer with a broad category such as marketing, leadership, or creativity. Name the problem you understand, the change you create, or the perspective you want associated with your name.

2. Where is the evidence?

List the essays, projects, events, case studies, conversations, introductions, prototypes, or decisions that show this quality in practice.

3. Can someone understand how I think without meeting me?

A polished bio tells people what you have done. A strong body of work lets them experience your judgment.

4. What proof is missing?

If you want to be chosen to host, host something small. If you want to advise founders, publish a clear teardown. If you want to lead a campaign, build a sample concept that demonstrates your taste.

5. Is the evidence easy to find?

Good work cannot create opportunity if it is buried in a private folder, scattered across platforms, or disconnected from your name.

You do not need to prove everything. You need enough specific evidence for the right person to recognize the connection between what they need and how you think.

BE KNOWN SPECIFICALLY

Katie told me, “I think being chosen is really about being known specifically, right?”

This is different from being broadly visible.

Broad visibility may earn attention. Specificity gives attention somewhere to land.

If people describe you as “great,” “smart,” or “creative,” they may like you but still not know when to call you. A useful reputation is attached to something concrete.

Try completing these sentences:

• People come to me when they need…

• I notice things about _____ that other people miss.

• The problem I can explain unusually well is…

• After working with me, people understand…

• I want my name to come up when someone asks…

The point is not to trap yourself in a niche forever. It is to make your current value legible.

Specificity does not make your work smaller. It makes your relevance easier to recognize.

BUILD A VOICE THE ALGORITHM CANNOT HAND YOU

Katie collects references with no immediate agenda. She saves images, ideas, lines, films, songs, and observations that move her, then looks for patterns across them.

That practice matters because a distinctive voice is rarely created by consuming more of what everyone else in your field is already seeing.

If your references come only from your feed, your work may become technically competent but emotionally familiar.

Katie also uses a useful filter inspired by Rick Rubin: write to the version of yourself from a year ago. Instead of asking, “Will this perform?” ask, “Would this have helped me when I was trying to understand this?”

That question changes the work. It replaces performance with service.

Her publishing goal was also process based. She committed to publishing every Sunday rather than setting a subscriber target for every piece. The cadence gave her enough repetitions to discover what she thought.

A simple practice:

• Keep one running reference file.

• Add ten things each week from outside your professional algorithm.

• Note exactly what caught your attention.

• Review the file once a month.

• Look for repeated tensions, images, questions, and ideas.

• Turn one pattern into a piece of work for the person you were a year ago.

Voice is not a tone setting. It is the pattern of what you notice, what you connect, and what you are willing to say clearly.

WHEN PEOPLE CHOOSE A BRAND, THEY ARE CHOOSING AN IDENTITY

One of Katie’s sharpest observations was: “People don’t care about brands, they care about what brands say about them.”

This is useful far beyond consumer marketing.

People do not choose only on features. They choose what a decision allows them to express, protect, signal, or become.

To de-center your brand, offer, or personal positioning, ask:

• What does choosing this help someone say about themselves?

• What identity are they moving toward?

• What are they afraid of getting wrong?

• What social signal matters to them?

• What do they want to feel after the decision?

• What proof would reduce the emotional risk of choosing?

If you are struggling to stand out, you may be explaining yourself from the inside out. Start with the person making the choice.

HOST BEFORE YOU ASK

Katie’s relationship with Headspace began with a contribution, not a pitch.

She approached the company about supporting a charity event connected to Women for Women Afghanistan. She stayed in contact and remained visible without forcing a commercial ask. About a year later, Headspace invited her to help with its event series.

The lesson is not that every generous act will become paid work. It should not be treated as a disguised sales tactic.

The lesson is that trust compounds when people experience your judgment, care, and follow-through before a transaction is required.

Katie put it plainly: “Just bring value. I always find that helps. Just don’t do it with ulterior motive.”

There are many ways to do this without overextending yourself:

• Make one thoughtful introduction.

• Host a small table around a useful question.

• Share a resource that solves a real problem.

• Invite someone into a room where they will meet the right people.

• Credit the person whose idea helped you.

• Follow up because you were paying attention, not because you need something.

Networking asks, “What can this relationship do for me?”

Hosting asks, “What useful thing can happen because I brought these people together?”

USE A PLAYGROUND, NOT A PLAYBOOK

Katie described curiosity and experimentation as practical advantages in uncertain seasons.

A fixed playbook assumes the conditions are known. A playground gives you room to test, notice, and respond.

Katie experienced this while building what became Love The Question. She changed the name and positioning while the project was already underway. She worried that the change looked messy and felt shame about not having solved everything in advance.

Her conclusion was more useful than a polished origin story: through making, you work out what something is.

That is not permission to be careless. It is permission to learn in public without treating every revision as evidence that you failed.

When a project feels stuck, replace the identity question with an experiment:

Instead of: “What should this become?”

Try: “What can I test in the next seven days?”

Instead of: “What is my perfect positioning?”

Try: “Which version creates the clearest response?”

Instead of: “Am I ready to publish?”

Try: “What will publishing teach me that private preparation cannot?”

The goal is not certainty. It is useful information.

THE PART THAT IS NOT EASY

There is a risk in turning any opportunity story into a formula.

Making strong work does not guarantee that the right person will see it. Staying visible takes time. Generosity can become unpaid labor if you never set boundaries. Publishing consistently is harder when money, health, caregiving, or energy are limited.

Katie was honest that she still gets caught in the numbers and wonders why she is not growing faster. She also spoke about a period of burnout and becoming physically unwell after ignoring signs that something was not working.

That honesty strengthens the thesis.

The answer is not to produce endlessly or pretend metrics do not matter. The answer is to choose a form of visibility you can sustain, attach it to work you genuinely want to make, and judge the process over a longer horizon.

Consistency without self-trust becomes performance.

Generosity without boundaries becomes depletion.

Visibility without specificity becomes noise.

The better goal is evidence you can continue creating without abandoning yourself.

A 7-DAY PROOF-BEFORE-PERMISSION SPRINT

Day 1: Choose the association

Complete this sentence: “I want to be known as the person who helps _____ do _____.”

Day 2: Inventory your proof

Find three things that already demonstrate this ability. A client result, essay, event, prototype, introduction, analysis, or decision all count.

Day 3: Collect better references

Save ten references from outside your usual feed. Note what you admire about each one.

Day 4: Make one small artifact

Create the shortest useful piece of work that demonstrates your judgment. It might be a one-page guide, a teardown, a sample concept, a short essay, a workshop outline, or a thoughtful interview.

Day 5: Make it discoverable

Publish it somewhere connected to your name. Give it a clear title that tells the right person what problem it addresses.

Day 6: Create value for one person

Make an introduction, share a resource, invite someone into a room, or offer a useful observation. Do it without attaching an immediate request.

Day 7: Review the process, not the applause

Ask what the work clarified, what response surprised you, and what you want to make next. Do not use one week of metrics as a verdict on the value of the idea.

FOUR LINES WORTH SAVING

“I think being chosen is really about being known specifically, right?”

“I would just make the stuff that you wanna be chosen for before anyone chooses you.”

“People don’t care about brands, they care about what brands say about them.”

“When you move with authenticity and courage and generosity, you will naturally magnetize the people who you’re meant to work with.”

SIGNALS FROM THE CONVERSATION

OPPORTUNITY SIGNAL

The opportunity did not begin with a conventional pitch. A relationship created familiarity, and Katie’s personal essay supplied visible proof of how she thought. Connection and work provided different forms of evidence.

TRUST SIGNAL

Specificity. People trust work that has a clear point of view and feels precise enough to help them recognize themselves inside it.

MOMENTUM SIGNAL

Make, publish, host, and connect before the outcome is guaranteed. Momentum comes from visible participation, not private preparation alone.

EMILY’S FAVORITE MOMENT

My favorite moment was Katie’s challenge to make the work before anyone chooses you.

It removes the pressure to appear fully formed and replaces it with a better question: What evidence can I create today?

You cannot control who says yes. You can make your judgment, care, and capability easier to see. That is a far more useful place to put your energy.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

Choose one opportunity you want in the next twelve months.

Then ask: What would someone need to see to feel confident choosing me for it?

Do not start with another explanation of your potential. Make one small piece of evidence.

Save this issue and use the Visible Proof Audit whenever your work feels stronger than the opportunities finding you.

CONNECT WITH KATIE

Connect on LinkedIn

Love The Question

WHO SHOULD BE CHOSEN NEXT?

Who has earned your confidence through the work they made before anyone was paying attention?

Reply with your recommendation or submit a guest for The Lead.

Follow The Lead for conversations about how meaningful opportunities are created, how confidence is built, and how better choices are made.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emilykthomas.substack.com/subscribe

ABOUT SHARON MILLS

Sharon Mills is a Creative Marketing Strategist, Lead Creative Consultant and Creative Director at SMC Consulting in Ghana. She is also the founder of The Creative Academy, where she helps students, creative professionals, and business leaders strengthen their creative thinking.

The idea Sharon Mills most wants people to remember from our conversation is simple:

“Everyone is creative.”

She does not mean that everyone is naturally brilliant at making things. She means creativity is a human capacity that can be strengthened, practiced, and applied far beyond advertising.

The harder part is what comes next.

Because having an idea is not the same as making it valuable. Being talented is not the same as becoming trustworthy. And doing something original is not enough if it does not solve a real problem.

Sharon’s standard is more demanding:

“The end of the day, creativity really is about being able to create something that is, um, new, authentic, and useful.”

That line became the center of our conversation.

Sharon is a Ghanaian creative marketing strategist, the Lead Creative Consultant and Creative Director at SMC Consulting, and the founder of The Creative Academy. Her work spans brand strategy, copywriting, advertising, production, teaching, mentorship, and creative leadership.

I invited her onto The Lead because she does not treat creativity as a gift reserved for a chosen few. She treats it as a practical form of judgment.

This episode is about how to strengthen that judgment, how to make better decisions before certainty arrives, and how to build the kind of evidence that makes other people confident in your work.

WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERS

The most interesting question is not whether you are creative.

It is whether your creativity can create consequence.

Can your idea solve the problem it claims to solve?

Can you separate your ego from the work long enough to make it better?

Can people trust you to keep the promise after the pitch is over?

Can you move before you know everything, then learn fast enough to adjust?

Sharon’s answers give us a practical system for all four.

1. NEW IS NOT ENOUGH

Sharon’s definition of creativity has three parts: new, authentic, and useful.

Usefulness is what moves an idea from self-expression into consequence.

A beautiful campaign that does not answer the brief may still be beautiful, but it is not doing its job. A surprising idea that creates no value may attract attention, but attention alone does not make it worth choosing.

The better question is:

What does this help someone understand, feel, decide, or do?

This is one of the clearest patterns emerging across my conversations on The Lead. Strong ideas do not become easier to choose simply because they are good. Their value has to become legible to the person making the decision.

TRY THIS: THE NEW, AUTHENTIC, USEFUL TEST

Before you present an idea, ask:

1. What is genuinely new here?

2. What makes it feel true to this person, brand, or situation?

3. What real problem does it solve?

4. Can the intended audience explain why it is useful?

5. What evidence would show that it worked?

If the idea cannot survive those questions, it may be interesting, but it is not ready.

2. CREATIVITY IS A PROCESS, NOT A PERSONALITY

Sharon described creativity as a muscle.

The more people explore, make, notice, and express, the more capable they become. Environment matters. Education matters. Community matters. A person who has never been encouraged to explore may learn to criticize an idea before it has a chance to develop.

But the process can be practiced.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS LOOP

Gather. Learn as much as you can about the problem, audience, and constraints.

Incubate. Give the information space. Sharon talks about putting the problem “on ice” while the subconscious continues working.

Notice. Pay attention when the connection or insight appears.

Verify. Test whether the idea is new, authentic, useful, and aligned with the real problem.

Repeat. Creativity is not one burst of inspiration. It is a loop you can return to.

The surprising part of this framework is that rest is not separate from the work. It is part of the work.

In her written follow-up, Sharon named rest as the practice that has most helped her career:

“Rest. Not as reward, but as fuel to be better on waking.”

That is not an argument for doing less. It is a reminder that the mind needs space to connect what constant activity keeps separate.

3. LOVE THE PROBLEM MORE THAN THE IDEA

One of my favorite parts of the conversation was Sharon’s explanation of what she does when a client pushes back on work she loves.

Her first step is emotional detachment.

She returns to the brief and asks whether the idea actually answers it. That distance helps her separate the sting of rejection from the quality of the decision.

TRY THIS: DETACH AND RETURN TO THE BRIEF

When your work is challenged, ask:

1. What did the client or audience actually ask for?

2. Which part of the brief does this answer?

3. What evidence says this is the right direction?

4. Could another brand replace the name and the idea still work?

5. Am I defending the idea because it is right, or because I am tired and attached to it?

The line that made me laugh was Sharon’s description of creators being willing to die on a hill that is not even strong enough to hold us.

It is funny because it is true.

We can become so attached to the work that we stop evaluating it. Sharon would rather create a result than protect work that only looks clever.

4. USE AI TO CHALLENGE THINKING, NOT TO REPLACE IT

Sharon’s position on AI was more nuanced than the usual debate.

She sees value in using a tool to test a direction, surface a blind spot, or offer another way to examine risk. She does not see it as a substitute for the judgment that gives an idea its meaning.

A founder is emotionally attached to the business.

A creative is emotionally attached to the idea.

A leader is carrying the consequences of the decision.

A tool can challenge the assumptions around a proposed direction. It cannot supply the authenticity that makes the direction worth following.

TRY THIS: THE AI CHALLENGE PROMPT

Use this structure:

Here is the problem I am trying to solve: [problem]

Here is my proposed direction: [direction]

Here are the constraints: [constraints]

Challenge my assumptions. Identify the strongest risks, the evidence I may be missing, and the best argument against this direction. Do not rewrite the idea for me.

That keeps the human point of view in the lead while giving the thinking a useful stress test.

5. CONFIDENCE IS EARNED THROUGH PROOF

After the interview, I asked Sharon to complete one sentence five ways:

A person, brand, or idea earns confidence when...

Her answers create a practical evidence audit:

1. They do what they promise consistently.

2. They walk their talk.

3. They show proof beyond promises.

4. They solve real-life problems.

5. They produce a result that is new and useful.

This is the opposite of performative confidence.

It is not how certain someone sounds. It is whether their behavior keeps giving other people good reasons to believe them.

TRY THIS: THE CONFIDENCE EVIDENCE AUDIT

Choose a person, brand, project, or idea you want others to trust. Score it from one to five on each question:

1. Consistency: Does it repeatedly do what it promises?

2. Congruence: Does the behavior match the message?

3. Proof: Is there evidence beyond the claim?

4. Usefulness: Does it solve a real problem?

5. Distinction: Is the result genuinely new or meaningfully better?

Your lowest score is the next piece of evidence you need to build.

6. MAKE THE DECISION YOU CAN LIVE WITH

Sharon shared a story about a prospective client who asked her team to prepare multiple unpaid proposals. When the client returned again with a new brief, she considered whether the repeated interest might finally become real work.

Then she counted what the earlier proposals had already cost her business.

She declined politely.

Later, the campaign appeared in the market. The client had gone ahead without her. She still did not regret the decision.

Her test was not whether the outcome proved her right. It was whether she could respect how she made the choice with the information available at the time.

“Am I going to be able to hold my head up to this decision after I have taken it?”

That question has stayed with me.

So much of business is not a choice between a clearly good option and a clearly bad one. It is a choice made in the gray.

Sharon’s standard is not perfect foresight. It is informed self-respect.

TRY THIS: THE DECISION RESPECT TEST

Before a consequential yes or no, write down:

1. What do I know today?

2. What am I assuming?

3. What will this choice cost in time, money, energy, and self-respect?

4. What boundary or principle is involved?

5. If the outcome disappoints me, can I still respect how I reached the decision?

Then decide. Do not keep paying for the same decision by reopening it every day.

7. TALENT IS ONLY THE STARTING POINT

When I asked what she had changed her mind about, Sharon answered without hesitation:

“Talent is not enough.”

Talent might indicate where to begin. It can be a springboard. But it does not make someone reliable, collaborative, prepared, ethical, or consistent.

You can create brilliant work and still miss the meeting.

You can produce a strong result and still be so difficult to work with that nobody wants to see the next one.

You can have obvious ability and still fail to practice.

This is where confidence becomes observable. People do not have to believe your potential in the abstract. They can see the repeated proof.

8. MOMENTUM BRINGS CLARITY

The line I will carry from this conversation is:

“Momentum brings clarity.”

Sharon is not arguing for reckless action. She is arguing against the fantasy that we can know everything before we begin.

At some point, the question becomes:

Do I know enough to take the first responsible step?

The next step will teach you something. The work may reveal what the plan could not. The movement itself creates information.

TRY THIS: THE MOMENTUM PRACTICE

1. Define the minimum information required for a responsible first step.

2. Choose a step that is small enough to reverse or adjust.

3. Take it before adding more research.

4. Record what happened and what you learned.

5. Use that evidence to choose the next step.

Clarity is often the result of movement, not the requirement for it.

THE LEAD SIGNALS

Opportunity Signal

Readiness when an opening appears. Sharon entered advertising just before she turned 18. She persisted through a three-week hiring process and hours waiting in reception. She was inexperienced, but she recognized the opening and kept showing up until it became real.

Trust Signal

Logic, authenticity, empathy, and consistency. A convincing story is not enough if the behavior changes the next day.

Momentum Signal

Know enough to take the first step, then let movement create the next piece of clarity.

WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Determination.

Sharon’s early career story was not about waiting for someone to confirm that she belonged. It was about recognizing that a real opportunity had appeared and meeting it with full effort.

Do the research.

Practice the process.

Make the decision.

Stand behind it.

Learn.

Keep moving.

EMILY’S (MY) FAVORITE MOMENT

My favorite moment was not a creative technique. It was Sharon’s decision test:

Can I still respect myself after I make this choice?

That question makes confidence quieter and more useful.

Confidence is not pretending to know the future. It is doing the work, considering the cost, making the choice, and accepting responsibility for what you knew at the time.

SHARON’S CHOSEN LIST

One person more people should know: Jesus Christ.

One book: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.

One brand getting something right: Merriam-Webster. Sharon sees its social presence as a masterclass in relevance, copywriting, and engagement that remains true to the brand’s purpose.

One idea deserving more attention: Everyone is creative. Sharon believes this idea could strengthen careers, accelerate problem-solving, and help organizations find creative people in unconventional roles

.

One practice that has helped her career: Rest, not as reward, but as fuel.

THE QUESTION SHARON LEFT FOR THE NEXT GUEST

“What would be one thing you would change about how the world was created?”

A small question, obviously.

WHAT I AM TAKING WITH ME

There is no way to be 100 percent sure about anything.

We can plan, study, measure, and prepare. We should.

But confidence is not the elimination of uncertainty. It is the ability to move responsibly inside it.

Do the work.

Make the idea useful.

Build proof.

Choose what you can live with.

Then take the next step.

Because momentum brings clarity.

Learn more:

SMC Consulting

The Creative Academy

Sharon Mills on LinkedIn

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Why this conversation mattered

The creative world often confuses scale with significance. A large budget, famous agency, or address in a major market can make an idea look important before anyone has examined whether it actually moves people. But volume is not consequence. The work we remember usually does something quieter first: it gives us a clear idea, connects it to a human truth, and then delivers it in a way we did not expect.

That is why I wanted to speak with Oshoveli Shipoh. Oshoveli is a Namibian executive creative director, filmmaker, founder of StreetLeader Creative, and a 2026 Cannes Lions Film Craft juror. He has built films and commercial work from a place the global industry can underestimate, then sat on the other side of the decision and evaluated creative work from around the world. His story reveals how visible proof creates curiosity, but clarity and consequence convert that curiosity into confidence.

Oshoveli’s formula is “be simple but unpredictable.” The idea must be easy enough to understand, but the execution needs enough surprise to become memorable. We talk about why creativity is the bridge rather than the objective, what judges notice before they consciously analyze a brief, and why a creative block can be evidence that the brief is missing a truth. We also examine how local stories travel without becoming generic and why research must extend beyond other people in your industry.

This conversation is for anyone trying to make important work from outside an obvious center, explain why an idea matters, or earn confidence before a famous name validates it. The practical lesson is not to become louder. Define the change you want to create. Talk to the people the work is meant to serve. Then make the idea clear enough to enter and unexpected enough to stay.

Emily K Thomas

1. A creative principle: Be simple but unpredictable

The audience should understand the core idea quickly. The surprise belongs in the execution, where it can create curiosity and memory.

2. A creative process: Return to the work

Oshoveli revisits ideas across several days because distance lets him see a new layer, question the first answer, and find the story underneath the story.

3. Work he admired: Bullet Machine

He admired how the campaign translated the danger faced by journalists in Mexico into one clear and disturbing device. Each keystroke becomes a gunshot, making an urgent issue instantly felt. Watch Bullet Machine

4. Work he admired: Could Have Been a Heineken

The campaign turns a familiar behavior, sending long voice notes, into an invitation to reconnect in person. It won the 2026 Cannes Lions Social and Creator Grand Prix.

Learn about Could Have Been a Heineken

5. A career practice: Question the brief and talk to people

When an idea feels stuck, Oshoveli looks for missing information. He questions what the client has not said and speaks with the people the work is actually meant to move.

Signals from the conversation

Opportunity Signal

Oshoveli says his work and perspective made him discoverable through LinkedIn. Isabelle Kallenberg and her team then helped turn that visibility into the opportunity to serve as a Cannes Lions juror. The sequence matters: visible proof created curiosity, and a relationship converted that curiosity into opportunity.

Trust Signal

Clarity is the first test, but not the only one. Oshoveli looks for a human truth, intentional execution, and evidence that the work changed something for the brand, community, or audience it was built to serve.

Momentum Signal

Stop measuring yourself against the largest player in the market. Improve against your own last version, gather better information, and collaborate with people who are stronger than you in the areas the idea requires.

Emily’s favorite moment

My favorite moment was Oshoveli’s diagnosis of creative block: much of the time, the problem is not a lack of creativity. It is an incomplete brief. His question, “Are you actually listening to what the client is not saying?” turns a frustrating creative wall into a research problem. Return to the objective. Find the missing truth. Ask the audience. Better information can restore momentum faster than forcing another idea.

Who should be chosen next?

Who is creating important work from a place or perspective the wider industry still overlooks? Reply with their name and tell me what deserves a closer look.

THE LEAD by Emily K Thomas is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emilykthomas.substack.com/subscribe

WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERED

Fashion is built to make us look. The choices that determine whether a brand deserves trust are often much harder to see: who owns the work, how suppliers operate, which commitments are written down, and whether the person making the claim has a commercial reason to avoid an uncomfortable fact.

Anuj Kumar belongs in The Lead because his work sits inside that invisible decision system. He is a lawyer and the founder and editor-in-chief of Fashion Law Journal and Legal Desire. His strongest credibility signal is not a title. It is a refusal. According to Anuj, Fashion Law Journal does not accept sponsored stories from the brands it covers, protecting its ability to investigate and criticize them.

Our conversation moves from supply chains and artisan rights to contracts, intellectual property, privacy, artificial intelligence, labeling, and social media. The details are broad because fashion law is not one narrow category. It is the operating layer beneath the product, campaign, partnership, and investment. Anuj’s practical message is consistent: verify claims, write expectations clearly, and ask difficult questions before urgency makes the decision for you.

This is a useful conversation for founders, investors, creators, and advisers because it changes where due diligence begins. Do not wait for a lawsuit or controversy to make the invisible system visible. Look at the incentives behind the promise, the evidence behind the claim, and the ownership behind the asset before you decide what deserves your confidence.

SIGNALS FROM THE CONVERSATION

Opportunity Signal

Client work exposed a gap in useful fashion-law research, especially for the people and businesses inside the supply chain. Anuj converted that repeated problem into a publishing platform and body of work.

Trust Signal

Visible verification and legible incentives. Anuj described checking certifications, reviewing contracts, investigating suppliers, and keeping covered brands from buying their way into editorial stories.

Momentum Signal

He turned recurring legal questions into reusable knowledge. Practice created evidence, publishing increased access, and the growing archive reinforced the authority of both.

EMILY’S FAVORITE MOMENT

I kept thinking about Anuj’s refusal to accept sponsored stories from brands the journal covers. The principle is larger than media. Trust depends partly on whether we can understand the incentive behind the claim. A source becomes easier to believe when we can see what they are willing to give up to protect their judgment.

THE LEAD by Emily K Thomas is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

WHO SHOULD BE CHOSEN NEXT?

Who is asking an important question their industry would rather postpone? Reply with the person you think The Lead should speak with next.

Follow The Lead for conversations about how confidence forms, how meaningful opportunities are created, and how stronger choices get made.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emilykthomas.substack.com/subscribe

Why this conversation mattered

We are often told that opportunity follows visibility. Post more. Build a personal brand. Make sure the right people know your name. Tracey Brader’s career offers a more useful and more demanding version of that advice: visibility matters, but reputation travels farther.

Tracey is Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Omnicom Health in the UK and served as the 2026 Cannes Lions Pharma Jury President. Yet one of the most revealing things she told me was that she has applied for only a handful of jobs in her life, and probably did not get those jobs. Her most consequential opportunities came through something harder to manufacture: people had seen how she thought, how she contributed, and how she behaved in important rooms.

That matters if you are building a career, company, or creative practice in a moment when everyone is competing for attention. The lesson is not to disappear. It is to make your visibility carry proof. Show how you make decisions. Be useful before there is a transaction. Let people experience your judgment, generosity, and ability to make the room better.

Tracey’s judging lens became concrete in the 2026 Pharma Grand Prix decision. The jury selected Novartis and Fallon’s “Relax Your Tight End,” a campaign that used humor, celebrity, and multiple channels to reduce friction around prostate screening. The example sharpened her larger point: creative work earns confidence when it respects the stakes and moves people toward a meaningful action.

We also talked about the parts of leadership that rarely make the polished bio. Tracey described arriving at Cannes feeling unprepared, unworthy, and short on confidence. She did not solve that by pretending to know everything. She listened, prepared, and created space for smart people to improve the answer. That is a much more durable form of confidence than performance.

Emily K Thomas

Five ideas to use this week

1. Say yes before confidence arrives.

Tracey’s instinct is to say yes, then figure it out. The useful distinction is that courage comes first, but preparation still follows. The opportunity opens the door. Your work earns your place in the room.

2. Treat nervousness as preparation energy.

Feeling stretched does not automatically mean you are unqualified. It can mean the work matters. Instead of spending that energy trying to appear fearless, put it into listening, questioning, and getting ready.

3. Let the room improve the answer.

The strongest leaders are not always the loudest or most certain. They create the conditions for other people to think well, challenge assumptions, and contribute what they see.

4. Hold strong beliefs loosely.

Good judgment requires a point of view. Better judgment requires the ability to change it when new evidence or a different perspective improves the decision.

5. Build a reputation through repeated behavior.

A personal brand can introduce you. A reputation is what people say after they have worked with you. It is built through the small, consistent moments that make people want you in the next room.

Signals from the conversation

Opportunity Signal

Say yes before certainty when the room is right, then make the opportunity credible through preparation and contribution.

Trust Signal

Consistent judgment, humility, generosity, and strong beliefs held loosely make people want your perspective in consequential rooms.

Momentum Signal

Place yourself near good people and meaningful work. Be useful. Let repeated behavior make the next opportunity easier to imagine.

Emily’s favorite moment

Tracey said, “I felt very unprepared and unworthy and lacked confidence.”

I loved that she did not turn the story into a neat confidence lesson. She let the discomfort stay visible. Then she showed what leadership looked like inside it: listen closely, respect the intelligence in the room, and make it easier for the group to reach a better answer.

Confidence is not the absence of doubt. It is the ability to remain useful while doubt is present.

Four lines worth keeping

“I have a habit of saying yes and figuring it out later.”

“I felt very unprepared and unworthy and lacked confidence.”

“I think I’ve only ever applied for about four jobs in my life, and probably not got those four jobs.”

“You have to be talented and nice to work here.”

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