The Wilderness of Creativity

*Trigger warning - some listeners might find parts of this conversation upsetting as we discuss baby loss.

In part 2, we discuss the pressure to appear successful online, especially for introverts and the toll that can take on creativity and wellbeing. Amy also shares how creativity can become a grounding force during difficult seasons of life.

If you or someone you love has been affected by baby loss, support is available and you’re never alone. Please consider visiting The Wilderness of Creativity Shopify store to purchase some merch, with 10% of all sales donated to Forever Stars to help support families through baby loss and bereavement.

Thank you for listening,

Stay wild x

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by comparison or the pressure to 'keep up'?

In Part 1, special guest Amy Lord shares her journey as a self-employed mum, emphasising the importance of realistic expectations, authenticity and creativity in balancing work and life. This episode explores the pressures of social media, the value of listening over speaking, and how creativity can be a vital tool for resilience.

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Amy is an artist and has been a self-employed creative person for 17 years. She’s now exploring how to keep that going whilst juggling motherhood. Her new mission is to help as many mothers as possible stay creative and doing what they love through 1:1 mentoring, community support and group programmes.

@Amylordcreative on Instagram@selfemployedmamaclub

Amy's Website

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Mental health is rarely simple or linear, and creativity can often reflect that complexity.

In a world obsessed with productivity, it’s easy to lose sight of who we actually are beneath the pressure to constantly evolve. Sometimes growth comes from discipline and change, but sometimes it comes from slowing down long enough to notice what you genuinely enjoy and what you’ve outgrown. Maybe the thing you've been chasing was never really yours to begin with?

Returning guest, writer and creative thinker Kay Sibson, joins me in the wilderness do discuss the 'messy middle' of creativity - the uncertain space between ideas, identity and growth. Together, we explore the tension between self-improvement and self-discovery, and invite you to question whether the constant pursuit of becoming 'better' can indeed disconnect us from ourselves instead of bringing us closer.

Listen to Kay's first episode 'How to build an authentic brand' HERE and let us know what you think!

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Kay Sibson is a writer and creative thinker based in Montana. Her work explores self-trust, experimentation, and leaving room for the unknown while moving through change.

@consultingkay on Instagram

Kay's Website

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I felt so inspired by this conversation with Deborah Haddon. The aim is not to criticise schools, but instead challenge something much deeper: how we learn to see ourselves in the first place. This is about asking what happens when creativity, curiosity and self-expression are nurtured… or rather slowly edited out of us.

With the recent SEND review, proposed Schools and Wellbeing reforms, and the wider political debates about inclusion and outcomes, we’re all being invited to reconsider what, how and why we learn the way we learn in schools. Are we building systems that help children become themselves, or systems that teach them how to perform a version of what’s expected? Because underneath all of it sits the same question: do we really trust the self?

In this episode, Deborah shares her self-approach philosophy and the work of the Ethereal Learning Foundation, exploring how creativity, autonomy and self-discovery can reshape learning into something far more human.

We talk about:

• The shift toward home education and what’s driving it
• Creativity as the foundation of inclusive learning
• Self-discovery, expression and meeting people where they are
• Autonomy and what it means to actually trust the learner

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Deb Haddon has an extensive career in all aspects of education totalling 30 years. She started her journey as a Primary Teacher in an inner-city school in Leicester moving to another inner-city school in Nottingham and progressing to a Senior Leader. During this time, she developed expertise in creating appropriate, individualised learning programmes and relationship-based classroom management. Deb made the decision to leave mainstream education to set up her own business as she had the focus and passion to facilitate a holistic approach to self, enabling people to realise and fulfil their unique potential. Deb has now developed a learning foundation offering an opportunity for home educated children to access play-based and project-based activities with a focus on personal development. This is delivered through The SELF Approach, a philosophy developed and implemented over 28 years of observing young people and how they relate to self and others.

Deb's Facebook page

@elf_learningfoundation on Instagram

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What happens when we stop dreaming? Do we lose more than imagination? Do we lose our voice, our future?

In this powerful conversation, award-winning actress and producer Ariana Lebron reveals how creativity didn’t just shape her career, it saved her. Once a selectively mute child navigating trauma, she found her voice through theatre and transformed it into a life of storytelling across stage and screen.

From art as healing to art as community, from motherhood to multicultural expression, this is a story about why dreaming isn’t optional - it’s essential; because when artists dare to imagine, they don’t just change their own lives… they help us all see what’s possible.

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Ariana Lebrón was born in Dominican Republic to a Domincan mother and Puerto Rican father. This meant she would live most of her childhood between both Caribbean Islands and learn to appreciate the love for a life full of culture and arts. From a very young age Ariana started exploring stage performances in school plays and theatre groups, which made her fell in love with the performing arts. It was not much later in life that she landed the opportunity to attend London's prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Everyone says 'share the journey'… but what if building in silence is the real power move?

In this engaging episode, Carly Tysoe shares her journey from a traditional accounting career to embracing her passion for dance and creativity within her consultancy work. The conversation explores the power of authenticity, community, and personal values in shaping both our personal and professional lives. Carly highlights fresh, innovative approaches to finance training, the importance of understanding different communication styles within teams, and how genuine engagement drives business success. The episode closes with reflections on personal growth and a reminder that finding your own path doesn’t always mean starting over, it means shaping a life that feels right for you.

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Carly Tysoe is a business owner with a background in finance, systems, and learning and development. With strong corporate experience, she brings a unique creative flair to her work, using movement and dance to breathe life into traditionally 'dry' topics and make them more engaging and accessible.

@Ctc_consult on Instagram

Carly's Website

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Shopify Birthday Discount

*Trigger Warning:

This episode includes discussion of restrictive dieting, specifically the keto diet, and its impact on mental and physical health. The guest shares personal experiences of health challenges that led to a significant period of reflection and life reassessment. These topics may be sensitive for listeners with experiences related to disordered eating or mental health struggles. Listener discretion is advised.

In this open and honest conversation, Claire shares her journey through self-doubt and significant health challenges, including the impact of restrictive dieting, which ultimately led her to pause and re-evaluate what truly matters. By embracing a less conventional path, she began to rediscover her own worth and creative identity.

We discuss the importance of mental health, the power of community among childminders and how AI, when used thoughtfully, can support educators without replacing the personal magic that makes their work so meaningful.

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Claire Hassall is an Ofsted-registered childminder and the founder of Not Just a Childminder. Drawing on over a decade in early years and her own experience of burnout, she supports childminders to prioritise wellbeing, work more sustainably, and explore gentle tools — including AI that can reduce overwhelm and free up energy for what really matters.

Claire's Facebook page

@notjustachildminder on Instagram

Claire's Website

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What if the key to healing isn’t fixing yourself but finally accepting yourself 'just as you are'?

Art therapy provides a unique platform for self-expression, which Lesley Andrew believes is essential for both children and adults. She discusses how the pressure of academic standards can stifle creativity, as students often focus more on grades than on genuine expression, which she knows about first-hand as a former teacher. By removing the pressure to perform, art therapy allows individuals to tap into their true selves, creating an environment where they can explore their creativity freely. Lesley emphasises that the process is more important than the final product, encouraging her clients to embrace experimentation and navigate their artistic journeys without fear.

Thank you for listening,

Stay wild x

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Mentioned in this episode:

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What does it take to tell a story - confidence, connection, or just the willingness to begin?

In this engaging conversation, Miriam Cunliffe discusses the evolving journey of storytelling through photography and podcasting. We talk candidly about the power of affirmations, the pressures that come with creative work and how networking and community play a vital role in career growth.

Miriam shares her experience of launching her podcast Mim's Moments during COVID, her love for documentary-style storytelling and how photography has become both a creative outlet and a therapeutic practice. Together, we reflect on the influence of family and the joy of celebrating student achievements within the creative field.

This episode is an honest look at creativity as both a craft and a calling and the quiet invitations we get to take the road less travelled.

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Want to learn more about today’s guest? Check out their full bio and links below!

Miriam Cunliffe is a professional storyteller who loves being part of someone’s journey—helping them share it through photography or writing. With more than 20 years in regional newspapers, she transitioned from the fast pace of quick-turnaround reporting to a slower, more thoughtful approach that allows her to understand both the story and the person behind it. Photography has also become a key part of her own wellbeing practice, inspiring her to create her first wellbeing photography course, which recently culminated in an exhibition.

Miriam's Facebook page

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Have you ever felt like you should be more creative than you are? In this honest and reflective solo episode of The Wilderness of Creativity, Lucy shares what really happened when she sat down to record… without a clear plan. After noticing what people are searching for online - questions like “Can creativity be taught?”, “How do I build creative confidence?” and "is it passion or persistance that sets you apart" - Lucy signposts you to powerful past conversations with Tigz Rice, Kay Sibson, Heather Moore and Charlotte Gomm that speak directly to those struggles

If you’ve ever felt stuck, unsure or like your creativity has quietly slipped away, this episode will remind you: do whatever it takes to stay inspired and keep tending to your creativity like it matters, because it does!

I’d love to hear from you! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an episode - and check out our FREE Substack newsletter!

Enjoying the show? You can rate and review the podcast here - your feedback helps more listeners discover the show, builds our community, and keeps the episodes coming!

About the Host:

Lucy Colgan is a seasoned creative leader, educator and podcast host with nearly two decades of experience in the arts and education. She holds a PGCE in Drama & Performing Arts and a Professional Diploma in Dance from Trinity Laban, and has worked as a freelance artist, project manager, and director across the creative sector.

She launched The Wilderness of Creativity in 2024 and invites listeners to explore what it really means to 'take the road less travelled', combining vulnerability, practical insight and inspirational storytelling.

Mentioned in this episode:

You Tube channel