Never Not Creative

Welcome to a Never Not Creative podcast mini-series. Creativity and Football. We're talking to men about creativity, football and... who are we kidding? This is an essential listen. A mini-series dedicated to the topic of men's mental health in our industry. We kick-off our first episode with Pete Brennan. Co-founder of Heaps Normal, Electric & Analog and lucky for us, sharer of stories and ex...

Asher Oliver didn’t take the traditional ‘qualified’ pathway into the creative industry. After graduation from university with a Business Management degree in 2009, he moved back home and encountered a huge struggle in regards to finding employment. Like many graduates having to rely on casual work meant Asher became a waiter in an Italian restaurant, but he never gave up what had become a passion...

Blair Enns (author of Win Without Pitching and Pricing Creativity) joins Andy to discuss the challenges that creatives have when it comes to business. How our emotional attachment to work can hinder financial success and why we shy away from the grown-up stuff. We also discuss the pro's and con's of unpaid internships and whether mental health issues are naturally more present in creatives. ...

Andy and Sarah are back with another episode on a Never Not International Women’s Day talk with Tom Tapper.   Tom is the co-founder and CEO of B-Corp certified agency, Nice and Serious. In 2008, he co-founded Nice and Serious with a clear purpose: to make creative work the world needs. Since then, he’s exclusively worked with pioneering charities and brands to make creative work that amplifie...

Join Andy Wright and Sarah Nguyen in another episode to discuss two powerful talks from Never Not International Women’s Day - ‘Until your fear of me isn’t my problem’ with Tanarra Schneider, and ‘Until we flip the question’ with Andy Polaine.   Tanarra is a Managing Director at Accenture Interactive, leading Design in the Midwest. She spills the tea about the outcomes of a system predicated o...

Somewhere around 2015, the first of the John genre articles arrived, trumpeting that there are more CEOs named John than women CEOs in their entirety.   In this episode, we have a well-presented talk by Jess Lilley, who focuses on this issue and talks through what we (John) can do about it. Jess is a co-founder at The Open Arms, a creative company that strives to weaponise empathy to hel...

Jane Duru (Verbal Design Director, R/GA) and Sumita Maharaj (Associate Design Director, Re:) join Sarah and Andy to discuss their recent submission to Never Not International Women's Day. From having to bring a 6-pack to a meeting to get a seat at the table and a constant need to over-prove themselves Jane and Sumi share their stories and experiences from the world of advertising and design. You c...

To make meaningful change in workplaces all around the world, we need to recognise that the gender inequity in our industry and society is a cultural problem. We need to show men what they can’t see all around them - the norm. The norm that has let stereotypes rule and anyone but a privileged white male suffer.  Join this discussion with Daniele Fiandaca and Deborah Rey-Burns. By his own...

International Women’s Day 2021 has passed. But this year, we're not going back to business as usual. As far as we're concerned, it will always be Never Not International Women’s Day until all women including women of colour, women with disabilities, and queer or trans women, stop being penalised for being women.  This new season of the podcast highlights our Never Not International Women's Da...

Dr Sally Fitzpatrick is a Clinical Psychologist and the Acting Program Manager, Mental Health and Research at Everymind, our partners in the Mentally-Healthy research study. In this episode she’s joined by Author and Creative, Alex Wadelton to tackle community questions about finding meaning and purpose through work, disclosing mental health challenges, taking better care of contractors and freela...

Victoria Davies has spent years as a leader in the advertising industry.  Now though, Victoria has swapped running some of the most successful agencies in London and New York to start an artificial intelligence business to nudge leaders into being better. This episode is recorded in partnership with Gabberish – Creative Therapy For Creative Minds . An online magazine for our industry. Issue 2...

After years of learning in the agency business, championing and doubling-down on a project-based model, Trevor Hubbard is on a mission to wipe out failure. The one thing standing in his way? Clarity, or lack of it. Having co-founded, and then bought outright, his agency Butchershop in California, Trevor's hit on a formula for a successful business, projects and client relationships. The Clarity Pr...

Kelly Mackenzie founded White Bear in 2014. Since then it's gone from strength to strength. No surprise really, as when we caught up with Kelly it was clear that she doesn't let much stand in her way. We chat about the challenges that women in the creative industry can face in rising to the top and how even, for all designers, this industry can sometimes feel like an extreme sport. Kelly's story o...

We chat with Ekaterina Solomeina the founder of Future London Academy. Ekaterina challenges the traditional concept of University, a linear career path and how we learn. What happens when we move into the next phases of our career as we need to continue to learn, develop and grow? And, as we move into a quest for more diverse teams, how do we create the environments and culture to ensure that they...

An incredible, far-reaching episode with experts on the future and our mental health. Prue Jones, Design Director at Fjord provides a unique perspective on where to from here in 2020. Dr Zac Seidler, a psychologist and specialist in men's mental health, who also works with Movember shares practical, respectable and relevant advice.  Hear advice and opinions on what will the future of our work...

18 months on from our first study into the mental health and wellbeing of the creative, media and marketing industry, we’re back with a deeper dive. The purpose of the second study was to evaluate what’s changed since 2018 and to further understand how people cope and what can be done to improve the situation.  This episode includes a recording of the live presentation of the results with Pro...

When Brooke Strozdas wrote about her side hustle observations she was just letting off steam. Then bang, Twitter responded and she'd clearly hit on something that many people must have been thinking. Why all the pressure to have a side hustle? Is it becoming a mandatory? Is having a side hustle more important than the skills and passion you have for your regular job? Why are employers placing such...

With guests, Jess Lilley, Creative Director of Leo Burnett and Aileen Alegado, Psychologist. We discuss when's the right time to ask for a payrise. Is our industry ageist? And what's Survivors Guilt and how do we get over it? Register for future Asking For A Friend events at https://www.nevernotcreative.org/asking-for-a-friend.  Links: https://mindsetpsychology.com.au/ https://mindsetpsycholo...

Andy first met Daniele Fiandaca in 2002. He was COO at (then) independent agency Profero. They were his agency and he was their client. Since leaving Profero in 2009, Daniele has gone on to co-author 3 books including 'Creative Superpowers: Equip Yourself for the Age of Creativity', become Head of Innovation at Cheil, co-founded Token Man, Brand Social, Creative Social, Culture Social and Innovati...

When we stumbled across Creative Confessions in our insta feed, we sensed an immediate familiarity. Veronica Mike and Josh Schneider are on a mission to improve the stigma surrounding mental health in the creative industry. Based in Brooklyn, New York they've been researching with creatives across the world as well as creative leaders in New York and across the USA.  Sarah and Andy chat to Mi...

This episode is a fully loaded chat with Andrew Dobbie (Founder of Made Brave) and Peter Czapp (Founder of The Wow Company).  One's a creative founder, the other's an accountant – in fact, Peter is Andrew's accountant. In this fascinating chat, they share stories of how they and other agencies are coping right now. There's lots of advice for how to get through everything that's happening in 2...

This episode is from our April Asking For A Friend event. We all know that “asking for a friend”is an easier way to ask a tough question. So once a month we’re going to allow anyone anywhere to “ask for a friend”, to an industry leader, and a psychologist, anonymously, and online. Asking For A Friend is an initiative by Never Not Creative, Young Bloods Australia and Mentally-Healthy. It exists to...

Sean Hall has seen almost every nook and cranny of our industry. From working in one of Australia's most iconic agencies to running one of Australia's most iconic brands, he now focuses on helping as many of us as possible to improve our energy levels and mental wellbeing. Energx is Sean's business and passion and it's taken him around the country and onto the stage of TEDx to share his unique ins...

In this episode Sarah and Andy chat to Mitch Wallis, the Founder of the Heart on My Sleeve Movement. Entwined within Mitch's story about his own Mental Health journey is solid scientific and strategic advice on how to tackle mental health at work. The difference between addressing performance and addressing mental health, and how we can all play a role in looking after ourselves and each other. Mi...

We’re back. Season 3 kicks off with Chris Freel and Nina Nyman from Unltd. We talk all things mental health and how to do good in our industry. Perfect timing as we’ve recently launched the new Mentally-Healthy survey (got take it now - link in bio) and Nina is also the co-chair of the Mentally-Healthy Change Group with Andy. This is a great chat about what happened behind the scenes with our work...