For International Women’s Day, women in our team and creative collaborators (we are an agency with a 50/50 female/male split) wanted to share stories and experiences that made us who we are, and got us to where we are in our careers. Not because we think we know the right way or the wrong way to progress, but because we are all human, and we believe our best creative work comes from our stumbles, our quirks, and our determination to keep going.

Nicola, Design Director, talks about overcoming anxiety and her own expectation to deliver ‘magic’, with the eventual realisation that no such thing exists. And finding instead commonality and friendship in a community of female designers.
Nicola’s story

Maddie, Client Director, describes a bullying experience, and her journey of overcoming this negativity, by being inspired by a female mentor.
Maddie’s story

Charlotte, Creative Director, is full of stories of inspiring female leadership, and a door opening for a new way.
Charlotte’s story

Zohra, our client and currently on secondment at Texture, tells her experiences of how women can create glass ceilings beneath them, cutting off the path for other ambitious women.
Zohra’s story

And Louise, our Strategy Director, speaks of finding her own pathway, in her own time, inspired by quirky, difficult, genius women. And of always staying true to herself.
Louise’s story

Stories of ‘male genius’ aren’t hard to come by in our industry. Or in any creative industry. But we, as a group of women, don’t seek to champion our own genius. We’re just not that back slapping. Instead we want to tell our real experiences. Maybe others will be going through something similar. We want to show it can come good in the end.

Of the women we mentor in the creative sector, we frequently hear stories of stumbling ambitions, and anxiety about whether or not they’re doing the ‘right thing’ in their daily quest to advance their careers. And more often than not, the advice we give is: honestly, don’t worry, what you did is fine, what you didn’t do is fine, you’ll figure it out, it will come. What’s most important, is that you are putting yourself out there, you are trying and you care, and you are doing something. Keep going.

This may seem like bad advice in a world where we constantly want more of people, but it’s advice that seems right. It’s relevant to men or women, although women seem to have more of a tendency to worry about the detail of their actions. By all means, learn from your mistakes, but don’t let it cripple you.

We’ll keep doing our small bit to support women. We believe the positive push pull of the female + male dynamic is what makes our creative sector world class, and we want to see stronger female representation across all levels of our industry, to enable it to thrive. So we say to women, be yourself, find places that support you to do so, find mentors that inspire you, don’t worry if you get it wrong, just keep doing your thing.

This year we’re supporting the Young Women’s Trust, because we know how women from disadvantaged communities can easily get stuck in sexist roles that trap them in poverty. We want them to be able to fulfil their potential, and get the helping hand that we’ve all benefited from at different stages of our own career journey.

You too can support Young Women’s Trust here:

Youngwomenstrust.org/get_involved/donate