Episode #6

“A lot of us take our voice for granted. We only realise how powerful and  important it is when we lose it. Which is why I try to get out as much as possible so people understand their voices."

Today, I’m speaking to Nicola Redman. Nic is a voice and accent coach who works with narrators, podcasters and actors – “voice users”, as she calls them – helping them reach their speaking, recording and performance goals. 

On top of having recorded voiceovers, she has also taught at some of the top drama schools & theatres across the UK. Nic hosts the Voice Coach Podcast, co-hosts The Voice Over Social Podcast and she runs the Voice and Accent Hub on Facebook.

She’s originally from Northern Ireland and is now based in Cumbria. 

I wanted to speak to Nic because as creatives, we’re often expected to talk about our work quite naturally  – with ease and confidence. We should be able to stand up in public and just blurt something out. But for most of us, that’s not the way it is. Our voice won’t come out the way we’d like it to – it cracks, it doesn’t sound quite right or maybe our accent is off. We feel self-conscious and lose confidence. 

Speaking with impact doesn’t come easily for most of us. So it’s helpful to understand how the vocal system works so we can learn to play our instrument more fluently. And today I’m speaking to someone who teaches just that.  

She shared her thoughts on: 

• How the vocal system works 
• How to look after your voice 
• How to find your authentic voice 

Links mentioned in the episode:

Nic's website
Nic's Instagram Account
Nic's Facebook Group
The Voice Coach Podcast
The Voice Over Social Podcast

For more detailed episode notes, go to my website Curativity.me 

Episode #5

“Visual brand designers can't create something unless we understand what it's meant to do,  what it's meant to communicate and who it's meant to be for."

Today, I’m speaking to Meg Fenn, an American visual brand designer based in the UK. She has over 20 years of experience working across a variety of roles in graphic design. She studied Fine Art, worked as an internet designer and later specialised in brand design.

She is a fountain of knowledge on graphics and she mentors business owners, with a focus on diversity. I wanted to interview Meg because she has such a breadth of expertise and as creatives, we often need to learn quickly how to communicate about our work – build website, come up with social media strategies, etc. and this was the opportunity to ask her how to go about that.  

She shared her thoughts on:

• Where to start when you're communicating about your work 
• Who does what in the visual design space and in branding 
• How to find the right kind of support 
• How to find the best people to work with 

Links mentioned in the episode:

Meg's website
Meg's Newsletter
Meg's Twitter Account
Meg's LinkedIn Profile

For more detailed episode notes, go to my website Curativity.me 

Episode #4

 “I’ve done two books from the ground up, and in both cases, […] it was a question of finding the right container for a whole lot of things that I was already really interested in. […] It needs to be the right washing line to hang the stuff off”

Today, I’m speaking to Oliver Burkeman, the author The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking and The Sunday Times Bestseller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. He wrote the weekly psychology column – This Column Will Change Your Life – for the Guardian for over 12 years. His work has also been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Psychologies and New Philosopher.

He shares his thoughts on:

• His passion for journalism
• Writing non-fiction 
• Finding the right heading for his books 
• Finding his topics
• His writing style
• The role of writing in his life
• How he uses Twitter 

Links mentioned in the episode:

Oliver's website and newsletter
Oliver's books
Oliver's interview on This Jungian Life

For more detailed episode notes, go to my website Curativity.me