About that abc video... I am a designer and writer. I also teach design to university students. I am commissioned and published regularly for my work. I make a living from it and I can pick and choose what I work on. I’m here to tell you that I wouldn’t be where I am today... /1

had I not started out by making my own content. I started out publishing my my own pieces, cutting up my own audio for uni assessments, making podcasts and publishing other baby writers. I encourage students to self-drive their own projects and find ways to tell their stories /2

When you invest in your own projects, you invest in an idea, in yourself, in your community. It’s not something I did properly until my late 20s when I was doing my design degree. I learned quickly not to work for free unless it was my own initiative, but it was all worth it /3

If you’re wanting to tell stories, your first port of call should be to ‘create’. Not grants, not brands, not logos (yet). CREATE. Storytell. Connect. Fuck it up. Make mistakes. Learn your craft. You never know, those gatekeepers might be calling on you for your skills one day