Day 1: See It Be It 2022

Foreword: I wrote this on the train home from Cannes in 2022, hot off the experience and with fresh notes in hand. But a year of new experiences (country, market, job, projects) kept me from wrapping it up. So instead I'm publishing now, where it's the perfect time to tell you that applications for See It Be It 2023 are now open (deadline 13 Feb).

Day [01] [02] [03] [04]

I probably do just about everything with my heart in my mouth. Absolutely terrified. So when I boarded the train for Cannes See it Be it on Sunday, I did it jittery with trepidation (knees weak / palms sweaty).?

But deep down, I think I like to be scared. Last week, I would have edited, edited, edited, edited. Posted something brief and easy to ignore about how my life changed at Cannes. This week, frankly, I’m a different woman. And she edits herself less (and her work more – we’ll get to that).

So, I hope you won’t mind that this is going to get long: you don’t have to read it. And it’s going to be split up into a few posts, because sometimes experiences can be squeezed so hard for their essentials that you only end up with platitudes. Anyway, it’s cathartic for me to imagine that one of you (really, just one) will actually read all of this, will know me a little bit better (real and unedited), and will feel like you yourself can also be real and unedited. So, I’ll save best practices for my briefs, and let this one be myself. (I do promise to edit a little, because my husband/copywriter gave me an earful when I told him what I want to write).

/start: Day 01.

Meeting up with strangers is not one of my strengths. Hopelessly 4’9 and a healthy dose of shy, I set an intention against my desperate urge to stay invisible, and posted on our SIBI whatsapp group.?

Along with the incredibly humble and inspired Ellen Fromm (She/Her) , and Nedal Ahmed , who happens to have made my favourite spot of all time, I also met Rachel Chew at the airport – and I’m still thanking all my stars for it. She immediately felt like my other half – the breezy insight at the end of my soulful paragraph. She matched honesty for honesty, and I fell in love with her right away. Rachel caught me so off-guard that, completely by accident, I ended up being myself.

Ok so yes, we should have booked a car in advance. And we did miss the train while looking at the bus, and then the bus while looking at the train. But part of your first time at Cannes is making rookie mistakes, so we made them, and next time we won’t be noobs and we’ll book ahead. And we did make it (by bus, in case you’re wondering) eventually.

Let’s fast-forward.

Along with a gorgeous introduction by Swati (a natural storyteller, I could listen to her for hours), Madonna Badger baptised us with three pieces of advice. The woman has incredible intuition, because almost every single girl has told me that this advice absolutely made their experience at See It Be It.?

1. Find your similarities.

Instead of seeing what other girls had accomplished, and feeling my own lack, I saw the passion / struggles / fears / hopes / unrelenting femininity that we all had in common. In fact, I found myself focusing on similarities with everyone I talked to. As we were introduced to some of the biggest creative names over the next week, I learned that every single one of us has interests, ignorances, passions, questions, things we find boring, favourite books that no one else has read. We’re all very, very human.

2. Focus on the positives.

Madonna told us, it’s never interesting to say “it’s hot”. People say it all the time at Cannes, so say anything else. We tried, but it was hot. So, we followed it up with the positives. It wasn’t just about putting ourselves in a positive mindset, but with this advice we embraced experiences like there was no tomorrow. Even when it was 2am, and there most certainly was a tomorrow.

3. Be vulnerable.

Not only was vulnerability the keystone to my week, but I learned so much about myself in this state, that I’ll be embracing vulnerability as a core value going forward. It’s why I’m writing this – why I’ll leave it a little too long, a little too honest. It’s why I shared my whole heart in every conversation, and how I could embrace the authenticity of my (sometimes long-winded, sometimes too sincere) self.

Vulnerability is going to saturate my work, and my relationships. I learned during this week that vulnerability is the reason I love to be creative, my superpower, and that my learned fear of exposure has been holding me back from my best. My life has changed so much in a week of being radically vulnerable that I don’t think fear is ever going to scare me again.

We kicked off the welcome with Swati, Madonna, Mike Wente, and Simon Cook .

We toasted to ourselves.?

Then, always sharp in our priorities, we found the coffee machine and toasted again.?

I think that there’s something fundamentally warm and generous about womanhood, and so although we had gathered as some of the brightest young creative minds around the world, it didn’t feel like a networking event. It felt like a celebration of shared stories, and as I looked around the room, I saw women making space for one another, making sure each of us were heard in our own ways.?

Now, not every person cries. I’m a cryer. It happens, and I’m learning not to apologise too much for it. But Denise Tee gets the award for being the first of many to make me tear up this week.

As we mingled, basking in the electric energy of one another, Denise brought out gifts for us all. Personalised gifts for every twenty-one of us, with gorgeously handwritten notes, brought along with her from Manila.?

She certainly didn’t plan it to be, but this was the perfect introduction to herself. Denise went on to be one of the most generous people I have ever met. With her time, her experiences, her love, her advice, her forgiveness, her insights and creativity. This week, women like her showed me what the future of female leadership could look like: generous, open, vulnerable, insightful. There were plenty of mentorship sessions, but I learned my biggest lessons from the other girls at See It Be It. They’re the kind of leaders I want to be.

After awkward introductions had evolved into laughter, comfort, and sorority, we headed to dinner.

Our ambassador this year was the eloquent and audaciously romantic Swati Bhattacharya . I could be cool about it, but frankly, it was love at first sight. She is femininity, and I have never wanted to be anything else. So it was glorious to watch her be a creative fireball, a distinguished leader, a visionary, and such a girl. She exuded generosity and love, and her passion for life was absolutely contagious.

Her best friend joined us for dinner (and much of the week), and we all swooned at the love story of their friendship. Who wouldn’t want to travel the world with their best friend, to explore the streets of Cannes with someone who had been by their side through laughter and pain? Who taught us that we shouldn’t? I loved that her lust for life was best shared with an old friend, and so she just did it.

Anyway, dinner was incredible.

Tomorrow, we had growing to do.

Day 2 >