Has imposter syndrome gone wild?

Welcome to the 20th Interdisciplinary Thinking!

I wanted to use this newsletter to make things more accessible. I want to highlight some incredible people to share their stories to elevate social mobility. 

This is a personal blog of sorts which I want to explore more themes including neurodiversity, at work and inclusion and other interesting things.

This week I'm speaking to a new friend (and firm fave), Ajay Pabial, Managing Director of Art Clubbers CIC. We had a long conversation earlier this week about representation and the power it has, and I really wanted to dig deep and look more into this. Join us to discuss all things creatives, why he founded his venture, his inspiration and his top-tips!

Fun Stuff:

MIT Tech Review reflecting on the brutalisation role tech giants have had on art. The rise of monopolistic technology companies has made it harder for artists to do their best work. The underlying problems go way beyond art, but they can be fixed with bold action, says William Deresiewicz in this excerpt from his book, "The Death of the Artist".

The Guardian on how Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama have teamed up for a podcast. Very interesting listen!

Wired investigates how gig workers are gathering their own data to check the math of certain algorithms. Drivers for Uber, Lyft, and other firms are building apps to compare their mileage with payslips. One group is selling the data to government agencies!

To celebrate International Women's Day 2021, the WOW Foundation has put together an interactive map of all sorts of inspiring events, workshops, + more.

Vimeo and MailChimp have joined up to launch Stories in Place with seven Black filmmakers who capture perspectives from behind the counters of their favourite neighbourhood spots. In the shadow of a global pandemic, economic collapse, and ongoing racial injustice, these films show the spectrum of experiences among Black small-business owners and their communities.

The entire first act of Hamilton recreated on Animal Crossing. I've never played this at all, but it looks fab.

Hillary Clinton is making her first foray into the world of fiction.

Google for Startups has a wonderful range of free events focused on upskilling people around digital marketing.

Vox examines the reality of what happens when tourists disappear. Performing to an empty Times Square Life was never easy for New York’s costumed performers.

The University for the Creative Arts is launching the UK’s first degree in a virtual fashion.

Her Hustle hosts a number of great free webinars demystifying the day-to-day semantics of jobs across a broad range of sectors. Check out their YouTube channel.

The Guardian on how Jeff Bezos has overtaken Elon Musk again as the world’s richest person. I really can't keep up.

The Verge pen a farewell Daft Punk. Thank you for all the absolutely BANGING tunes. 

Creative Mornings on how to be the best leader possible—even while your team is WFH.

If you want to combine art and cooking, enjoy these illustrated recipes.  

 How to get the most out of your clothes.

5 top rhubarb recipes you have to check out!

Spotlight on: Imposter syndrome & branding yourself better

The hidden sucker of confidence is present everywhere.

But why don't we voice these feelings and normalise them?

Imposter syndrome is our focus in this segment. Regardless of your age, background, language, culture, it is something we all face. I know this first hand, I felt it earlier this week.

Earlier in the week, I shared something quite remarkable that happened to me. I was invited to celebrate Bumble's IPO with my face on Time's Square. Yes, that did actually happen. I still have to pinch myself a bit.

It is through Bumble Bizz, I met my co-founder for Growth & Grace Collective. So in all honesty, we wouldn't exist without this amazing community of likeminded women. More to the point, I find it a brilliant example of what happens when you put your mind to a goal.

Creating safe spaces for women matters. Bumble is an incredible tool to make women feel heard, safe and happy.

Ultimately when this happens, everyone else follows and it creates a better relationship for everyone! I truly believe this.

However...

I didn't post it right away.

Why?

Because I didn't feel right about it. I was scared of being judged and that I wouldn't 'fit-in' per se.

And it is this feeling I wanted to unpack with everyone this week.

The fear of being judged is the single biggest inhibitor for us as individuals reaching our goals and dreams.

Feeling like you don't fit in' is far more commonplace than you might think. However, we don't talk about it enough. And this is why I wanted to highlight how I was feeling and let people know it is ok to feel like that, we all do!

Did you know that research has shown that:

1. The average woman rates herself 25% less than the average man.
2. 75% of women executives have experienced imposter syndrome.

I'll let you take a moment and read those again. And these levels grow exponentially if you are talking about underrepresented groups.

Such mind-blowing statistics do not get talked about enough. but why?

This is why the campaign I launched two weeks ago, #BrandYourselfBetter and other initiatives to challenge imposter syndrome are still so vitally needed.

Reflecting on two weeks of #BrandYourselfBetter

I'm reflecting on this impromptu campaign that has been incredible

This is to celebrate the wonderful speakers, partners and community we've been able to collaborate with.

You may wonder how my campaign is going around supporting more people with soft skills, digital skills and self-promotion challenges. Well, it is going incredibly well.

Over the past twelve days, we've shared resources, top-tips, events and insights on all things around personal branding, unconscious bias and imposter syndrome.

I'm thrilled to announce I've been able to partner with the General Assembly, Anxious as Anything, Startups Magazine, I Like Networking and Art Clubbers CIC. I'm also really humbled to shortly announce the rest of our events in March!

So what am I doing?

• Sharing resources, top-tips and information every day through the campaign
• Every week host an actionable take away to build your skills in self-promotion skills!
• Upskill 1000 people through a series of 10+ events
• Create three checklist downloads (March 2021)
• Create a toolkit on self-promotion (March 2021)
• Publish an impact report (April 2021)

You can find our whole resource list for the past two weeks below:

?? What does self-promotion mean (D-1)

?? Unconscious bias with diversity (D-2)

?? The importance of soft skills (D-3)

?? How to build a successful brand (D-4)

?? Imposter syndrome (D-5)

?? Workplace stresses & burnout (D-6)

?? Sunday Challenge #1 (D-7)

?? Understanding biases (D-8)

?? Why collaboration matters (D-9)

?? The power of representation (D-10)

?? Why your personal brand voice matters (D-11)

?? Boundaries (D-12)

Something we missed? Give us a shout!

This Week: An Interview with Ajay Pabial, Managing Director of Art Clubbers CIC

Ajay Pabial is a powerhouse in his own right and I am beyond excited to be showcasing his very important work. He works actively across public, private and third sectors to support underrepresented young Londoners' access into the creative sector by delivering and designing programmes, as well as consulting businesses to embed diversity and inclusion is at the core of its activities.

Ajay has spoken at international summits discussing topics around community building within the creative sector, the intersections of creativity and advocating for visibility and representation within the creative workforce. He is proud to have been showcased on platforms such as Westfield podcast ‘How I Got Here’ and BBC Radio Oxford with his work around Art Clubbers. 

Ajay is also on a personal mission to shine a limelight on individuals from BAME and LGBT+ intersections and the unique talent they bring to the creative sector. In 2020, he was featured by Pride In London’s as one of their 52 dynamic and thought-provoking LGBT+ visual artists.

Ajay and I met randomly on Linkedin via a post from some mutual connections. I was immediately drawn to how candid he is and unapologetically himself. We had a long e-coffee over-representation, self-love and so much more. As such I'm so humbled to be sharing his story.

Jess Gosling: Your background is in graphic design and you've worked in the creative economy for several years. What does the creative economy mean for you?

Ajay Pabial: Yes! My background is Fine Art and my practise is portrait painting. Just like the subject of my work as an artist, people have been at the forefront of my study of the world. Although I love to create art in a traditional sense, I wanted to expand my practise to create more of a dialogue between practise and audience – image if portraits could talk to gallery-goers, what would they say? What would they talk about? Can we create a community that fosters and nurtures these conversations?

For me, the creative economy is rooted in a strong sense of value and I don’t mean in a financial sense but the value in the relationships and the communities we’ve created.

Creative Value is a currency based on intergenerational and cross-cultural social exchange and by obtaining more and more we create tolerant and acceptable societies. 

JG: A core motivator for your career has been supporting the arts/cultural community in creating sustainable careers. What are the core challenges for young people trying to get into the creative economy? What made this so important for you?

AP: After graduating from university in 2016 with a BA in Fine Art, I had found myself hitting a brick wall when trying to find work within the sector. Discovering that with many art graduates, University puts you on a pedestal, giving the impression that you can take on the world, now prepared for what the future may hold with a paper scroll in hand. The reality was far from it. 

Looking back the curriculum of creative degrees was and still is outdated and repetitive, having spoken to Alumni before and after, it was clear that we needed to embed content around navigating the sector, equipping graduates with employability skills and tools to establish themselves as artists, designers and makers – artpreneurs! 

JG: Who are your biggest inspirations? If you could have dinner with three people, who would it be with and why?

AP: Oh gosh this is a tough one!!! If I’m completely honest my biggest inspiration is the emerging talent that I have the privilege of connecting and working with. I believe that ‘innovation lies with young talent’ and that’s evidently seen in the creative mind of budding creatives, although creative higher education has a lot of work to do to align itself with the industry, it’s been a great place to preserve the minds with big ideas and dreams from the harsh realities of the real world.

This may sound diplomatic but I would always love to have dinner with my board of directors;

Sue Withers was one of my foundation diploma tutors back in college. From day one Sue was a great supporter of the work I did and have continued to do, for me, Sue brings to the table a sense of level and a new perspective to any given situation and continues to push me to do and be better.

Rachel Garfield was one of my tutors at the University of Reading and is now Head of the Art Department there. Rachel and I share a fondness for a participatory art practise. Even whilst at University I was fascinated in the world of artistic and cultural regeneration and working with communities to make a change! I am proud to follow Rachel’s footsteps and continue to look to her for her lived experiences.

Last not but not least is Annie Dam, as well as Director Annie, is also Programmes Manager at Art Clubbers. I’ve known Annie since our first year at university which blossomed into a friendship that now sees a working relationship with. Annie is my right-hand woman/partner in crime / original gangster who always knows what to say, when to say it and most importantly how to say it.  

JG: 'You can't be what you don't see' is an incredibly powerful statement. What does representation mean for you? Could you tell us more about your experience?

AP: This is such a very true statement that I only had known the power of only once I had become a founder. I identify as a Queer South Asian individual and this is something I carry into my professional life. Growing up I was deprived of positive role models, especially those who were South Asian and Queer which mean I started to believe these two aspects of myself lived in conflict within me, that they couldn’t exist in one body. In suppressing my sexuality I would learn later in life that I was locking away half of my being. As I grew through my professional career and coming to peace with my being I started to notice more and more that there was a serious lack of representation within teams and the workforce. I felt at times I’ve become a token figure and almost expected to hold all the answers of being either LGBTQ+ or South Asian, that my struggles and lack of access to opportunities where more of a talking point rather than the unique perspective that I could bring to a team, project or talk.

Becoming a founder meant I could be the representation that I need when growing up and pleased to say I have continued to inspire others like me to do the same, to aspire for great things but most importantly to do something that will inspire someone else.

JG: What are your top three tips for others hoping to get into this field? 

AP: There are three things that I personally feel an individual needs to possess or even understand when accessing the creative and cultural sector;

1. Compassion – the creative industry is not a rat race (well not in my opinion for sure), we are one community who are dedicating our lives to making positive changes in our society, for all communities and walks of life. You need to understand that when the going gets tough we will be there to support each other, be that for someone.
2. Creativity – It’s not all about being able to paint or draw or dance but creativity is a way of thinking to solve problems or come up with new ideas. Bring your full self to your role, bring together every aspect of your personality and talents – innovation lies in at the intersection of all these things.
3. Humility – Now don’t mistake this for shame, a sense of humility allows us to listen to understand. By giving space for others we can allow ideas to emerge and create an open mind to embrace difference which ultimately leads to building a learning culture for yourself and others around you. 

Ajay is taking part in my #BrandYourselfBetter campaign! Catch us for a candid chat about representation, self-love and impact on Wednesday evening!*

*More details to be shared shortly.

Why "interdisciplinary thinking"?

Because I fully believe that building expertise, learning from others and bringing together different industries is a positive thing. We often do not go outside our own industries. I've also had six-career changes and relish in the transferrable skills I've picked up along the way. Join me in building unique expertise on all things culture, diplomacy and innovation!

Last month I launched my new service-based business, Gosling & Co. It is all about challenging the perceptions around self-promotion for women and underrepresented groups via workshops, toolkits + more!

I am the co-founder of the Growth & Grace Collective (G&G), a global network seeking to connect, inspire and empower people in all stages of their lives to grow wholesomely. We change the narrative around professional development through masterclasses, a supportive online community, life skill workshops and more.

I am a UK Civil Servant, an Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Public Speaker & International Strategy/Culture/Leadership Consultant. I am currently studying a PhD in global branding for countries (soft power) and the transmission of ideas. I am a serial multi-hyphenate seeking to bridge the gap between culture, diplomacy and innovation with my bi-weekly LinkedIn segment (Interdisciplinary Thinking) where I built a following of over 23k in 8 months.

Like this newsletter? Hit “Subscribe” to get the latest edition highlighting some of the most exciting and interesting things in culture, diplomacy and innovation. Comment below to let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading—see you in two weeks!