
Why Being Yourself Is Your Biggest Creative Advantage, with Katy Ennis-Hargreaves of BOLDISM
The Creative Boom PodcastShow Notes
Katy Ennis-Hargreaves of design studio BOLDISM joins Katy Cowan for an honest conversation about what happens when you stop watering yourself down and start living as your full self.
They dig into imposter syndrome as a driver rather than a hindrance, the years of being told you're "too awkward" or "too different", and the slow, organic transition toward going all in on who you really are.
Katy shares her journey from interior architecture graduate to independent designer with a leopard-print car, why she abandoned the rigid agency blueprint in favour of a more collaborative, human way of working, and how being part of the grassroots Wilson's Republic community keeps her grounded.
Along the way, they tackle the bullshit-bingo language of the design world, the difference between genuine substance and hollow social climbing, why "fake it till you make it" deserves the bin, and the truth that no one can ever really copy you because there's only one of you.
Warm, funny and refreshingly unprofessional in all the best ways, it's a chat about finding the courage to be bold, the people who shaped us, and remembering we only get one go on this rock.
More from The Creative Boom Podcast
In this bonus episode, Katy Cowan and Rob Draper swap the big career questions for something a lot more daft – a quickfire ramble through nostalgia, confessions and very questionable claims to greatness.
Lettering artist, designer and University of Worcester fellow Rob Draper joins Katy Cowan to close out the season with a warm, philosophical conversation about starting over and the art of creating something from nothing.
In the second, faster, slightly more feral half of the recording this week, Katy Ennis-Hargreaves of BOLDISM stays in the chair for The Spark – the rapid-fire round where the questions get cheekier and the answers get more honest.
It's time for the Spark – our weekly bonus episode where we step away from the work and get to know our guest a little better through a round of quick, fun questions. No prep, no warning, no idea what's coming.
Artist and illustrator Malika Favre joins host Katy Cowan for a wide-ranging conversation about building a creative career on your own terms. They talk about why Malika left London after fifteen years for the slower, sunnier rhythm of Barcelona, and the strange guilt of trying to take it easy in a city that never lets you.