Freelancing Unfiltered @ Ladies, Wine & Design Aberdeen
When the lovely organisers of Ladies, Wine & Design in Aberdeen reached out inviting me to speak at their next event, I was hesitant. I am not a confident public speaker, with nerves often getting the best of me. Also… me? Surely I am not experienced enough or talented enough to be worthy of a speaking slot. Imposter syndrome struck.
Then, I mentioned it to my sister. A fellow designer and front-end developer at a creative agency (and an attendee at the Ladies, Wine & Design events in Glasgow in the past), she immediately replied ‘DO IT!’. Supportive messaging followed about what insights I could share and actually, I realised perhaps I do have some valuable bits of advice I could share with my fellow creatives about freelancing.
The more I thought about it, when I started freelancing full-time 8/9 years ago, to have had someone give me the unfiltered chat about what being a self-employed freelancer was really like - that would have been gold.
So, I buried my deep sense of dread about public speaking, focused on the positives, and said yes. That’s that then, I thought. No going back now!
Don’t get me wrong — I was delighted to have been invited to speak at the event. Ladies, Wine & Design is a global initiative, with chapters all over the world. Their mission is to promote more diversity in the creative industry; one of the primary drivers of me going freelance in the first place was the startling statistics showing the lack of women in senior/leadership roles. I’d realised that if I’d ever want to be a creative director, I’d probably have to be self-employed (but that’s a story for another day). The LW&D mission really resonates with me, and as such, I wanted to do my very best and deliver the best possible presentation I could in the time that I had.
The weeks that followed really made me think about my freelancing journey so far, and what insights I could share that would be the most valuable. As part of a line up of 4 speakers, time was limited - and I realised that it was going to be simply impossible to cram all the things I wanted to say into the time I had. Keeping it concise and whittling down my various thoughts and experiences became the biggest challenge in preparing my presentation.
As timed rolled on, with my presentation completed and sent to the organisers, the event fast approached and I could feel the nerves building. Since moving to the North East just under 2 years prior, and with a toddler at home, I hadn’t managed to attend previous LW&D Aberdeen events and get to know fellow local creatives. How would they react to hearing from someone who was pretty much a stranger to the local network? What if my presentation wasn’t up to scratch? What if I was just stating the obvious? What if I waffled on and lost my way? (Waffle I did…hopefully nobody noticed.)
The event was held at Aurora Aberdeen.
But oh my, what a brilliant group of creative ladies. The event itself had such a lovely vibe to it. Although still very much battling my nerves throughout (I was the last to speak), I did start to relax a bit as I got chatting to all the lovely speakers and attendees, and listen to their stories and about their creative work. Everyone was so kind, and there was a really good feeling of ladies lifting each other up — rather than the harsh critiques the creative industry is infamous for.
Reflecting on the night as a whole, it really hammered home the importance of this kind of event in the creative industry — particularly for freelancers, who can become somewhat isolated. There’s the obvious potential business perks such as networking, seeking out new opportunities (you just never know) — but more importantly, it makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger. Part of a real community, where we can share insights, ideas and collaborate. I certainly felt like Ladies, Wine & Design was a welcoming space in which to do this. And it became very obvious that the North East (which is somewhat overlooked in the creative industry, in my opinion) has bags of talent here, ready and waiting to be tapped into.
I came away feeling empowered, inspired, and with a little boost of confidence that I’d conquered my public speaking fear. I’m looking forward to the next Ladies, Wine & Design event already — this time as a relaxed attendee (but probably still with some waffling involved).
Until the next story,
— Corinne
If you are reading this and happen to have attended the event and would like to see my presentation again (or you weren’t, and are just generally interested), you can download a PDF of it here. Or, you can view the Uncut version here.
Also, be sure to check out my fellow speakers at the event:
Abby Beatrice Quick
ECM Studio (Eva Crawford-McKee)
Kirsty Hilda
