8 things I’ve learnt from talking to people forging creative careers in social impact
From recording studios to co-working spaces, my sofa and kitchen table. With wine-gums, ‘oily balls’ and cups of tea. I’ve had the pleasure of having honest and curious conversations with friends, and strangers about finding a life purpose that enables you to earn a living, do something you care about, and help people and planet in the process.
These have become Fly over the Grass (FOTG) — a podcast series of interviews that aim to shine light on entrepreneurial and creative routes into a social impact career.
To find out more about the origins of the podcast, you can listen to a 2 minute intro episode here.
As we end the crazy year that has been 2020, I want to share the most common tips I’ve learnt from those who’ve featured on the podcast, and the many friends and colleagues I’ve chatted to along the way.
Underpinning them all is the wisdom that if you want to take a more creative and entrepreneurial route into a social impact career, you must trust yourself, follow your curiosity, and constantly reflect and redirect towards what you care about because, more often than not, there won’t be someone up ahead who can show you the way.
I hope the following provide inspiration and food for thought for many, but especially those rethinking their purpose this year, either voluntarily or out of neccessity, as the stability of so many lives and communities has been turned upside down by Covid-19.
How might you use this period of instability and change to unlock your creativity and entrepreneurism to address the issues you care about right now?
1. Understand the issue first hand
Despite the diversity of jobs featured, from frontline work to policy design, every person I spoke to emphasised the importance of experiencing how inequalities play out in the lives of individuals and communities. This may be from lived experience or through spending a significant amount of time with people. Volunteering is the most common path, but there are other ways too. Marika (episode 7) did research with communities in post conflict areas and Marcel (episode in progress) travelled to understand a different part of the world and its unique people and challenges before moving his career towards social entrepreneurship.
2. Aim big, then tackle it one bit at a time
Marika spoke about this as a core component to her mission and something that she has got better at over time. In her case the change she wants to see is the revolution of the cocoa sector towards one that is equitable and sustainable. She is tackling this one step and a time using multiple approaches from education to entrepreneurship, her focus changing depending on where the opportunities for deepest impact are.
3. Keep showing up
People often talk about being lucky, but luck rarely comes along if not prefaced by hard work and perseverance that gets you into the right place at the right time. Anneke (episode 6) kept showing up at the social enterprise Makers Unite until a ‘lucky’ opportunity appeared for her to design their employment programme for newcomers to the Netherlands.
4. Say yes, even when you feel terrified and unprepared
The most memorable moments for me in these conversations were when my guests described the feeling of doing something they felt was vital whilst feeling totally unprepared for it. Lisa (episode 5), a naturally shy person, realised that she needed to say yes to the terrifying prospect of speaking in public about her work designing an artificial womb, so that she could prompt greater ethical debate about its application as well as nudge open the space for more designers in this space.
5. No experience is wasted if you reflect and learn
The value of all experiences, good and bad, can’t be underestimated if you use them to either strengthen your resolve to move to something different or spot the opportunity to build a skill that can be transferred to a more worthwhile goal. It was fascinating hearing about Sarah’s frustration (episode 4) at making solar panels in a lab which, although an important part of tackling climate change, for her didn’t meet the more urgent need to tackle climate injustice. This moved her to transfer her knowledge to working directly with communities at a grassroots level.
6. Follow the thread of your curiosity
This was a big theme in the podcast, and something that I love to talk about because it goes to the heart of what creative and entrepreneurial career paths are all about. As long as you are able to follow the thread between your skills, interests and what puts fire in your belly, you are on the right path. Anna’s natural love for designing experiences (episode 1) started whilst volunteering as a teenager. It was improved by her drama training and is now core part of her work supporting and empowering young people.
7. Let practicality shape, not diminish your ambition
There are challenging financial implications of doing work where there is often not a lot of funding to do so, particularly when embarking on something new. However it can increase creativity and effectiveness as you focus on the most important thing. I found it so inspiring to hear Yasmin (episode 2) speak about the success she had with her first small grant because it enabled her to test her social enterprise idea in a creative and low risk way.
And finally…
8. Is it fun, are you learning, does it have purpose?
Anneke’s three criteria for work. Need I say more?
I’d like to say a huge thank you to all my guests on the show, and the many others who have provided feedback, support and cheerleading along the way. There are too many to name but you know who you are, this would not have been possible without you!
What’s next for Fly Over the Grass?
Fly over the Grass will be taking a pause in 2021 as I take some time to support and learn from the next season of WADDUP, a podcast and storytelling platform produced by young people. Check it out if you haven’t already!
We’ll then be revisiting how we turn the first experimental series of FOTG into a second with more stories, collaborations, and using the tips and tricks above to make its’ social impact even bigger. We can’t wait.
If you’d like to get in touch with feedback, thoughts or collaboration ideas, please do! I’d really love to hear from you.
Where you can find us —
Listen to the podcast on our website, Spotify, Apply podcasts and Overcast.
Drop us a follow on Instagram at flyoverthegrass_podcast
Email us at hello@flyoverthegrass.com
