Ctrl Alt Delete

This is a live recorded one-off episode, hosted in Jigsaw's London Piccadilly store, all about working in the creativity industries from the perspectives of three generations of creative women. I invited Charly Cox (poet, Gen Z), Serena Guen (founder of Suitcase, Millennial) and Lucia White (Head of design at Jigsaw, Gen X) to talk abut the highs, lows and lessons of getting paid to be creative.This month, Jigsaw is launching their “creativity doesn’t discriminate” campaign, to champion women leaders in the creativity industry, through film, photography, prose and art. Government statistics show that women are still under-represented in the creative industries in the UK - there's never been a more important time to champion creative women.In collaboration with Kodak, Jigsaw are re-launching a 125 year-old campaign – Kodak Girl – into the modern era to celebrate new creative talent. The collaboration - now called Kodak Woman (she has grown up!) - will be supported by a capsule collection of T-shirts and sweatshirts. Check out Jigsaw's blog, where they are showcasing young female talent across the UK: https://www.jigsaw-online.com/blogThanks to those who came along to listen to this special in-store recording, shopped, and had prossecco!Here are some things we spoke about:- How does social media impact our creativity? - How can a branded campaign stand the test of time? - How do you deal with people who don't believe in you? - How can we make money and still remain creatively pure? - How can be help the younger generations to get into the creative industry? - How commercially-minded do you want to be? - How do you switch off from an all-encompassing creative role?*This was event was in partnership with Jigsaw*​ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ava Duvernay is an Oscar-nominated film director. Ava made her feature film debut with the documentary This in the Life (2008), a history on the hip hop movement in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries and her first narrative feature film, I Will Follow (2010), secured her the African-American Film Critics Association award for best screenplay. Her follow-up, Middle of Nowhere (2012) won the Best Director Prize at the 2012 Sundance film festival, making her the first African-American woman to receive the award.Fast forward to the last few years, she is best know for her work directing Selma (2014), Ava was the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award. With Selma, she was also the first black female director to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2017, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for her film 13thHer latest film, out now, is the 2018 fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time, which has a mega cast of Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Oprah, and had a budget exceeding $100 million. She is amazing. I hope you love this episode as much as I do.Some of the favourite quotes from the episode:“I didn’t pick up a camera until I was 32 years old.”“I had made 13th and I had made Selma, and that was really dark subject matter, and just to make something about lightness and joy and black girls flying, and designing talking flowers, brought me joy.”“What do we treat each other so poorly? How broken are we?”“I reject the word workaholic. I work all the time but I love what i do, and to not do it would make me less happy.”   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jerico Mandybur is the editorial director at GIRLBOSS MEDIA. We recorded it in LA in the GIRLBOSS offices. You might have read the book GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso (the original founder of Nasty Gal) which was a New York Times bestseller in 2014. Jerico is currently the editorial director of Girlboss media.I had the best time in LA! thank you to Air New Zealand for my flight and Visit California for the most amazing trip. There's lots of content going on my site in the next few weeks.So back to Girlboss Media - it was founded for women redefining success on their own terms. It was also founded by Sophia Amoruso. Girlboss Media was born from the Girlboss book that inspired a generation of women to take action in their own lives.We talk about Jerico's career journey up to now: she previously held senior positions at sites like Mashable (a huge online tech magazine), Oyster Magazine, MTV and ASOS.Jerico also hosts of the podcast Self Service, and weekly guest on Girlboss Radio. Self Service is the second show to launch on Girlboss Radio. It’s described as your cosmic comfort zone where self-care is celebrated, they get real about emotions, have thoughtful, funny conversations, and astrology is discussed in a fun way.We have a great chat about podcasting, work, astrology and imposter syndrome.Fave quotes from the episode:“I think there’s a huge tradition in Western Culture of dismissing anything that goes against materialist rationalist White Male Thought.”“We really want to give equal weight to work and wellness.”“Why hustle if you feel like shit? You need to feel good, to do good.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dawn O'Porter is a novelist, columnist and broadcaster who lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chris, two songs, cat Lilu and dog Potato. She has made numerous documentaries about all sorts of things: polygamy, childbirth, Geisha, body image, breast cancer and even the movie Dirty Dancing. She is the critically acclaimed author of Paper Aeroplanes and Goose and The Sunday Times Bestseller The Cows.Dawn helped launch ‘Help Refugees’ in 2015, a charity that sends urgent care to refugees across Europe. She is also the host of ‘Get It On’, a weekly podcast where she interviews interesting people about why they wear what they wear.The Cows is a powerful novel about three women – judging each other, but also themselves. In all the noise of modern life, they need to find their own voice. Tara, Cam and Stella are strangers living their own lives as best they can – though when society’s screaming you should live life one way, it can be hard to like what you see in the mirror.When an extraordinary event ties invisible bonds of friendship between them, one woman’s catastrophe becomes another’s inspiration, and a life lesson to all. The book is all about how it’s sometimes OK to not follow the herd.In this episode we talk about writing novels, motherhood, growing up, the power of quitting and the importance of knowing yourself the best out of everyone.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gina Martin is a writer and activist in London and currently campaigning to change the law around "upskirting", the act of someone taking a photo up someone's skirt.Gina recently partnered with Refinery 29 UK and created the hashtag #stopskirtingtheissue. In a nutshell, Gina was watching The Killers perform at a music festival last summer, when two guys kept hitting on her and wouldn't take no for an answer. After this happened and after she told the police, she later learned that taking pictures up skirts is not legally classed as a sexual offence under UK law.Taken from Refinery29UK: "Martin threw herself into research and found out that there is no specific legislation against upskirting. Upskirting is already illegal in Scotland after the law was changed by the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. But, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003—a law which pertains to the whole UK—upskirting is not considered a sexual offence."In this episode we discuss how to start a campaign from scratch, the power spreading the word on social media, small acts of activism and how the people around you really matter.A favourite quote from this episode: “I can sound pushy, I can sound bossy, I can sound like I’m being cheeky, but at the end of the day I’m trying to change the law.”If you were inspired by this episode PLEASE do sign the petition to make this illegal under the Sexual Offences Act of 2003: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/takeaction/887/239/401/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I know I say “exciting episode” every week but this really is. I’ve been a huge fan of Greta Gerwig for years. I fell in love with her in the film Frances Ha, 20th Century Women, Mistress America and her brilliant supporting role in Jackie. Now she's nominated for an Oscar for her amazing directorial debut called Ladybird. I saw Ladybird last year at a special press screening and cried and laughed and loved it. Universal then asked if I wanted to interview Greta for my podcast and honestly, I nearly cried again when I got the email. I love her! Ladybird is a comedy-drama written and directed by Greta with a seriously amazing cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein. Set in Sacramento, California, it is a coming-of-age story of a high-school senior played by Saoirse and her turbulent relationship with her mother. The story of female friendship is also really lovely throughout.Go and see LADYBIRD! It’s out in the UK now.Favourite quotes from the episode: “I do not want to perpetuate the myth that I’m a superior being. I do not have gifts outside of the realm of a normal ability to work. I’m super distractible, I can be really lazy."“The older you get, the better you feel.”"I'm not on social media. I was told ‘You have to get on Twitter for your career’." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Hill is journalist and author of Bad Romance. In 2016, she was the commissioning editor at The Spectator. Last August, she was responsible for the magazine’s first ever all-female cover. She has written comment for The Guardian, books reviews for the New Statesman and features for the Mail on Sunday, as well as gathering gossip for the Evening Standard and profiling cult figures for Dazed & Confused. Emily is also a collage artist and she gave me a beautiful collage when we met to record the podcast!This is going live around Valentine's Day and I wanted to dedicate it to talking about being single and what that means right now. Bridget Jones seems outdated and a bit patronising at times, and she ends up with the man in the end, like most literature and film.Emily's book Bad Romance is dark, funny and feminist debut short story collection and I totally loved it. They tell of defiant single women in all shapes and sizes - of career girls, sisters, mothers and lovers, battling through sleepless nights, never-ending parties, grotesque flat shares and office nightmares.These are super-short stories, ideal for anyone on the run who wants to be distracted from the daily commute by plunging into a vivid fictional world. This is a collection made for snatched moments – to be flicked through between deadlines, scrolled through in the bus queue on the screen of a smartphone, devoured along with lunch. Or, like a classic bedtime story, finished in that precious time between putting on pyjamas and collapsing into sleep. Each comic vignette may be read fast but will linger long in the mind.This is a book for fans of Roald Dahl, Saki, Fleabag and Sex in the City.We talk about writing, getting your confidence back (Emily was rejected by lots of literary agents at the beginning) and why getting married or getting engaged aren't necessarily the only big achievements that need celebrating, lots of other parts of our lives deserve parties too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to a bonus episode of Ctrl Alt Delete, recorded live at the Soho Hotel after a screening of Home Again, a film with the amazing Reese Witherspoon playing the main character Alice Kinney. Recently separated from her husband, (played by Michael Sheen), Alice decides to start over by moving back to her hometown of Los Angeles with her two young daughters. During a night out on her 40th birthday, Alice meets three aspiring filmmakers who happen to be in need of a place to live. Alice agrees to let the guys stay in her guesthouse temporarily, but the arrangement ends up unfolding in unexpected ways. Alice's unlikely new family and new romance comes to a crashing halt when her ex-husband shows up, suitcase in hand. It's the perfect escapism film, to watch with mates and have a night-in. I also loved how unexpectedly funny it is.The film was written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer and produced by Nancy Meyers (who directed The Holiday and The Intern, both so good). The film is a modern romantic comedy about love, friendship, and the families we create - themes I wanted to explore further on the podcast.So after the screening, I interviewed my friend and author Kate Leaver, who's book The Friendship Cure comes out in March. She moved from Sydney to London post-break up and knows a lot about friendship, so I wanted to theme this episode around moving away from home, moving to a new place and starting afresh. Thank you to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for making this live recording happen, and just so you know, the DVD and Blu Ray of Home Again is available now, from Feb 5th! Thank you also to the brilliant Shola Aleje who produced this live episode.*This episode is sponsored by Sony Pictures at Home*.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jayne Hardy is the Founder and CEO of The Blurt Foundation – a Social Enterprise dedicated to helping those affected by depression. She lost most of her twenties to depression. At the height of her illness she was unable to work, leave the house or even undertake the most basic acts of self-care – in her book she talks about how she lost a tooth because she didn’t feel worthy enough to clean them. She has spoken, and written, about her experiences of depression and self-care, on BBC Radio 2, at TEDxBrum, and in publications such as Huffington Post, Grazia, Virgin.com, to name a few - and now her book is out called The Self-Care Project. She won the TalkTalk Digital Hero Award in 2011, and in 2014 was included in Marketing Magazine’s list of Top 10 Digital Mavericks. Jayne has been mentioned as one of 19 inspirational women leading the way in mental health by Rethink as part of their International Women’s Day celebrations. In 2016, Jayne led the viral #whatyoudontsee Social Media campaign.Hope you find this episode informative - I definitely did talking to Jayne. We talk about self-care, how it can be other word of ‘recovery’ when you are ill. We talk about how to help friends who might be pushing you away, the loneliness epidemic, how to be kinder to yourself, and how dismissing the ~self-care trend~ as being fluffy and self-indulgent is kind of missing the point. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jojo Moyes is a novelist, best known for her bestselling book Me Before You. Jojo has been a full time novelist since 2002, before that she was a journalist for 10 years. Her first book Sheltering Rain was published in 2002 Since then she has written a further eleven novels, all of which have been widely critically acclaimed. Jojo has won the Romantic Novelist’s Award twice, and Me Before You has been nominated for Book of the Year at the UK Galaxy Book Awards. Me Before You has since gone on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide. The film adaptation of Me Before You starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) was released in June 2016 and was a huge box-office success. The screenplay was written by Jojo. We spoke about dealing with rejected manuscripts, changing jobs, her new book Still Me, the power of listening to feedback and the excitement of being on a film set when you wrote the main characters.Favourite quotes from this episode:“My publishing career was in such a perilous state at that point I just wanted a book that sold enough for me to keep going as a writer.”“You can only do so much as an author, so much of it depends on timing, it depends on retailers, it depends on whether people like the cover, it can be a million different factors that you have no control over.”“It’s not about how you fail, it’s about how you respond to that failure.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.