Tell us about yourself and your creative background
I was born and raised in Cheltenham, and I began my creative journey when I became interested in Photography. When I was younger, I always wanted to be a photo-journalist for National Geographic, super specific, I know! Then when I got to secondary school, I became more interested in film, and chose Film and Media Studies at GCSE, and Film and Photography at A-Level. I then came to Cardiff University and studied Media and Communications for 3 years, in which time I also did some freelance work for a variety of companies. It began with an internship at Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Short Film Festival, and then flowed into working with Creative Cardiff, Fio, and eventually Cardiff Animation Festival, where I hosted my first live event.
So, what’s your Creative First?
My Creative First is hosting my first live event.
In March of this year, just before I finished my degree, I was invited by Cardiff Animation Festival to host a Q&A with animator Harry Hambly, known for the little pink bean, and on social media as @Ketnipz. I got to speak to Harry for about 45 minutes, and we talked all things animation, working in Cardiff and across the US, the process of animating the bean, and a little bit about what we were having for dinner when the live captioning glitched…
It was an incredible opportunity which actually led to me getting the job that I’m in now, as well as another hosting opportunity! I spoke to Lauren (CAF Festival Director) after the event about how much I enjoyed it and how I’d love to work with them again in the future, and to my delight she was able to speak to a few of the other places that I’d freelanced for, and create a job role for me to be able to work with them all on a longer term basis! I was also then asked by BAFTA Cymru to host a similar event at Guru Live Cymru off the back of the feedback from my CAF event!
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
The biggest challenge that I faced was definitely learning how to navigate a live audience. In my experiences of hosting before this, I had only ever worked on a pre-recorded basis, and so I never had to worry about the reactions of the audience because I didn’t see them! This time, I was really anxious about saying something that was meant to be funny and no one laughing, or messing up a question and having people notice because I couldn’t start over and edit it out.
Can you share tips for others who would like to host their own event?
1. Be yourself, ALWAYS - It’s so important to be authentic when you’re in front of an audience, so don’t try to be anyone other than you, because people will notice if you take on a whole new persona when you’re hosting.
2. Embrace the glitches - Sometimes things go wrong, so just take it in your stride and try not to panic. In my CAF event, the live captions cut out and we had to stop the interview so that no one missed any information. I decided against an awkward silence while they worked to fix it, and myself and Harry spoke about what we were going to have for dinner that night instead. It was such a random conversation, but to this day people still talk to me about it and how well I (apparently) handled the technical glitch and how it was nice to see people talk about normal stuff as well as the pre-arranged talking points!
3. Get involved in the questions - I find it really useful to be involved in the process of research for a live event. It makes such a difference when you have more input with the questions/talking points, so that you’re not just reading from a script. It makes the interviews flow much better and keeps you engaged in the conversation, as well as allowing room for you to go off script and ask relevant questions that come to mind during!
Why choose Cardiff for your creative first?
I moved to Cardiff 3 years ago to study at Cardiff Uni and I have barely looked back since. As much as I love my hometown of Cheltenham, there is just so much more going on here! I love the close-knit community in the creative sector in Cardiff, and I love the diversity in the sectors, with so many people being creative in different ways.
Creative Firsts feature
Want to be featured? Email us at creativecardiff@cardiff.ac.uk if you have a Creative First (first time industry experience) to share with our community.
