Quiet Power
SHESAYS LONDON LAUNCHED SHESTANDSOUT SERIES TO URGE WOMEN IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES TO RAISE THEIR PROFILE. THE INITIATIVE IS THE BRAINCHILD OF MIKAELA RICE. QUIET POWER IS A PART OF THE SERIES AND IS TAILORED TO INTROVERTS. JOIN US ON THE 30TH JANUARY 2020 AT WIEDEN + KENNEDY.
We’ve been working with SheSays to organise and plan this event for the introverts who inhabit the creative industry, which can sometimes feel like it favours bold, outgoing personalities more so than those of us who are a bit quieter. There are so many wonderful qualities that all personality types bring where ever you sit on the introvert extrovert scale and sometimes the lines blur, and the creative industry needs people from all walks of life to make sure we’re doing the right things for the reality of things around us.
Being an introvert is not necessarily to be a ‘shy, reticent person’ as the Oxford dictionary would describe – it’s far more complex. Being shy and being introverted aren’t the same thing – although they are often confused and often introverted people can be shy, but so can an extrovert. An introvert is someone who values and enjoys time alone and gets emotionally drained after spending a lot of time with others or being surrounded by a lot of stimulation – but they can do it without fear. A shy person might not necessarily want to be alone but is scared or anxious to interact with others and can overcome this fear with work.
We are all complex and there is no such thing as a pure extrovert or a pure introvert. We all fall on a spectrum. A third of people identify as introverts. 70% of Highly Sensitive People Identify as introverts as well – with the other 30% needing a lot of alone time themselves. And a lot of creative people are highly sensitive or introverted and when you are bit quieter it can be hard to know how to cultivate your own voice amongst the crowd.
I definitely always blended into the background when I was employed by other people, I lacked the confidence to stand up for myself and the things I wanted, the idea of even drawing attention to myself was too much because I was already feeling exhausted from all the stimulation in the environment I was in. Even when I was freelancing on a couple of occasions my introverted side would get the better of me and it felt like it shut off my ability to talk, and I felt like I was coming across as really unfriendly. Luckily I had supportive colleagues around who reminded me I needed to make sure my voice was heard because the people who have their voices heard are really the ones who get recognised for their actions.
It’s one of the reasons I suggested the idea of this event to Mikaela, I’m not the only quiet and proud about it introvert out here (even if it feels like it sometimes) and I know I would have found an event like this so useful in my past, even if it was just to know I’m not the only introvert in the room.
We have a fantastic panel of ladies answering questions, Jade Tomlin : Creative Director at Tribal DDB, Juliette Hettema : Senior Creative Strategist at Kireli and Strategist at TheTin, and Victoria Stevenson : Senior Editor at Zone, will be our panel guests, with myself leading. Anna Manning from Yes You Coaching will be leading a workshop for our guests – the aim of it all to help anyone attending recognise and celebrate their strengths as introverts and tap into their quiet power.
If you’re interested in your personality type you can always check out 16personalities.com to find out your MBTI type – it’s not real science but it can be quite an interesting insight into how your mind works.
Hope to see you at the event!
