A short videocast on my experience of The One Retreat run by my mentor Shaa Wasmund (shaa.com) earlier this month which I helped facilitate. The retreat resulted in quite a few personal breakthroughs for ladies involved, and opened our eyes to the impact of collaboration that begins in a place of humility and vulnerability. As difficult as it may be to convey the experience in words, I did my best to pin it down so it can become the beginning of a new chapter in business collaboration for even more of us.

..after I completed my MA I decided I really wanted to get into an advertising agency to be in an environment, I thought, where the most wacky and creative folks hang around. Back then I had no real idea about the startup scene. I remember going to bars in advertising clusters with a large copy of the Campaign, hoping to be chatted up by a Saatchi MD, hilarious. I would sit all evening sipping one drink because the bars were posh and I could only afford one. Finally one night in Canary Wharf a random 'suit' came up and asked me why his beers hadn't arrived yet and I had to explain I didn't really work there. My god, was I let down. It got to me though that perhaps the tactic wasn't right. I decided to go through a standard interview process after all. I almost got into Ogilvy but my feedback after the interview (which I got via the 'back door' as I knew someone I could ask) was “half of the people think that you’re a genius, and the other half argue it doesn't really matter since you’re completely unmanageable - so it’s a no”.