Creatives Like Us Podcast - Ep:15 Heather Banks
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From London to Wales: A Creative Life Unfolded
In this episode, Ange sits down with Heather Ebanks, a graphic designer, photographer, and founder of the blog Digital Fluidity. Originally from South London and now based in South Wales, Heather shares her journey of navigating the creative world as a woman of colour, particularly within corporate spaces that didn’t always appreciate or amplify her voice. From her early creative sparks (hint: think hair salons and Essence magazine) to her bold pivot from corporate admin roles to creative direction, Heather offers a candid look at the highs and lows of finding her place in the design industry.
Together, Ange and Heather explore the challenges of being overlooked in creative spaces and how Heather learned to claim her space, launch Digital Fluidity, and reconnect with her artistic spark. They discuss her upcoming podcast Creatively Eccentric, a platform that shines a spotlight on underrepresented designers, older creatives, and women of colour in design. Along the way, they dive into the joy of community, the overwhelm of having too many ideas, and the power of affirming, “I’ve got this.” This episode is a heartfelt love letter to self-trust, creativity, and the freedom to define success on your own terms.
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Links for Heather Ebanks
Heather's Blog/Website: https://digitalfluidity.com
Heather's Instagram: @HeatherEbanks
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Links for Heather
Produced by award-winning media and marketing specialist Heather Pownall of Heather's Media Hub
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Thursday 16th October 2025
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Chapters/Timestamp
Introduction to Creatives Like Us
Heather's Creative Journey
Navigating the Design Industry
Finding Creative Outlets
Community and Collaboration
Future Aspirations and Projects
Transcript
Angela (00:09.646)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us, where I speak with creatives of colour who share journeys and stories and ideas and how they can inspire and open up avenues in creative industries. I'm your host, graphic designer Angela Lyons, and with the help of my guests, I will bring you insightful interviews and compelling stories that can inspire you to think about things differently or shape your next move. Being a creative of colour can bring its challenges, highs and lows and in-betweens.
But this podcast is about amplifying our voices and celebrating together. So are you ready? Let's get started with creatives like us. Hi, Heather. Thank you so much for joining me today. Do you want to tell people what kind of creative you are and where you are?
And thank you for having me. Well, there's lots about me that is multi-disciplinary. I probably call myself mainly a graphic designer and also a photographer. I basically love designing. So from very young age, I've been wanting to be creative. It didn't start off that way. Actually, I wanted to start off in the fashion industry and I wanted to study and from art school, I wanted to go into
London College of Fashion, it's where I did my first attempt to be in fashion. Yes, so of course that didn't end up that way. I wanted to still do design, but I think for me, I wanted to get into different areas of the creative industry. So I pivoted to graphic design and I did a degree in that. So yeah.
Call yourself a graphic designer now.
Heather (01:41.74)
Yes, yeah, graphic designer and photographer.
Brilliant, brilliant. And where are you in the world? Where?
Well, I am originally from, if you can tell by my accent, from your neck of the woods, London. I'm from South London and I recently moved to Wales, South London to South Wales. My family is originally from Jamaica, but we've been living in the UK for many, many years.
made you go to Wales?
Yeah, people have said that thinking, well, it's just, you know, there's not many people like us, know, and creatives like us, you know, with people of color. But, and for me, to be honest, I know there's a location, location, but actually I just like the house. And when, know, with London, it's very expensive. And I grew up in a large house in London, but we had to downsize as a, as a family. So I wanted a big house and you get a lot more money and more houses, I say, for your money.
Heather (02:35.902)
And so I wanted more space. Love the house. It's a nice Victorian house. Lots of space. yeah.
Brilliant, brilliant. And what's the, what's the countryside? Is it country beachy or is it?
Yeah, there's lots of country and lots of hills and it's easy access. I still can get back to London, you know, to take public transports if I wanted to. Lots of beach, lots of walks. So it's great for thinking, a slower pace of life, which I'm not used to because obviously from London it's the hectic. hustle and bustle. Exactly. And so it did take some time to climatise, but if I want to get, you know, the city life, I can go to Cardiff.
And if you're comfortable there being a personal color, just to have insurance, you settled in?
think I have but to be honest with you even in London even there's a lot more many people like me I as it probably by talking to me right now I talk a lot but when I was younger I was very very quiet I was totally the opposite and I never even not just about people who look like me but people who could have the same opinions and you know think like me so even though I'm in Wales I don't feel that that's a problem because I tend to do and think and
Heather (03:42.574)
come up with my own ideas anyway. I think, no, I don't have a problem with that at all.
my hits for Lovely in Wales anyway. Sometimes cold and windy and wet but I hear they're just all chilled. Yeah, that's the UK, we're not in the Caribbean. So you mentioned graphic design and starting off with your projects and artworks, so could you tell people how did you start?
How did I start? My mother is a, well, she passed away many years ago, but when she was alive, she was a midwife and I think I spent a lot of time with her. She's not creative at all, so, but I did hang out with her and go out with the shops and do lots of things with her. So she, like many Jamaican families, they like to have the hair done. They like to go to the salon. Fancy clothes, so she'll always, her presentation was very important to her.
See you
Heather (04:29.784)
So I spent a lot of time at the hairdressers. And you know as a child you get very, very bored easily. But funny enough, this Jamaican family had a salon and it was very unusual in the time. And we went to a hairdresser shop and she had looked, at the time there was a lot of magazines. And for the UK there's not many black magazines. Something Ebony, I think was Essence. So when I was bored waiting for my mother to get her hair done,
I flipped through lots of magazines. So that's how I got started and interested in photography and graphic design. And then I studied it later on as I mentioned, at a graphic design degree. I also studied art at school. Wasn't interested in science, wasn't interested in math, it wasn't my bag. So I took art and all the languages I can think of, I loved Italian as well, something that was creative. don't worry, I'm not going speak it you.
I can't Italian anymore.
I can hear it more than I can speak it. So I went to art school, as I said, and for me, graphic design was an actual thing for me to do. My journey was a bit of a strange one because even though I studied graphic design, I didn't actually go immediately into the graphic design industry. So I went to look for work in the design industry and unfortunately, it took a while because I found that there was no one looking like me in the industry.
looking for jobs in like startups. tried for a good year or two and it was maybe it's because of the economy, I'm not sure. But I was going to companies that were basically white owned, younger than me, male, so there's no females as well. So I kept on applying and applying. So I went to the jobs that weren't created in the end. So I just wanted to get some money, know, pay the bills as I mentioned. So
Heather (06:20.886)
In the end, I was working in business organizations and governments and companies. I learned a lot, but I basically felt like I didn't fit in immediately because it was very conservative as well. I did learn a lot in the sense that I did more business and I learned about working in teams, et cetera. But as years went on, I was doing less and less creative things. The jobs that I was doing was, I felt isolated as well because I was the only black person in my team. There was human resources.
recruitment, but I felt that I was kind of like made an example of in some ways because certain things were happening to me in the team that I wasn't happy with. So I was like, I can expand upon that as well. It was a good time for me.
Well, that's sad. That's a sad situation. But how did you get out of that situation? you decide to go in creative works yourself or to set up your own shop, set up your own business or do freelance work?
I did a few bits and pieces here and there in my spare time. So wasn't a full-time graphic design career at the time. I was working a full-time nine to five in an office. But I think the turning point when I did more work that was more creative, within the same organization, I applied for another role and it was a similar situation. wasn't getting acknowledged.
I thought that company was a ride from day.
Heather (07:45.646)
I didn't want to make it sound that bad. Don't get me wrong, it was a good experience for me. at the same time, I don't know if you've seen, I was comparing it to myself, like have you seen Severance, the TV program? I won't mention it to people and spoil it for anyone who's listening, but there was a character on there who's the only black person and he's called for America and his name's Mr. Milchek. And even though I can relate to him because
No, I haven't,
Heather (08:13.294)
for me, even though there was opportunities, like I was trying to apply for roles within the organization and weren't getting promoted. I applied three four or five times and it's clearly that I was experienced. There's people that were younger than me, who were white, were getting the positions and I didn't get seen. And it was getting frustrating. So when I jumped ship to another part of the company, I decided that, you know, okay, this is not going to happen for me. I'm just going to start, start again. So.
In the end, I decided to apply for another role, as I mentioned, and it wasn't just different, but it wasn't the same. There were different people, different people I was speaking to about progressing in the company. But for me, I felt that this is not my true calling. I am a designer. I felt that it was affecting my mental health as well, because I wasn't being creative. And I find creativity kind of a release, a kind of therapy for me.
The more work I was doing non-creative, the more I was, I didn't realize this at the time, but I wasn't actually, was doing very well. And the final thing that put a nail on the copy, you could say, was that there was redundancy. People were being made redundant in the same organization. So what happened in my team that you basically had to reapply for your own job. It's kind of like you ring fence the jobs around. Yeah. So I applied for my job again and then.
This was within three years, they did it again. People would be made redundant. So I successful. Successful quotation marks. I got the job that I was actually doing. And then two years again, two years down the line, I actually was almost made redundant again and applied for my role a second time. So while this was all going, I decided I was going to start my own blog about lifestyle and design. So while I was trying to fight for my
day job, I started it my own.
Angela (10:12.578)
vlog.
We did. So that was your creative outlet, wasn't it? And we met at the bloggers fair because I used to work, well I still do, a magazine called bloggers fair. It's now called Be a Creator. there was the magazine that there's a launch party. Every time we had a magazine, we had a launch party. And I think also I might have gravitated towards you because maybe you were the only black person in the room. I'm really sorry to say that, no, I'm sorry. So I say sorry. No, I don't. Sorry. But I think it's, you know, it's one of those things when you see two black people and be like, oh, you may.
Angela (10:46.762)
And it's not like Be Creator, anyway, shape or form, not inclusive at all because they really are. I mean, that's one of reasons why I love working with them because they really are inclusive. But you've also got to the people to come to these events or take part in the magazine too. So the magazine was called Blogsphere and it was about blogs on the internet, but we repurposed them into a magazine. It has created community. It's a Be Creator community. Yeah. So that's where we first met him, wasn't it? then we...
We've just recently connected on Instagram again, haven't we? We have, yes. We've hooking up and seeing each other. was like, my gosh.
We're about a good few years ago, aren't we?
Yeah
Angela (11:28.89)
yeah, must have least about seven years ago maybe. But yeah, thank you for connecting again and thank you for joining me again today. problem. So from the design blog, did you stay in that corporate role or did you move on or did you continue doing what did you do creatively to get to where you are now? Are you in a creative role now?
Heather (12:06.542)
They send the word.
Heather (12:12.622)
No, that's fine. It's good. It's a conversation.
Tell us the name, tell us the name and I'll put the link.
Heather (12:26.932)
I have actually been thinking about this and I know the obvious, some people will give the answer, just trust your gut, but I've always trusted my gut. I would probably say to myself, it's not going to be this bad anymore, it will get better. And you just need to trust that you will get through what you're going through at that time in your life. even though you feel like you're at rock bottom, you've got this Heather, you've got this, actually more creative and more inspirational than you think you are.
Yeah, definitely. It was great. Actually, that's one thing that's really good because the community is there and even though you're behind a computer screen in the world of blogging and again, even your photography behind a camera, but it's actually getting out and about and actually discovering different people. that's exactly that really makes you creative again. I don't know about you, but when I meet people, I come back buzzing with ideas. It's just like, something else to do too much sometimes. Brilliant. So what is it you would love to do? What you say, you said you're working on your
You will have a voice, even though don't think you have one.
Heather (13:05.58)
just happy to make the decisions that, you know, as one of them was moving out into a lovely countryside and be mortgage free. That's a great thing. I'm ticking all those future boxes that I've got in mind, but I think I'm just happy to get out there. I think not only I wanted to put a shine on people on my podcast, you will look like us and sound like us and do the things that we do.
portfolio right now. Is there anything in your portfolio that you're working on that you're really proud of that you'd like to tell us about?
Heather (13:30.626)
But I think I'm happy to be part of the community and actually speak to people like yourself who are, I can see that you're doing great things, Angela, and you keep up the good work because we need to have a voice and tell people that not only that we're going to share and put a shine a light on those, that community, but also we need to be good to ourselves as well. Because I'm going to do all these things for this person. I'm going to make sure that they get to get a voice, but I need to do the same for myself as well. So.
Heather (14:11.214)
You mind, man?
Heather (14:17.858)
you haven't changed the questions because I've been rehearsing, I've been listening, listen to all your other
Heather (14:33.486)
Hello, I'm from Wales Beach.
Heather (14:39.746)
It's got to be salt. It's going to be my godfather's patty. It's got a mixture of beef and lamb and a lot of Scotch bonnet peppers.
That's great. A nice mix of mediums that you can use there, send your... Express your creativity. Another way you're expressing your creativity at the moment is that you've got a podcast coming out. Do want to tell us a little bit about that? name and what it's about?
Heather (15:07.16)
I would love to do more paint brushing but how can I say digital pencil?
Heather (15:17.004)
Yeah, I'm on Instagram at HeatherEBanks underscore. And if you want to see my lovely photography and my blogging and all the lovely things I get up to on digitalfluidity.com. And of course I'm on LinkedIn Heather E Banks.
Heather (15:49.1)
Thank you. Thank you. It's been wonderful and it's been great to reconnect with you again.
Heather (15:58.414)
Thank
Angela (16:55.764)
sounds really good because it sounds very similar here to what I'm doing so maybe we should do a little crossover episode one day.
Angela (17:07.374)
there was a project that you could work on right at the moment, what would you like to do in the future? What would your dream project be? This is your time to manifest. What would your dream project be?
Angela (17:22.743)
But the big one, the big one.
Angela (18:11.214)
Interesting. Yeah. It's funny because when you say you've got too many ideas, I got to really hone it down sometimes. I could be like typing away. I could be listening to a podcast. Oh, that's a great idea. Honestly, I have got about seven notebooks. also have, because they're for different ideas, different strands. I've got a client idea notebook. I've got like creatives like us notebook. I've got creators like us event notebook. I've got networking notebook. So I've just got all these things like these notebooks. And I will, I do refer to them funny enough. People think they're
They might think that I just write it and then nothing gets done, but
Angela (18:47.214)
Yeah, exactly. It's just how I get my ideas out and yeah, think if you don't take action, that's the worst thing I think. We have to be creative and take action at the same time like a bit like this podcast because a bit like you again, I had this idea about two years ago and I was like, oh, should I do it? Oh no, oh no. And it's just, know, so this is.
Angela (19:11.68)
Yeah, well, I was at a friend's party and her another friend's daughter was there and she's at uni and she's studying to be a designer. I bet she's working in different disciplines, but she knows that she's doing an overall arching degree in design. So she's not niched down into a specific area. But she said when she was trying to choose the course that she wanted, she did a lot of research. quite, she was really good. She was like looking at podcasts, she was looking at newspaper articles, she was going online searching for black creatives. And she just said,
She caught a podcast around black creatives in the UK. And then she goes, I wish there was a podcast like that. And I was like, funny enough, I've been thinking about doing a podcast. She's like, oh, please, dip it. I was like, you know what? She was actually one of my catalysts. There was various people. She was one of my catalysts to say, just do it, just get it out there. Record the trailer. Start asking people to come on. So yeah, I started recording interviews last October, October 24.
And ever since then, and your episode now, that'll be coming out in the summer of 2025. And yeah, we'll take a break for the summer and then we'll come back with season two. So yeah, I've got people booked in already for that, but it is, thankfully. And Heather's listed now because she's obviously going to, Heather's my editor. Hello, Heather. She's been brilliant and she's been helping, obviously, doing the editing and the production of it all. But there is also the other bits where you've got to contact the guests, you've got to make sure they turn up. You've got to make they
do the automations, set up the reminders, get the folders ready, do the show notes, create the graphics, promote it. So it's not just about, this is the lovely bit. This is the really nice bit where you're talking to people, but you've got to take action and you've got to, I suppose, commit to the action. You can't just do the recording and just let it sit there. You've got to do lots of other bits around it. So that's like any form of creativity. like you talking about a book. I'm like, yeah, I really want to do a book too. like, yeah, but I was thinking about it the weekend. I'd love to do a book. And I was like, you have no time to do a book right now. Calm yourself down.
It's in the works. It's in the works. Yeah, so this podcast about you. I'm sorry. I've talked about me a bit too much
Angela (21:14.958)
Yes, actually it is. So if you were to go back into the past and ask yourself as a teenager, what advice would you give your past teenage self?
Angela (21:58.965)
amazing. Thank you. Is there anything else you'd like to add or discuss that we haven't covered?
Angela (22:14.552)
Congratulations.
Angela (22:57.794)
That's good advice to yourself too. That's brilliant. It's true. have to take, self care is very important. I'm really, really, I'm really glad that you moved to Wales too, that you actually took that decision and you seem like you're really happy there. So well done you. Thank you.
So I'm going to end on our quick five questions.
Angela (23:21.23)
gosh, I'm gonna have to change up the questions for season two now. All right, let's go for it. Crisp or chocolate?
Beach or Forest?
Book a kiddo.
Break our cell. All right, patio sandwich.
Angela (23:49.952)
Nice, nice, nice. That sounds gorgeous. All right. So now, because you know, you've actually been prepped for all the questions. I'm going to throw in a little one here. So as you're an artist, so I'm going to say paintbrush or digital pencil.
Angela (24:10.21)
Nice, nice. And where can people find you online and see your work and find out a bit more about you? How can they connect with you?
Angela (24:32.59)
Brilliant. That's fantastic. Thank you so much, Eva. I really appreciate you taking the time today to talk to me and talk to everyone here listening. So really, really good luck with the podcast. I'm sure you're going to smash it anyway. And I'll be listening out for yours. And we'll connect with her together on that one. But thank you so much for joining me.
Angela (24:52.212)
Definitely, 100%. It's been so good. All right, take care of the day and have a great day. Thank you. Bye. Let me start by giving thanks. Thank you for tuning in to Creatives Like Us. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it thought-provoking, inspiring and entertaining. If you did, it would absolutely make my day if you could share, subscribe, rate, review, wherever you get your podcasts from. Also, if you have a question or a comment, I'd love to hear from you. All the ways to connect are in the notes.
Until next time, keep being creative like us.
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