Creatives Like Us Podcast - Ep:42
Episode 42 of the podcast Creatives Like Us hosted by Angela Lyons – with guest Christina Moore
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Mastering podcast discovery and marketing strategies with Christina Moore
In this engaging interview, Christina Moore shares her journey from media enthusiast to founder of Don't Skip Media, highlighting the importance of mentorship, podcast discovery, and strategic marketing. Discover how her experiences and insights can inspire aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs.
Connect with Christina:
LinkedIn here
Website here
Christina also runs her own podcast, A Mind For Marketing. Notable episodes include talking to the former CMO of Direct Line and the head of Google's creative think tank Zoo.
Listen to 'A Mind for Marketing Podcast' here.
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Chapters
0:27
Introduction to Christina and her media journey
2:35
Finding a path into media
6:19
Launching Don't Skip Media
9:33
Purpose-led work and major platforms
13:46
Mindful Marketing and audience strategy
19:11
Using podcasting to grow a business
24:34
Mentorship and career growth
27:51
A vision for an athletics podcast
32:30
Quick-fire questions and podcast picks
Transcript
Angela (00:04)
Hello and welcome to Creatives Like Us, a podcast where we open up conversations about what it really means to build a creative career when you're black or brown. I'm your host, brand and marketing graphic designer, Angela Lyons. In my guest episodes, I sit down with creatives who are out there doing the work, navigating the industries and proving that there's space for all of us. Because the more we share, the more we see our stories out there and the more we see ourselves reflected and the more we realize we're not alone in this.
Okay then, are you ready? Let's dive in to today's episode.
Welcome to Created Like Us, Christina. Can you tell people who you are and where you are in world and also what type of creative you are?
Christina (00:47)
Hello, hello, Angela. Thank you very much for inviting me. I've heard wonderful things on your podcast. So it's a pleasure to now be on your podcast. My name's Christina. I'm the founder and managing director Don't Skip Media. In the past, we've made productions like We Told, which was starring James McAvoy, Constantly Evolving, with rapper Eve, Small Axe, with Oscar-winning Director Steve McQueen, Talent Takes Practice with Bobby Savage and Matthew Said.
So we've had an extensive list of I said high faux high profile podcasts, and we've made those for platforms like the BBC and Luminary and Curio. so what I do at the moment, and we continue to do those podcasts, just just to be clear, but what I also do is I help organisations create content that's aligned with their audience.
So we work very heavily on audience discovery. We found that that there was a need for there was a need for podcast creators to have help with getting their podcasts discovered by audiences. so we've also implemented some consulting and training for that as well.
Angela (02:05)
So you mentioned that you have different audiences. Do those podcasters, actually want to have, is it communities as such? Is that what they're looking for? it like, I suppose they want more individuals listed podcasts, but I heard the buzzword. There's lots of buzzwords at the moment. There's more around community. Is that what they're looking for at the moment?
Christina (02:22)
Some of them are, and community works really, really well with people who have like mission-led podcasts. But some organizations that are kind of quite frankly more commercial, they are looking for podcasts or audiences that are in different places, hard to reach sometimes. On occasion, it's a completely separate audience from what they might find from TV advertising or digital advertising.
Or even in person. So they are looking to grow their audience and very, very often that is with a commercial perspective in mind. You know, these businesses kind of you know, they're all about the money. But it's all about the bottom line, isn't Exactly, yeah. So but there are mission led podcasts and where community works really, really well.
Angela (03:17)
How did you start? How did you get into it?
Christina (03:19)
yeah. So I had known since I was a teenager that I always wanted to work within let's say media. I was drawn towards like factual programming.
Angela (03:33)
even on TV, like TV shows and things like that.
Christina (03:36)
I think that's that that's initially where what I was drawn to. Mm-hmm. and to the point where I even because I did athletics as a teenager, but I knew so much that this is what I wanted to do, I kind of then athletics then went to the sidelines. and I just participated in sport as a hobby. But as I kind of like I went to university and I tried a few more things and I did, you know, you do od jobs when you're in university, you do some
We did some music videos, you do a couple of documentaries, you do, you know, you try and sharpen your tools. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then eventually I ended up on a producer program, an entry level one at the BBC. And I kind of experimented with TV, didn't really feel like I fit in there. And then one day I was in the digital department at of the radios.
of radio, BBC radio. And I saw my boss then on a skateboard and I was like, yeah, that's me. This is my home. This is my people exactly. And since then I have very much enjoyed digital content. so it started off on like iPlayer and on the websites and now it's developed into apps and now who knows.
Angela (04:58)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so from, so was that the BBC? that, so he was there for a while? Did that lead you to where you are now? Is it, I'm sure there's lots of messy middles and things like that in between or happy times and, there's always the messy middle, isn't there? So how did you get to where you are now? Sure.
Christina (05:16)
Well,
it's a combination of like messy bits and also things that I aimed for and I you know, I made my shot and it I worked. I'm like, great, yeah, I shot my shot and I was like, awesome, this works. so I mean I feel like applying for jobs when you're within a corporation, especially a corporation within the BBC, requires its own conversation. But that was definitely like a skill that I had to learn and harness and it took a while for me to get there. I think like a lot of people
I come from a family where your parents have practical jobs, right? And so learning to interview in white colour spaces is quite difficult when you're the first one. But with that being said, I, you know, went on to then work for the BBC World Service and I became a manager there really quickly, much quicker than I even expected. And then I went to work for Apple Podcasts, the infamous, or famous Apple Podcasts.
Angela (06:14)
Yeah
Christina (06:15)
Wow. And that was really rewarding. I had a wonderful team. How long?
Angela (06:20)
are you there for?
Christina (06:21)
I was at Apple Podcast for I would say just three years. Mm-hmm.
Angela (06:25)
You must have got so much experience from that.
Christina (06:28)
yeah, and it I fit it in in a relatively short period of time as well. because I was looking after the European markets and we were like flying out to like Germany and France and Spain and then, you know, spending some time in the US as well with the team that out there, because there weren't that many staff in the UK or even in Europe at the time, you know, we flew out to the US all the time to kind of work collaboratively with them. so it was a really exciting time to
be at Apple Podcasts. But it did hit a point where I felt like there wasn't much more for me to learn there. And that's when I set up Don't Skip Media.
Angela (07:09)
Wow, so you left a well-paid job to go.
Christina (07:12)
Yeah,
I know. I th that that was ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, there was many a moment where I thought I might regret this.
Angela (07:20)
Yeah, no, listen, this is what we're about. It's like, take you, talk to your shots. But it's crazy because,
Christina (07:27)
Mm.
Angela (07:28)
you know, I suppose I'm just thinking about also the landscape of today and how things are going today and like, so how long ago was that you had, you set up your own business?
Christina (07:36)
So twenty nineteen, just just before Yes.
Angela (07:42)
You
what, I've so many people on this podcast, they've just said, I started my business in 20, the beginning of January, 2020 or 2019, but I just look at them going.
Christina (07:54)
You knew what was coming. Now, in retrospect, you know what's coming. You're like, Yeah. So that's what I mean by there was a moment where I massively regretted my decision. But but it it all worked out in the end. Yeah, it all worked out.
Angela (08:07)
Yeah, and you must have left those companies with so many contacts and so many people that you know and where you could possibly get work from too?
Christina (08:16)
Yeah, I mean, yeah, if I'm gonna be completely transparent, what did aid my and came to my benefit was the fact that I knew to some degree how to pitch to the BBC. So just to be clear, you're never given preferential treatment because there is a process of A, you have to be set up as an indie and there's certain pre provisions and criteria that you have to make meet in order to be set up as an indie at the BBC.
Sorry, I'm sorry, yeah. Yeah, let me clarify that for the audience, especially. When you're set up as an indie for the BBC, what that means is you're an independent production company. And I wish there was a visual. I wish I had like a whiteboard. But what that means is that the BBC don't do not produce everything that they put out on their I'm gonna say platforms, but I what I mean is TV, radio, website, iPlay, the full shang. They don't produce everything in-house. what they are
in and in fact obliged to do is to go to independent production companies throughout the UK. So they're supposed to be in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Midlands, the North, the whole shebang, they are asked to commission work through those independent production companies. And the idea is that it creates work, yeah, fairness, creates opportunities outside of the South East.
Mm-hmm. So that's and effectively you've got quite a fight on your hands sometimes to become and qualify as an indie.
Angela (09:53)
So it's not a given that even though you met someone, you know, had some drinks with someone, like, you're not going to get it.
Christina (10:00)
Exactly. Is
not a given at all. believe me, 'cause I've applied and failed many times. So it is not a given. And there are plenty of former BBC producers who are freelancers for that reason because it's just so difficult to to to do. But it's you know, I was steadfast and I just kept trying until I did.
Angela (10:23)
Achieve it, Brilliant. If you don't mind me asking, when you're saying you're going for that, there many people of colour going for that at the time?
Christina (10:31)
Mixed for different reasons. Right. So do you know one very prominent indie? It's called We Are Unedited and it's run by a lovely person named Bernard, he's a black man, and he's v doing very, very well. Like, produces a lot of programmes for the BBC. However, there were mixed experiences, especially outside of the South East. where it just became or it seemed as if it was more of a struggle to
kind of make yourself known, give yourself a presence amongst some of the commissioning teams out there. but on the flip side of that, there were also some indies, some independent production companies who didn't want to work with the BBC because of certain things that had happened and we all know what had BC.
Angela (11:22)
interesting
Christina (11:23)
And they just didn't want to comfortable at all. Yeah, yeah. And so
Yeah, it was it that that's what I so so that's what I mean by it was a mixed bag. Some people didn't want to and then other people did very well.
Angela (11:36)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And are you still working the BBC now?
Christina (11:40)
I will still work with them and I'll still work with teams that I've kind of been able to either I've worked with in the past or I've gotten to know over the last, let's say, seven years. And so it's more about that than working for the BBC. I'm also like to be slightly mission led in the programming that I make. So if I feel like I'm making a valuable contribution to the audience and I'll
also still work with the BBC in order to get that. Cause I think it's it's a really difficult thing to balance like your ethics and your morals with but the only way that I'm going to be able to deliver this message is on a platform like a B like the BBC. And then also once you decide that you're going to not work with them, you also have to make the same decision for Amazon Prime. You have to make the the same decision for Netflix like
Where do you start?
Angela (12:40)
Where do you stop? Where does stop? I mean, it's quite hard, isn't it? I mean, I know that with rules, well, I suppose with my company that I'd have certain people that I won't work with, but that's personal decision, also a business decision, isn't it? But then at the end of the day, you've got to, I suppose, bypass some of them because you still need to make money, don't you? If they're controlling everything, it's quite hard to say no, isn't it?
Christina (13:02)
Right? And sometimes I feel like people who I know or acquaintances are a little harsh, like, you still work for the BBC. Some like I when I say I don't directly work with them, just to be clear, I'm not employed by them, but I still work with them on a
Angela (13:15)
Yeah, I know.
Christina (13:15)
permission basis. And like, but is the market the the supermarket you work for completely? Exactly,
Angela (13:22)
They stack it in the products.
Christina (13:24)
yeah. Okay.
Angela (13:26)
All of that, all of that.
Christina (13:27)
Unfortunately, this is a system that we work in. We try and change what we can and we work with what we can't change and that's and that's the way I see it.
Angela (13:35)
Yeah. Yeah. And tell us a little bit about your own business and, and I know you said how you started, when you, what I was going say also the name of it. I love the Don't Skip Media. It kind of works both ways. It's like, don't know, tell me about it.
Christina (13:51)
And what it was, I named it well, I didn't want to name it after myself, after poor Joe Malone.
So like and so the name came about with the was a piece of research when I was working with Apple Podcasts and it we kind of found out that listeners don't skip over adverts in when they're listening to the podcast. And so that's where the t ch name came from.
Angela (14:20)
my God, I must be the one in the Apple list that does. like, my God, I stopped listening. Don't judge me, but I stopped listening to the podcast. If it's got adverts on it, I'm like, my God, they've introduced adverts. I know I don't pay for that. Maybe I should pay for the premium. Sorry.
Christina (14:34)
Yeah.
Angela (14:37)
Sorry. I do love the name. Sorry. Go back to your name.
Christina (14:40)
I
know, but yeah, absolutely. No, it's it's it's absolutely fine. Some people hate them, you know, I and I am one that will be gradually kind of sit through an advert on on YouTube, but most of the time I just wanna hit that skip button and just like let's go, let's go.
Angela (14:56)
If someone wants to sponsor us on our podcast, which will come to yours in a minute. Please do. We'll keep the ads. We'll listen to them and we'll tell everybody else to listen to them because we love ads. I'll take that all back now.
Christina (15:06)
Exactly.
Angela (15:09)
So was going to ask you, is there anyone in particular that made a major change in your career, like a catalyst? I always call it the catalyst connection. Was there anyone that said, do this? And it was like the trajectory of a complete change of your career.
Christina (15:25)
Moments. One I always returned to was there was a teacher at school, and I I I actually I was born in Birmingham and I went to the my early years were in Birmingham, and there was a teacher as I was kind of applying for my d GCSEs who gave me this cutout, and it was an article written by a woman with a very similar name. Her name was Christine Moore, but her name
My name's Christina more. And he was like, I think you can do this, you can be this person. And that was really something that I remember as being like real kind of push in the right direction, like you're capable of being this journalist, reporter, whatever you want to be, you're capable of doing it. That's yeah, that's what I remember.
Angela (16:16)
That's amazing.
That's so cool. I love it when teachers influence them.
Christina (16:23)
You know, that's what they're they're there to do, right? Yeah.
Angela (16:25)
Yeah, that's what they're there to do that. We hope so. And yeah, when they do do it, it's so special and really amazing, especially when, you know, that's could change your whole mindset on things. Whereas you might just not have seen anyone that nearly got the same name as you too.
Christina (16:41)
Yeah.
Angela (16:44)
Just going to your podcast actually, I was going to ask you, because it's called Mindful Marketing. So you've set up your own business and you set up your podcast. Why did you set up the podcast and has it changed your business personally and business-wise?
Christina (17:01)
Yeah, so I set up a mind for marketing out of all some personal interest because as I was kind of like got more acquainted with podcast discovery and audience outreach, marketing became more of interest to me. And then and it also became more of interest to people what in the podcast community. But I would say that the primary audience for a mind for marketing is for CMOs, marketing directors.
of organizations and they could be big brands but they could also be kind of like your your foundations your trusts but it was for them to be able to listen to content that was designed to help facilitate them in their job in their work when they're so my the question that I asked myself for every every episode is if I was a CMO what would help
me write that strategy? What would help facilitate that those plans? What would so that's the question that I ask for every episode. it could be audience insight like recently with Dr. Ayesha to Taylor Kamara. I hope I got that in the right order. and but it could also be marketing frameworks. it could be thought leadership.
It could be so it's all of those sorts of things that I want to kind of offer marketers some insight. So yeah, that that's who it's marketed towards. Or that's who it's positioned towards, I should say. Yeah.
Angela (18:45)
And again, I think he's an acronym that some of the listeners might not know. It's just CMO, but I know what it is. if you want to explain, because I think sometimes they, you know, they might not know of what the actual acronym is.
Christina (18:58)
So a CMO is a chief marketing officer and they very, very often struggle within c within organizations and brands to to define their value because unlike sales, they can't necessarily always tie a number to what
Angela (19:15)
It
doesn't equate, does it? Sometimes it doesn't equate. I think, again, going back to COVID times, it's the most craziest time because a lot of teams, well, suppose a lot of teams without insight were getting rid of their marketing teams because they were can't afford this. So they just got rid of the marketing teams. But there was a lot of companies that actually thought we need to double down on our marketing. So it's a bit.
Christina (19:35)
They
ended up being some of the most successful ones.
Angela (19:38)
Exactly, exactly. So I know that during that time I was really busy like just getting bashed out of these eyes. was like, because people just like, they were just like wanting their, you know, their audience to know they were still there, they were still doing the work and people still buy it because they've got nothing else to do, they're at home.
Christina (19:53)
Yeah. Or they absolutely hammered my Amazon dough.
Angela (19:55)
Yeah,
exactly. yeah, so I was gonna ask also podcasts, your podcasts, has it changed you personally?
Christina (20:07)
Yes, because I was always behind the mic. Even when I was reporting, I was still behind the mic. I would never be in front or behind the camera, I'd never be in front. I would all I'd never really be in shot either. So in that sense, it's changed me and I have definitely been on my own learning curve. So while I understand the the fundamentals of producing the show, being a presenter is a whole different ball game. It
It's something that I'm actually still learning to I'm still learning to be, you know, more natural on camera and in front of the mic and stuff like that. These sorts of conversations aren't so bad, but when you're kind of like when you're the one delivering
Angela (20:50)
You sound really, I think you sound great. You're really just chilled and like, but I suppose if you're talking about, don't know, if you're talking to the CMO of, don't know. Who's the, yeah, I was going say, who's the direct line? Direct
Christina (21:00)
I'm in.
Angela (21:01)
line, yeah. Who's the direct line? that your bigger one? Is that your bigger?
Christina (21:05)
Yeah,
Mark Evans. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Angela (21:07)
How was that? How did you find that?
Christina (21:10)
infinitely fascinating, really, really interesting person to meet. and he's going out alone these days. He's kind of become a writer and those sorts of things. But like just the experience. And one of the really good stories that he told me was about getting have you ever seen a Quinton Tarantina movie called Reservoir Dogs? Yeah. Okay. So
He in there is a fixer called Mr. Wolf. And Mr. Wolf, they wanted to use the character in a direct line advert. But in order to do that, they kind of like had to get Quentin Tarantino, because he still owned the rights to it, on board. So they're like flying out their staff to go meet Quentin Tarantino, and bringing him on board and you know, kind of licensing those rights and all those sorts of things, just kind of like I was like, that.
Just such an incredible story to tell. yeah.
Angela (22:09)
Yeah,
I had to come up with that idea to use him because I do know the advert and Hive Cartel was on the TV advert, they? And he's actually wearing the get up too that he is in the film because Rest of Our Dogs is one of those films of, I suppose, of my young adult life that is just so iconic. just like, you know, it's one of those films that, yeah, it's brilliant. How did you get that guy on your podcast? just ask? I think that's another thing. I think people are scared to ask, aren't they? Just ask.
What could they say? Yes or no?
Christina (22:40)
I've sent 101 DMs in on LinkedIn. I I paid for a pro on
Angela (22:47)
Bye bye.
Christina (22:48)
LinkedIn. And so what I do every Monday, I commit myself to reaching out to people that I want to speak to on the podcast. well, and then I send those messages out. And I'm just like, and then you know, sometimes you there's a weeks where you get no response, and then there's a week.
Where you get everyone responding. Everybody. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, that's my approach. I just commit to our time and just that's my time.
Angela (23:10)
And you're like, what am going to fit this all in? that's so cool.
Yeah. Do you use the podcast as a form of marketing for your own business or is there other avenues and other routes that you use for marketing for your business?
Christina (23:28)
Yeah, no doubt. No doubt the podcast is a means of marketing my own services. I'll be very transparent about that. But perhaps not in the way that people initially assume. They kind of assume in the the I guess in the most obvious way that you do a podcast and you put it on YouTube and hundreds and if you're lucky, thousands of people will watch it, etc. etc. For me, the more immediate benefit
Is to get the structure behind the SEO and the AEO to work on my behalf. So every time I create a podcast, I also then do show notes and transcript. I put that on the on the website. I do clips and that goes out to social media channels. And so it keeps everything very fresh on digital platforms. So if anybody's ever looking for podcasting in London, podcasting.
podcasts, Discovery Podcasts. The ideas that I've created or I am creating on a regular basis means for SEO to work on my behalf without me constantly having to work at it at marketing. So
Angela (24:41)
Yeah,
that's such a good idea because I think also when people forget the show notes and links within the show notes, you put that to your website and the backlinks also that all adds and generates to your SEO. Absolutely.
Christina (24:55)
Really
does, yeah, yeah. And also for for for you and then and the audience that who who are listening, the LLMs now are putting that together. They're kind of when somebody asks them a question another wrong sorry. AEO first I think I used two. AEO is answer engine optimization. And so we typically things like Claude and Chat GBT are and Gemini are referred to as answer engine.
What they use to power those answer engines are called LLMs and they're large language models. And they
Angela (25:33)
It's
a new hair, aren't I?
Christina (25:36)
Absolutely. You're like, my god, it's a flat storm. And what they do is when you input a question, they source the internet for the information, then they will summarize that information and then give you an answer. That's what they mean. So that's them all the mechanics behind an answer engine is the L.
Angela (26:02)
Yeah.
Christina (26:03)
And so all of that is working in your favour. So if you appear on somebody else's podcast, which I one hundred percent recommend, what it does is it isn't I hate to call it a point system, but for brevity, let's call it a point system. It will kind of like say, well, there's credit there, there's credit there, there's credit there. I think you're the person that I should be recommending and they will recommend you and your business. Yeah, yeah.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Angela (26:34)
Which is great. mean, exactly, exactly that what I do in my podcast. Every time I do an episode, I put it onto my website. It's obviously on Buzzsprout, you know, I sit in and host. And then I'll do the website and I'll write the, you get the transcript, get the chapter notes, get the links of that person I've just interviewed, link it to their website. I'm like, put some keywords into. We'll take it. let's, that's a, if anyone's listening.
Christina (26:59)
It's
not the first one hundred and fifty characters, go for it. Yes.
Angela (27:03)
So it's good for listeners also if they're thinking of starting a podcast, don't just put your podcast out, they get a website for it too. And social media platforms too, because that's what they're reading too, they're reading social media, not just a website. Brilliant. Have you got anything that you would like to ask me or talk about in particular?
Christina (27:24)
So I was wondering for you a very similar question to what you already asked me, which was like who was most influential in your career trajectory? And then I have I possibly have a follow up convers question to that as well.
Angela (27:41)
Yeah,
cool, cool. think there's been a few, but the main ones have been teachers. one of them was when I was doing my BTEC, my arts BTEC design. I was fresh out of school and I went to this course and I went to an all girls Catholic school. So can you imagine I was like let loose in the college and not doing anything bad or anything, but it more so just like, this is life. It's like fun to stop it.
I don't think I went to hardly any classes, but I went to my art classes. I always went to my art classes. And then I stopped going to my art classes and my art teacher actually found me. I think I was playing blackjack and she like pretty much chased me down the corridor and said, here's a course, leave this place now and go and do this BTEC. So she basically gave me a piece of paper that gave me a name of where to go and do a BTEC. And that completely changed me. That just, I got really back into studying and I left that space and I left all the.
negativity around me. And another one was at my degree when I was doing product design and I realized I didn't like product design anymore and I like graphic design. And one of the teachers said to me, you're really good at presenting your work visually. If you haven't thought about being a graphic designer, was like, nah. But then I thought about it and then years later I did something about it. But I remembered always him telling me you should try to graphic design and I did.
Christina (29:05)
Really cool because I think well when you're young and at the time you don't think that anyone's paying attention to you in that de level of detail. And you don't even recognise that your teachers and your lecturers know you that well, right? You kind of think, Do you even know me? Like you're so arrogant when you're your teenager, honestly, in your early twenties. and and then they say these things, you're like, you know me a lot better than I perhaps even know myself.
Angela (29:33)
Yeah,
exactly. Because both of them saw something, but just thought, you know, and your teacher too, saw something and thought, you know what, I need to give this person a boost and like tell them they could give it a go.
Christina (29:46)
Yeah.
Yeah. And then my follow up qu conver question was or is, how have you found mentorship now that your career has come it's taken off, right? So now that you've kind of got a pipeline of work coming in and inquiries, how have you found mentorship if you have a tool?
Angela (30:08)
What, me mentoring people or them mentoring-
Christina (30:10)
Or
you finding a mentor.
Angela (30:12)
Me finding a mentor. I haven't had a mentor for a few years and that was about four years ago, I'd say. Actually, maybe, no, first one was about four years ago. And they basically looked at what I was doing because I was feeling a bit like, my God, do I need to be on social media? my God, I don't want to be on social media, all of that. And she just like broke it down. And I actually interviewed her for this podcast last year, which was amazing. It was like, I'm full circle. And she's all wet. And the thing is about her, her name is Jo Seeley. She always recommend me to people.
So I just think that when you have a mentor, they don't tell you what to do, but they make you work it out yourself through conversation. And that's what I really loved about Jo too. And also that she was so much experienced. She knew so much or knew so many people too. And she just like tap into, I suppose, different communities and different people she knew and like applied it back to me. She was, yeah, she was really good. And then a couple of years ago I went on a, there's lots of schemes out there for a mentorship, especially women.
and then a couple of years ago I went on one run by Santander and that was Women in Business and they gave you a mentor for nine months and that was brilliant and at the end of it they basically asked me to get on stage and that was another thing why I joined the thing because I was like, I don't like speaking, I don't want to talk to no one. Well, can't shut me up now.
Christina (31:34)
Open doors. Quite literally.
Angela (31:39)
Yeah, I don't mind public speaking, but I prefer to be like on a panel. don't want to do a presentation. I don't really enjoy the presentation side of it. I don't, I love doing this and like being one-to-one in the podcast or being in a studio doing podcasting or being on a panel on a stage. But that's another thing where the mentoring really helped me to basically people said, people want to hear about you and want to see, you know, when you need to help other people. And actually since then I have helped students and I'm a mentor for free students at Central St. Martin. So, and I'm an under school of.
communications. So yeah.
Christina (32:10)
my old stomping ground. Yeah.
Angela (32:12)
I
Christina (32:13)
So yeah. And it so that's super cool. It seems like you've had a really positive experience with mentorship. which is rare. I'm gonna be honest. It seems
Angela (32:25)
I going to ask a question back to you. Have you had a bad one or have you had a mental?
Christina (32:30)
So it's not that I've had a bad experience with a mentor. It's more that I found it difficult to find one, I guess, for a SME. Mm-hmm. so you could find mentors as a freelancer, you could find mentors as as a sole trader, you could find mentorship programs as an employee. What I found really, really difficult is if you were an SME.
to find mentorship particularly within the digital slash media space. So if you're setting up a I don't know why I'm going with this, but a plumber, if you were going to set up a plumbing company, yeah, though you could find.
Angela (33:15)
Yeah, and you'd find a mentor or a coach that will help you.
Christina (33:20)
Exactly.
I j I found it re or I am finding it really difficult in the SME space, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, there you go.
Angela (33:27)
if anyone's listening and
you're looking for one, give Christina a shout.
Christina (33:32)
Yeah. like you Yeah.
I I try for that reason I try to be active with other people.
Angela (33:41)
Yeah, and networking, because you never know who you're bumping to and someone might recommend somebody else to you. Lovely. Tell me a future project or a project that you'd love to work with in the future, or if there's a future project coming up that's your time to either manifest or tell me something that's coming up that's exciting for you.
Christina (34:01)
Okay, let's hope I manifest something. So I I always in two minds whether to tell anything, tell anyone about something I want, because I sometimes feel like if you tell someone, then it all goes to sh to shit. Sorry, it all goes to part. And so I kind of like keep it close to my heart. But what I really want, what I really want ideally for this year, is to do an athletic space podcast. I think I mentioned earlier I used to do sports as a
as a teenager, as a young person, there are football podcasts, there are cricket podcasts, there are rugby podcasts. There's not really an athletics podcast. And so that's really what I want to evangelize, if you will. I want to try and inspire more young people to get into athletics. I know, you know, there's a lot more money in football and that's why people go for it. Like
Angela (34:55)
Yeah,
but not everybody can be a footballer.
Christina (34:58)
No, no, exactly exactly. They're limited spaces on those teams. So yes, and I and I really love athletics, I say as a sport, but you know, they're different sports in track and field. And I really think it helped with my focus as a young person as a teenager. I h think that it created a routine. I wasn't
Out on the streets, even though we're living in an area that might have been to be desired. I had, and of course, it kept me healthy and I kept up sports, unlike a lot of women, into my adult life. I never struggled with going to the gym on a regular basis and all of those sorts of things. Yeah,
Angela (35:41)
because you carried it on. Yeah.
Christina (35:43)
so I think there's a lot of benefits. And socially, cannot underestimate the social impacts that it's had. You know, meeting people in real life, meeting
with your teammates, training with a group, 'cause I think some people don't underst don't know that. You know, you don't train by yourself. Even when you're a sprinter, you train in a group and y they become your friends and yeah.
Angela (36:05)
I think you should start it. Go for it. I'm just saying, go on.
Christina (36:07)
Yeah. Yes. Mostly
many. Yeah. Yeah. And time. Yeah.
Angela (36:13)
Mostly better.
I suppose we're both doing them. I just said you both, you're doing your podcast for marketing, but, and this is, suppose, bit of marketing for me, also it's more of a labor of love. So it's like, it's time, isn't it? So, we have, don't have much time, but we're doing it. we're getting out of there. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay. So somebody needs to sponsor us for adverts and also sponsor Christina for new athletic podcast.
Christina (36:37)
Just putting that out there. Yeah.
Angela (36:44)
so we end on,
Thank you again so much for all of this. It's been brilliant. Ends on a personal note. So I'd like to ask you, what would you tell your teenage self?
Christina (36:53)
I would tell my teenage self that I've probably got a couple of things. How many can I say?
Angela (37:01)
Finish your one.
Christina (37:05)
exams are only relevant for the first like three years of your life after
Angela (37:11)
when people ask you what you got. But they're important at the time.
Christina (37:13)
Yeah, exactly. No. Yeah,
exactly. I would also tell myself to do more or experiment more creatively outside of a like sixth form college university. The reason being I think I put a lot of emphasis on passing my exams and not enough emphasis on doing creative work outside of that, which would
actually have given me much more real-world experience. So that is the main thing that I would have told my younger self. And if there is anybody listening as a young person or teenager, then that's the advice I would also like to give you. Not to fail, don't fail. I'm just saying don't worry about it so much.
Angela (38:04)
Yeah, so we'll have all these parents telling us, you told my teenager not to study. Yeah, exactly. No, no, no, that's not us. That wasn't us.
Christina (38:12)
And then the other thing I would tell myself is you don't know how unbelievably important your soft skills are gonna be. And by soft skills, and I actually kind of hate the phrase soft skills, what I mean about is like influencing and convincing people in the workplace. I was never taught that. It was a shock to me when I got into the workplace. And I'm sure it's a shock to anyone who went to a conventional
comprehensive school if that's what we're still calling them. You kind of taught the ABCs nuts and bolts. And then you like go out there and go work. And really that's not that won't really impact you in the same way that your soft skills
Angela (38:54)
do in Kansas.
Christina (38:56)
Yeah.
Angela (38:58)
get that totally 100 % get that. I mean even just talking to people when you get to the workspace and like say how was your weekend? That's not just go straight to your desk and all of those like things those little bits in between that you have to do just I understand that totally get that's maybe that's gonna be a bit of a flashback.
Christina (39:16)
Yeah, but maybe a bit of a cold sweat even.
Angela (39:20)
I'm sure I walked in and I just sat down by the desk like, don't talk to me. But it's really important to do that. I like that. Good advice. Thank you very much. So quick fire and fire question. It's very quick, just one or the other. then quick fire and fire questions. Let's go. Crisp or chocolate?
Christina (39:40)
Chocolate.
Angela (39:42)
Beach or forest?
Christina (39:44)
beach.
Angela (39:45)
Book or kingdom?
Christina (39:48)
hate myself saying this for Kindle.
Angela (39:52)
Rekai also.
Christina (39:54)
No, you can't. That's that's mean. My parents are from the Caribbean, so
Angela (40:03)
I've got a one.
Christina (40:05)
Reggie, I'm gonna go for my culture.
Angela (40:07)
think I might know amounts this one. Patty or a sandwich?
Christina (40:10)
Patty.
Angela (40:11)
Yeah. I don't normally ask my guests this because, but considering you do podcasts and you have a podcast, what is your favorite podcast? So give us a podcast recommendation too that you rate at the moment.
Christina (40:24)
just one? There's a couple of really, really old ones that I like. One of the s my favorite storytelling is called lore. And what he does is look at folklore from different cultures around the world, and he kind of narrates the stories behind them and how they developed. And and yeah, and so it's culturally fascinating.
Without being boring at the same time 'cause you get to listen to it.
Angela (40:54)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like that's your favorite one.
Christina (40:59)
Y my favourite storytelling. I've got more.
Angela (41:04)
think we could have like another episode of you just turning off lots of podcasts.
Christina (41:07)
Yeah, yeah,
Favourite podcast in every category. There we go.
Angela (41:12)
brilliant. Thank you so much, Christina, for being with me. And yeah, just it's been amazing talking to you. And I'm very inspirational too, because I'm seeing you doing your podcast and keep stuff going. And yeah, so do want to tell people how they can connect with you?
Christina (41:27)
Sure. You can connect with me. many places. A mine for marketing on TikTok and also on Instagram. And then Don't Skip Media has its own Instagram channel as well. So I think those are the optimum places to connect with me because I'm on there far too much.
Angela (41:47)
Yeah.
Thank you so much for being with us and keep being creative.
Christina (41:51)
Like
us. Thank you so much for inviting me, Angela. I had a wonderful conversation. It was very so much fun.
Angela (41:58)
So better, so better. Thank you so much. Take care, have a good day.
Christina (42:01)
Bye-kap, bye!
Angela (42:06)
Thanks for listening to Creatives Like Us. If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it today. That's how we build our communities and amplify our voices. You can find all the show notes and the links at lyonscreative/podcast and connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. I'd love to see you there. Also, make my day if you can leave a review or comment in your listening platform choice. And it's really easy in Spotify. Leave it in the comments. Until next time, keep creating and keep supporting creatives like us.
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