KCB Lion’s Den: 9 things I learned from appearing on the show

If you’d asked me a few months ago, if I’d ever pitch on KCB Lion’s Den, I’d probably have said “no way!”

The thought was totally outside my comfort zone.

And yet, here we are – my episode aired tonight: Tuesday 23rd October, 2018.

The past few months have been all kinds of scary, amazing and overwhelming and, I’m so happy I pushed myself out of my “easy” place.

Here’s some of what I learned (and re-learned) along the way:

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An invitation to the road less travelled

I am always awed by how things come together and at the appropriate time.

My decision to talk about the road less travelled in August was rather arbitrary. It’s my birthday month and choosing the more uncharted and less understood path, is something that has coloured many of my years thus far. So I thought I’d celebrate that somehow.

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9 things I’ve learned about branding (and life)

Last year, while launching a branding course when my son was just a few months old, it dawned on me that there were several parallels between branding principles and infant development. Upon further reflection, I realised that there are indeed several parallels between branding and life!

Today, I’d like to share branding lessons that I’ve learned, in my 10+ years of professional advertising and graphic design practice, and my 30+ years of life.

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East African Food, Illustrated

I recently illustrated the ingredients of some of my favourite East African food: pilau, kachumbari and ndizi (green bananas, Tanzanian style).

My colleague, Rasoah, collated some recipes from the interwebs, in case you’re unfamiliar with these dishes and would like to give them a try. Creativity is our forté so, there’s quite a bit of variation in preparation styles!

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Made in Kenya Store

“Made in Kenya” design was a very different thing when I was growing up, a couple of decades ago. The creative industry consisted of great theatrical productions and not much else. African Heritage was the place to get beautiful African crafts but, very much of the aesthetic that you’d expect when you think of “African”.

Back then, there were very few possibilities in our imagination, when it came to having a career as a creative and being able to make a decent living off of it.

That’s a huge part why I started this blog: to showcase the diversity of creative possibilities for us – affirming people’s creative dreams and inspiring them to pursue them.

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Women, illustrated.

With International Women’s Day this week, I wanted to celebrate all the women that I have had the honour to collaborate with, illustrate and exchange with, in the course of my professional life. The majority of my clients have been women’s organisations and women-led businesses and I have loved exploring and experiencing the world from this feminist lens.

It’s been such a joy to illustrate a diversity of interesting and inspiring women.

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My Nairobi city guide

I’ve finally put together my Nairobi city guide. In the last few months, several good friends of mine have visited Nairobi for the first time. It’s been fun coming up with itineraries because, it also gives me the opportunity to explore all that’s good and new in my beloved home city.

It seems that many more people are planning trips to Kenya in 2018 – I keep getting requests for tips! This inspired me to put together this post, sharing some of my favourite places.

I thought I’d do things a little bit differently and suggest some combinations of things you can do on the same day. That way, you can plan your movements easily, if you have limited time. But first

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Baby essentials checklist – products we’ve actually used (0-6 months)

I hope this baby essentials checklist can help all the mums-to-be reading, feel a little less overwhelmed. I remember when I was preparing for baby – or rather, when I felt I should be preparing. I’d spend so much time on so many different sites, reading tons of reviews, making lists after lists and taking little action. I was dealing with choice paralysis and plain old procrastination, as well a desire to be discriminating so as to not end up with too much stuff and not spend too much money.

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Today is the day to stop neglecting your personal projects. Here’s why and how.

Today is the day to stop neglecting your personal projects.

Also referred to as self-directed, passion or side projects, these are those exciting ideas you’ll spend all of your time on, once your guardian angel or winning lottery ticket arrives.

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How to save money when commissioning creative work

You’ve decided you need a professional to create something for you and you appreciate that their skill, expertise and style deserve commensurate compensation. You’re investing in work that will benefit you – whether to increase awareness of your product or service, to grow sales, to better serve your customers and so on. The creative is valuable in achieving your goals and thus, you are happy to pay for their input. However, you do have a budget you need to stick to, without incurring additional costs.

The following are some tips on how to do this, based on my 10+ years of experience, as a creative working with clients:

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