Talking to Jen

I talked to Jennifer Murtell.

Jen was a force of nature – a talker, a whirlwind full of great ideas, insights, and observations of the human condition.

She’s the Vice President of Innovation and Strategy at Marks.

I keep calling Marks an agency, but they go under ‘next-gen creative platform’. Anyway, they do some cracking work, and Jen’s been part of a team of women working on the brand for MUSA, a female healthcare brand designed by women for women.

We talked about this, but our brains just f*cking careened into each other’s and the collateral is one hell of a deep discussion about these changing times, the many issues and opportunities at hand.

As part of the chat, I asked Jen if she believes that such work can make a difference and inspire positive change, and she echoes my feelings with a fascinating response. On some days, she tells me, I absolutely, wholeheartedly do. On others, no, no I don’t. But she points to the tension between those feelings, the importance of the dark and the light, the push and pull of optimism and something more barbed, something dank.

It left me in a reflective mood.

After each interview – now over 250 in my career – I have to find ways to decompress because I won’t have just anyone on the show (I curate hard). This means I’m usually bouncing, equipped with new ways of seeing, thinking, and going about things. I cast my mind back to harder emotional times in early parenthood, how the weight of the world I felt as a new parent drove me into some anxious places, but also pushed me to find my fight in the f*ckery, my cause. My why.

Without landing on creativity as my life’s work – not making or doing – but championing, supporting, and spreading creativity as arguably our most powerful tool for fulfilment and a better future, I could have spiralled into a rotten state of mind. Today, I’m up for the scrap, but on the next downturn, I’ll lean into the shadows and think of what Jen said.

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