Dignity, community, representation

Last Thursday, I held another instalment of my salon, called Le Trente, presenting Estonian multimedia artist and artistic director Julia Astok to my local crowd. Ever since then — and truthfully for a few weeks prior — I’ve been mulling over the concept of community. 

For someone like me, who has lived in five different countries in the last 20 or so years, community is evanescent here, in the city I was born in. Which is why I decided to get cracking on ‘making’ my own. Understand that I’m not actually making it. More like envisioning it, and now co-creating it. 

As someone with certifications in yoga, mindfulness, coaching and now training in facilitation, my approach is not around networking. It’s informed by the teachers I’ve been lucky enough to meet in the past five years, just as it is by the 75+ guests I’ve interviewed for the podcast. I struggle with it, however. 

The only words that come to me: it’s not easy. My time and financial investment (both huge), combined with the limited resources, the last minute cancellations and no-shows make my heart sink. And then it gets lifted by the multiple gifts, the flowers and the thank you messages. 

No one has asked me to do this. And I’m not sure I’m doing it ‘right’ and feel full of self-judgement when I fail against my own expectations.

Doubt plagues me and yet I feel certain that it’s a project worth pursuing. We all benefit from being exposed to each other’s stories, projects and passions and getting to know one another in a safe and inclusive environment. 

My endeavour doesn’t serve any of the algorithms — there is no social presence for this project. Occasionally, I wonder whether it’s a mistake. 

Who am I if I’m not feeding the machine? 

Seth Godin reminded me that I didn’t need the false sense of security that comes with doing things just because that’s how they are done. He writes:

“The alternative is to be uncomfortable. To create remarkable work and leave scale to others. To figure out how to show up in a way that is generous and distinctive, and to refuse the bait that others take when they decide that feeding the algorithm is their best option.

They call it ‘crowd control’ for a reason. If you’re in a crowd, it’s quite likely someone is trying to control you.

If you’re posting on social media or any platform with an algorithm, the real question is: do you work for the algorithm or are you committed to working for the people who want to go where you hope to take them?”

Today I’m wrapping myself in both Seth’s perspective, and that of the Knowledge at Wharton Faculty. In this recent piece, they speak of customer (or community) dignity. What does it mean to dignify your customers?

The article offers actionable steps to include in marketing and customer service, to generate loyalty in the customer base. 

The secret sauce? Not brain science but still: 

Representation 

Agency 

Equality 

Read the full article here and let me know what you think. 

Much more to say on this topic in the coming weeks. 

More AI. Of course! Tech Crunch comments on the latest post by Sam Altman: they reckon he is catapulting himself into God mode. It’s not far from what came out of that conference I attended the other day, which I wrote about here.

​The United Nations wants to treat AI with the same urgency as climate change.

​LinkedIn is training AI on your data — and there is no opt out apparently. Better be aware.

The UK has declared a butterfly emergency.

In entertainment news, Emily in Paris is all over the place. First I read about their collaboration with supermarket Lidl (think branded crisps with a drawing of a croissant on the packet and ready-made crepes 🤯). Read the hilarious Substack review of this questionable project on the Lucyverse.

Also, Emily in Paris is headed to Rome and the Romans are not happy about it.
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Lastly in this section, I was moved by the campaign fronted by Mandy Moore urging Congress to fund women’s health research.

Luxury fashion looks like luxury fashion, again, announces Highsnobiety. Reporting on shoes from Spring Summer 2025, they note: “The clothes all look good, to be clear. But do they have a soul?” Have a look, what do you think?
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​Pharell Williams has a new movie out, and it’s not what I would have expected, it’s a Lego movie, called Piece by Piece. The five-year project in the making is a biopic of Pharrell’s stratospheric career. The care put into the development of the lego pieces for the film is astounding, not because of the creativity and result, but because everything that was designed for this project ‘needs to be buildable’ in the real world — including new expressions of skin tone and braided hair. Lots of guest voice appearances and real world worth fashion (on Lego people!). I’m going! Read about it here​

There’s a space-themed Lego set that goes with it, Wallpaper reports on it which says it all.

​Finally, good fashion news! A woman has been named at the helm of Givenchy and it’s none other than Sarah Burton (ex McQueen) who takes over a couple of decades after Lee himself.

I love to see my friend’s names in the press (not often but it does happen). If you wonder what a good pitch deck looks like, take it from my friends at the Floorr.
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I’ve been a busy bee this summer and I am delighted to tell you about the three new podcast episodes I’ve released this month: 

Ana Maria Sierra, the Columbian marketing and strategic communications consultant, spoke to me about single-origin eco-gold and her commitment to social impact. Sierra is the founder of Moda Elan, a platform matching the afro-jewellers of the Chocò region, clean gold, hand-panned from the local rivers, and ethically sourced emeralds, with international designers. She called her project ‘a jumbo jet with a blender motor,’ that hints at the scale she’s hoping to reach. Listen here. 

I discovered Debjani Biswas’ work serendipitously. A trained chemical engineer, today she is a speaker, coach, and best selling author develops methodologies borrowing from both her scientific training and coaching with the goal to exterminate exclusion. I was captivated by her earlier book, ‘Miserably Successful No More’ and in our conversation we talk data-driven inclusion and unleashing the power of diversity. Listen here.  

Talking about serendipity, I regularly heard about Heidi Lender for years, though I didn’t know her name. She was introduced to me as the fairy godmother who propelled a young Christian Louboutin from obscurity to stardom. I’m exaggerating, but really, the man himself credits the feature she wrote in W and WWD magazine in 1992 for kickstarting his relationship with his loyal US customer fanbase. Heidi and I met in a crowd of 2000+ guests hundreds of miles from Paris or New York, and yet, the story emerged. Heidi currently resides on an 80-acre ranch in Pueblo Garzon, Uruguay, where she has founded CAMPO, a nonprofit creative institute, supporting international artists, www.campogarzon.org. We talk about fashion, yoga (Heidi is a certified Ashtanga teacher), IVF, self-portrait and much more. A wonderful, intimate and really special conversation. Listen here. 

Former Out of the Clouds guest Chris Schembra writes about intelligent selfishness and the power of Gratitude in Rolling Stones Magazine.

Feeling stuck at work? I’d tell you to give me a call (for coaching - and please, don’t hesitate) but also, here’s another suggestion, courtesy of Brian Elliott. Elliott is an executive adviser and speaker, currently serving as the Executive Leader of Future Forum, a think tank that focuses on the future of work. Instead of looking around, the seasoned executive suggests looking in for lateral moves within a company. And if you’re the boss, improve talent retention, drive knowledge sharing, and spur innovation by supporting healthy internal mobility. Read here.