Debbie Millman’s ongoing project “What Matters,” an effort to understand the interior life of artists, designers, and creative thinkers, is now in its third year. Each respondent is invited to answer ten identical questions and submit a nonprofessional photograph.
Emily Jeffrey-Barrett has spent the last ten years creating brands and campaigns with impact. An experienced strategist, copywriter and creative director, she works in the space between strategy and design – translating insights into compelling, effective ideas that generate results.
What is the thing you like doing most in the world?
Working. I know loads of people will read that and think it’s incredibly sad. But for me, it’s the opposite. I hated school. I really hated university. Now I have, by some miracle, managed to find myself in a place where I love what I do every day. I love working with my team. I love meeting new clients. I love coming up with ideas. And I particularly love that moment, with a client, where you decide to do something really fucking cool.
What is the first memory you have of being creative?
When I was 4, I saw an advert about bonfires being dangerous for hedgehogs – they nest in there, then, well, it’s bad. Don’t want to go into it. I was horrified, so I wrote a letter to the RSPCA and got my mum to post it. They sent me a wildlife pack, and I made posters, stuck them all over my school, and created the Hedgehog Club – a very serious society dedicated to their wellbeing. There was a lot of campaigning for hedgehog safety, lots of posters, some stickers. It was a bit less relevant after November 5, to be honest, but I kept it going for quite a while. One of the questions I get asked all the time is ‘what is your dream brief?’ To this day, 31 years later, my answer stays the same: anything that helps animals.
What is your biggest regret?
I try not to have them, to be honest – if I do something and don’t want to do it again, I learn from that and move on. But if I had to pick one, it would be making myself smaller in situations – quieter, less ‘annoying’, less ‘pushy’… Initially, it was because other people made me feel I should. Bosses who told me to ‘bring less of myself to work’, and even ‘get back in (my) box’. Feedback given to other incredibly impressive female colleagues about being ‘too big for their boots’ (I know, it sounds like something from the 1950s, but it was just a few years ago). Then, it became learned behaviour.
Looking back, it’s shocking that I allowed other people to affect me like that. I spend a lot of time now talking to other women in our industry about experiences like this. If I can help even one person not make themselves smaller for other people, then it won’t be a regret.
How have you gotten over heartbreak?
Reading Mayakovsky by Frank O’Hara until I, too, became myself again. If you don’t know that poem, go find it. Extraordinary writing.
What makes you cry?
Mayakovsky. And anything with animals in it. Or anything where love doesn’t work out. Hard pass.
How long does the pride and joy of accomplishing something last for you?
I don’t know that I’ve ever felt it. I take more pride in other people’s achievements. One of my favourite things in the world is when my team absolutely kills it with something. The big, the small, it doesn’t matter. Our internal philosophy at Among Equals is Always Be Celebrating. It started as a joke, but it’s become real – and important.
I made a bet once… We were up against this incredibly famous, brilliant agency for an award. We had three shortlists in the category, they had the other three, there could only be one winner. I bet my team that we wouldn’t win it. I was SO confident that this other agency would win that I said I would have #AlwaysBeCelebrating tattooed on me if I was wrong (the # was important, for extra awfulness). I lost the bet. They’ve never held me to it, but I guess I should follow through on that.
Do you believe in an afterlife, and if so, what does that look like to you?
I think the Buddhists and the quantum physicists have it right. I believe our consciousness lives on. I don’t know exactly what that looks like but I try not to be a dick in general to make sure it’s relatively positive (and hedge my bets in case I’m wrong).
What do you hate most about yourself?
Nothing. I don’t think that’s a helpful way to look at life. If I hate something, I change it. I think it’s really important to deal with the world as it is, not as it should be. If you’re unhappy with something, and you have the ability to change it, do. I wish I was less afraid of things like skiing, and driving, and birds. But I’m having NLP with a wonderful therapist, and it’s working. Don’t make me stand next to a pigeon, though – I’m not ready for that yet!
What do you love most about yourself?
Honestly? I try not to think about myself too much at all – the good or the bad. I really believe the key to happiness is focusing outside yourself – make other people feel good, help them, try to change things for the better. But if I had to pick something, it would be the people in my life. My friends, my husband, my colleagues – they’re just the most wonderful people I could imagine being pals with, and I feel incredibly lucky that they choose to spend time with me.
What is your absolute favorite meal?
The post-big-meeting meal. That brief hour of celebration and relief when a pitch or presentation goes well before the mayhem starts again. Don’t care if it’s McDonald’s or Michelin Star, just make sure there’s no pigeon involved.
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