4. Becoming a creative leader, with Marina Willer, Graphic Designer, Pentagram partner and Filmmaker

Marina Willer is a graphic designer, a filmmaker and the first female to become a partner at Pentagram London. She has been an inspiration in my life for many years and as a multi-skilled designer, Marina is consistently recognised as a leading figure in UK design, working on iconic identities for Tate, Southbank Centre and MacMillan Cancer Support.  As well as having a varied and exciting career Marina is also a mother to twins, putting creativity, play and inspiration at the heart of her family.  In this episode, Marina shares her career journey, from growing up and studying in Brazil, to her MA at The RCA and working her way up at Wolff Olins and before joining Pentagram as a partner in 2012.  We chat about some of the challenges she’s faced with feelings of imposter syndrome and how she felt different to her peers, but how this has ultimately pushed her to go further in her work.  As a creative leader Marina shares her advice to anyone starting out in the design industry, and the traits she looks for in building a team of designers.  You can see more of Marina work at: Website: www.pentagram.com/about/marina-willer  Instagram: @marina_willer  You can follow me and get updates on the podcast at:  Website: http://narratestudio.co.uk Instagram: @narratestudio My top takeaways from this episode were: Vulnerability can empower you to create new things.  There as so many different skills required of designers now, which makes it such an exciting time to be in design.  Everyone experiences imposter syndrome in their career. 

Om Podcasten

‘Making It’ aims to inspire and encourage women and non-conforming people, with the hope to make the design industry a more inclusive and diverse place. There is a concerning lack of gender diversity in the design industry, especially when looking at senior positions. Even though plenty of women study design, the industry is still overwhelmingly male. The host Rachel, Creative Director at Narrate, chats with some brilliant women and people who have beaten the odds and made it to creative director, design director and into senior leadership positions. Talking in detail about their career journeys and finding out how they got that all important first job, that helped get them to where they are today.