Unorthodox Blend Conversations Rosie Lee Group

Mick is well seasoned Chief Creative, ECD, Head of Product, Professor of Design along with some other things. He has 20+ years design experience in our industry both client side and agency side. We worked closely with Mick in his time as VP Marketing (NA) at Samsung and he very quickly became a friend of Rosie Lee. A kindred spirit who, like us, wants to set the world on fire without hurting anyone.
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Our conversation covered a lot of ground. We started with a discussion about age, experience and creative freedom and then onto the benefits of AI versus the concept of ‘The Struggle’ making things more worthwhile. Mick shared a very personal insight into how a bad experience at one of his first jobs shaped his career, and his belief in how a broad organisation-level process is important to the success and individuality of creative units.
It’s always a pleasure talking with Mick, we share a lot of values and ideas about our industry but appreciate each other’s vantage points. We always learning something, and have lots to think about afterwards.
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This recording was a part of UB Live 2024, a series of live-streamed conversations and IRL panel discussions to celebrate Rosie Lee’s 24th birthday.


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Richard Hoare is Russell’s DJ partner with Vintage Mobile Disco, a 10 year long project based on a love of 7” vinyl and eclectic music tastes. He’s the man behind Hoare Associates, a pioneering alternative legal services provider for the UK music industry that favours modern, agile ways of working in contrast to some other dusty corners of his industry. Oh, and he is also an award winning author. He can shift topics from music to discordianism, and from politics to ley lines without coming up for air.
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Our conversation touches on the role of music lawyers in the industry and the evolving business models for musicians. The conversation highlights the power of music to evoke emotions and memories, as well as the potential influence of artists on social and political issues. We explore topics of artistic expression, the impact of music on memories, the challenges of balancing artistic integrity and audience expectations and the role of alcohol in social interactions (amongst other things!).
We most definitely didn’t talk enough about negotiation - one of Richard’s areas of expertise and so we will definitely need to plan a part two.
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This recording was a part of UB Live 2024, a series of live-streamed conversations and IRL panel discussions to celebrate Rosie Lee’s 24th birthday.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unorthodoxblend.substack.com

We’ve known Ben since we begun working closely with StockX. He is always willing to make time for us to just check in and talk and holds his ground in just about any topic, particularly if it relates to culture, art or creativity in general design. We always leave our conversations refreshed and inspired and feeling more at ease that there are other people like us in the world!
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Ben combines his understanding and enthusiasm for Culture, Community, and Collaboration to create award-winning, impactful, memorable moments and campaigns that push brands forward, drive growth and create conversation.
He has a varied experience, from running his own clothing brand to working at unicorn startups like StockX. Ben has had the pleasure of working with various collaborators including Revlon and Megan Thee Stallion, Daniel Arsham, Sarah Andelman, Lewis Hamilton, Nothing and 100T amongst others.
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Our conversation with ben focussed on the culture and psychology of collecting, organic creativity and the need for us all to just put ourt work out there to see what happens.
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We’ve announced all of our speakers now for UB Live 2024, which is taking place next week. UB Live 24 is a series of live-streamed conversations and IRL panel discussions for 3 days around Rosie Lee’s 24th birthday. Head on over to the Substack page or find us on LinkedIn to learn more and to attend the sessions.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unorthodoxblend.substack.com

Our relationship with Joseph has had many different phases but he has always been a friend. It’s hard to sit in a room with Joseph without getting into some deep conversations about the nature of creativity. And once we hit the record button he became even more animated than usual! I thought I had a clear handle on what we might talk about in this conversation but we really got into our personal opinions about creativity, vulnerability and what it means to be an architect.
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Joseph is a cultural architect, designer, amplifier and creative problem solver who has a knack for details. He is constantly curious about built environments, design, story telling and making things; he often couples these with using running and cycling as a vehicle to explore the world.
He believes that a culture of physically crafting and making things should be nurtured and not forgotten. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA, BArch and Tsinghua University with a MArch.
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This conversation was an absolute pleasure and I can’t wait to do this again with Joseph. His curiosity shines through, as does his humility and sense of direction. We truly lost track of time and could have carried on for a lot longer.
Enjoy this one, and please do get in touch if you want to know more.
We’ve started releasing information about UB Live 2024, where we’ll be live streaming a series of conversations for 3 days around Rosie Lee’s 24th birthday. There is more to share over the coming days so please do subscribe below to stay in the loop.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unorthodoxblend.substack.com

Nikky is one of our go to people when Rosie Lee needs to find employees and freelancers. Her network of talent is awesome and aligns with our work ethos, but that isn’t why we wanted to talk with her at Unorthodox Blend. Talking with Nikky is always like a breath of fresh air - her positivity, energy and lateral thinking are truly contagious. We didn’t know exactly where our conversation would go when we started but we knew we’d learn something.
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Nikky Lyle is best known as being a 'creative recruiter with conscience' and has 12+ years of experience placing top talent within a mixture of branding and creative agencies.
She is also a huge fan of side hustles and has a number herself, including Shepway Social Club, Damp Disco and Post Quarantine.
On top of this Nikky has delivered a TEDx talk, has been a D&AD President Judge, a Domestika Teacher and has been named on The Dots 100+ rising stars. Nikky is dedicated to helping clients and under-represented groups navigate an industry that can sometimes be tough, making sure the best talent finds a home where they can thrive.
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We’re still thinking through some of the topics we discussed and hopefully you’ll find some food for thought too. It really felt like there was more to talk about so hopefully this is just the first in a series of conversations with Nikky.
Take a listen and get in touch if you want to know more. Keep your ear to the ground, we have a big announcement coming soon about Unorthodox Blend later this week.
P.S. We’ve just announced UB Live 2024, our series of live conversations happening in early April. Subscribe or follow us on Instagram to stay in the loop.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unorthodoxblend.substack.com

Our relationship with Ibby started during his 15 year employment at Nike. He for many years working in different functions. We were working more directly on campaigns, but more recently Ibby worked with some of the world’s leading athletes, connecting brands with their purposes holistically for mutual benefit. With our human-centric approach to creativity we wanted to pick his brains about what goes into this type of work.
When talking to Ibby, I was struck by his human-centric, considered approach. In his work with brands he of course wants to benefit the brand but not at the expense of the people he is collaborating with. He is prepared to stand up for his collaborators, and by doing so everyone wins.
We managed to catch him a few days before he makes life-changing more to Jakarta, with him taking a break from packing to talk with us. And so we were fortunate to connect with him at a time where he is thinking very broadly about work, life, people and experiences.
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Take some time to listen to the podcast  - if you’re anything like us you’ll enjoy his holistic, warm, considered approach and maybe learn a thing or two about how to think differently about talent strategy.
As ever, please get in touch if you are interested in taking part. And please do subscribe, we have an exciting announcement coming soon…


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unorthodoxblend.substack.com