For Creative People, Episode 7: Helen Jane Campbell’s guests are Anne Brichto and Thorne Addyman

Welcome to episode seven. It’s the first episode in the second series of For Creative People and we’re back after a long hot summer break. I have two wonderful guests: my very dear friends Anne Brichto and Thorne Addyman.

Anne Brichto is a passionate independent bookseller deeply rooted in the literary culture of Hay-on-Wye. Alongside Derek Addyman, she’s built and nurtured a family of bookstores: Addyman Books, Murder and Mayhem, Addyman Annexe and Christie & Doyle, each with its own character and specialized offerings. Known for her visual storytelling through Instagram, strategic inventory management, community engagement, and a thoughtful approach to work-life balance, Anne embodies the spirit of resilient and innovative bookselling in today’s changing landscape.

Anne Brichto co-founded Addyman Books with Derek Addyman, first opening in 1987 in a ten-foot room at the Blue Boar Inn. Within just six months, they moved to a larger premises at 39 Lion Street, which has since expanded into a multi-room book haven.

Follow Addyman Books on Instagram:

www.instagram.com/addymanbooks/

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Thorne is Anne & Derek’s son from Hay-on-Wye with a lifelong passion for food. His journey began in the kitchen of a local Italian restaurant, washing dishes as a teenager. After studying in Brighton, he explored a range of roles across the food and drink industry: from PR, to selling beer for a major brewery, to running a café.

It was a winding path, but nothing felt quite right until he launched Taca and committed to building it full time. That decision brought together everything he loved: flavour, people, and the energy of creating something from scratch.

About Taca Tacos:

Founded by Thorne in 2019 as a humble pop-up, Taca Tacos has grown into a beloved fast-casual brand with two vibrant restaurants in South East London – Peckham and Deptford. Rooted in a passion for bold flavours and authentic ingredients, Taca delivers quick, friendly service inspired by research trips to Mexico and California.

In May 2025, Time Out named Taca one of the top Mexican eats in London – a testament to its dedication to quality, creativity, and community.

https://www.tacatacos.co.uk/

www.instagram.com/tacatacosuk/

This episode is sponsored by Structured Mediation

Nobody sets out to be in dispute with clients or suppliers, and mediation can help you avoid legal action – even restoring trust.

The people at Structured Mediation specialise in disputes for the comms and creative sectors and can help you find a way forward

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About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People, Episode 6: Helen Jane Campbell’s guest is Paul Clarke

Welcome to the final episode in the first series of For Creative People. My special guest is photographer Paul Clarke, who I’ve known professionally AND as a friend for around 15 years now.

Paul is a photographer, filmmaker and producer based in London. His client work ranges from the glamorous world of the Oscars, to your local church hall. He's been the personal photographer for heads of state, private party snapper for A list celebrities, and spent a lot of time chasing Battersea dogs around muddy parks.

Working nationally and internationally, Paul has won awards for corporate and private work, but mostly enjoys finding and connecting with the world's most interesting people. His style is often described as strong, bold and vibrant, with an eye for colour and composition. As well as people photography, Paul has a personal project "While I was up there" – a collection of London landscapes taken from high buildings, while covering events hosted in these striking venues.

With a pre-photography background in public service design and delivery, Paul has a hunger for all the stories that hide in plain sight, and the tricky bits of the universe that often seem simple at first.

https://paulclarke.com/

www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarke6/

Trigger warning: Mentions of George Floyd & Black Lives Matter themes, in relation to statues and history.

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People, Episode 5: Helen Jane Campbell’s guest is Maxine McKenzie

In this episode, I interview Max McKenzie about creativity and what it means to live a creative life. Max is a Feng Shui consultant and energy healer, and formerly a brand and marketing director, working in a variety of sectors and organisations for nearly 30 years. We’ve had the pleasure of working together in different ways since 2009, and I’d always jump at the chance to collaborate. I’ve been honoured to coach Max in recent years, and I’ve also learned so much from her when she led projects I worked on at both Directgov and RIBA.

A large part of Max's career was spent with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Which helped her understand how people interact with their environment and how good design can influence behaviour and improve lives. She worked on the Stirling Prize for architecture and RIBA Grand Designs House of the Year and saw the transformative power of amazing design in buildings large and small.

Alongside her day job, in 2008 she started on a journey of self-development to deal with some personal issues and because she wanted to feel happier and be a better parent. This led to her training in energy healing, integral core therapy, and most recently Feng Shui. All of her story is brought together and utilised in her Feng Shui practice. Feng Shui is a powerful wisdom that is thousands of years old and works on the basis that what shows up in our home shows up in our life. Max works with clients to bring their homes into harmony and balance, thus creating opportunities for them to live the life they truly want.

Find out more at: www.yinteriors.co.uk

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People, Episode 4: Helen Jane Campbell’s guest is Katie Parsons

In this episode, I interview Katie Parsons about creativity and what it means to live a creative life.

Katie Parsons is an artist and art teacher who lives in London with her husband and two children. Katie's work career spans from 10 years in music journalism and radio presenting, through advertising, creative directing and now developing her own art practice. Along the way Katie also accepted the position of International Roving Reporter for the Trident Perpetual Festival, taking her to 30 different festivals in 30 weeks all across the globe. Throughout all her endeavours, Katie has tried to find a creative thread that keeps her inspired and motivated to try different things and constantly evolve. As such, her CV now includes such diverse work colleagues and clients as Iron Maiden, Mr Motivator, Hula Hoops and a sterile nasal spray. Katie now works as a tutor at an amazing charity in London called Artbox who run art studio sessions for adults with learning disabilities and autism.

She works at the charity Artbox: https://www.artboxlondon.org/artbox-team

And also has her own studio in London: https://www.katieparsonscreates.com/

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People, Episode 3: Helen Jane Campbell’s guests are jdwoof & Steve Xoh (aka Art Babies)

In this episode, I interview Art Babies: stevexoh (aka Steve Chapman) and jdwoof (aka Jo Wood), two self taught artists who have found they like to do things together.

Their projects have included an exhibition of art made in response to feelings at the Barbican in London, a solstice-themed 12 hour radio station, a podcast, a talk at a festival, a community mural, and residencies in a forest in Scotland, a shop on the South Coast of England and a month-long residency on a remote island a 3 hour boat ride off the coast of the US.

They find humans simultaneously fascinating and challenging and creatures much easier company. However, they find art can be a way to connect them to both humans, creatures and themselves.

Steve’s ‘lightly held philosophies’:

• Be Fascinated
• Create windows into your world
• Learn to live below your means
• Hang out with other weirdos

Solstice event: https://beefriendlytrust.org/mark-the-summer-solstice-with-the-bft/

Saturday, 21st & Sunday 22nd June 2025

www.artbabies.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/jdwoof/

https://www.instagram.com/stevexoh/

Join Jo & Helen in Brighton on Friday 27th June: https://forcreativepeople.com/events/meet-your-inner-saboteur

For Creative People listeners get £50 off a Happify day with code FCP50

Go to Shiny Happy Digital: https://www.shinyhappy.digital/

Find out how Hannah Happified Helen’s website here: http://shinyhappy.digital/work/for-creative-people-happify

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People, Episode 2: Helen Jane Campbell’s guest is Richey Beckett.

In this episode I interview the talented artist Richey Beckett, who’s a pen and ink illustrator and one of my brothers. He creates artwork for the likes of Metallica; Black Sabbath; Queens of the Stone Age; Mastodon and Foo Fighters, working in pen and ink to create limited edition screen prints.

We’ve always been interested in each other’s creative projects and careers, and that’s manifested in so many ways over the years, but an interview like this is something we’ve never done until now. And I’ve tried to make it as authentic and unedited as I can. What I really love about this conversation was I learned so many things I didn’t already know about Richey and all of it felt really valuable in terms of unpacking creativity and also it was super playful too. We’d both just moved house recently and we had a big family funeral to get up early for the next day. Despite the fact we were feeling very frazzled, the interview still felt inspiring and spacious to me. We also talked a bit about the surgery Richey underwent on his eye and about his film-making too. I really hope you enjoy listening to this episode. It’s long as there is so much gold in here and I didn’t want to lose any of that.

About Richey:

Richey Beckett is a pen and ink illustrator based in rural Wales. He has lent his intricately detailed linework to record covers for some of the world's biggest bands. Drawing inspiration from biblical and natural history illustrators and engravers such as Doré, Durer and Bewick, the decorative flair of Art Nouveau, the striking colours of psychedelia, and the organic textures and patterns of nature, Beckett has crafted his own vivid visual language that expands with each piece.

Over the last decade, Beckett has been invited to create artwork for Metallica, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, Mastodon, Nine Inch Nails, Jack White, Robert Plant, Pearl Jam and Black Sabbath.

He has created movie posters and official artwork for Jim Henson’s "Labyrinth," HBO’s "Game Of Thrones," Sam Raimi’s "Army Of Darkness," John Boorman’s "Zardoz," AMC’s "The Walking Dead," Robin Hardy’s "The Wicker Man," and David Robert Mitchell’s "It Follows."

You can find out more about Richey and his work by visiting richeybeckett.com or instagram.com/richeybeckett

In our conversation, Richey recommended Short Of The Week (shortoftheweek.com)

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People, Episode 1: Helen Jane Campbell's guest is artist Yasmin Agilah

"This conversation with Yasmin was SO. MUCH. FUN. Yasmin’s a multi-disciplinary artist and she revealed that she’s just done her first ever drag performance and oh my goodness, her drag king name is the best I’ve heard. We cover so much in here, from intersectionality to perimenopause to charity shop hauls, queer art spaces and so much more. We talk about creating art – not for the finished product or an end goal as such but the physicality of the process, the emotion of it. I’m giving you a little trigger warning here for mental health, and I’d say it’s a light trigger warning as the episode feels very joyful to me. There’s a lot of playfulness in here and I felt uplifted and nourished by our chat."

Yasmin has her first solo art show on in May 2025 at The Artery Studios in Worcester and it’s called Bold Truth:

https://thearterystudios.co.uk/bold-truth-a-solo-exhibition-by-yasmin-agilah/

And you can find out more about Yasmin and her work here: https://yasminagilah.com/

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Creative People: the podcast for founders, freelancers & rebels

Host: Helen Jane Campbell

If you're navigating the ups and downs of working creatively for yourself – whether you’re running a PR agency, you're an independent artist, or perhaps you're just starting out – I've made this podcast for you.

In each episode, I’ll be chatting with inspiring guests about what it means to live a creative life. We’ll talk about staying true to your path, even when it’s tough. If you’re looking for fresh perspectives and a reminder that you’re not alone, grab a cuppa, settle in, and let’s begin.

About Helen Jane Campbell:

Helen is a coach for creative people and the author of the book Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.

Find out more at: www.forcreativepeople.com

Produced and Engineered by Andy Simms: andysimms.com

Music by Desire Path: desirepathmusic.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.