ABOUT
Meet Ella
Writer, Host & Cultural World-Builder
Founder of Espresso Press
Come closer and pull up a chair.
The stories I had to unlearn to get here.
“I’m not creative” was the story I carried out of primary school. Whether it was said outright or simply absorbed, it stuck — the belief that creativity belonged to certain people. So I did what many of us do: I got the grades, followed the rules, and built a life that looked great on paper. But still, something didn’t quite feel like me.
It took me years, or decades really, to unpick that story, and to realise creativity isn’t something you’re awarded but something you already are. Not just in what you make but in how you think, choose, dream and live every single day.
And I’ve come to believe that’s true for all of us — that we each get to author a creative life that feels like our own.
Becoming a mother is where this work really began.
Witnessing my daughter’s curiosity and sense of wonder up close was the invitation I needed to remember — and return — to my own creativity. Books have always been how I’ve made sense of the world so it makes so much sense that this is where I’ve landed.
This work is where little Ella comes out to play — the one who wrote her sixth grade leavers play and stayed writing after class, lost in the process. The one who would swallow a book whole, immersed in the plot.
It then became a space where the version of me mothering my daughter – and myself – learns how to hold both their hands a little more gently, in real time.
So they can both be curious, take up space, and lose themselves in all that is so precious about childhood. Because one thing they don’t teach you in antenatal class is how confronting parenthood can be every single day. I think about this most days — not just how much it asks of you, but who it invites you to become, as you come face to face with who you’ve been, who you’re becoming – and, in my case, who I’m mothering.
You can find me pondering this more on Substack because through this work, I’ve learned that giving myself permission to return to my childhood lack of inhibition— the goofiness, the wonder, the curiosity — is what makes me, well, me.
And that returning — that remembering — is now the work I do with others too.
My work is the outward expression of this inner alchemy.
Whether through writing, speaking, hosting and moderating conversations, building Espresso Press, or bringing people together around a page or a table, it’s all rooted in the belief that creativity isn’t something reserved for a chosen few, but a way of returning to your truest self — on the page and far beyond it.
The work I do often looks like
this, both in my work and my
own creative life:
-
No, seriously. We play and remember by returning to what we loved — in childhood, in stories, in the things we’re drawn to without trying. With the simple purpose of finding joy on an ordinary Tuesday and reconnecting with what lights us up.
-
We pay attention to what pulls us in. What feels interesting, expansive, a little bit electric — and we let that lead, even if it doesn’t make sense yet. Especially if it doesn’t make sense yet.
-
Think: your childhood dress-up box. We give ourselves permission to experiment. To write differently, think differently and move – and be seen – differently without needing it to be final or the full story.
-
We notice what expands. What feels like you, what brings energy, ease, curiosity and joy — and, maybe more importantly, what doesn’t.
-
We keep what fits, release what doesn’t, and tweak what wants to feel more like you. And we begin to shape a creative practice — and life — that feels true to you.
-
Not when it’s perfect but when it’s ready enough. On the page, and off it, in your own way. As a way of being seen for who you really are, and of living what you’re creating in real time.
Ready to try this for yourself and Dream Up Your Creative Life? Check out my free guided exercise for imagining just this.
creative life
/ˈkriːeɪtɪv laɪf/
A way of living where creativity isn’t separate from your life, but woven into how you think, choose, and show up in your everyday — on the page and far beyond it.
Welcome to my corner of the internet
A space to step away from what you’ve inherited and dream up a life that feels more like you.
Here you’ll find my writing and conversations about creativity, culture, identity, motherhood and the lives we’re authoring. There’s Espresso Press, the literary home I’m building for Black women writers; speaking and hosting, where those conversations travel onto stages, around tables and into rooms; and 1:1 sessions, where we slow down together and pay attention to what’s coming up for you.
Know that you don’t have to have it all figured out before you arrive. This is a place for following breadcrumbs, trying things on and paying attention to what feels like yours.
Feeling Curious?
Where To Start
Espresso Press
A new literary non-profit and cultural home for Black women writers. Publishing, gathering and creating opportunities that support not only the writing but the creative lives around it.
Speaking & Hosting
Thoughtful conversations that expand what feels possible. Available for literary festivals, author conversations and book launches, panels, podcasts and cultural gatherings.
The Podcast
A creative life, both on and off the page. Conversations about the ordinary Tuesdays, choices and questions that shape how we live and create, as I sit down with writers, artists and cultural thinkers to explore the lives behind the work.
1:1 Private Sessions
A slower space to pay attention to what’s coming up for you. One-to-one conversations for creative people navigating a threshold, idea or next chapter.
While the Kettle’s On…
(A few things I get asked all the time)
What is this work, really?
It’s about creativity but not just the doing. It’s about how you live, how you choose, how you come back to yourself again and again, and how you build a creatively rich life on an ordinary Tuesday.
What happens in the spaces you hold?
We slow down, pay attention and follow the breadcrumbs of what’s pulling you, even if it doesn’t make sense yet. Together we notice what expands, question what feels fixed, and make space for something to emerge that feels more like you.
What if I don’t know where to start?
That’s more than okay. Some people arrive with a clear goal but more often than not, that goal will shift or fall away entirely as something more aligned begins to emerge. So no, you don’t need to have it all figured out but you do need a willingness to begin.
Oh and what’s your coffee order?
More often than not, a vanilla latte. Although lately, you’ll also find me with cacao in one hand, a pen in the other, alchemising on the page.
