SPEAKINGT
Speaking
/ˈspiːkɪŋ/
Speaking into existence and holding space for the ideas, stories and conversations that expand what feels possible.
I’m interested in what becomes possible when we give ourselves permission to imagine something different.
I’m Ella Achola — writer speaker, host and founder of Espresso Press, a literary non-profit for Black women writers.
My work is interested in creativity, identity, motherhood and world-building — the stories we inherit, the worlds they create for us and what happens when we decide to imagine and build something different. Sometimes that means standing on a stage and sharing my own ideas. Sometimes it means hosting a conversation, asking the questions or creating enough space for somebody else to find the words. Either way, I’m interested in conversations that leave us thinking a little differently about the lives — and worlds — we might make.
The things I love to talk about tend to sit somewhere between creativity, identity, motherhood and what it means to make a life that actually feels like your own.
ON A CREATIVE LIFE
What does it actually mean to live creatively, beyond making art or calling yourself a creative? I’m interested in play, curiosity, experimentation and the small choices that make a life feel more expansive — particularly for those of us who learned somewhere along the way that creativity belonged to other people. A lot of this comes back to what I call The Creative Process: the beautifully non-linear cycle of inspiration, expansion, making, release and beginning again that shapes so much of my own creative life.
AUTHORING YOUR OWN LIFE
The stories we inherit about who we should be, what a successful life is supposed to look like and which parts of ourselves are sensible enough to follow. I talk about changing your mind, rewriting old scripts and learning to trust what feels true, even when it takes you somewhere you hadn’t planned to go.
MOTHERHOOD, INHERITANCE + POSSIBILITY
Becoming a mother brought me back to parts of myself I hadn’t realised I’d left behind. I’m fascinated by what we inherit from our mothers, what we consciously choose to do differently and the possibility that the way we live our own lives might expand what our children believe is available to them.
WORLD-BUILDING
I’m increasingly interested in the difference between finding our place in the world as it exists and giving ourselves permission to imagine another one. I talk about following the ideas that won’t leave us alone, building without a complete blueprint and creating the spaces, communities and institutions we wish existed — something I’m learning in real time through building Espresso Press.
And I’ve been doing this for a while, actually.
Over the years, I’ve spoken at TEDxCoventGardenWomen, the University of Oxford, LSE, SOAS, Nottingham Central Library and New Art Exchange, as well as on podcasts and stages in the UK and internationally, including Berlin. More recently, you might have found me with She’s Electric or joining the NHS and partners for It’s In Our Blood.
I’m available for talks and keynotes, panels, hosting and moderating, interviews, workshops, podcasts and other interesting conversations, in the UK and internationally.
If you have something in mind, you can get in touch here.
The things I could talk about for hours
