And here are a few key things that made me who I am:

Excelled at math and music:

At its core, I believe all beauty must have form and structure.

Left university after my first year:

I found academic rigour uninspiring and even hostile to creative thinking — a better path, perhaps, for those with less passion or more patience. I sought a culture of spontaneity, inspiration, and entrepreneurial energy, a pursuit that hasn’t disappointed.

Signed to Island Records at age 22:

Heady early-career art/business experience.

Composer, songwriter, and music producer:

Invaluable experience in developing lyricism and the elegance of well-written copy. (I’d say poetry, but that word is so misunderstood.)

Lived half my life in the countryside and the other half in Manhattan:

Complete opposites.

I am fluent in both English and American:

Each has its strengths and vulgarities, and I love them each for different reasons.

I’m diagnosed with high-functioning ADHD:

Realised in adulthood, I’d already developed ways to take advantage of its benefits — rapid mental processes — and compensate for its challenges — organisation. I’m intolerant of the mundane. I think quickly. I see creative connections where others don’t. And my organisational processes are so systematic, they’ve become a significant part of my professional profile.

Creative agency, project manager:

Project management.

Creative agency, account manager:

Listening.

Creative agency, director of operations:

Getting it done, whatever it is.

Single parent:

Without a knack for storytelling, you are dead in the water.

Jazz guitarist:

Serving the needs of the room.

Writer:

Seeing that there is no vision so vast, intimate, or out-there that it cannot be communicated perfectly with the right words.