Three questions to Cam

Before we dive in Cam, tell us a little bit about you

I'm a London-born, Sydney-based writer and Creative Director, wife and exhausted mother of three children.

What’s something you’ve changed your mind about recently?

Mindfulness, gratitude, meditation – practices that encourage slowing down, taking a breath and regulating your nervous system. I used to operate at a thousand miles an hour, priding myself on being a capable, resilient and emotionally-regulated person. I dismissed any mindful practice as unnecessary and found meditating virtually impossible. Now, in my mid-40s, with three children and a full-time job, my capability levels are being seriously tested and I regularly find myself feeling overwhelmed, with raised cortisol levels, and surviving on shallow breaths – constantly in fight or flight mode. Totally unsustainable.

Who is someone you admire, and why?

Virginia Evans. Her book,The Correspondent, reduced me to tears on multiple occasions and made me pick up a pen and paper and write an actual letter to someone I love for the first time in years. 

If you had to give a TED talk tomorrow, what topic would you choose and why?

Social conditioning in children. How we're socialised, particularly as women, is still creating inequality in society. The messaging we give boys and girls – boys to succeed, to provide, be strong; girls to be caring, educated, professional as well as loving, perfect mothers – is stuck in the dark ages. We need more awareness of how we're all guilty of these micro-messages, the impact they have and how we can change them.

If you could change one policy or norm in society, what would it be and why?

Racism. It might not be a norm, but it's still here and it's intrinsic. Aren't we past this?

What’s something you hope future generations do better than we are doing now?

Prejudice. Of any kind. I hope they're more open-minded, accepting and appreciative of difference (rather than fearful of it) than we are.

To close off, what’s something exciting you’re working on (self-promo!)

I've had a writing business, Writing for Design, for almost five years. Architecture and design is my happy place, and I'm hoping to prove that, when it comes to writing, AI might be alarmingly good, but humans are still better.