Strands of Genius: Iris Van Herpen, Grimes, Ladies Who Strategize
Guest Curated by Kim Mackenzie
This year we’re aiming to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us, by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. Kim is the founder of the female strategy Slack group, Ladies Who Strategize.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, KIM MACKENZIE ::
LOCATION: Brooklyn, USA
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Freelance Strategy Director
Kia Ora + Hello! I'm pleased as punch to be curating this week, Rosie and I have been jonesing to collaborate since we met a few months ago and realized we both ran female forward strategy groups AND shared a common love of whiskey. Rosie has become a fast friend and trusted advisor. I get a huge amount of nourishment from LWS (Ladies Who Strategize, my slack group), films, fashion, art, and photography. The links below are keeping me balanced in 2020.
I'm a freelance brand strategist, and recently took the reins as the Interim Head of Strategy at Ogilvy DC for 9 months, which meant a lot of flying since I'm based in Brooklyn. While I haven't been as transient as Rosie or Faris, I did live in New Zealand for 13 years, Australia for 1 year, and Alaska for 5 months.
Rosie: Kim, Should we tell them the story of how we met?
Kim: Rosie, how *did* we meet?
Rosie: Our initial meeting was spurred after I put out a call for a group of lady strategists, and called it Ladies Who Strategize.
Kim: You did do that. Even though my Ladies Who Strategize slack group had been around FOR FOUR YEARS. Smooth, Rosie.
Rosie: Right. It’s fucking awesome. And apparently it’s something that Faris even tweeted about before. I should have known. And while I like to stay up to date on all things strategy -- especially when it’s related to women -- slack is my blind spot. I have had so many friends tell me I’ll love it, and like pizza, and chocolate, slack falls in my ‘meh’ bucket.
Kim: You really did a terrific job of avoiding slack. Well done. At any rate, we both latched onto a terrific name. Just one of us landed there first.
Rosie: No argument from me, there :) And when you tweeted a response, my stomach immediately sank. Because the whole point was to try to create space where women could lift each other up, and with my naming convention, I had already stepped on someone else’s toes.
Kim: Again, so smooth. But-! I also knew we shared a love of pink hair, whiskey, and a mutual friend so I figured it was no biggie.
Rosie: I wasn’t convinced it was ‘no biggie’ and while I quickly apologized on Twitter, I also reached out to our mutual friend who gave me your number so that we could connect offline, too. What I wanted to communicate wasn’t just an apology, but also a thank you: It’s hard work to build and support a growing community. I believe a rising tide floats all boats, and I love that there’s someone out there who loves strategy (and women) as much as I do, and who loves Slack more than I do.
Kim: I do love slack. And strategic ladies. Your outreach meant the world and spoke volumes of who you are and the code you follow. I pretty much demanded that we become friends after that.
Rosie: I conceded, and the rest - virtual drinkin’ dates, rambling strategy discussions, zoom hangouts - is history! Now we’re just holding out for our in-person hang, one of these days, whenever that may be.
:: THE LINKS ::
IRIS VAN HERPEN
In 2016 I discovered Iris Van Herpen at the Met's Costume Institute's Manus x Machina exhibition. I loved the entire exhibition so much I went several times, but it was Van Herpen's dresses which changed my impression of what a piece of clothing could convey. Her work is both softer but yet more exact than Alexander McQueen's best collections. I look at the Met's Manus x Machina exhibition book whenever I'm feeling creatively spent and highly recommend it. (The Met)
GRIMES - MISS ANTHROPOCENE
There isn't a more exciting artist than Grimes, period. Her music sounds like fully fledged sonic environments. Pure vitamins. I feel we all lucked out with her insistence on having full artistic control over everything, including her music videos. Her voice is still intact because she's built her career off the belief her music is valuable - something we all should embrace with our own work. (Spotify)
LADIES WHO STRATEGIZE APPLICATION
In 2016 I found that despite the fact that strategy departments were chock full of women, few strategic female voices existed online. I started the group with the intention of meeting more female identifying strategists and now we're 1.4k strong. (Ladies Who Strategize)
Looking for more from Kim Mackenzie? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from her in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Professor Layton - all of the games in the series
:: City :: Tokyo / Auckland / Brooklyn
:: Book :: The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
:: Magazine :: New York Magazine for culture, Bloomburg Businessweek for everything else
:: Album :: Boys for Pele - Tori Amos
:: REVELATIONS - ANNA Di MEZZA::
I'm lucky enough to own this painting is by Australian artist Anna Di Mezza. She does a lot of surrealistic feminist art, usually with a 60s American slant. Her raw meat pies scare the stuffing out of me, but her blink and you miss it details are a real sucker punch.
“To me, leadership is not about necessarily being the loudest in the room, but instead being the bridge, or the thing that is missing in the discussion and trying to build a consensus from there.” - Prime Minister Jacinda Arden
Kim Mackenzie
email: kim@kimbklyn.com
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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