Up Talk: Why Personal Development is a Career Skill
Thursday 16th April: 12pm-1pm
This session is for Up Club Members only!
ABOUT THE EVENT
Career progression in marketing is often framed around titles, outputs, and visibility, but rarely around the person doing the work. In this talk, Georgia Wagstaff, Head of Brand & Culture at Damson Madder, shares how personal development has directly shaped her effectiveness as a marketing leader. Drawing on 15 years of experience across global brands and creative industries, Georgia explores how taking a systems-thinking approach to your career and intentionally decentring work as your sole source of identity can lead to clearer decision-making, better leadership, and more sustainable growth.
What She’ll Cover:
Using systems-thinking to design your role
How to step back, understand the wider system you’re operating in, and shape a role that plays to your strengths rather than burning you out.Why decentring your career can improve your performance at work
How creating space beyond your job can lead to better boundaries, clearer priorities, and stronger creative judgment.How working on myself made me a better marketing leader
Practical reflections on confidence, self-awareness, and leadership and how personal growth has shown up in Georgia’s professional impact.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Georgia Wagstaff is an award-winning founder, marketing leader, talent manager, and social-first creative consultant. With 15 years of experience in the UK, USA and Germany, she has held senior global leadership roles at adidas, Peachy Den, and Fred Perry. Through her consultancy, Cultivate + Nurture, she has championed social-first creative talent, blending strategic insight with cultural impact. She currently holds the position of Head of Brand and Culture for one of the UK’s fastest-growing womenswear brands, Damson Madder.
A dynamic public speaker, Georgia is passionate about shaping the future of marketing and creative industries with a focus on equity.
In 2018, Georgia was awarded two Cannes Lions and a Clio Award for her work with Pharrell Williams.
In 2025, Georgia appeared at SXSW Festival in Austin, TX on the panel “How Brands Build Momentum when the Internet is Full of Zombies”.