Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that the job you were doing was compromising your values as a person? How did you deal with that?
Have you ever felt you were being judged or your ideas rejected, because of peoples perceptions of your age? Was that because you were considered too young or inexperienced for your views to be important or because you were older and the people judging you were all much younger?
In episode 4 of Turning the Tables my guest is Francine Lawrence who’s career has seen her be editor of one of Britain’s top magazines, a journalistic portrait photographer, illustrator ,Book Publishing Editor and now running her own Art Teaching company.
My conversation with Francine spans the glamour of publishing in the 1980’s “At the height of my career I was flown by Concord to Barbados” to the struggle to fight ageism in the work environment.
“I just felt that I was having to battle against the perception that anyone over 50 wasn’t in touch with the modern world – it really hurt going from being at the top of the game to having my ideas dismissed as too old fashioned”
Francine goes on to talk about the influence of her mother and her childhood on the choices she made in life and how it instilled a fierce need to be independent and led her to not having children and not marrying until later in life.
We discuss how at the height of her career as a magazine editor she felt her values were being compromised which led to her taking a complete break from work and going for 3 months into the jungle in Borneo to work on a charitable project. An event which had a profound effect on her outlook and prioritises in life.
Francine now runs with a friend, an Art teaching company that helps ‘people who don’t think they can draw’ to realise they can, opening up new fulfilment in their students lives.
As she says “ I’ve never felt happier with the work I’m doing “
And of course Francine shares her learnings from these challenges in life and I draw some insights for people who might be facing similar adversity in their life.
Please listen and share your thoughts and observations with the Turning the Tables community on Facebook at;
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffb.me%2Fratcliffe2019&h=AT0X0mPTGiX_FLw6tFW8fTWlDwXAcHNMbFLsZ1IjBrK3mVKYpKt-vUZUnyqC9oU5iAZBSKBjNLQMXg8_zjPcjpEHZ9Qhwk3aGcaOKq8mW8muNM-6vFiJ9V2rNEkcDtds84-JlcQFbLg
Contact: Francine Lawrence's art teaching 'for people who don't think they can draw' can be found here Art Splash London
Episode credits;
Editor and sound engineer : Tim White email: showupnow@gmail.com
Music : Broken Elegance -Unconditionally
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?v=aH95sxn7HS8&event=video_description&redir_token=6ehCbtIu30AhxC4UJc33VENytGF8MTU2MzE4ODY1M0AxNTYzMTAyMjUz&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbrokenelegance
Broken Elegance – Just want to see your smile
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=H2g6schQIzJY9E6pvVj8UwEChLd8MTU2NzI0NjQ5M0AxNTY3MTYwMDkz&event=video_description&v=4DXPUPHGnDA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbrokenelegance%2Fi-just-wanted-to-see-your-smile
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