W+K placement team Hanna Stenwall and Joyce Kremer are members of SheSays, an organisation for women in the creative industries. SheSays helped us host an event in our basement last night on the very W+K theme of embracing failure, where we shared some of our experience (and a few embarrassing photos) with their members.

Hanna and Joyce write:

 Fear of failure. It’s quite primal really. We’re a performance-driven breed, always planning for the worst case scenario. For some reason, we tend to think that the result of our work equals our worth as human beings. No wonder we fear failure. 

At W+K, you’re encouraged to ‘embrace failure’. The philosophy behind the legendary statement runs through the company’s veins. You can’t be blocked by fear when you're supposed to take risks. Without risks, the world would be predictable. Dull. Plain boring. A nightmare.

Yet we rarely take time to talk about this fear, what it does to us and how to overcome it. So that’s what we did. W+K and SheSays joined forces. Gathered some friends. Popped open some bottles of wine. Shared some stories. Basically, a lot of good things came out of it. 

Over 100 people came to the agency last night to find out how Helen, Vikki and Ray embrace their failures. We can say that it was quite a success. Even though we, not too surprisingly, feared failure.

Thank you to everyone who came, and everyone involved. Without you all, this would have been just another Wednesday night.

Although the year is coming to an end, we're still welcoming some lovely newbies into our W+K family.

A big hello to Victoria Smith. She's joined us a Creative Producer. She has some ace fun facts: she once had a make up brush thrown at her by Naomi Campbell and has partied with Beyonce and Jay-Z without even realising it!

This is Flore Segal. She arrives by way of Unilever's brand strategy team and the Miami ad school. Things to know about her: she's French, speaks five languages and has an impressive array of creative-crafty skills… sculpting bronze statues, sewing, upholstering and antiquing furniture. Welcome!

We've also had a couple of freelancers take the plunge and go permanent in the last week. Hurrah.

Miles has taken the aforementioned leap having freelanced here on and off for the past seven years. Yes, seven years! He's now a welcome addition to the Design department. 

Finally, Indy Basra. Another new permanent member of studio after a little freelance stint. He's previously worked at TBWA and Saatchi & Saatchi. A fun fact: he is a big Arnold Schwarznegger fan and does a mean Arnie impression.