Growing up in London, rollerblading was my go-to adventure, especially around the now Olympic Park in Hackney.
But a childhood accident—speeding down a hill, falling, and hurting myself badly—left such a deep mark that I hung up my rollerblades, seemingly for good.
Years passed, filled with fond memories yet overshadowed by that fear. Recently, though, I decided it was time to face that old ghost. I bought a new pair of rollerblades, not to chase professional aspirations but to rediscover the joy I once knew. Being neurodivergent often pushes me toward perfection in every pursuit, but this time, I was determined to just enjoy the ride, regardless of the outcome.
Equipped with more caution and far more padding than my younger self, I ventured out. The initial awkwardness on the rollerblades was a stark reminder of how daunting starting over can be. Confidence shaky, skills rusty, every movement felt like a monumental task. Yet, inspired by a simple TikTok tutorial on the "duck walk," I pressed on, transitioning from grass to tarmac, embracing each wobbly stride.
The real breakthrough came when I identified my deepest fear: falling. Acknowledging it, preparing for it, and then facing it head-on transformed my experience. From tentative steps on grass to a few unaided meters, the journey was exhilarating.
This adventure was more than just about rollerblading; it was a powerful reminder of the importance of stepping out of our comfort zones. It's okay to try something and not be perfect. It’s okay to be 'rubbish' and celebrate the sheer effort of trying.
As I plan to continue this journey, I’m reminded that sometimes, the simple act of trying, of moving forward despite the fear, is in itself a victory. Let’s not shy away from rekindling old passions or exploring new ones. What’s something you’ve thought of revisiting or starting anew? Let’s inspire each other to take those first wobbly steps!
#GrowthMindset #Resilience #Learning #Rollerblading #N
Day in our CEO's Life - a trip to GOOGLE HQ vlog! 🫢🎉🎉
This time last week we organised a trip to Google London HQ to go see my friends Christopher Patnoe and Hans Zimmerman at Google's Accessibility Discovery Centre.
It was great to get Alice Reeves and Mark Blake co-founders of Joyfully Different to join us, as well as Xander from XW3D Makes s and we also had Emily Plater representing The NeuroSpicy Entrepreneur.
This collaborative space Google has created is a space where their engineers, researchers, product teams and partners can build new kinds of accessible technologies to remove more of the barriers that people with disabilities face every day.
What's amazing, is anyone can book a visit. Learn more here: https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/united-kingdom/the-accessibility-discovery-centre-is-open-for-collaboration/
We had the honour to join Tyler Shores and the University of Cambridge ThinkLab team on a visit earlier in the year after working together as part of the hackathon in December 2024.
Our biggest takeaway from this visit was learning about an app called 'Live Transcribe'.
Live Transcribe was made in collaboration with Gallaudet University, the premier Deaf and hard-of-hearing university in the US.
Transcribes in real-time in over 80 languages and dialects. Can you imagine the applications this app has for events?!
It's bringing accessibility to all and I'm very excited to try it at our next NSEC event.
It was such a fun day and great to spend time in person with some brilliant humans.
In 2025 we'll be doing another trip to see what neurodivergent accessibility features they've included, so do sign up for NSEC's mailing list to be alerted on upcoming events!
🔄 People Don't Just Buy Services, They Buy Transformation! 🔄
When it comes to photography and video for your business, it’s not just about pretty pictures—it’s about telling your brand’s story in a whole new way.
📸 Visual Impact: High-quality photos and videos capture what makes your business unique, making your brand unforgettable.
🌟 Professionalism: Give your brand a boost with stunning visuals that showcase your products, services, and team in the best light.
🚀 Engagement: Eye-catching content grabs attention and keeps your audience interested, leading to more interaction and loyalty.
💼 Credibility: Professional visuals help build trust and credibility, showing that you care about quality and your brand.
✨ Transformation: Watch your business grow as our photography and video services change how your audience sees you.
Ready to take your brand to the next level? Comment YES and we'll be in touch!
📢Our founder Jemima has had a glow-up and The Collective is now entering a new evolution of our brand! 📢
Check out the video where Jemima timelapses having a lot of hair, to not much and my reaction to this.
She's been doing a lot of reflecting on what The Collective stands for and how I can embody this, so on the outside I felt like I needed a change.
So in true colab fashion, Jemima went to London and got her hair cut off and some new images done!
It's pretty hypocritical for us to tell you all how important new images are when Jemima's have been out of date for years!
Massive thanks to Not Another Salon in Brick Lane for their amazing service and for making us feel super at home.
They're a No Judgment Policy hair salon.
This means we acknowledge your anxiety, support your Neurodiversity and celebrate every inch of our LGBTQA+ community.
No matter your age, race, mental health, ability or beliefs.
Jemima also got to take her hair home with me 🤣🤣🤣
So if you know any charities we can donate her hair too, let us know as it's sat in a bag waiting to give some unsuspecting person a surprise!
The great news is that I worked with my amazing Collective Member Sarah Wills Photography and there are some stunning, creative and different images on the way.
Well, you'd not expect anything less from us, right?
We'd love to know what you think.
Another proud moment for our co-founder Jemima Willcox and The Willcox Collective at the "This is What a Lawyer Looks Like" launch event last week.
It was brilliant to see the jeux de position of the portraits of Cambridgeshire Lawyers interspersed with the Museum of Cambridge’s exhibition. To hear comments from the attendees that, it is so important to create role models for the future, highlighting diversity in a traditionally "male, pale and stale" industry, was hugely impactful.
The Willcox Collective's images hit the brief of being fun, expressive and different from what’s expected of a lawyer portrait👌.
We had the pleasure of working with the amazing Scott Smith and very much hope to collaborate again soon!
Thanks to the Museum of Cambridge and Annie Davis for recommending me to Scott Smith as a photographer to work with.
We’ll share the images very soon, watch this space!
#equalityanddiversity #thisiswhatalawyerlookslike #thewillcoxcollective #photography #museumofcambridge #collaborationandpartnership
We've been working on a project that speaks to our business values.
What does a lawyer look like?
Spoiler: probably not like the ones you’re used to seeing on TV.
We were recently commissioned by @cambslawsoc to shoot portraits showcasing and celebrating the diversity of legal professionals in Cambridgeshire.
Here's how the shoot went, I was assisted by our awesome Collective Member @m5films
The final images will feature in a one-night-only “This is What a Lawyer Looks Like” exhibition and networking event at The Museum of Cambridge on Wednesday, 5th June at 6.00 pm.
I'd love you to come to see but it's only for members of the Law Society!
But don't worry - When the exhibition is over I'll share them with you all!
The team are taking some time out to enjoy the long Easter weekend so we'll be closed for the next few days.
We'll be back in the office from 9 am on the 2nd of April.
Here are 4 ways you can work with The Willcox Collective:
Photography
● Corporate Headshots (in our studio or on location)
● Brand Portraits
● Social Media Content
● Marketing Collateral
● PR Assets
● Product Photography
● Aerial Photography
Videography
● Interviews
● Explainer Videos
● Drone Videos
● Event Coverage
● 360° Virtual tours
● Animation
● Timelapse Videos
● Video Production
Brand Consultancy & Project Management
● Visual Content Strategy
● Expert Advice and Guidance
● Troubleshooting
● Marketing Planning
● Event Management
● Brand Marketing and Design
● Photography and Videography
● Content Distribution
If you'd like to learn more go ahead and DM me :)
💙💛 💙💛💙💛💙💛
The Willcox Collective are adventurers on a quest to deliver authentic, personality-driven visual content for businesses like yours.
Eye-catching, scroll-stopping, tongue-wagging, like-tapping, link-clicking, comment-leaving, crowd-pleasing content with feeling.
Something I've been sitting on I can now share 🥳 The work we did for University of Cambridge ThinkLab Future of Work Hackathon is now live.
Over two days, ThinkLab collaborated with Google REWS (Real Estate and Workplaces Services) Team and BBC CAPE to explore accessibility, inclusion, and the future of work in the context of neurodiversity.
There were keynote speeches featuring:
Thomas Roulet, Dr Kiran Bhatti, Aurelia Deflandre, Gokul Krishnan Ph.D. and Christopher Patnoe.
Also some brilliant breakout sessions, and team activities — all incredibly inspiring and with an accessibility-first approach.
Our role was to capture the event on film. Three keynote speeches, nine interviews, multiple hours of B-roll, and one highlights package later, I think we nailed the brief.
Let's dive in with the highlights video and we'll be sharing more of the videos over the coming weeks.
A huge thanks to Tyler Shores, Reanna Brooks and everyone at ThinkLab for trusting us with the visual content and the opportunity for The Willcox Collective to start a brilliant partnership.
If the innovative and creative minds in attendance at this Hackathon are anything to go by, the future of neurodiversity in the workplace looks positive.
If you've got an event you'd like to capture working with a company that's wired differently, let me know.
Time for me to have a well earnt break from work!
My out of office is on, and I'll be back at work on the 4th of January.
It's been a year of change, good change and difficult experiences but overall a good year.
Thank you for all your support, to our Collective Members hard work and everyone who's been part of our journey thus far.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
I love learning the stories of businesses and it's even better when you get to meet and chat with the business owner.
What I love more is championing businesses that go that extra mile and sharing all about them.
Today we went down to the tip to get rid of some garden waste and saw this chalkboard advertising an artisan bakery on the way there and outside of the tip.
I'm always up for an adventure and we went to check it out.
We found this cute little artisan bakery called Pastim Bakery. Run by Reme, and two other members of the team.
At Pastim, Reme went the extra mile.
I commented I wasn't great at cutting bread, and she offered to hand-cut it for me, and even offered to sell half a loaf!
It made a very good sandwich, and the brownie was tasty. Everything is reasonably priced!
I loved being so close to being able to watch the bread being made!
They've got some very tasty-looking pastries and bread and I saw on their Instagram they do sandwiches too.
My sandwich was really tasty, and the sourdough bread was perfect.
Find them here: @pastimbakery_remepuchades
Go check them out, located on Butt Lane in Milton close to the tip.
They're open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 9 am -2 pm.
What's a small business you've discovered recently? Go give them some love I'm the comments!
#BusinessSupportingBusinesses #WomenBusinesses #Thewillcoxcollective
Tonight The Willcox Collective completes the 51st and final event photography assignment working for Oxford Summer Courses.
Obviously, this means we got together to celebrate! Lunch on us! It's important to show our team gratitude for how hard they work.
I've spent the day in Oxford with our amazing team: Ed Nix, Joe Baker, Roger Askew Photography, Richard Cave and there in spirit was Jason Warner and Sina Korcan.
It was also a pleasure to meet Daisy Smeddle in person and get some time with her and the team in person.
We've had a real blast this year and with an increase of 30% in events it's been a challenge but one we've thoroughly enjoyed.
I'm really looking forward to the meet-ups I've organised with the Cambridge and London teams to round off what's been a very awesome summer!
Now to take a little time off and enjoy the bank holiday weekend - what are your plans?
#TheWillcoxCollective #TeamWork #OxSc #BankHoliday
Why should you invest in visual marketing right now?
1. Good visual marketing is an investment, not an expense
2. Visuals are one of the most important drivers of online traffic
3. Professional visuals will help your business look more credible
Visual marketing is one of the most important aspects of any business, yet it is often one of the most overlooked. The Willcox Collective is a full-service creative agency that can help businesses with exactly that.
We're currently taking on new clients so if you'd like to talk more about your needs; comment VISUALS and I'll get right back to you!
#Cambridgeshire #VisualContent #Marketing #TheWillcoxCollective
What happens when you have a business that works, but you don't know much about the people who make it work?
That's the dilemma Abbotswood Gardeners had. Their work is top-class, but you didn't get a vibe of who was providing that work, and what they are like as people.
Thinking about bringing video content into your marketing mix in 2023 🤔
We know it seems a little daunting doing it yourself, so why not hire us to help you?
We don't just shoot and deliver.
We strategize, project manage, create and distribute.
Reply with ME and we'll get in touch!
Today we launch TWC Talks!
We have a massive wealth of knowledge from our Collective Members and we want to share that with you.
Our first topic is one very special to me: Making your mark as a female Photographer.
I am joined by Ania Gomez, Sarah Wills, and Lucinda Price to discuss our experiences of being a female photographer.
In this clip we talk about how being a business owner can have peaks and troughs, what we have found works when it's quiet.
If you've got a topic you'd like us to cover let us know in the comments!
It's time to refresh your team's headshots.
Yes, you've been putting it off because it's a faff to organise and something no one in the office looks forward to.
What if... they did? It was an event everyone was looking forward to because it would be a fun and enjoyable experience.
Are you shaking your head saying that's not possible? Well, it is with The Willcox Collective.
We do more than take personality-filled images of your team;
✅ We help each person feel at ease.
✅ We work efficiently but not rushed.
✅ We have tools to manage and plan your session so it's zero stress for you.
Don't take my word for it - here's a testimonial from Carla Crocombe from Saftey rocks.
"The Willcox Collective listened to our brand photography requirements and delivered. They are professional and their work is of the highest standard."
So if you're looking for a team to help you create some stunning visual content, drop us an email: [email protected] or call us at 01223 560 162.
#Cambridge #VisualContentAgency #TeamHeadshots #TheWillcoxCollective
Did you know we do all kinds of drone work?
Using drone footage or stills as part of your visual brand is a fantastic way to keep your audience's attention on your content.
If you could use a drone as part of a campaign, how would you use it?
It's definitely not goodbye for Skye, it's good luck for when she starts uni in September.
We've loved having her as part of the team so much she's now a junior Collective Member!
Here's what she had to say about her experience working with us.
#493Days - A story of Women's Reliance
Do you identify as a woman? 🚺
I need you!
Get involved and take part in 493 days - A story of women's resilience.
Watch the video to learn more!
I consumed a recent study done by Deloitte organized by Emma Codd which found that nearly 82% of women had found Covid negatively disrupted their lives.
This sparked a question in me - what about all the women who overcame challenges, made major changes in their lives, and drew on resilience they never thought they had?
This is why I've launched 493 Days - a story of women's resilience.
I'm looking for 100 women to take part in sharing their positive life changing stories with me.
If you would be interested in taking part or know someone who would, click this link for more information: https://jemimawillcox.co.uk/493-days-a-story-of-female-resilience/
I need your help. Can you please share, and tag this post so I can make sure I get to share as many of these stories as possible?!
If you want to get involved, use the link in the comments.
#493Days #TheWillcoxCollective #Women #Cambridgeshire
