“Make a f**king mess (do not be afraid of play).

Collect and collate with your wonderful instinct (you are a magpie).

Stand above and see what jumps out (collisions and connections are everywhere).

You are God (she is a woman).”

“When I was a little girl, growing up in the rural part of the United States, I had the great privilege of spending most of my time in nature. I rode horses deep into the woods, climbed trees for better views, and made things… mud pies and potions, fairy floral wreaths, still dolls, cairns and impromptu shelters. I understood on some deep level that if I could figure it out, I could spend my life creating things from what I could find around me.

”Eventually, my primary ‘tools’ became ‘words’ — I’m an author — but I grew up with a deep sense that I had everything at my disposal that I would need, I’d just need to remember to look. We don’t create from nothing, we create from everything around us, including our experiences, memories, and senses.

“As we grow up, we need to learn how to find a balance between meaning and stability, to quote my dear friend, Jungian psychologist Satya Doyle Byock (she wrote a great book called Quarterlife). This is hard; some of us go straight to stability, certain that a fantastic pay cheque and a highly structured career path will solve all of our woes. Others opt-out of that path and stay bathed in meaning, but find themselves unable to navigate the day-to-day technicalities of living.

“Your job, our job, is to try to braid the two: to find a structure that supports meaning, and to remember that your meaning will be highly individual, and that it might not make sense to someone else. We are all uniquely designed, remember that – no two people even have the same fingerprint, much less life path.

“Keep making things, big and small, mundane and profound. You will always find yourself there.”

“Trust yourselves. Know how talented and strong you are. This won’t always be easy, because we still live under the patriarchy, and its messages are that your only value is your beauty and capacity to procreate. Don't believe this nonsense.

“You ARE beautiful of course, but this is the very least of what makes you amazing. Just once a month, have a day when you’re not judging the way you look. For that day, turn off your phone camera and cover your mirrors. And spend that day glorying in how amazing your body is as an instrument not of performance (for others) but of pleasure (for you).

“Read a book, sing a song, dance, eat ice-cream, have a swim, laugh with your friends – whatever activities are your favourites. Tap into the full range of your feelings: joy, lust, anger, humour, energy, tiredness. BE you, with zero consideration for how you look. Who cares if it isn’t pretty?

“Never worry about making mistakes. Get dirty. Get things wrong over and over again, then brush yourself off and keep going.

“I’m a surgeon, author and broadcaster. Surgery requires me to be focused, but when I’m writing I try and keep as broad a view as I can. Whatever the subject, I start by casting my net as wide as I can, gathering material which might not have an obvious unifying theme. And then I sit with it and let my mind roam. With this imaginative freedom, the story begins to unfold. I know you have amazing futures ahead of you too. Go out and grab them.”

“Listen to your heart – creativity comes from the heart. You are the steward of your heart, and your only job is to become the fullest person you can be, and feel free to do that however you wish. Ask as many questions about the world as you like – don’t hold back.

“Here are some ways to open and lift the heart that have worked for me – try a couple and just notice how you feel, then allow the creativity to flow in whatever way it chooses.

“Look up and notice what is around you. Notice nature, it holds all the answers, tune in to it. Use your hands, make something from scratch. Walk without your phone. Navigate without maps. Watch the sun come up or go down. Listen to a whole album from beginning to end (on vinyl). Watch the clouds. Have a thought that is your own. Hold on to it. Smile knowingly – anything is possible. Allow the magic to happen...”

“The world can sometimes make you feel like you have to choose between being practical or creative, serious or imaginative, but some of the most meaningful things are built when you allow those parts of yourself to exist together. I trained to become a doctor because I wanted to help people, but I also always wanted creativity to be part of my life. For a long time, I thought those two worlds had to sit separately with science on one side, and beauty and imagination on the other.

“But building Ovum taught me something important: creativity can be how you create the biggest impact. I wanted to build something beautiful for women. A space that felt compassionate, calming and designed with care in a healthcare system that can often feel cold or overwhelming. Design, aesthetics and emotion weren’t an afterthought; they became part of the impact itself.

“Because when women feel seen, safe and understood, they engage differently with their health. Sometimes creativity isn’t just about making something look beautiful; it’s about helping people feel something – and in healthcare, that matters. My best piece of advice is don’t let anyone convince you that the different parts of yourself don’t belong together. Whether that’s science and creativity, business and empathy, or logic and intuition... it might actually be the thing that makes your contribution unique.

“One simple thing I do to stay creative is carving out time for my mind. Usually that looks like walking, breathing, listening to music or simply being in a space where I can think and feel intuitively. Some of my best ideas come when I stop forcing answers and create enough quiet to hear my own thoughts. Creativity doesn’t always arrive loudly (in fact, in most instances, it doesn't) and usually it comes when you finally give yourself space. My idea for Ovum came whilst driving in the car singing along to my song!

“Remember, you don’t have to fit into one box. The world needs people brave enough to be different.”

“Creativity is the blood of originality. Creativity is our portal to infinity. Creativity is the pathway back to ourselves, to nature, to everything. You can access creativity in any moment. Think of a unicorn. Think of a flower. Think of it in reverse. Change the colour, change the shape. Times it by 10, times it by a thousand. We can use this same way of thinking when it comes to our own minds, and most brilliantly the world around us.

“Through creative thinking, you can change any situation – in your mind, or in our world. I think this is what is most precious to me. Through creativity, you can make grief a rainbow, you can make sadness a story, you can make wonder a song, you can make a dark day brighter, and then you can share it to help another.

“May we always know our own creativity, and protect our humanness and originality in a world that tries to bend us toward sameness.”