Clare Saponia | Finding Your Voice Through Creativity, Confidence and Change.
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Meet Clare Saponia
In this interview, Mark created Clare Saponia's fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions to which there are no wrong answers.
Mark had a time machine and magic wand at his disposal, so expect some surprises, laughs, anecdotes and conversational detours.
What happens when a poet, artist, linguist and self-confessed escape artist turns her attention to helping other people find their confidence? In Clare Saponia's case, the answer is Freeflow Coaching – a business built around personal growth, emotional wellbeing and the rather important business of learning to be yourself.
Clare Saponia is a London-based writer, poet, artist, linguist, teacher and confidence coach whose professional life has taken her through several creative disciplines, international communities and different corners of the world. Her work brings together language, creativity and personal development, with a particular interest in what happens when people stop questioning their own abilities and start recognising what they are capable of.
Through her business, Freeflow Coaching, Clare works with professionals, young people and creatives to help them develop confidence, self-awareness and a clearer understanding of what they want from life. Her approach is rooted in a simple idea: lasting personal growth starts from within. Rather than handing people a list of instructions on how to improve themselves, she creates an open, judgement-free environment where they can explore their thoughts, recognise patterns and work out what needs to change.
It is less about becoming somebody else and more about getting comfortable with the person you already are.
Clare's professional background is anything but one-dimensional. Since 1998, she has worked as a freelance writer, translator and Business English coach, translating German and French into English and providing language services for multinational organisations. Her work has taken her through Brussels, Berlin, London and Turin, giving her an international perspective on communication, culture and the way people connect.
She has also spent more than 25 years working across education and training, from senior professionals and business teams to young people, children and refugees. Her experience includes working with teenagers who have struggled to engage with conventional education, as well as primary and pre-school settings.
That range of experience has shaped the way she approaches confidence. Clare recognises that self-belief is not something that automatically arrives with age, experience or a particular job title. Someone can be running a successful business one day and questioning everything the next.
Equally, a young person can have a remarkably strong sense of who they are.
Confidence is not a permanent setting. It can change with circumstances, unfamiliar environments, personal experiences and the expectations placed on us.
This understanding has become central to her coaching work.
She works with both adults and young people, supporting individuals who want to make meaningful changes in their personal or professional lives. For organisations, her work can also address workplace confidence, stress, burnout, focus, performance and work-life balance.
One of the defining features of her approach is that she does not see coaching as somebody else telling you how to live. Instead, she encourages people to become curious about their own needs, question what they have come to accept as normal and take responsibility for the decisions that shape their lives.
Her sessions provide space to think, reflect and have honest conversations without the pressure of having everything figured out beforehand.
For Clare, confidence and creativity are closely connected. Artists, actors, dancers, musicians and writers regularly put themselves in situations where their work is open to judgement. A submission might be rejected, an audition might not lead anywhere, an exhibition might receive little attention or a performance might not receive the response its creator hoped for.
And sometimes, the decision has very little to do with the quality of the work itself. Creative people can become so closely identified with what they produce that professional rejection starts to feel like personal rejection. When your work is an extension of your identity, criticism can be difficult to separate from your sense of self.
She is particularly interested in helping creatives who feel blocked, uncertain or held back by their own doubts. Her aim is to help them reconnect with their abilities, develop self-belief and find the confidence to put their ideas into the world.
After all, the creative industries need people willing to take risks, experiment and express something different. They do not need another generation of talented people quietly talking themselves out of trying.
Alongside her coaching work, Clare has established herself as a published poet and writer. She is the author of three poetry collections, each exploring difficult subjects through language, observation and a willingness to question the world around her.
Her publications include:
Copyrighting War and other Business Sins (Olympia Publishers, 2011) takes a critical look at conflict and the systems that allow it to continue.
The Oranges of Revolution (Smokestack Books, 2015) examines political power, resistance, democracy and the consequences of revolution..
Federal Gods (Palewell Press, 2022) turns towards the experiences of refugees and people seeking safety in Europe.
The collection explores the realities of forced migration, belonging and the difficulties people face when they arrive somewhere new expecting safety, only to encounter another set of challenges.
Clare's writing has also appeared in a range of literary anthologies and publications, including Witches, Warriors, Workers, The Cry of the Poor, The Brown Envelope Book, Kakania – An Anthology, The Robin Hood Book – Verse versus Austerity and Emergency Verse – Poetry in Defence of the Welfare State.
Her work has been performed at spoken-word and literary events in the UK and internationally, including Keats House, Waterstones, the Whitechapel Gallery, Housmans Radical Booksellers and Centreprise.
She is also interested in collaborative creative projects and the possibilities of bringing poetry into other forms. Her work on poetry films, including smaller, created with Felix von der Aue, demonstrates an interest in combining words with visual storytelling.
Having worked across several European cities and spent a substantial part of her adult life between London and Berlin, she has developed an appreciation of how language influences identity, relationships and our understanding of the world.
Her translation work involves bringing German and French texts into English, while her Business English teaching has supported professionals working in international environments.
She also coaches in German and French, including life coaching for expatriates, drawing on her own experience of living abroad.
Through Freeflow Coaching, she works with individuals and organisations online and face to face in London, while continuing to develop her literary and collaborative projects.
Whether she is working with a professional navigating a career change, a young person trying to find their direction or an artist struggling to get their work out into the world, the underlying question remains much the same:
What might happen if you stopped getting in your own way?
Clare Saponia's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and a time machine to hand.
Every Arts and Culture Network member is invited to embark on a Fantasy Cultural Year—an imaginary twelve-month journey designed around their passions, curiosity and imagination.
For Clare Saponia, it begins with a meeting overlooking the water at Kyoto's Golden Pavilion. An imaginary wealthy Japanese family foundation has heard about Clare's work helping people develop confidence, particularly those in the creative industries. They have decided to fund an international project: the Creative Confidence Tour.
The arrangement includes a year travelling the world, workshops, webinars, a television crew, a book deal, a TED Talk and a university lecture tour.
First stop: Kyoto, Japan
The adventure begins in Kyoto, somewhere Clare has always wanted to explore properly. The Golden Pavilion provides the setting for her first meeting, with a view across the water and a cup of jasmine tea.
A group of young creative students soon arrive to introduce Clare to the city's cultural scene. Her first evening is dedicated to dance, with a spectacular double bill featuring Carlos Acosta and Sylvie Guillem. Both performers have made a lasting impression on Clare, and seeing them share a programme would be quite an opening to the year.
Dinner follows, with Clare opting for Thai curry. Her culinary preferences tend to swing between two extremes: intensely spiced food and beautifully fresh ingredients where every individual flavour gets its moment.
Buenos Aires: friendship, tango and swimming
Next, the tour heads to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Clare finally gets to visit a dear friend she originally met in London. The city offers an opportunity to experience South American culture first-hand, with its music, movement and unmistakable connection to tango.
Clare is a keen swimming fan, so the visit coincides with the World Swimming Championships.
Trondheim, Norway: art beyond the canvas
From Argentina, Clare heads north to Norway. The northern landscapes, fjords and possibility of seeing the Northern Lights have long appealed to her. Trondheim becomes the next cultural base, here, a new digitally enhanced art gallery awaits. Visitors can put on virtual reality headsets and step directly inside famous paintings, experiencing the work in three dimensions.
Clare's choice is between Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. Both artists have a way of making their subjects feel almost physically present, so the opportunity to walk around inside their paintings is particularly appealing.
Back to London: seven evenings of culture
Monday – A journey back to the blues
The week starts with a trip through musical history. Clare would love to experience the great blues and jazz performers of the 1960s, particularly artists such as Charles Bradley and Howlin' Wolf.
She is drawn to the atmosphere of an intimate jazz venue, where the music is loud, the performances are full of character and the audience is completely absorbed.
A proper live experience rather than background music while checking emails.
Tuesday – Theatre with tension
Clare gravitates towards the dramatic tension of Harold Pinter and Henrik Ibsen, alongside the sharp humour and observations of Alan Bennett. The combination of uncomfortable silences, complicated relationships and unexpected comedy makes for a rather good evening.
Wednesday – Cabaret, the Bob Fosse way
For her musical choice, Clare settles on Bob Fosse and Cabaret. More specifically, she would love to see the film version brought to the stage. She has seen other stage productions but feels they have never quite captured what made the film so effective.
Thursday – Ballet at the Royal Opera House
Thursday is dedicated to ballet, with Carlos Acosta making another appearance on Clare's cultural wish list. Having already enjoyed the imagined Kyoto double bill, she would happily see another performance at the Royal Opera House.
Friday – Cinema without too many words
Clare prefers minimalist films, those that rely on atmosphere, beautiful scenery and tension so her choices include the work of Michael Haneke, particularly The White Ribbon, and films by Kim Ki-duk, including Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring..
A very special lunch: Audre Lorde and Clytemnestra
Clare is invited to choose anyone, living or historical, for a leisurely lunch in London. The guest can be famous, obscure or someone whose work has influenced the way she sees the world.
Her choice is Audre Lorde, the American poet, writer and activist who spent an important period of her life in Berlin. Given Clare's own connection with Berlin, she would love to hear about the city Lorde encountered and how it shaped her experiences and writing.
But there is a second guest.
When asked who Audre Lorde might invite herself, Clare suggests another formidable woman: Clytemnestra, the legendary figure from Greek mythology. Having recently enjoyed Costanza Casati's retelling of Clytemnestra's story, Clare is intrigued by the idea of bringing these two women together.
One a poet and activist whose work challenged social expectations; the other a mythological queen whose story has been retold and judged for centuries.
Clare Saponia's contact details.
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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