Nicola Rose: Where Inner Child Meets CEO | Founder of Creative Connection
- Isobel Arden
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
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Meet Nicola Rose.
In this interview, Mark created Nicola Rose's fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions to which there were no wrong answers.
Mark had a magic wand and a time machine at his disposal, so expect some surprises, laughs, anecdotes and conversational detours.
Some people build businesses with spreadsheets.
Nicola Rose builds them with poetry, paint, dancing, intuition and occasionally by throwing things at a canvas and seeing what happens.
And honestly? It works.
As founder of Creative Connection, Nicola has created a world where the inner child is not expected to sit quietly while the grown-up gets on with business. Instead, the two are invited to dance together, make a mess, laugh loudly and discover that creativity isn't a luxury at all. It's the thing that helps people remember who they are.
An author, poet and embodied creative leadership facilitator, Nicola's work sits somewhere beautifully between wellbeing, self-expression and playful rebellion.
She guides people back to themselves through movement, poetry, yoga, creative meditation, art and embodied practices that encourage people to stop performing and start living. Because Nicola knows a thing or two about reinvention.
Her own journey wasn't neatly packaged with inspirational quotes and perfect endings.
Like many people, she spent years trying to fit into spaces that didn't feel right, carrying expectations that weren't hers and wondering where she truly belonged. Creativity became her way back. Not as a hobby. As a lifeline.
Slowly, she stopped asking permission to take up space.
Poetry gave her a voice.
Movement helped her trust her body.
Creativity taught her that there isn't one right way to exist.
And now she shares that experience with others.
Through Splash & Create, Dance Your HeART Out, Poetry as Alchemy, creative meditations and immersive workshops, Nicola creates spaces where people are free to be curious again. Where adults remember how to play. Where leaders remember they are human. And where "I can't" quietly transforms into "Actually... maybe I can."
She describes her work as the place where inner child meets CEO, which sounds delightfully chaotic at first. But beneath the fun is something surprisingly profound: the belief that leadership isn't about being the loudest voice in the room. It's about leading yourself with honesty, creativity and courage.
When Nicola speaks about creativity, she doesn't mean perfection.
She means freedom.
Freedom to create.
Freedom to express.
Freedom to change your mind.
Freedom to trust yourself.
Which is perhaps why spending time with Nicola feels a bit like meeting the friend who convinces you to dance in the kitchen, take the scenic route home and stop apologising for being yourself.
And judging by the lives she's touched already, that's exactly the kind of magic of which the world needs a little more.
Nicola Rose's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and a time machine to hand.
Mark and Nicola imagine she is sat beneath blue windows in Barcelona, notebook open, a glass of still water beside her, pretending to write but mostly staring in wonder at the colours dancing across the buildings.
A wealthy - if fictitious - cultural foundation has watched her work and made an extraordinary offer.
Travel the world for a year.
Teach leaders how to play again.
Bring creativity into boardrooms.
Bring poetry into meetings.
Bring joy into places that forgot how to laugh.
First stop: Fiji.
Barefoot on warm sand, surrounded by people dancing without embarrassment, Nicola teaches workshops where executives throw paint at giant canvases, CEOs write terrible poems that somehow become brilliant and entire teams discover they haven't laughed this much in years.
The evenings are filled with African drumming and dancing beneath the stars.
No one is worried about looking silly. Least of all Nicola.
Dinner is vegan tofu masala with mushroom rice. And she remains unapologetically delighted by this.
Next: Athens.
While others visit ancient ruins, Nicola spends hours mesmerised by gymnastics, marvelling at the grace, discipline and freedom of movement. She sees creativity everywhere. Not just in art, but in bodies, in courage, in trying again after falling.
Then: New Zealand.
A virtual reality gallery allows her to step inside the paintings of her favourite artist.
She chooses the work of young visionary painter Akiane Kramarik.
And finally back to London for a week of culture.
A roaring crowd as Bruce Springsteen takes the stage.
A trip to see The Lion King with her daughter.
A beautiful ballet.
And, naturally ... A screening of Pocahontas, because Nicola will proudly tell anyone who asks, that Disney is absolutely magical and she refuses to grow out of loving it.
Which, perhaps, sums her up perfectly.
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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