After about three and half years, I knew the time had come to take a break from adland. Standing in my wedding dress in a bridal shop in Farringdon, I answered a call from an agency creative asking me how it was going locking in Dame Barbara Windsor to do a voice-over for the anti-supermarket commercial they really wanted to do. The directors I was working with were promised the job if we could get the star onboard.
Midway through the call I thought, “I’m not getting paid for this. I really should hang up and make sure I don’t end up buying a dress I will regret.”
Then the seed was sown: “Am I enjoying this anymore?”
Then I thought, “Why should I do his job for him?”
And, I kept thinking, “I really could do with a holiday, a break from it all.”
Straight after, I got married and had my boys.
One day in early 2009, while sitting on the sofa in our flat at red door house. I was playing with my first born, after colour co-ordinating his toys and clothes again, when I got a call from a friend about producing a commercial. I thought on it for a bit, then I asked myself, “What will bring me more joy?”
I then had my break from adland.
Six years of it. Living simply.
Spending most of my days with my two boys in the park, doing a little gardening and hanging at children’s centres in Hackney singing, Row, Row, Row, Your Boat, and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We’re Going to The Moon…
I also managed the purchase of our new home around the corner, the house we had our eye on for years even though it had a plant growing out of the top.
Then I became a landlady for our first flat, which we then sold a few years later to do the work on our home. Which I project managed.
And I did an exhibition at the local museum in Hackney about what life was really like being a parent and invited my friends and family down.
A wonderful time.
After my break I came back and launched, yes, you’ve guessed it, The Pitch Fanzine.
And here we are, creating change together.
… five, four, three, two, one, lift-off!
Best wishes,
Sherry Collins (her / us)
