Ashleigh King
Ashleigh King on embracing ‘the real me’.
Ashleigh King is a creative entrepreneur and podcaster who runs Flamingo Heights, a creative studio specialising in podcasting. Diagnosed with ADHD in 2020, Ashleigh no longer feels like she has to make herself fit in with those around her. Instead, she’s surrounding herself with the things that make her thrive: colour, creativity, and a ‘flock’ who bring out the best in each other. She spoke to Pattern about her path to podcasting, running her own business and being completely, utterly, herself.
Edited by Ruby Guyler Photographs by Christopher Owens
What does a brief history of you look like?
As a child, I always wanted to be a journalist. I actually had my first newspaper at age 10, which included cartoons and scribbles of things that were important to me at that time!
I started work early. After moving to the UK from South Africa, I got my first paper round and also started volunteering at a charity, where I gained lots of office experience whilst still at school. I then worked at Nando’s for 4 years whilst at college and enjoyed being in busy environments with lots of noise and stimulation. It was really fun!
A bit later on, I found myself a temporary administration role at Newcastle University and to my surprise, fell in love with higher education. I quickly worked my way up through different departments, job roles and pay grades across an 8-year period.
Whilst working during this time, I became fascinated by how to motivate people, so I decided to study ‘Leadership & Management’ at Northumbria University in my spare time. This led to me pursuing a Masters in Business Administration at Newcastle University Business School.
One of the challenges throughout my career has been feeling like I sometimes ‘didn’t fit in’, or that I had to work very long hours to get through my work. I understand now that I was doing work that wasn’t best suited to my skills. Whilst I had a lot of positive coping strategies, I felt drawn to the freedom of being ‘a creative’ more than anything.
After being made redundant from one role, I thought it would be a good time to further my studies, so I became self-employed running my own events management company.
In terms of financial turnover, this wasn’t a success! However, I did learn so many helpful lessons that have assisted me on my business journey. The 2020 pandemic provided an opportunity for me to reconsider my business idea and I pivoted my company, AK Creative Consultancy Limited, to a podcast production studio.
Tell me about your business. What do you attribute to its success?
I run a creative studio called Flamingo Heights. We specialise in audio and video podcasting, with the aim of providing a ‘one-stop shop’ for all podcasting and affiliated marketing activities in the North East’s emerging podcasting scene.
I started my own podcast without any prior experience in 2019, although I always recorded in a professional studio. In early 2020, when the pandemic happened, I was no longer able to go into a studio, so I began teaching myself how to podcast at home. This quickly led to lots of people asking me to teach them too!
During my MBA, I decided to write a business plan shifting my existing business from events management to podcasting training and production. In this plan, I was quite ambitious and never believed or imagined these dreams would come to fruition so quickly…
I moved into my studio in September 2021, which felt like quite an impulsive decision at the time.
Very quickly, I turned a typical office space into a quirky, colourful place - all of our furniture is upcycled, carefully sourced and painted by myself and my husband! The goal was to create a space where creatives could simply turn up, work together and produce great content in a warm and welcoming environment.
Our three key values at the studio are to ‘Be Flamboyant’, ‘Ruffle Feathers’ and ‘Look after your Flock’. I think our fast growth can be attributed to these values, along with our strong emphasis on collaboration. I truly believe you can get more done when you have the right support measures in place and the right people around you!
“For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m where I’m meant to be. Instead of trying to fit in, I’m using my unique skills to help others.
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What do you love most about what you do every day?
I get to be surrounded by colour, creativity, and talented colleagues. Every day is a new challenge - we have new clients to work with, and it can feel exciting and exhilarating.
Another thing I love most about my work is that I have created all of this for myself. We’ve not had any investment, so everything has been bootstrapped! There’s something about the creative freedom involved in this and ‘the struggle’ of finding innovative and affordable ways to do things that makes me feel very happy. I believe that fewer resources always brings more opportunity to innovate.
I’ll often sit and have a cup of tea in our ‘Shrimp Bar’ (the kitchen where our guests or the team can relax between working), take a look around and find it really moving to see what we’ve achieved, particularly as I used to think I didn’t have any skills.
Have you had to make sacrifices in your chosen career, and have they been worth it?
I’m neurodivergent, diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in late 2020. This came as a great surprise to me; I often describe it as the ‘biggest secret I ever kept from myself’!
As a child and in my teens, I loved drama and chatting - those were always some of my greatest skills but they weren’t always compatible with being a student or in the workplace. I’d say the greatest sacrifice I ever made was keeping ‘the real me’ hidden. I tried to fit in, to reduce certain parts of my personality or myself.
Now though, I feel so aligned with what I’m doing. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m where I’m meant to be. Instead of trying to fit in, I’m using my unique skills to help others and encouraging them to celebrate their own contributions.
What are some of your daily rituals and why are they part of your routine?
My most important daily ritual is using my gratitude diary. This isn’t anything fancy - just colourful pens and a notebook (usually with dots - I prefer those as I like the freedom of working outside the lines!).
I like to start the day with setting an intention. What is the one most important thing to me that day, and how does it match my overall goals? At the end of the day, I like to reflect on that intention and write things I’m grateful for. Like everyone, some days are good, some days are less easy. I find that taking the time to reflect on what I have helps me to stay focused before negative thought patterns take hold and my anxiety spirals.
My spirituality is also very important to me. I like to spend time in nature or near water, appreciating the earth around me. For that reason, I enjoy walking to and from work. It’s about 40 minutes each way, which helps me move my body and allows me to detach from home and work.
I love to get creative and make things with my hands too, so one of my favourite ways to reconnect with myself is through flower arranging. I love the colours, fragrance, and the benefit of having ‘living things’ in my home!
What does work/life balance look like for you?
That’s a great question! Both of my parents have always worked very hard, doing 2-3 jobs at a time, so I feel it’s been naturally difficult to ‘switch off’.
I’ve recently learned that being busy all the time is a trauma response. That felt like quite a profound paradigm shift and has encouraged me to be more honest with myself about being ‘busy’, and why I feel the need to be distracted. It’s led to me raising my prices at work and saying ‘no’ more often.
I think being self-employed may also have improved my work-life balance, as it means I can factor in time for naps, walks, or give myself permission to make mistakes.
Recently, I’ve had some changes in my health, so creating a more peaceful life has become a greater focus for me. I’ve also cut out alcohol, as it was affecting my mental health and I often found myself experiencing anxiety.
“As someone who led a large part of their life with undiagnosed ADHD, I’d say that I always felt like I thrived in ‘creative chaos’. I felt safer when things were busy and I needed to switch my attention quite often.”
How do you stay focused and productive in a world of distractions?
As someone who led a large part of their life with undiagnosed ADHD, I’d say that I always felt like I thrived in ‘creative chaos’. I felt safer when things were busy and I needed to switch my attention quite often.
I use a lot of hacks to trick my brain into being more focused. This can include having visual prompts like whiteboards, colourful calendars, and a large desk pad I can doodle on. I also love using a time-tracking app to help me see where my time is going.
Above all, I’d say the best way I stay focused is by surrounding myself with people who are different to me. We recently realised that my whole team lean towards an ‘organised’ personality profile, whilst I’m much more on the imaginative and chaotic end of the spectrum. By working with colleagues who have complementary skills to mine, we’re able to get more things accomplished!
If you had the power to change the world, what would you change?
Poverty. I’ve experienced very wealthy times in my life, and also times where things have been really difficult. I’ll always remember those Christmases the most because I felt deeply grateful for the small and thoughtful items wrapped under the tree.
I find it deeply upsetting to see so many people struggling with poverty across the world. Even though we’re living in a first-world country in the UK, there are children here who are going hungry every day and parents who are skipping meals so they can feed their children.
I think we all have a duty to think about how we can do more with less.
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