Kirsty’s journey to becoming the co-founder of Be Bold Be You
“As she moved out of the family home, for the first time, she left her West Yorkshire house for the South. This feisty, Northern, bold red head was known to answer back, ask questions and wiggle her way in to meetings where she couldn’t resist but join in on whatever was being debated. On arriving in her new city, she broke down in tears and had a paddy: the university digs were a dire shade of dirty pink and there was only one shower between six. The curtains were a dark green and the jazzy pattern looked like they’d been ripped off the seats of the student bus. Even the ceiling light seemed to cry a mucky yellowy gloom across the situation she found herself in: not only was it one shower between six, but between six girls. This was a far cry from the back stage theatre life style she had worked in… Becoming one of the lads “crew”, dressed in a black t-shirt, black trousers and steelies, sneaking off for (half) a pint before the shows started.
The girl mentioned above was last seen well over ten years ago. I’ll be honest, some battle scars were already there and I don’t think will ever go. However, they have now been joined by many more experiences. There’s some obvious milestones – graduated, got married, had kids etc. Some scars I wear with a smug, rather humorous, pride; like the extra bone in my left foot from when it split in two but I didn’t realise soon enough for a cast to be put on! There are other scars, which I’d prefer not to be burdened with including the cellulite, acne, saggy boobs, and don’t get me started on the stretch marks on my thighs and tummy…
My pride can sometimes be buried under a stone and a half of extra weight that I should really lose but five years later, seem to still be hugging my hips. Luckily, though, I am a fan of a hug and I’m a huge believer in self worth.
Let’s be honest we can all be guilty of burying our confidence underneath a list, possibly similar to the above, along with many other anxieties… Be Bold Be You invites you ditch the list and use photography to indulge in the feelings of self confidence, belief and worth.
Yes, you really do look that good; yes that really is you and YES – you do deserve it. So the next wobbly day you have, whether it physically or mentally, invest some time in to enjoying your photographs and the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with it… I bet you smile, too.
This is the longer story!
Yes, I am now that co-owner of the Boudoir Studio on Spanker Lane, near Belper in Derbyshire! It’s not a goal you think to have, when asked by the careers advisor at school (all those years ago), however this is where you will find us today and I’m rather proud of what we, my husband James & I, have achieved.
I landed my “dream job” of working in the theatre at the age of 16. I really did think I’d won the jackpot when I received the phone call offering me the role of “box office assistant” all those years ago. I had no hesitation in handing in my notice at the pub which I begrudgingly worked at every weekend and finishing my last shift with a victory dance on their entrance porch, as I left. The dream job lasted, from memory, around 12 months. The Box Office Manager and I didn’t see eye to eye and he won the fight to have me “suspended” for the summer for something which, to this day, I’m still not sure what it was (oh, and accidentally overcharging someone by adding an extra digit on the card machine)! However - I had the bug. That was it. I wasn’t going back to that oppressive man, and it’s board of corrupt trustees - I was determined to succeed. I used my college’s work experience programme to move to a much bigger theatre where I spent two weeks working backstage on the UK tour of “Blood Brothers” with one of the Nolan sister’s as the lead (don’t ask me which one… I didn’t even know there were multiple of them until a few years later!). I also met “a boy” who I will be forever grateful to as he really did allow me to indulge my love of theatre and put me in contact with other theatres in the area, as well as national touring companies. A personal highlight of mine is when I, naively, went home, so proud, one evening to my dad who I went on to tell that I’d “made it” and been accepted into the theatre by being allowed “in” Rockie’s bed, from the Rocky Horror Show, and my name will be inscribed, forever, on the back of it. Once I’d explained who Rocky was, and that his bed was in fact a vertical prop that you stood in before being wheeled onto the stage, he smiled and replied “well done, darling!”.
Despite feeling bloody lucky to have been allowed into theatres across Yorkshire, and work on national touring shows, something wasn’t being “fulfilled” for me. Having grown up with full-time secondary school teaching parents my school-runs had been fulfilled by “Pat”, a local childminder and foster carer. I’d grown up with foster children throughout my time at primary school and met many from all sorts of backgrounds and stories - some OK, and some not so much. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, this upbringing really set me up for life. I was quite used to being dropped off and Pat introducing me to a kid that had arrived over night… At the time I didn’t notice that sometimes these kids had black eyes or cigarette burn marks on their limbs - they were just someone to have breakfast with and, most of the time, push in the pram.
Yup, we really were that youthful, once! James and I somewhere in the uni days
I wanted something to infuse both my interest in people and love of the theatre and was accepted by the University of Derby, on the only course in the country, dedicated to teaching you how to become an arts practitioner: Creative Expressive Therapies. Despite the lack of showers, and the jazzy bus fabric curtains mentioned earlier, I adored this course and my time at university. It was diverse in its teaching and allowed you to follow personal interests… Despite being three marks of a 1st, I absolutely loved it. I learnt about people psychology and how to use the arts as a tool to unlock an individual’s potential in many different walks of life (school pupils, store managers, palliative care, the list goes on!).
My student lifestyle was funded by the, then, Derby Playhouse and my student placements saw me work in schools with children’s from many walks of life in many different areas of Derbyshire. It’s also where I met James who you will know as the other co-founder of #BBBY, owner of Studio1825 and my husband.
Straight out of university, I landed a job at Chatsworth House as Family Entertainments Coordinator and, once again, loved the role and felt very privileged to be able to call the estate my place of work. I then went on to form my own company, providing drama based workshops for educational settings. Once again, I fell in love with my job - it gave a freedom for me and a service to others that they wanted to receive. I loved working with children of all ages, in schools, and the use of drama meant my approaches were a lot more versatile and was accepted by many - including those who were classed as “hard work” and, most of the time, were just bored because they learnt in a different way that mainstream education didn’t always cater for. However this part of my career was short-lived as I fell pregnant with mine and James’ first daughter, got married and then the coalition government came in and cut a hell of a lot of funding for arts in education. James and I decided to put all of our eggs in one basket and transfer both of our efforts into his highstreet business.
Over the years on the highstreet, James & I were amazed to see how much our professional backgrounds complimented each other. The therapeutic value of the arts was, mostly unintentionally, seeked for by the public. The public knew they wanted a photoshoot, but wouldn’t always know why. James had learnt, over his years working in other studios, that it was normally due to a milestone that a family would want to be acknowledged and celebrated: A grandparents milestone birthday, for example… A new baby being born or a family wanting to capture multiple generations together. However, there was an even bigger “reason” from the modelling side of the business. These were normally much more personal reasons that needed time, rather than a memory of happiness in a photography studio. A “this is me” moment. Reasons including surviving an illness; household break ups; relationship changes including divorce or even domestic abuse. People had a basic human need to want to start “fresh” and a photoshoot seemed to be the start of that journey for so many. I could go into the theories of the therapeutic values and the alliances linked to this but this may be a blog post for another day…
Mobile snap of our three girls when our eldest was in remission from ITP and on a trip to Granny & Grandpa’s
With three children to think of, a lot of hospital visits for our eldest and far too many overheads to think about, we agreed that we didn’t want the pressures of a highstreet business, anymore. It took over two years, but we wound that business down and closed its doors, for good, in September 2019. This was an amazing decision, for us. Our family came first. We moved house and bought a run-down barn and, despite many, many obstacles, converted it into what you see today.
We all have a “this is me” moment - lots choose to celebrate this with a photoshoot. We are so, incredibly, lucky to have been able to shut the highstreet down and create “our moment” through the studio you now see today. Despite the odds (a cowboy builder, a rare long eared bat, two floods and a worldwide health pandemic) we’ve not only been able to open a photography studio that allows us to provide the service we want to provide and think our clients deserve - we’ve also been able to create a truly unique experience, through Be Bold Be You, that neither of us think would be alive in the way that it is, without, to quote James, “his camera and her books.” EVEN BETTER, we get to do it with our three children near by and a much, much healthier eldest daughter.
If you’ve managed to read this far, thanks for listening. Welcome to #beboldbeyou. I’m thrilled you’ve joined us. -Kirsty
