Creativebrief: You’re interviewing Mary Portas about what it means to Work Like A Woman. Having worked in male dominated industries what tips can you pass on, and how will you be implementing these into your new venture Peanut & Crumb?

Katie Derham: To be fair the media, even when I started in the early 90's wasn't what I'd call male dominated. I have had some fabulous female bosses and senior colleagues and have only VERY occasionally felt that I was held back in my career because of my gender. The newsroom wasn't always kind to parents and work life balance but that affected dads as well as mums. Having said that, recent revelations about gender pay inequity don't come as an enormous shock and the advice for any young woman starting out would be to ALWAYS query a pay offer and have confidence that you have won the job on merit.

As an employer now at Peanut & Crumb, and as a company that regularly contracts freelancers, I think we have a responsibility to make sure our terms and conditions are fair, transparent and equal. If we see that a female cameraperson's rate is less than a similarly experienced male colleague’s, we shouldn't just leap to make a cost saving, but let the female freelancer know that they could be asking more. For us at Peanut & Crumb though, it goes way beyond gender equity. We want to create a culture, within what can be a pretty brutal and short-termist industry, that is approachable, fair, fast paying and values long term working relationships. We should all love our work and our colleagues, right? 

Creativebrief: What’s the biggest challenge we face when transforming insights into action?

Katie Derham: Persistence! Patience. And making sure it doesn't slip down the "to do" list. 

Creativebrief: What keeps you curious?

Katie Derham: I'm kept curious by the fact I'm meeting new people, brands and companies all the time. I find it endlessly fascinating. My life is one constant "through the round or square window" - that dates me! Discovering what REALLY goes on behind the scenes, and what makes companies or institutions tick. There's always a good story, and it's our job to find it and tell it well.