BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

Last month, Hyper Island held a Master Class for She Creatives. Participants from Portugal, United Kingdom, USA and Sweden gathered in Karlskrona for the 5-day intensive course.
The She Creatives course is a collaboration between Hyper Island, highly acclaimed Scandinavian network of professional female creatives She Creatives of Sweden and U.K. based network She Says.

Karin Ernerot, Creative Director at Tewonder and Jessica Olander, Art Director at Söderhavet, initiated She Creatives of Sweden in the fall of 2007, aiming to strengthen the network relationships between female creatives in the advertising, web and film industries.
More information about She Creatives of Sweden in Swedish / Google Translate.

We caught up with Karin, who also participated in the course, to find out more about the history of the course and why she recommends female creatives to sign up for future Master Classes for She Creatives:

What made you decide to set up the course with Hyper Island?
It started as a suggestion from Hyper Island CEO Mattias Hansson, to arrange a Master Class for She Creatives. We had to think about it for a while, if it was a good idea or not. When She Says from London joined, we decided to say Go.

Photo by Jessica Olander
The She Creatives course attendees came from Portugal, New York, London and Stockholm - what knowledge did you gain from learning more about each others' different cultural and professional experiences?
Since we all work with global media, we have a lot of experiences and references that are the same. We are all senior creatives and powerful women☺. But we could spot some differences, for example in salary. In Portugal women earn half as much as men in the same positions.

Was there anything that surprised you during the course?
When we were planning the course, both Jessica Olander and I were a bit stressed because we didn’t get any schedule or plan for the Master Class. A week before we attended we started to get the picture. Every day in Karlskrona the structure evolved. When the course was over, we found it very structured and well planed. Personally, I was glad that I couldn’t foresee every next step on the way, it’s was part of the process.

On the She Creatives blog, you write that the attendees grew together as a group, what aspects helped make that happen?
During the first day we had some workshops that made us open up, work as a team and get closer.

What's your response to those who have criticized the course, saying it's discriminates?
When we started She Creatives some people got provoked and threw all kinds of crappy comments at us. But that kind of reactions just makes us more convinced that networks like ours are extremely important.

Why do you recommend other creatives to apply to future She Creative courses?
To explore group dynamics, network with other creatives from all over the world, get a boost of energy and take time to reflect over your situation and interactive media. For me as a Creative Director, it was great to bring a new set of creative tools back to Tewonder.

Thank you, Karin!


As there is a lack of female creatives within the mentioned industries, Hyper Island decided to subsidize the She Creatives course fee to support the female creatives in our network in every way possible.
Find out more about the Hyper Island Master Class for She Creatives.