Pioneers: Sachini Imbuldeniya

What does your work involve? 

I’m a multi award-winning Executive Creative Director with two decades of cross-platform experience working for a variety of clients including The Sunday Times Magazine, GQ, Gucci, British Airways, Samsung, Google, Cartier, Audi and Harrods. 

I’m also a huge advocate for making this industry a much more inclusive place and I founded an artist agency that only represents exceptional talent from the four most underrepresented groups in the UK creative sector: women, people of colour, people living with disabilities and people from working-class backgrounds.

I’ve always loved being creative, but my Sri Lankan heritage meant that I felt forced to pursue a career in science so that I could get what was deemed as a ‘normal and acceptable job’.

I was incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful A-level tutor however, who recognised both my passion and potential and went out of his way to help me get onto an Art Foundation course despite me not having any prior qualifications. I ultimately owe my career to him, because without his belief in me I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today.

What inspires you?

My biggest inspiration has to be my mum. She came to the UK to work for the NHS in the 60s after a call-out for overseas nurses. She raised me, my brother and my sister on her own while working full-time and sending money to care for her younger siblings in Sri Lanka. Her work ethic, her attitude to getting on with difficult jobs, and her generosity and commitment to caring for others never fails to inspire me. She’s my absolute hero.

What message would you give to the next generation? 

Don’t feel like you need to adapt to society’s norms and conventions and don’t allow anything or anyone to hold you back from achieving the things that you want in life. Always be unapologetically you and back yourself.

I am very fortunate to have a career that I love, but if I had listened to the masses in my teens I’m pretty certain that I would have ended up in an industry that I hated. My mum would definitely describe me as the rebellious child in her pack but I’ve never seen that as a negative. And when things haven’t quite worked out, I’ve always lived by Samuel Beckett’s mantra: ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’

I’m one of those weird people who looks forward to Monday mornings and that’s because I live and breathe what I do. Work should never feel like work – it should feel like an extension of yourself and the things that you enjoy. Once you’ve got to that point, you’ve nailed it.