Sam Dobie Creative Director and Co-Founder, Inclusive Creatives
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-dobie
What do you do?
With over 17 years working in the creative industries in Tasmania, I am what you’d call a multi-disciplinary creative. Starting in advertising as an Art Director, I have over the years expanded into design, writing, directing and sharing. And it’s the last item on that list that has driven me to take on roles such as lecturer, Chair of the Diemens, Tasmania’s creative industry awards, industry mentor and now Patron for Women in Print in Tasmania.
For me, having knowledge that is, at its core, a way to help people, their businesses and their companies, is not something to be kept to yourself. Collaborating and sharing is what makes good creatives become great creatives, and this extends to the industries around me, such as printing.
I have never had a project be worse off for including the entire production team as early as possible, be it printers, camera crews, photographers or suppliers. However, I have seen projects almost fail because assumptions were made early on in a project, leading to problems and compromises down the track.
Over the years, this holistic approach to creative briefs has also opened my eyes to the depth and possibilities of some industries that have, wrongly, been relegated to ‘supplier’ status. Meaning the craft and beauty of an industry is often lost or overlooked. It’s lazy, and as long as people will listen, I’ll always champion the benefits of inclusion and cross-industry collaboration.
What investments have you made in your professional career development?
Starting with a degree in Visual Communication from RMIT, over the years I have taken the opportunity to learn as much as possible in what is an ever-evolving field.
Some of these opportunities have included:
Leader Lab – Leader as Coach Professional Development
Award School – Creative Thinking Course
Foundry – UX Training
SXSW – Global Creativity, Digital and Film Conference and Festival
Assorted volunteer roles across the industry.
The biggest investment to date however has been to start our own virtual full-service creative agency, to create better accessibility and inclusion to the creative outputs for all levels of clients.
How can the industry proactively invest in women, and why should this be a priority?
This is a particularly complex and layered question to ask and answer. On one hand, I don’t like the ‘women only’ narrative or agenda, but then at the same time, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious. We have been overlooked and underestimated for the longest time.
Proactive investment should be approached as a way to get more women (along with other minorities) involved in all facets of the industry in an integrated and equal way.
That is not to say it’s about quotas or making sure it’s 50/50, that would be a very shallow and shortsighted way to approach things, it’s about having enough diversity, across the board (gender, age, race, ability, etc) so that when we are looking to build teams and appoint leaders etc we have a rich and talented pool of individuals to choose from.
The other side of that argument is why not have a place/organisation/event that is specifically designed to engage with select cohorts? We are, after all, intrinsically different to each other. Where organisations and groups who tailor to an exclusive cohort have gone wrong in the past, is when their networking and conversations have led to the exclusion of others outside of those spaces.
Ultimately I’d like to see organisations such as WIP be a safe and informed space for like-minded women, that can also offer the broader industry access to various industry opportunities and knowledge where appropriate.
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