Hello and welcome to your seasonal guide at Oh Yeah.

I’m so glad you’ve made some time to explore new possibilities for yourself. It can be tough to get a moment of peace, so just turning up and committing to this space for your sense of self is big in itself, especially if you’ve found yourself in one of the earlier ‘Meh’ seasons, struggling to get clarity on your way forward. So thank you for being here.

The intention of Oh Yeah is to create valuable access to gems of life knowledge in a world that can overwhelm you with choice. Oh Yeah was really designed to cut through all that, offering clarity, stability, and flexibility for you to gently explore and begin shaping your future.

Oh Yeah was also about sharing the ‘how to’ and collective wisdom with as many people as possible, not just those in certain privileged settings where valuable, expensive resources were more readily available, often through their day jobs.

I’ve had a wonderfully varied and rewarding career over the last three decades, learning and discovering so many valuable gems in the creative and corporate fields and wanted to pay it forward - and Oh Yeah, in some ways, is my calling to do that.

Although I have the confidence to share insights gained from my zig-zag path in life/career, there is no way I would have predicted becoming the founder of Oh Yeah and creating a shared mission to support others in life/career transitions. In fact, no one would have foreseen this journey from the distinctly suburban environment I grew up in, where there was nothing of note, no remarkable features. But this background, this landscape, unwittingly shaped much of my values early on in its raw state. And knowing some of this context will help warm up your reflection period before you dive into the seasonal guide itself.

Where I’m coming from

My upbringing was on the borders of London and Essex (Zone 4 tube fans), and my days were filled with routine from a young age. It had all the disciplinary hallmarks of being parented by a tiger mum, with dad running a much-loved local Chinese restaurant. But the feeling of suburban flatness followed me everywhere, all the way through my teenage years in high school. As I reached my teens and became more independent, I felt a growing separation between myself and what was seen as the social norm in my neighbourhood: Girls going out to the clubs in Essex wearing matching cream suits, silk tops and heels. Having dates at Pizza Bella in South Woodford, getting their driving licenses, gifted with Ford Escorts from their dads or nice watches to flash. I was in such close proximity to their experiences, but I never felt I should conform to those suburban norms. And although I remain thankful for that, I didn’t know where I actually belonged or what my identity was. What I did know, straight out, was that the mainstream cues for success and status weren’t mine. All I felt was a strong urge to get out. To get into the centre of things, to London, where culture and fashion was being built, where it grew, thrived, glistened. I’d go to my local newsagent to get Time Out magazine every week, learning from each page, stacking them into piles of cultural references and inspiration for years. I’d listen and tape Gilles Peterson on Kiss 100, pore over copies of Straight No Chaser desperately trying to learn the most obscure of music artists. Every Thursday, I’d feverishly watch 01-For London, a late night arts magazine show from the capital, where I’d devour conversations of experimentation. This was my personal haven, a sanctuary quietly building in my head. Looking back and remembering all those feelings, it was my way of creating hope, knowing - trusting - that there was something was better beyond Zone 4. And it was a paper tube ticket for the Central Line which was my golden pass to get there…

Getting started

It was around 1996, at secondary school, when I wrote a letter for work experience at Kiss FM, the radio station which just got its legal license from their more manic pirate days broadcasting from the tower blocks in south-west London. I got lucky. This was pre-internet days where people bothered to open and respond to letters. A few weeks later, I received an offer of two weeks’ work experience at their HQ in north London. The placement was such an incredible experience, and I loved seeing behind the scenes of radio, but more than anything being at the heart of something so vibrant and live. It was unlike anything else. Thankfully, they were happy for me to return for another placement after my A-Levels and this turned out to be the start of a 25-year radio career, working my way up from assistant producer shifts. All the mistakes, late nights, dead air and weekend shifts came in over the next few years, creating their own kind of learning alongside my time at university in south London, at Goldsmiths.

By the time I left uni, I already had 3 years under my belt of producing live radio shows. Then, the first summer after graduating, the Media Guardian (R.I.P) had an advert for a couple of full-time entertainment news producers at Unique the Production company. 500 applicants went for it and I was offered one of the roles. I couldn't believe it. Though that daily commute from Zone 4 (east) to Zone 1 Edgware Road (west) almost broke me. But it didn’t matter, because that office, that newsroom, that 8.30am start was where my real education began. When dad asked me how my first week was, on his way out to open up the restaurant, I simply responded ‘I’m so tired!’. He laughed, saying, ‘What did you expect? That’s work!’ as he bounced out of the house, leaving his words ringing in my ears, and me crumpled on the bed with exhaustion.

Where we’re going

So why does this context all matter? Well, I wanted to capture that feeling and journey which feels just as keen to me now as it did three decades ago - but the two real points pertinent to you and your own journey:

Firstly, that high school feeling that ‘there must be more’:

If we don’t recognise what has fuelled us in the past to move forward, to seek something new, to remember that deep need for something that is true to ourselves, then we cannot move forward. The experience I had in my younger years, shaped the way my brain had to flex in order to shift things, with meaning and real intent, on to a different path.

Secondly, that job that I got through the Media Guardian? I voluntarily left that role two years later, aged 24 to go freelance.

This was the era of flat-sharing with 5 other girls, spending an inordinate amount of time in an internet cafe in Finsbury Park, emailing various BBC radio stations hoping they’d commission my documentary ideas. To be honest, I was skint for a while. But I still trusted, instinctively, that it was the right decision to quit, even though it seemed mad from the outside that I’d left a full-time job I scored straight out of uni. But here’s my second point: transitioning out of a full-time gig led me to become laser-focused, building the skills I needed to become a successful freelancer. Looking back, it was a case of holding my nerve, despite all the fear. And that, specifically, was the beginning of developing my craft and intuition combined; figuring out at several points what different work choices could serve me well and helping me to acquire new skills towards the life I wanted, within a timeline that was both realistic, unpressurised and exciting. That’s the real context and what’s led me to set up Oh Yeah.

So in turn, I hope the seasonal guide and tool kit, with all the life/work experience I’m sharing with you and expert advice from a whole crew of good folks, helps you to figure out your way forward, building your mentality and the agility that’s needed to go with it. Oh Yeah aims to combine intuitive, practical tools with a ‘can do’ approach to your career and life. To shift you from self-doubt to an inner trust, grounded and anchored in your own individual values, not someone else’s performance KPIs. But more than anything, I want to remind you, that by signing up and turning up here, you’ve already given yourself permission to explore, to start exploring and understanding all your internal signals, stumbling forward but venturing beyond and through life’s seasons of change. This guide is inviting you to pause and reflect, to help you build more awareness and playfulness before you take action. The toolkit is here to create clarity through a more holistic approach to life/career choices, to create space for good energy, so that you can fill your cup with new ideas and tactics.

By sharing you my approach and conversations with the most wonderful crew of people, I hope we can uplift and take you to your own lightbulb moment. That’s the overall mission of Oh Yeah…to lead you back to what you value and help you to move forward in a meaningful way.

Enjoy creating that space for yourself, knowing that you deserve to explore it all on your own terms.

Kat x

The Oh Yeah Juice