Selling Out! - Ep 7: Mincing, Manifesting & The Brighton Box | Dan Taffs & Melanie Blackwell / Selling Out!

Selling Out! - Ep 7: Mincing, Manifesting & The Brighton Box | Dan Taffs & Melanie Blackwell / Selling Out!

Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️‍🌈 Episode 7 is an artist special, and it's an absolute joy from start to finish — paint, prosecco-adjacent chaos, and two creatives who've turned their queerness into the engine of their work rather than something to edit out. Dan Taffs (he/him, G) started out mincing meat at a Blackpool butcher's, trained in travel and tourism, and discovered his creative streak sketching buildings on key camp holidays in France. After years in hospitality, cocktail bars, and dental nursing, he's now an established artist with the Brighton Box gallery, known for bold queer typography pieces — including a best-seller that simply says "I fucking love you." His art exists for the people who, like him once, had no one else to tell them they were loved. Melanie Blackwell (she/her, L/G) trained at Byam Shaw and Central Saint Martins, lived in her studio to make it through art school, and put painting on hold for fifteen years to build a life with her wife — working everything from running a pub to qualifying as an LGBT domestic violence advisor along the way. After losing her grandmother, she returned to the easel, found her place in Brighton's open studios scene, and is now showing large-scale seascapes and skyscapes at the Brighton Box, with a solo exhibition already under her belt and a wild-swimming habit (Channel relay included) fuelling the work. Two artists who found their way back to the canvas through grief, graft, and a community that, in true Brighton fashion, simply would not let them stay hidden. This episode covers imposter syndrome, the business of art versus the romance of it, finding your tribe through open houses and creative meet-ups, and why queerness so often shows up as a refusal to accept the rules you were handed. It also features a genuinely lovely riff on art as therapy, and one of the show's better closing mantras yet. "If you can set your mind to it, your heart will follow." 🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.com Video & Audio by Always Cinematic — AlwaysCinematic.com Powered by GoSucceed® Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, art, painting, Brighton, Brighton Box, creative industries, imposter syndrome, wild swimming, grief, community, DEI, identity, podcast, Selling Out, GoSucceed Season: 1 | Episode: 7 Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Selling Out! — Ep 6: Blueprints & Being Seen | Richard Zinzan & Rachael Pigg / Selling Out!

Episode 6 is an architecture special — and a quietly brilliant one. Richard Zinzan (he/him, G) didn't take the straight route into architecture. A failed fine art application led him to the National Art Library at the V&A, where three years in the stacks gave him something a degree couldn't: time to find himself. He came to architecture school at 22, settled in Brighton in 1996, never left, and founded Archangel Architects after the 2008 crash turned redundancy into a practice. He also co-founded Outwardly Creative — the queer networking event that actually lets people talk. Rachael Pigg (she/her, B/Q) arrived via a civil engineer father, a boyfriend's architect dad, and a lifelong certainty that design is about people, not ego. Her first big project landed in Time Out. Her most lasting legacy might be a bar near Leicester Square where every urinal had a framed portrait watching over you. Two architects who've quietly queered one of the most stubbornly straight industries going — and built a practice where same-sex couples come not because they're marketed to, but because they feel safe. This episode goes deep on the construction site as a straight-jacket, being told most of the women will drop out, and why wearing your identity openly on site took decades of confidence to arrive at. There's also a beautiful thread on representation — and a delivery driver who learned a lesson from a female electrician without anyone saying a word. "Being queer is a superpower. It makes you think in a different way — because the world isn't laid out for you." 🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.com Video & Audio by Always Cinematic — alwayscinematic.com Powered by GoSucceed® Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, architecture, design, built environment, Brighton, Outwardly Creative, gender, women in construction, identity, representation, networking, Selling Out, GoSucceed Season: 1 | Episode: 6 Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Selling Out! — Ep 5: Shutter Speed and Chosen Family | Nick Ford & Michael Cheatham / Selling Out!

Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️‍🌈 Episode 5 is warm, funny, and quietly profound — and features one of the most unexpectedly moving answers we've had to our closing question yet. Nick Ford (he/him, G) was born in Brighton — one of the rare ones who didn't just wash up here. He cold-called his way through his teens as Sharon from Sales (a persona so convincing, men flirted their way into double glazing appointments), photographed passengers on cruise ships around the world, and eventually got his name on a studio door on Oxford Street in Brighton — the one everyone knows but no one can name. He's been shooting professionally for nearly 20 years, has a photography A-level he somehow got through without writing a single essay, and will tell you, with great patience, why your forehead is not as big as you think it is. Michael Cheatham (he/him, G) studied architecture, started moonlighting as a photographer after Argos, and landed a client early in his career who kept him busy for over 150 events across Mayfair and Victoria. He went solo in 2017, opened Embassy Studios near Brighton station 15 months ago, and runs a creative hub that's home to marketers, social media managers, and a genuine community of like-minded people. His wedding brand, Amity — from the word for friendship — says everything about how he works. Two people who've built their businesses on patience, craft, and the radical idea that you're not just there to take the picture — you're there to hold the flowers, sew the button back on the dress, and make the whole day feel looked after. This episode goes deep on the death of film, the rise of AI in creative work, the politics of perceived value, racism in the industry, and why getting a studio with bricks and mortar is sometimes the only way people will take you seriously. It also features a genuinely beautiful answer about chosen family, and what it actually means to find your people. "My queer friends have had a lot of painful journeys. But as a result of having them around, my life is so much richer." Powered by GoSucceed® 🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.com Video & Audio by Always Cinematic — AlwaysCinematic.com Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, photography, creative industries, Brighton, wedding photography, AI, film photography, chosen family, DEI, racism, identity, podcast, Selling Out!, GoSucceed Season: 1 | Episode: 5 Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Selling Out! — Ep 4: Keys, Mortgages & the Gay in the Village | Sam Murphy & Pip Newton-John

Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️‍🌈 Episode 4 is our Property Special — and it turns out bricks, mortar and mortgages have a lot more to say about queerness than you might think. Sam Murphy (he/him, G) started out in the world of work by fibbing about his age to get a job in the local fish and chip shop in Horsham, got the sack then was re-hired when he was old enough to batter a sausage. A stint at the Woolwich Building Society led to a career in financial services, and when he spotted a bad boss and a brewing credit crunch in 2007, he and two colleagues jumped ship and built something better. Today he runs *Mortgage Medics*, now eleven strong, alongside *Wilbury Wealth* — a financial planning brand covering mortgages, pensions, investments and holistic wealth planning for clients at every stage of life, including the growing number of same-sex couples and non-traditional families who want someone who actually gets their world. Pip Newton-John (she/her, L) — yes, that Newton-John, Olivia was her dad's first cousin — came out of a performing arts degree at Winchester, scanned the newspaper for jobs like everyone did in 2005, and ended up falling in love with property. After stints in Winchester and Brighton, she joined her best friend Lucy at *Lawton & Dawe*, the Brighton-based estate agency and lettings firm Lucy founded 16 years ago. Nine women strong, trading standards regulated, and the only agency in East Sussex with that accreditation. Their block management arm, *Property Fusion*, manages blocks from Birmingham to the Isle of Wight to Devon. Two people who built careers in industries that weren't built for them — and quietly changed the culture from the inside anyway. This episode covers coming out in the workplace, blue and pink mortgage application forms (yes, really, in 2002), the case for kindness as a genuine business strategy, why small business is a speedboat and a corporation is a tanker, and what it really means to be part of someone's story when they buy or sell a home. "Be brave. Be kind. And don't worry what other people think — they really don't care as much as you think they do." 🎙️ Sponsored by *Legends Brighton* — legendsresortbrighton.com — and *Mortgage Medics* — mortgage-medics.com Powered by GoSucceed.co.uk Video & Audio by Always Cinematic -AlwaysCinematic.com Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, property, mortgages, estate agency, financial planning, Brighton, coming out, workplace, small business, Selling Out, GoSucceed Season: 1 | Episode: 4 Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Selling Out! — Ep 3: Labels, Laughs & Loud Marketing | Sarah Archer & Alex Ryan

Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms straight jackets not included. 🏳️‍🌈 Episode 3 is a riot and also one of our most honest conversations yet. Sarah Archer (she/her, G) spent years thinking she was straight, got married, had a daughter, moved to Germany three days before her 21st birthday, climbed to HR Director and then, during pregnancy, everything shifted. She came out into a workplace that gave her a pay rise. She’s since retrained as a stand-up comedian, written two books, toured her own theatre show celebrating forgotten Victorian drag king superstars, and built a speaking business that coaches experts to create talks that sell without anyone feeling pitched to. Her podcast The Speaking Club is in the top 1% globally. Alex Ryan (he/him, Q) sold torn-out pages from a porn magazine at primary school for 20p a pop. He’s come a long way — via DJing, bar work, a head of marketing role at a £60 million business, and a pandemic side hustle that became Marketing 101, his Brighton-based agency now six years strong. He’s also chair of Gaydio Brighton, spent a decade as voluntary production director of National Student Pride, and recently launched Vermouth, Actually a handcrafted vermouth made at Devil’s Dyke Distillery that sold 50 bottles off a single LinkedIn post. Two people who’ve had a smoother ride than most but who’ve both channelled that privilege into fighting for the people who haven’t. This episode goes deep on identity, labels, DEI under fire, and the trans community under attack. It also features a genuinely beautiful argument for why queerness is a superpower and one of the best closing lines we’ve had on the show. “Queerness is not unique to the human species. But homophobia is.” 🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.com Video & Audio by Always Cinematic -AlwaysCinematic.com Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, marketing, public speaking, comedy, DEI, diversity and inclusion, trans rights, labels, identity, Brighton, vermouth, podcast, Selling Out, GoSucceed Season: 1 | Episode: 3 Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.