Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Hat?
Hi there!
My name is Heather, but my friends call me Hat.
I’m an artist, storyteller, songwriter… and creator of the illustrated book, “How Heather got her HAT’ness back”. I’m really passionate about a whole bunch of things… but, if I had to list some of the themes that resonate with my core values, it’s these:
- BE YOU! Be YOU! Be YOU!!!
- If you still don’t know who “you” are… (or if you’ve forgotten – as many people have)… I can help you re-find your YOU’ness!
- I am a Lover of Diversity. I don’t want people to be more like ME… I want people to be more like themselves!
- As Shakespeare said, “Expectation is the root of all heartache”. Liberate yourself from burdensome, draining expectations placed upon your life by all kinds of well-meaning people (including yourself).
- Life is short and precious. There’s SO much more to life than ‘surviving’, ‘existing’, ‘getting-by’ and ‘making-do’. Enough of the hoop-jumping, brown-nosing, people-pleasing and trying so desperately hard to “fit-in” and “be-liked”. Just be YOU… weaknesses, oddities, quirks, madness, MUCH’ness and all! It’s deliciously liberating! 🙂
- EVERYONE is talented. EVERYONE has strengths. EVERYONE has something of value to offer the world in the unique way that only *they* can offer it.
I guess, in a nutshell – this is my little Hattish message to the world:
- Embrace your beautiful, messy unique’ness!
- Free yourself from burdensome expectations and learn to love yourself – exactly as you are.
- Celebrate your talents and your strengths!
- Live deliberately and do the stuff you love – the stuff that excites you.
- Live the example – and be brave with your life… so that others can be brave with theirs.
So, Hat... what do you DO?
- I write and illustrate books.
- I create messy art journals (lots and lots of ’em)…
- I host art-journal-making workshops.
- I write rhyming poems.
- I blog.
- I write, compose and sing songs (and I enjoy creating interesting vocal harmonies & arrangements).
- I conceptualise musical theatre productions.
- I give poetry readings (complete with props and slides).
- I tell stories and create unique experiences for tribe’sters.
- I chat to girls about self-esteem, eating disorders & body-positive stuff.
- I work with my husband on film-scripts and movie stuff (he’s a filmmaker).
- I host creative workshops – and demonstrate how art has a powerful role to play in everyone’s lives and emotional wellbeing (not just “artists”).
- I speak at events.
- I travel as much as my budget can possibly allow… (preferably with my family).
Professional dreams include: TED talks… quirky, independent films… musical theatre productions… more books / zines / online Hattish courses / crazy-irreverent-stationery & goodies… and some kind of kickass management / publishing / agency / whatever… to manage the lot – so I can just CREATE and CONNECT (and not market, manage, administrate or sell)…!!
Also…
- I’m wife to Nick…
- Mom to Morgan & Joah…
- Semi-nomadic dual-citizen (South African & British)… with home-base in Joburg which we rent out on Air BnB when we’re in nomad-mode…
And... what can't you do?
- Sales, marketing… or any kind of selling.
- Asking… pitching… brown-nosing – of any kind. And especially (cringe! cringe!)… trying to sell or pitch my own work!
- Admin. All admin. Anything even remotely smacking of admin.
- Getting organised. Staying organised.
- Neatness.
- Hosting (I like having people in my home – and especially tribe’sters… however, guests will probably find that I’ve run out of milk, forgotten to buy loo paper… and I will usually forget to feed them or offer refreshments. Guests will need to fend for themselves in our home. I’m a useless hostess. This is not an exaggeration).
- Small talk. I really suck at small talk. I find it excruciating.
- Money-management. Money-anything.
- Cooking. I enjoy eating – but not cooking. Never cooking. (I do, however, have a deep respect for foodies. Deep, unwavering respect for the Kitchen Geniuses who churn out edible masterpieces. In my ideal world – I would have my very own foodie… who works for our family… and churns out edible masterpieces – just for us. Even better if they also buy the groceries).
- Shopping. Loathe it. Especially grocery shopping. Especially grocery shopping at malls!
- Managing people.
- Conflict. Hate it, hate it, hate it… will go to great lengths to avoid it.