Join your host, Ashleigh King, as she welcomes Kim McDermottroe, an exceptionally talented Teesside-based creative director, costume and puppet designer, illustrator, and TEDx speaker, for a deeply moving exploration of the neurodivergent imagination.

Carving out a thriving 23-year creative career from her home town of Billingham, Kim lives and breathes the tactile world of character design. In this beautifully raw conversation, Kim brings her studio creations directly into the hot seat, introducing us to stop-motion puppets born out of lockdown isolation.

Themes of this conversation:

• 🌵 The Executive "Waiting Zone" Exploring that heavy state of mental paralysis where a single afternoon appointment can consume an entire day's productivity.
• 🌵 Carving a Creative Career in Teesside Why Kim proudly chose to stay a "smoggy" and invest her talents locally, contributing to Middlesbrough and Redcar parades, regional festivals, and the changing cultural narrative of the North East.
• 🌵 From Sketchbook to Stop-Motion Reality The artistic journey behind her studio characters, including "Lockie" (the anthropomorphic lockdown Easter hare with a permanent plague mask) and how an Arts Council DYCP grant transformed her creative practice.
• 🌵 Owning Your "A-Game" Moving past the car-side tears and post-meeting shame spirals of blurting out eccentric thoughts (like spotting imaginary penguins on roofs) to embrace them as the core source of your ideas.
• 🌵 Living with Pareidolia & Sensory Processing How Kim hyper-focuses on faces in ordinary objects like cactuses or bus railings, and why certain spoken English and French words physically feel too unbearable to pronounce.
• 🌵 A Late Diagnosis as a Cozy Blanket The profound relief of discovering her autism seven years ago, transitioning from feeling like her brain was actively trying to sabotage her to understanding it was always doing its best

Chapters

00:00 Pre-Appointment Paralysis: Navigating the Executive "Waiting Zone"

03:58 Proud Smoggy: Carving a 23-Year Creative Career in Teesside

06:10 Subconscious Proclamations & Teaching Puppet Making in Primary School

08:36 The Unique Cake Analogy: Harnessing Your Unique Selling Point

09:57 Riverside Festivals & Rewriting the Narrative of Growing Up in Middlesbrough

13:08 Finding Inspiration in Guillermo del Toro, Jim Henson, and Character Design

16:54 Meet the Studio Puppets: The Anatomy of Lockie, Toadstool, and Piper

22:52 Paperwork Accountability: Securing an Arts Council England DYCP Grant

25:22 Why Stop-Motion Animation Needs 3D Tactile Familiarity

27:34 Swapping the Red Circle for Green: Access Needs are Not Preferences

31:00 The Reality of Meeting Anxiety: Processing "Penguins on the Roofs"

35:04 Support Systems for Autistic Meltdowns and decision Fatigue

45:36 Opening Doors for Neurodivergent Freelancers Without a Body of Work

47:58 Live Spoken Word Performance: "My Salvaged Skin"

50:29 One Word to Nurture Your Zest: Creativity

Follow Kim McDermottroe on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/greenerlavelle/ ⁠

Visit Kim’s Website:⁠ https://greenerlavelle.co.uk/ ⁠

Watch Kim’s Full TEDx Teesside Talk:⁠ https://youtu.be/4SoM0vbQ774?si=lWfzzFRgNxcm1BBu ⁠

Read "Simple Tips. Smart Ideas." by Erica Wolf-Murray: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Smart-Ideas-Erica-Wolfe-Murray/dp/1911195980

Connect with Your Host, Ashleigh King:⁠ Ashleigh King on LinkedIn⁠

This podcast was filmed at Flamingo Heights Podcast Studio. 🦩

If you would like to record a podcast or have any questions about starting a podcast please write to: 💌 bookings@flamingoheights.co.uk

www.flamingoheights.co.uk