Amelia Dimoldenberg, also known as the CEO of Chicken Shop Date, revealed in a talk held at New Blood Festival organized by D&AD her 5 rules to help those who are starting their career in the creative industries.

If you haven’t heard of the Chicken Shop Date already, then you should know it’s Amelia’s YouTube channel where she posts videos of herself going on embarrassing dates in chicken shops with grime artists and other popular figures from UK’s music scene. She “dated” (or interviewed) on her channnel celebrities such as Maya Jama, Big Narstie and Chabuddy G, a fictional character very much loved by Britain.

What makes her channel unique is her rather awkward personality mixed with her ironic sense of humor, both of which came across evidently even in her talk entitled “How I turned my side project at uni into a career?”. This extraordinary combination renders her content hilarious and very relatable to everyone who went on a date that didn’t go too well.
The Chicken Shop Date started for Dimoldenberg as a side project she did during her Fashion Journalism course from Central St. Martin, only she turned it into a career. Her YouTube channel helped her start collaborations with big companies such as Channel 4 and Nike.
Here are Amelia’s golden rules to develop your creative career:
#1. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
When Amelia started working as a journalist for a magazine, she met other creative people with all sorts of different skills. And she made the courage to ask them to help her create her dream project – a satirical form of journalism. So her channel is the result of her work, but also other people’s abilities. She warned, however, that you have to be mindful and not demand too much of your connections. This leads us to the next rule.

#2. Be respectful of others
Amelia said she wouldn’t have been able to realize her project without her connections. But you have to understand that they too have a life of their own, that they have their own work to focus on, and you have to be respectful of that. If you respect this rule, you are likely to gain your collaborators trust and loyalty.
#3. Persevere
Being rejected or not getting any replies can be very disheartening, to the point where you just want to give up. Don’t do it if it’s your dream career. You have to realize it is a long journey and being persistent is a quality you will need to hang on to if you want to make that journey worthwhile. Take Amelia for example. It took her around 2 years until she was able to secure interviews with high-profile artists. She emailed a lot of people, and sometimes she didn’t get anything back. When this happens, she suggests following up with people without being too insistent. One of her emails landed her video on LadBible’s page, which helped her channel grow enormously.
#4. Strive to be different
Dimoldenberg said the first comments she received on her videos were something along the lines “Why am I watching this? What is this?”. But that didn’t discourage her. On the contrary, those comments confirmed what she already knew. That what she was doing was something different, and that was going to set her apart from other YouTubers.
#5. Work on your own projects
If you want to start a career in the creative industries a CV and a cover letter won’t do it. You need something that will show your skills and your initiative. The motto here is: show it, don’t say it. That’s why Amelia recommends working on a side project that will showcase your abilities as well as the fact that you have initiative, that you are a can-doer.
If you want to subscribe to Amelia’s YouTube channel you can do so by clicking here. You might see her one day interviewing Drake, or at least she hopes so. Fingers crossed for her!