Anjali Gajera Patel has lived multiple creative lives across India, the UK and now San Francisco, where she is Director of Product Design at Ancestry. Her story spans advertising, freelancing during a global recession, self-taught UX, major in-house roles at Clorox, GAP and Kodak, and the cross-continental journey that eventually led her to one of the most loved consumer brands in the world.

In this episode, Anjali joins Adam for a warm, honest and deeply human conversation about finding strength through shifting careers, immigration, recession, personal loss and the rapid pace of the tech industry. She shares how she moved from visual comms into product design, why she kept designing for free during the 2008 crash, and how she eventually built the experience and confidence that took her into global product teams.

Anjali talks about the joy of creating products that genuinely improve people’s lives, the responsibility designers have when navigating business needs and dark patterns, and the moment she realised she needed to stop fighting for an advertising dream that wasn’t hers anymore. She also reflects on the Ancestry Pet DNA project she and Adam delivered together, why pivoting is one of her greatest strengths, and how Lego, long walks and loved ones help her stay centred.

This is an episode full of resilience, optimism and honesty. Anjali’s energy is infectious and her outlook is a reminder that careers aren’t linear, dreams can shift, and you’re allowed to build new ones at any stage of life.

In this episode, we cover:

* Moving from India to the UK to the US, and rebuilding a career in each

* Starting out in advertising during the 2008 recession and designing for free to stay sharp

* Transitioning into product design without formal UX training

* The difference between agency and in-house work, and why both shaped her career

* What she learned from delivering the Ancestry Pet DNA product

* Navigating business goals, user needs and the grey area between them

* The power of pivoting and staying agile when projects shift

* How Lego, fresh air and loved ones became essential self-care rituals

* Letting go of one dream to make space for others

* Why optimism matters, especially during a global downturn and rapid AI acceleration

===This is Awaiting Approval.

A globally charting design podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam Jennings.Produced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner.© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.🚀 Learn more and apply here: https://www.growwithadamjennings.com

Grow With Adam Jennings is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Chris Nguyen has lived more creative lives than most designers ever get close to. He is the Founder of UX Playbook, former Head of Product Design at TrueMonkey, and previously UX Manager at Wizeline, where he helped grow the team from a dozen designers to more than forty.

In this episode, Chris joins Adam for a fast, honest conversation about designing a career on your own terms. He shares how he went from dropping out of computer science and working in restaurants, to stumbling into a tech company in Vietnam, getting fired, freelancing, and eventually landing his first product design role in 2015. From there, the story takes him to Seattle, Mexico, Thailand and back to Vietnam, leading teams on products with millions of monthly users.

Chris talks openly about walking away from his “dream job” with no backup plan, spending years launching many startups, and finally going all in on UX Playbook. Along the way he uncovers the pattern running through it all. He is at his best going from zero to one, helping designers turn ideas into something real, and encouraging them to build careers that actually fit who they are, not just the junior–mid–senior ladder they were handed.

Adam and Chris also dig into what it means to listen to your own signals, why encouragement matters more than yet another tutorial, and how he and his sister were able to retire their parents after decades of 16 hour days in a family restaurant. This is a generous, grounded episode for any designer who feels stuck, burnt out, or unsure what comes next.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Chris went from dropped-out student to global product designer

• Discovering design in a Vietnam tech company and getting fired into freelancing

• Growing a UX team at Wizeline from 12 to 45 designers

• Taking on a Head of Product Design role at Ascend Group and why it was not the dream job

• Quitting with no backup plan and spending years experimenting with startups

• The birth of UX Playbook and why designers are “his people”

• Zero to one as a creative superpower and the trap of chasing every idea

• Practical encouragement for designers struggling to find work in a tough market

• Why making more things, and finding the play in your craft, still matters most

===

This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam Jennings.Produced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner.© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.

Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.

✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)

✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort

✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community

✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.

Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.

🚀 Learn more and apply here: https://www.growwithadamjennings.com

Cat How has built one of the most talked-about branding agencies on two continents. She is Co-founder and Executive Creative Director at How&How, D&AD Jury President 2026, and has been recognised among the 100 Women to KNOW in America and 100 Most Influential Creative Leaders in 2025.

In this episode, Cat joins Adam for a relaxed, very human conversation about the reality of creative leadership. She shares how an English Literature degree led to design criticism, then to retraining as a graphic designer, moving across the world, starting multiple businesses, and finally building How&How into a global branding agency with studios in London and LA.

Cat talks candidly about the highs and lows. From selling a first business and opening a Lisbon studio that later had to be sunsetted, to the joy of rebranding Wild Things, a vegan candy, that helped fast-track a founder’s five year plan into six months. Along the way she returns to a simple mantra that runs through her life and work: go big, or go home.

Adam and Cat also dig into the tension between AI and craft, how to stay curious without losing your ethics, and why throwing great dinner parties is a legitimate leadership skill. If you care about brand, brave work and building community around what you do, this one will hit home.

In this episode, we cover:

* How Cat went from English Lit graduate to global branding ECD

* The story behind How&How and building studios across countries

* Sunsetting the Lisbon office and what it taught her about leadership

* The Wild Things project and taking a health food product into skate culture

* How AI is reshaping client expectations and creative practice

* Why “go big or go home” is more than a design school slogan

* The power of hosting and community outside workCat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cat-how-0499b9149/ How & How: http://www.how.studio

===

This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.

Hosted by Adam Jennings.

Produced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner.

© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.

Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.

✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)

✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort

✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community

✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.

Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.

🚀 Learn more and apply here: https://www.growwithadamjennings.com

Awaiting Approval Season 2 will premiere 4th December 2025.

Yes, the podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership is back. With 17 brand new episodes, 16 brand new guests, and one familiar face from season one!

This season I talk with design leaders from Microsoft, Ancestry, Elsevier, Lloyds Banking Group, Vodafone, BMW, Rightmove, Shell, British Airways, HSBC and many more.*

You can find out more in the Season Two full trailer that launched today! Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube

🎙 Awaiting Approval – Season Two Schedule

* S2E1 : Cat How - Fearless| Thursday 4th December| Go big or go home. Lead with courage and curiosity.

* S2E2 : Christopher Nguyen - Momentum| Thursday 11th December| Make, ship, repeat. Control what you can control.

* S2E3 : Anjali Gajera Patel - Resilience| Thursday 18th December| Adaptability with heart.

* S2E4 : Hema Mehta - Courage| Thursday 25th December| Finding calm in chaos.

* S2E5 : Venessa Bennett - Growth| Thursday 1st January| Trust your gut and evolve with change.

* S2E6 : Joel Gill - Integrity| Thursday 8th January| Lead with humanity, learn through experience.

* S2E7 : Angela Arnold - Grace| Thursday 15th January| Trust yourself and stay open to change.

* S2E8 : Hardy Sidhu - Presence| Thursday 22nd January| Find balance in chaos, lead with love.

* S2E9 : William Barraclough - Curiosity| Thursday 29th January| Keep learning, stay human.

* S2E10 : Odeya Noble-Bougay - Light| Thursday 5th February| Leading through empathy and evolution.

* S2E11 : Remya Ramesh - Balance| Thursday 12th February| Lead with kindness, keep your boundaries, and speak the language of the business.

* S2E12 : Sandra González - Regeneration| Thursday 19th February| Design with conscience, lead with connection, and listen to your intuition.

* S2E13 : Lucy Jackson - Discipline| Thursday 26th February| Reinvent yourself with honesty, instinct, and courage.

* S2E14 : Dan Onufrishyn - Generosity| Thursday 5th March| Growth through giving back.

* S2E15 : Lou Maxon - Care| Thursday 12th March| Kindness as craft.

* S2E16 : David Sheldon-Hicks - Awareness| Thursday 19th March| Growth through reflection and presence.

* S2E17 : Alberta Soranzo - Authenticity| Thursday 26th March| Embrace your messiness and lead with acceptance.

So, a new episode - every Thursday.

Simply search “Awaiting Approval” wherever you get your podcast fix (including YouTube).

Let me know which episode you’re most excited about.

*These organisations are not affiliated with the Awaiting Approval Podcast

Bonus Episode – Season One Exclusive Cast Roundtable Conversation

Welcome to this - a roundtable conversation with as many of the cast of Season One as schedules would allow. This is your once in a lifetime chance to sit in on a chat with exceptionally talented creative leaders from a myriad of disciplines including design, advertising, user research, user experience, product design, animation, industrial design, branding and even design hiring.

And for those of you already tuned in to the Awaiting Approval podcast you’ll know this group has an unmatched pedigree, with client and partners names including Microsoft, Visa, Apple, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Saatchi & Saatchi, Expedia, LinkedIn, BP, Verizon, Twitter, Vodafone, Dell, Hasbro, Mattel and many more.

So, without further preamble, and in alphabetical order, I’m very pleased to welcome to the table:

Dr Chris ArnoldLaura BakerJane CookKevin FrankRashmi LopezKevin ParryRoger RohatgiBill SneboldCharmaine WylandDave Zaboski

This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.

Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.

✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)

✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort

✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community

✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.

Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.

🚀 Learn more and apply here

Bonus Episode – Behind the Mic with Adam Jennings, Creator and Host of Awaiting Approval

What does it really take to make a podcast about creative leadership - without a production team, a marketing budget, or a safety net?

In this special bonus episode, Adam pulls back the curtain on Awaiting Approval itself. Why it exists. Who it’s for. What it’s becoming. From a quiet idea shared with a partner, to charting in 12 countries and reaching thousands of listeners around the world - this is the behind-the-scenes story of how it all came to life.

It’s a raw, honest reflection on what it means to start something before you’re ready. We explore the tension between perfection and progress, what leadership sounds like in 2025, and why “approval” is such a powerful concept - for creatives, leaders, and humans in general.

This isn’t a pitch. It’s a pause. A moment to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with the why behind it all.

This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.

Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.

✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)

✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort

✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community

✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.

Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.

🚀 Learn more and apply here

Roger Rohatgi - Chief AI Officer (Former VP Global Head of Design at BP, with past work with brands such as Verizon, Twitter, MTV, Motorola Solutions, Oracle and more)

What happens when a motion designer turned creative director becomes one of the world’s leading voices in Human-Centered AI?

In this episode, Roger Rohatgi takes us on a remarkable journey from lifeguarding and cleaning gas pumps to leading multi-agent AI systems and 86,000-component design systems at global scale. We talk about the messy human side of creative leadership - how putting on gloves with your team changes everything, the power of “designing together,” and how the UX of today is shaping the AI of tomorrow.

This one goes deep: responsible design, Synthetic Humans, social TV, the importance of feedback, and the personal moment that made his dad proud.

He also shares what it means to be “already approved” - and why that idea might just change your whole career.

You can connect with Roger on LinkedIn here

I'll be releasing an end of season 'thank you' next week - but for now, I want to say a huge thank you to Roger for ending Season One of Awaiting Approval Podcast with such insight, and thank you to every guest and listener who has supported the show. And a very special thank you to Jasmin Egner who through her support, patience and invaluable insight has helped make this podcast what it is. We’ve built something special together.Keep your eyes and ears peeled for a special season bonus episode dropping soon!

Special thanks on this episode to Steve and Stu at Mantis Broadcast for their last minute help on my audio for this episode, and to Sam at Curzon Cinema for letting me film the pre-roll insert there.

This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.

Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.

✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)

✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort

✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community

✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.

Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.

🚀 Learn more and apply here

Jason Giles - VP of Product Design at UserTesting (ex-Ticketmaster, AT&T, Microsoft)

From laying carpets by day and playing synths by night to becoming a VP of Product Design at UserTesting, Jason Giles’ journey is anything but conventional.

In this episode, we dive into his early struggles with imposter syndrome, how a supportive culture at Microsoft helped him rise, and why he believes some of the best design leaders come from the most non-traditional paths. Jason reflects on leadership as an act of service, what it means to be truly people-first, and how a chance encounter in a UK office reshaped his understanding of company culture. Now leading teams at UserTesting, he shares the lessons learned from building products with empathy, fighting for inclusion, and always staying just uncomfortable enough to grow.

You can connect with Jason on LinkedIn here

This is Awaiting Approval. A podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership.

Hosted by Adam Jennings - a creative leader with three decades of experience leading teams and projects for global brands including Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Ancestry, Dolby, BBC and many more - this show features honest, unscripted conversations with the leaders shaping design, storytelling, and innovation today.

These are the conversations you don’t hear in keynotes. The ones about imposter syndrome, trust, failure, confidence, and finding your voice as a leader.

Whether you’re just stepping into creative leadership or you’ve been at it for years, Awaiting Approval is your place to feel seen, challenged, and encouraged.

Awaiting Approval is a Cordial Fox production.Hosted by Adam JenningsProduced by Adam Jennings & Jasmin Egner© Cordial Fox Limited, 2025.

Ready to level up your leadership with real, honest support?

Join the next cohort of Supercharged Creative Leaders - my flagship four-week programme for creative leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a community that gets it.

✅ Small groups (just 6 per cohort)

✅ Weekly live sessions with me and your cohort

✅ Async access to me and your cohort via a private Slack community

✅ Invitation to join my alumni community once you’ve completed the programme.

Previous attendees have gone on to win major pitches, land new roles, get promoted and step into leadership with more purpose and presence.

🚀 Learn more and apply here