Women in Design . . . Rosie Holt
In the lead up to Women in Design Day 2025: Moments of Change—an annual event dedicated to fostering community, celebration, and education among women in the design industry in Aotearoa New Zealand—we’ll be releasing interviews with each of our workshop facilitators to give you a sense of their career journeys and the types of workshops we’ll be diving into at the live event.
Today we are chatting with Rosie Holt, a high-performance business coach who helps entrepreneurs ditch the overwhelm, get their time back and still make money.
At Women in Design Day, Rosie will be facilitating a dynamic two-hour workshop, From Concept to Clicks: Marketing for Designers. Participants will learn how to position themselves as the go-to graphic designer in their niche by crafting a marketing message that resonates (full details below the article).
Who/what were your early creative influences?
Ms Frizzle from the Magic School Bus (rogue I know). My mum was a teacher and she was always telling me stories about the students in her classrooms and lecture halls. As a small child, my imagination took over and I had visions of mum as Ms Frizzle taking her students to weird and wonderful places. I have always had a real thirst for knowledge and learning new, interesting things and believe my drive to help others learn and grow (while fostering joy and curiosity) started there.
What inspires you creatively now?
It might sound cliché but visiting a gallery or somewhere new. A wonderful artist friend, Evie Kemp, told me that when she’s in a creative rut or an uninspired funk, she tries something new to get the creative juices flowing again.
Inspiration rarely comes from staring at a computer screen so I make sure I schedule time every week to take time off and go somewhere new, see a show, a gallery, or work from a new space.
Can you describe your career path?
Convoluted and confused! I spent so much of my teens and twenties doing what I thought I should do, instead of doing what I wanted.
I wasn’t really encouraged to do what I was passionate about. Not because I didn’t have inspiring or encouraging parents (I really did!), but because the school-system funnels students into careers that are potentially going to be us – done and dusted, until we retire.
Because I didn’t uncover my calling, or real vocation. until my late twenties, I saw people around me doing what they loved and excelling at it. I constantly felt uninspired and like a failure, bouncing from job to job doing that I thought I should do. It wasn’t until I said “Fuck it all!” and quit my job in advertising to be a florist that I finally felt like I was doing something meaningful with my time instead of rotting away at a desk. It was my first taste of entrepreneurship and I haven’t looked back!
What does your typical workday look like?
Organised AF!
I front-load my weeks and theme my days, organising them into: Marketing Monday, Clients Tuesday-Thursday and Fun Fridays which are reserved for inspiration, coffee dates, events and the good stuff. I know exactly what I need to do to grow my business and support my clients and because I know my priorities I’m able to let the other stuff slide if I need. Not getting caught up in ‘all the things’ is so freeing and allows me to focus on what’s really important.
How do you foster innovation in your work?
By having amazing mentors who challenge me and ask me the hard questions. I’m forever asking myself ‘how can this be better’ ‘how can this be more fun’ ‘what isn’t working’ and ‘why isn’t it working and what can we do to overcome that’. It’s not a strategic approach but it’s forever evolving.
What do you think career/creative success looks like?
Oooh good question. I think career/creative success look like something that you enjoy, combined with something that works for you and the lifestyle you want. So often we’re told we need to get a job so that we can live life but I’m a huge advocate for knowing what you want from your life and building a career that fits around that ideal life. When we’re able to have a life we (mostly) enjoy, more creativity and inspiration becomes a byproduct and becomes more abundant as a result. If you can, build a career around the life you want, not a life around the career you think you should be doing.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Our brains are hardwired to focus on, and obsess over, failures–what went wrong and why? But by fixating on those failures only directs our thoughts to more of what isn’t working.
Instead of dissecting our failures we should start dissecting our successes–what went right and why? Not only is it more fun, but we can learn from it and actively engineer a future with more successes. We can build on it to ensure that future successes are not a possibility but an inevitability. Take note of what worked, what led you to those successes and keep it on hand and you will have a roadmap to find more successes.
And the worst?
Not so much advice but an unhelpful way of thinking ‘Winners never quit’. There are ,any times in life we need to quit or give-up to make room for the next thing. It’s not a sign of weakness or failure, it is an essential part of growth.
What barriers have you seen in the design industry throughout your career? How have they affected your work?
Not for me personally but working with lots of design clients (predominantly females) who have prospective clients of their own try to negotiate quotes for no reason other than because they are a creative.
Would we negotiate the rate of our lawyer, or accountant or mechanic? NO! We freaken wouldn’t!
This has motivated me to help my clients understand the value of their work, to empower them to stand in their worth and know that people aren’t paying for their time, they’re paying for a RESULT. When you can articulate what that result is worth, very rarely do prospective clients keep trying to negotiate.
Rosie Holt | High-Performance Business Coach
Rosie delivers coaching, masterclasses, community and speaking events to overwhelmed business owners and creative entrepreneurs. She supports them to feel confident, supported and undaunted as they grow a business they love.
With experience in corporate advertising & marketing and building her own business, Rosie has a unique skillset for helping overwhelmed business owners change their mindset, show up and earn what they’re worth.
Book a FREE Discovery call with Rosie, or visit her webite, Insta and/or LinkedIn to learn more.
Women in Design Day 2025— taking place on 21 March in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
This is your opportunity to unplug and reconnect with your practice. An annual event dedicated to fostering community, celebration, and education among women in the design industry in Aotearoa New Zealand. Through out the day you’ll be able to enjoy hands-on activities, time in nature, and hear the inspiring stories from our speakers – enjoying shared experiences and validating experiences as women navigating a career in design.
The afternoon sessions offer a variety of workshops and activities for you to choose from. Rosie Holt will be facilitating a dynamic two-hour workshop, From Concept to Clicks: Marketing for Designers. You’ll learn how to position yourself as the go-to graphic designer in your niche by crafting a marketing message that resonates.
*Design Assembly Friends use your discount codes to access our discounted ticket options.
