Great Dames

Great Dame: Elizabeth Sankey

Having grown up in a southwest suburb of London, Ms. Elizabeth Sankey’s town was devoid of anything to do. However, nearby Kingston upon Thames had punk shows, shopping, cinema, and Marks and Spencer’s sandwiches, so she enjoyed a cultural upbringing there. She then completed a BA in Drama at Goldsmiths in London, but spent most of her time DJ-ing with her best friend Louise and putting on bands.

After that, Elizabeth did an MA in Classical Acting at Central School of Speech and Drama, which was everything she’d hoped it would be: crying, fear, black clothes, so appropriately, she went a bit mad (which was fantastic). She left determined to be a very serious theatre actress and to dedicate her life to the stage, but instead started writing for Platform and then NME. Now she’s in a band called Summer Camp, and has just got back from a tour with the stunning Wild Beasts. She also loves making cakes. Nominated by her dear friend Laura Snapes, here are Elizabeth’s answers to our questions.

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Great Dame: Helen MacBain

Having worked a load of different random jobs with the words “science” or “theatre” in the title since graduating from chemistry, Helen MacBain wound up working in communications on low carbon energy - and she loves it. Affirming that the UK energy story is a fascinating one, she maintains that the future energy mix and the way we consume it will be even more so, and while most of her friends finds the topic “massively geeky”, she enjoys talking about it all day to journalists and the like.

If not, you can find Helen normally loafing about North London in a pub drinking too much gin and talking about badgers and jam (the Honey Badger is a new favourite right now – apparently the most fearless animal to exist according to the Guinness Book of World Records), or singing songs about boys with bad hair with her band, The Racket. Nominated by the lovely Sarah Drinkwater, you can read Helen’s answers to our questions below.

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(Source: greatdames.co.uk)

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Great Dame: Emily Flake

Emily Flake grew up in Manchester, Connecticut (which is not very much like the one in England), and her hometown styled itself “The City of Village Charm” - a phrase that contains at least three lies. The best thing about Manchester, CT is a statue of two bears that are supposed to be dancing, but look as though they’re clinging to each other in an agony of grief. Emily went to school in Baltimore and found she liked making funny pictures better than serious ones. Nominated by Great Dame Mindy Tucker, here are Ms. Flake’s answers to our questions.

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Great Dame: Sara Benincasa

A comedian, writer, and confirmed Twitter addict, Sara Benincasa just finished her first book, a memoir of agoraphobia and other types of madness called Agorafabulous, based on her stage show of the same name. Sara’s taken the stage show to New York (where she lives), North Carolina, South Carolina, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, and Oslo, and she’d love to take it to the UK. She also blogs for Comedy Central and other sites. You can find her on Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, and Formspring. Nominated by fellow Great Dame, Ms. Mindy Tucker, here are her answers to our questions.

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Great Dame: Laura Snapes

Laura Snapes was born in Cornwall, and lived a thoroughly nicely boring life for the most part. At aged 13, she realised that becoming “an interviewer” - as she then termed it - would be a valid way of meeting (stalking) her favourite musicians. She did work experience at the then-BBC TOTP Online at aged 16, followed by a week at NME the following year, which resulted in a temporary period of contribution. She began a degree in journalism at University College Falmouth at aged 18, but quit after five weeks upon realising that you don’t really need to know about Habermas to write about grubby indie bands.

After a year of working as a receptionist/cinema usher/professional banana-costume-wearer, she restarted her studies at Bristol University with a four year course in French and German. In her second year, she edited the music section of the student newspaper, which led to being asked to write for NME. After applying for a position at the magazine at the end of that same year, she found out that she had got the job as Assistant Reviews Editor the day before she was due to move to Austria for six months. She quit university, and doesn’t regret it one bit. Laura is obsessed with Mad Men, Scandinavian music, and her favourite band is The National.

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(Source: greatdames.co.uk)

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Great Dame: Helen Power

Before beginning work in publishing, Helen Power trained as an actress until someone pointed out that: a) actors don’t make any money and b) she hadn’t paid any rent for three months. Thus, a quick revision of plans and a few years of messing about followed before she began work at a Manchester-based publishing company where she’s now the Digital Development Manager.

Having lived in Levenshulme for most of the time she’s lived in Manchester, she began editing LoveLevenshulme after its owner decided to leave the area. Helen has since been blogging fairly regularly about creative things that were happening in the community, and in October of last year she and her editors won the Manchester Blog Award (which she describes as “pretty astounding really”). Nominated by the lovely Nina (of Panda Crumpet), here are Helen’s answers to our questions:

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(Source: greatdames.co.uk)

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Great Dame: Jane Bradley

Following a lifelong love affair with books and reading (from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Malory Towers series through the obligatory teen phase for Susanna Kaysen and Elizabeth Wurtzel to my current obsession with Cathi Unsworth and Ivan Coyote), Jane Bradley originally moved from Manchester to London with the intention of bagging a job in book publishing. But dabbling in journalism, events and digital turned out to be too much fun, and after a couple of years of doing that on the side while working in PR, she went freelance and founded For Books’ Sake. Nominated by a Great Dame herself, Sarah Drinkwater, you can read Jane’s answers to our questions below.

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(Source: greatdames.co.uk)

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Great Dame: Mindy Tucker

Hailing from Alabama, photographer Mindy Tucker has lived in New York for about ten years. Having learned photography by taking slides of her paintings to get into grad school, photography eventually won out, and she now photographs comedy shows on top of doing promo pics, posters and headshots. Also, there’s a totally random mural of hers on view at Luca Lounge. She’s the mastermind behind With Reservation, she was nominated by the Great Dame Maggie Serota, and you can read her answers to our questions below:

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(Source: greatdames.co.uk)

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Great Dame: Sharlene Chiu

MTV News reporter and host of Sharlene Vs., Sharlene Chiu was was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and grew up in Scarborough and Pickering, Ontario. A first generation Chinese-Canadian, Sharlene graduated from Ryerson’s Radio and Television Arts program, and considers herself extremely fortunate to have always known what her life’s passions are. The areas that rule her world are music, food and fashion, and while music is the main element of her career, Sharlene maintains that there’s never been a time where she wasn’t excited by it.

From an early age, Sharlene’s parents taught her that if there was something she wanted, the only way to get it would be to work hard, and since then, she’s lived by that mentality. Since beginning as a host at MTV News in Canada, she’s also gone on to host and produce the travel series, Sharlene Vs., thus cementing a lifetime spent travelling the world and covering amazing new music (while eating really good food and buying fabulous clothes beyond her means). Check out her blog and her answers to our questions.

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(Source: greatdames.co.uk)

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