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Nikky Smedley
Author of "Create, Perform, Teach!" and those three things are what I do.
Professional Background
Nikky Smedley is an accomplished professional with a remarkable career that spans over several decades in multiple domains including physical theatre, children's broadcast television, education, and creative writing. With her roots in physical theatre, she ran a successful theatre company for sixteen years, showcasing her passion for performance and storytelling. Following her theatre career, Nikky gained widespread recognition for her role as LaaLaa in the beloved children's series, Teletubbies, where her talents as a producer, director, choreographer, performer, writer, and deviser flourished for over two decades.
Her versatility extends beyond performance as Nikky has immersed herself in creating captivating theatre and storytelling events for children. She consistently performs at schools and participates in literary festivals around the world, sharing her love for stories and engaging young audiences. Through her performances, she fosters a love for literature and encourages creativity among children, solidifying her reputation as a key figure in children's education and entertainment.
Not only is Nikky a performer and creator, but she is also deeply committed to teaching. She has experience in early years foundation stage (EYFS), primary, secondary, special educational needs (SEN), and teacher training, primarily focusing on creative teaching and learning techniques. With her extensive experience in the UK, she has also begun to expand her teaching engagements across Europe. Her participation in conference speaking highlights her dedication to sharing her expertise with fellow educators as well as her passion for promoting creative approaches in education.
In recent years, Nikky has turned her attention to writing and has been actively involved in crafting both fiction and non-fiction works for children and adults. She possesses a unique ability to translate her experiences in performance and education into compelling stories that resonate with readers of all ages.
Despite the global challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, Nikky remains optimistic. Her theatre project, Nikipedia, may be postponed, but she has creatively adapted her content by reworking the stories intended for stage performance into written narratives that are set to be published. Additionally, she hinted at an exciting memoir about her behind-the-scenes experiences during her time on Teletubbies, promising to give readers a glimpse into the magical world of children’s television.
Education and Achievements
Nikky’s educational journey has been characterized by the belief in lifelong learning. As noted in her bio, she studied at a unique institution called Learning Learning All the Time!, embodying a philosophy that values creativity and adaptability in learning. This perspective has undoubtedly influenced her diverse career and her approach to education, teaching, and storytelling.
Throughout her career, Nikky has amassed an impressive portfolio that includes founding and leading various creative and educational organizations. She has held prominent roles such as the Writer and Founder at How To Speak Child, a platform dedicated to helping individuals communicate effectively with children. As the Executive Director at Changing Cultures, she contributed to innovative projects that bridged arts and social change.
Her experience as a Senior Business Coach at Clarity Management Enablers, as well as her roles in several artistic and educational organizations, demonstrate her well-rounded expertise in leadership, mentorship, and the arts.
Achievements
Nikky Smedley’s accomplishments are manifold. From her time as LaaLaa in Teletubbies, where she contributed significantly to children's television, to her ongoing work in theatre and storytelling, she has shaped the landscape of children's entertainment and education. Her dedication to creative teaching methodologies has helped nurture countless students, enhancing their learning experiences and igniting their imaginations. Her stage directing and producing roles have brought numerous performances to life, touching the hearts of audiences everywhere.
Her writing endeavors reflect her passion for storytelling, both through literature for children and insightful narratives for adults. With her unique insights and experiences, Nikky continues to inspire both young and older generations, proving that stories transcend age.
As she works on her forthcoming projects, including the Nikipedia publication and her memoir about Teletubbies, there is no doubt that she will continue to make a significant impact in the realms of theatre, education, and writing for years to come.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.