There’s a question I couldn’t answer two years ago. Not because I didn’t know the answer, but because it felt a little scary to say it out loud. The question is simple: What do you like about yourself?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, partly because Galaxy just launched a campaign that puts the question at the heart of its creative strategy, and partly because a serious back injury gave me – most importantly – an unexpected answer.
In 2024, I was left largely at home due to an injury that left me unable to walk. I’d spent 15 years building Creative Boom from a side project into a platform that reached over 1 million people every month, and suddenly there was nothing I could do. What followed was one of the strangest and clearest periods of my life. Freed from the busyness and relentless march, I had to sit alone. Slowly and carefully, I began to understand what I truly valued.
I love my toughness. And how I genuinely care about the people Creative Boom serves. I love my curiosity and taste, and my commitment to doing things right. I love when my world stops completely and the floor becomes my friend and I keep going.
It still feels a little illegal to write these words, which, of course, is exactly the problem.
Activity: Confidence as a creative strategy
Galaxy launched the Unhumble Project, a movement that aims to address women’s deep-rooted reluctance to publicize their achievements, and does something more interesting than simply raise awareness of the issue; it turns insights into practical tools.
At its core is a free online confidence training center: 15-minute structured sessions led by confidence coach and self-confidence advocate Tiwalola Adebayo. It provides practical frameworks and exercises to help us unapologetically recognize our wins, communicate our worth and feel genuine joy in our achievements.
The campaign, launched by brand and influence agency Onward in partnership with the Young Women’s Trust, taps into a wider cultural shift towards education as a form of engagement. This isn’t another awareness-raising moment that quickly fades into the background, but positions the training itself as a creative response that translates cultural truths into something women can actually use.
The statistics underpinning it all are shocking: Women are five times less likely than men to self-promote their achievements. five times. Fucking duck. However, most women see this number and immediately start making excuses for it – contextualizing, softening, and explaining. This instinct is what this movement seeks to destroy.
Romi Mackiewicz, brand director at Galaxy, puts it candidly: “Women have never lacked talent or accomplishments, but they often feel like they have to scale down their successes to stay likable. The Unhumble Project is about changing that narrative and encouraging women to say ‘I did that’ and enjoy the moment.”
Beyond Consciousness: Making Confidence a Skill
The clever thing about The Unhumble Project is that it doesn’t look at confidence as a personality trait that you either have or don’t have; It treats it as a skill. Something that can be learned, practiced, and improved upon. Not only is this a useful refactoring; This is a truly more honest person.
Anna Öhrling, co-founder of Onward, elaborates on the tensions faced by the campaign: “Women are often encouraged to be humble about their achievements, even though we know that self-promotion is one of the keys to recognition, opportunity and pay equity.”
The event took place live in London’s King’s Cross Station, with comedian, musician and author Rachel Parris taking on the role of the “immodest flanker” – inviting women to take to the microphone to publicly celebrate their achievements that would normally be downplayed. It’s a bold, funny gesture that makes palpable the discomfort most women feel when asked to defend themselves loudly and unabashedly in public.
Galaxy hopes to eventually have 50,000 women take part in the training, positioning The Unhumble Project as a long-term brand asset rather than a one-off campaign. This level of ambition is important: it signals a real commitment to the issue rather than a seasonal stream of content.
The Modesty Trap and Its Real Cost
I have spent a long time supporting the Creative Boom brand. Not out of false modesty, exactly… but more out of a belief that the work should speak louder than me. But somewhere along the way, that reasonable instinct turned into something else: an invisibility that didn’t help me or the people I was trying to reach.
Injuries have forced that into focus. When you suddenly feel powerless, you have to think about who you are when you are free of these things. I slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, discovered that there were some things worth shouting about. The platform I built from scratch during the financial crisis, the 1.3 million visitors I’ve had through Google alone, the community of 7,500 creatives I’ve cultivated, the long-term relationships I’ve maintained – these are all accomplishments worth highlighting. Not to brag, but because not shouting for them is inherently dishonest.
That’s what the Unhumble Project is really about. The modesty trap is not only uncomfortable, but also costly. It costs women opportunities, visibility, pay and recognition. This robs them of the ability to accurately express their value. It also takes a toll on those around them, because when talented women are overlooked, the entire industry suffers.
speak up
I’m still practicing. Reflexive atrophy doesn’t go away overnight. It has been decades in the making. But I believe more than ever that learning to say “I did that” and to mean that “I did that” without immediately accompanying it with a disclaimer is one of the more quietly radical things any woman can do.
What Galaxy understands is that it’s not about ego, it’s about telling the truth about yourself, especially in a world that spends a long time teaching you not to do that. The Unhumble Project’s free Confidence Training Center is now available.
If you find yourself saying, “Oh, that’s okay” about something important, it’s probably worth fifteen minutes of your time.
