For Oriana Darley, building a creative career is less about fitting someone else’s definition of a ‘creative’ and more about carving her own path.
A “creative generalist” is perhaps the best way to describe Oriana. By day, she is based at Creative Works as a marketing apprentice for Fluo Technologies. Beyond this role, she works on projects spanning art, filmmaking, music and live performance.
Rather than following a single, prescribed route, Oriana is building a career that reflects the breadth of her interests. She loves to challenge herself, step outside her comfort zone and push creative boundaries, while guided by a simple mantra: “Make money to make art, not art to make money.”
Finding Her Own Way
As an immigrant to the UK who worked alongside studying, Oriana found unpaid opportunities and regular networking harder to pursue.
By the time she graduated in 2024, she had learned that breaking into the creative industries would require more than simply following the usual advice. Oriana began thinking seriously about what she needed next: confidence, independence, and a better understanding of her own strengths.
Eager to better understand her strengths and weaknesses, Oriana decided to go somewhere completely unfamiliar (where she knew no one and did not speak the language). That decision led her to take a year-long sabbatical in Leipzig, Germany.
The experience helped her build relationships with people from around the world and gave her the confidence to pursue creative opportunities in London on her return. From posting content through her Instagram platform to becoming a creative assistant on the play Up In the Mango Trees, those experiences became the beginnings of the career she is building today.
“I want to go beyond marketing,” she says, “but for me, this is the right place at the moment.”
Learning Through Collaboration
At Fluo Technologies, where she works alongside Creative Works member Marco Strillozzi, being part of a small team has allowed Oriana to take on real responsibility early in her apprenticeship.
Research is one of Oriana’s favourite parts of the role. With Fluo’s focus on sustainability and social and environmental responsibility, her work is about more than simply promoting something. It connects her to what is happening in the world and to issues she genuinely cares about.
That sense of purpose matters to Oriana. Looking at marketing through a social and environmental lens makes the work feel more meaningful and gives her a sense that it can contribute to something larger.
Oriana is passionate about creativity in all its forms, from fashion to music, and everything in between. What concerns her is the way some creative industries can make ideas feel disposable or designed for quick consumption. She believes creativity should have more depth. At its best, it brings to life something that once existed only in someone’s imagination.
Community Over Competition
Relationships and creative communities have played an important role in Oriana’s journey; however, building those connections did not always come easily. She believes many young creatives face a difficult transition from education into work, and while students are often told networking is important, the guidance they receive on how to build genuine professional relationships is often lacking.
“From theory to practice there is a big jump.”
Oriana says that simply telling someone to “go and speak to people” can overlook the different experiences, identities, and levels of confidence they bring to those situations. For Oriana, the real challenge was learning how to build genuine relationships while staying true to herself and her intentions. However, Oriana did not find the events themselves challenging, and her willingness to attend them alone eventually paid off. Two of the three opportunities she secured before joining Fluo came through events she attended. A £5 investment in one event became “priceless”, leading to paid work, experience, contacts, advocates for her talent, and ultimately another step towards the creative she wanted to become.
When it comes to community, Oriana values spaces where people can be themselves, make mistakes and ask for help without fear of judgement. For her, the best environments are built on mutual support rather than hierarchy or competition.
That sense of community is part of what Oriana values about Creative Works, where the informal atmosphere allows connections to happen naturally. A quick break to grab a glass of water can easily turn into a 15-minute conversation with someone new, and it’s those spontaneous interactions that make the space valuable. Thursdays’ delicious breakfasts, shared with other members, are another favourite of hers.
More broadly, Oriana’s journey shows that creative careers rarely develop in isolation. As Oriana puts it: “Community is the hero we need.”
Making Space for What Comes Next
Oriana wants to return to live performance and move more freely between singing and playing the piano. She is also developing as a blues artist and her improvisation skills. As much of her upcoming EP is piano-led, she hopes to become more confident experimenting with chords and adding variation during live performance. One day, she would also like to perform music she has produced herself.
Her earlier research focused on Latin London and the socio-cultural factors influencing the scene. She is now involved in projects that build on those interests. Oriana is also an ambassador for You Press, a social enterprise that helps young people and underrepresented communities develop their voices and creative skills.
For Oriana, growth is less about reaching a fixed destination and more about continuing to evolve. “I miss the stage, but I also needed to take a step back to come back stronger.”
That same mindset shapes how she approaches her wider creative life. She is determined to keep learning, experimenting, and making room for new possibilities, while staying connected to the experiences that have brought her this far. Moving between different creative worlds also feels natural to her. “I have multiple interests,” she jokes, “so going from one environment to the other is not really a challenge but a relief.”
Oriana still grapples with when to say no, what to prioritise, and when to make space for herself. Yet, having faced rejection so many times herself, she eventually decided to stop waiting for opportunities to come her way and start creating them herself. Her advice to other emerging creatives reflects this determination: “If the doors close on you, build yourself a house.”
