In this episode of The Creative Flight, I sit down with Zina Ajlouny for a wide-ranging conversation about ambition, money, creativity, and what really sits underneath success once you’ve lived a few different lives.
Zina has built and co-founded multiple companies across San Francisco, Hong Kong, the Middle East, and Europe, worked inside venture-backed startups and global consultancies, and now advises leaders and founders on how they actually move forward when growth stops being theoretical and starts becoming personal.
We talk about:
- What people really mean when they say “startup” and why scaling is often misunderstood
- Why doing things that don’t scale is sometimes the smartest move
- The role of storytelling and design in pitching, and where it genuinely matters
- Money as an enabler, not an identity
- Why so many women struggle to ask for what their work is worth
- The mental blocks that stop capable people from taking the next step
It’s a conversation that looks at value creation, leadership, and the internal work required to build something sustainable without losing yourself in the process.
About The Creative Flight podcast:
It is for creatives, founders, and multi-hyphenates navigating the tension between meaningful work and making money.
Each episode explores the psychological, emotional, and practical realities of creative business owners from all walks of life. How did their business take flight. From ambition and identity to sales, confidence, and sustainability.
About Ivy Malik
Ivy Malik is a business and sales coach for creatives obsessed with sunglasses.
She helps designers, content creators, and founders understand the psychology behind money, pricing, and decision-making, so they can build commercially viable work without pressure, performance, or losing themselves in the process.
How to work with Ivy.
Ivy’s signature programme is Flight Club. It helps with the full business growth from business model, marketing to conversion.
https://ivymalik.com/flightclub/
If you have most of that already established and only want to work on your sales, you can join the Sales Gym only which helps you close higher paying clients on repeat. https://ivymalik.com/sales-gym-million/
Want to work with Ivy privately. The most popular way to work with her is a no-zoom, unlimited access support that starts at £6K per quarter. Each package is individually created to suit each client’s personalised needs.
