Feb 9, 2026
This week, Ivy Slater, host of Her
Success Story, chats with her guest, Lulu Essey. The two
talk about building a successful global creative career while
navigating bipolar disorder, the power of true self-love as a
foundation for resilience, and how Lulu helps ambitious
professionals achieve meaningful, sustainable success through her
coaching and podcast.
In this episode, we discuss:
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How Lulu built a 30-year global creative career, from theater and television in South Africa to experiential marketing and executive creative director roles across Europe, the U.S., Hong Kong, Greater China, and Southeast Asia, while quietly managing severe bipolar disorder.
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What it was like to move to New York City in the middle of the pandemic, visa bans and all, and simultaneously build a coaching business after years of doing workshops, speaking, and mentoring on the side of her agency career.
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When being let go from her senior vice president, executive creative director role during a major bipolar relapse felt “brutal” in the moment, but ultimately became the push she needed to fully step into her own work and redefine success on her terms.
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Why self-love (not just “liking yourself”) is now at the core of her work, defined as refusing to abandon yourself, your needs, and your voice, and how that perspective completely reframed resilience, failure, and bouncing back from hard seasons.
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How shifting her worth off “quicksand” metrics like titles, awards, and deals, and onto an inner sense of value, helped her stop chasing external validation and start feeling worthy now, even when goals are still in progress.
Lulu Essey is an award-winning Executive
Creative Director who has spent three decades working with
global brands like Porsche, BMW, Cartier, and Google across four
continents. Finding her way through a 30-year journey with severe
bipolar disorder while building an impressive career, she
discovered that external achievement and awards mean nothing
without authentic Self-Love as the foundation - the missing
infrastructure most driven women never build.
Now a Speaker, certified Life Coach, and host of The Lulu Essey Podcast, Lulu helps ambitious professionals create success that actually feels good. Her message: sustainable success isn't about pushing harder or doing more - it's about building from the inside out.
Website: https://www.luluessey.com/
Social Media Links: https://www.luluessey.com/podcast