Insight’s Nicola Tiffin: 'Suppressing my true self negatively impacted my confidence for years'

In the latest of CRN’s DEI in Action series, we speak to Insight’s senior manager of ESG about why it is always so important to just be yourself and embrace any differences

Not many people have been a Wella head model and can be instantly spotted across a room from 100 paces, but Insight’s Nicola Tiffin is one of those rare people.

Instantly recognisable for her brightly-coloured hair, she explains the pressure to conform to perceived professional standards in her early career years over two decades ago cost her confidence dearly.

Tiffin says like so many she almost fell into the channel after working in various industries including insurance and the music industry as well as the years she spent as a hair model for Wella in her free time.

“I never saw myself working in tech really. My dad started working in IT and I was always surrounded by technology, but that was about it. When I started at Insight I didn’t really know anything about tech, but I was happy to sell it!”

Within six months she was approached to be a manager and eventually ended up leading on ESG at Insight years later because she was seen as someone who was happy to speak up and represent people at different levels.

But her success came at a cost, because she felt the need to supress her true self in the early years to fit into an unrealistic mould, and did away with the hair dyes that she was the most recognised for.

“I definitely felt like I had lost my identity at various points in my career journey - not only did I let my hair go its natural colour at one point because I felt like I had to ‘fit in’ better, but I got an ADHD diagnosis and came out as pansexual,” she explains.

“People questioned why I had come out because I had a husband and son, but I had found some ridiculous stats around pansexual women and links with mental health because you are not accepted either way – you are not straight and you are not gay enough. It was a really difficult time.”

Be true to yourself

Tiffin says the most important piece of advice she would give anyone in the industry is to always be themselves.

“The more you can be yourself, as long as you are not inflicting pain on yourself or others – then that actually has a positive benefit. I didn’t realise the impact it had on me when I stopped dyeing my hair because that is what I thought I had to do to fit in. It had changed what I thought about myself and impacted my confidence. I had lost myself along the way, and so I started dyeing my hair again.”

Tiffin says she hears a lot of people saying to her that they wished they could dye their hair, or ‘I wish I could do this, or that.’

“When you go into a room it is about who you are, you must be true to yourself,” she says.

“Don’t try and be who anyone else wants you to be, because ultimately you’ll end up down a path where you’re not that person. Be seen for showing up how you want to show up, not how anyone expects you to be.

“I hope that my experiences will help others – they will see that someone else has been through what they are going through, and I’ve had that experience and come out the other side.”