0:00:07.261,0:00:08.339
Hi.

0:00:09.665,0:00:11.279
I'm Maisie Williams.

0:00:11.279,0:00:14.053
And I'm kind of just waiting[br]for someone to come on stage

0:00:14.053,0:00:17.271
and tell me that there's been[br]some sort of miscommunication,

0:00:17.271,0:00:19.352
and that I should probably leave.

0:00:20.916,0:00:22.088
No?

0:00:23.330,0:00:24.472
Damn it.

0:00:24.472,0:00:26.035
(Laughter)

0:00:26.675,0:00:29.806
So, some of you may know me as an actress.

0:00:30.188,0:00:32.726
(Cheers) (Laughter)

0:00:32.806,0:00:36.742
Some of you may know me[br]for my really average tweets.

0:00:36.742,0:00:38.231
(Cheers)

0:00:38.231,0:00:40.005
Oh, yeah.

0:00:40.241,0:00:44.600
And some of you may be finding out[br]who I am for the first time right now.

0:00:44.600,0:00:45.982
Hello.

0:00:46.693,0:00:48.921
Whether you knew me before or not,

0:00:48.921,0:00:52.247
you're probably wondering[br]what I'm going to talk to you about today.

0:00:52.384,0:00:55.037
And I would be lying if I said

0:00:55.037,0:00:57.586
it didn't take me[br]one or two sleepless nights,

0:00:57.586,0:00:59.464
trying to figure that out, too.

0:00:59.464,0:01:01.136
At last, here I am.

0:01:01.887,0:01:05.708
Upon finding out the news[br]that I would be giving a TEDx Talk,

0:01:05.708,0:01:07.594
I did what I think most people do

0:01:07.594,0:01:10.582
and watched about[br]50 TED talks back-to-back,

0:01:10.582,0:01:15.087
and read "Talk like TED"[br]by Carmine Gallo for some inspiration.

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Was I inspired?

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Yes and no.

0:01:20.369,0:01:23.374
Did it make me want to go out[br]and change the world?

0:01:23.374,0:01:24.830
Hell yeah.

0:01:24.941,0:01:28.256
Did it make me feel like a totally[br]inadequate public speaker

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with absolutely no point to make,

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who was definitely in need of a big[br]thesaurus if she wants to keep up?

0:01:34.320,0:01:35.511
Indeed.

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What could I possibly say[br]that would have any impact?

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What point am I trying to make?

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And who the hell thought[br]it was a good idea to give me a TEDx talk?

0:01:49.212,0:01:51.460
So here's the part[br]where I tell you what I know:

0:01:52.828,0:01:55.142
I'm the youngest of four siblings.

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My parents divorced[br]when I was four months old.

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I really was the icing on the cake[br]of a terrible marriage.

0:02:01.802,0:02:03.434
(Laughter)

0:02:03.734,0:02:07.049
I have two step siblings[br]who are younger than me

0:02:07.049,0:02:10.201
and a half brother[br]who's older than all of us.

0:02:10.513,0:02:13.932
I grew up in a three-bedroom council house

0:02:13.932,0:02:17.144
with four of my six siblings[br]just outside of Bristol.

0:02:17.920,0:02:20.684
I went to a very ordinary school.

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I got very ordinary grades.

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I wasn't quite good enough[br]to get a gold star,

0:02:26.268,0:02:29.584
and I also wasn't quite bad enough[br]to be kept after school.

0:02:30.032,0:02:34.476
I walked that nice center line[br]where if I kept my mouth shut in class,

0:02:34.661,0:02:36.092
then I could probably get away

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with not being spoken to you[br]by teachers for weeks on end.

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Everything about me[br]was pretty damn ordinary,

0:02:43.353,0:02:46.314
except for how I felt on the inside.

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I had big dreams.

0:02:50.892,0:02:52.103
Shock.

0:02:53.901,0:02:55.662
From as young as I can remember,

0:02:55.662,0:02:59.022
I have dreamed of becoming[br]a professional dancer.

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There are certain memories[br]from my childhood

0:03:02.501,0:03:04.811
that I would really rather forget.

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But during those times of immense pain,

0:03:08.044,0:03:12.252
I found myself instinctively walking over[br]to my mother's CD player,

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cranking up the volume[br]to drown out the noise

0:03:15.413,0:03:18.063
and letting my body move to the beat.

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It's hard to describe how it felt.

0:03:22.095,0:03:26.161
I was harnessing emotions that I didn't[br]even really know the names of yet.

0:03:26.733,0:03:28.724
I was summoning all of this energy

0:03:28.724,0:03:33.012
and feeling it flow through my body[br]and out of my fingertips.

0:03:33.436,0:03:38.093
I was alone in my own head,[br]and I felt the most alive.

0:03:39.247,0:03:42.553
I didn't really know much[br]about the big wide world then,

0:03:42.553,0:03:45.193
but I knew that this feeling[br]was addictive;

0:03:45.193,0:03:48.748
and I was going to stop at nothing[br]until I made it my profession.

0:03:50.616,0:03:54.853
At eight years old,[br]I was enrolled in dance class.

0:03:54.853,0:03:57.803
And by ten, I informed my mother

0:03:57.803,0:04:00.813
that I didn't want[br]to go to school anymore.

0:04:01.313,0:04:04.890
I wanted to be like Billy Elliot[br]and go to stage school.

0:04:05.874,0:04:10.832
This was the first opportunity[br]or challenge I was presented with.

0:04:11.764,0:04:13.501
Even as young as ten,

0:04:13.501,0:04:19.172
I was willing to give up all of my friends[br]and go away to board at a private school,

0:04:19.512,0:04:22.333
away from my siblings, away from my mom.

0:04:23.231,0:04:26.841
She would repeatedly ask me,[br]"Are you sure this is what you want?"

0:04:26.841,0:04:30.297
And to me, it was a no-brainer.

0:04:30.491,0:04:33.686
I didn't just want this; I needed it.

0:04:35.294,0:04:40.555
My grubby knees and crooked teeth[br]were not on the list of requirements

0:04:40.555,0:04:42.842
for becoming a professional dancer.

0:04:43.066,0:04:45.292
And when I look back now,

0:04:45.292,0:04:48.665
both myself and my mother[br]looked severely out of place.

0:04:49.762,0:04:54.625
But at the time, I was just too young[br]and naive to feel inadequate.

0:04:55.033,0:04:56.411
I didn't care.

0:04:56.512,0:04:59.297
If Billy Elliot could do it, so could I.

0:04:59.881,0:05:04.672
Once my audition was done, I returned home[br]for two weeks of staring out the window,

0:05:05.021,0:05:06.995
waiting for the postman,

0:05:06.995,0:05:09.614
waiting for my ticket[br]out of my sleepy village

0:05:09.614,0:05:13.078
and into a world of jazz hands[br]and dorm rooms.

0:05:14.514,0:05:19.095
It was good news followed by bad news:

0:05:19.531,0:05:24.692
I had got in, but the fees to attend[br]a school like this were not cheap,

0:05:24.692,0:05:29.498
and despite my best efforts,[br]I had not received any government funding.

0:05:30.362,0:05:32.766
I auditioned again the following year.

0:05:32.766,0:05:35.812
And this time, I received 40% funding,

0:05:35.812,0:05:38.352
but this was still just money[br]that we didn't have,

0:05:38.352,0:05:40.596
and it broke my heart.

0:05:41.412,0:05:43.094
I was good enough.

0:05:43.816,0:05:45.573
I made the cut.

0:05:46.572,0:05:48.883
But I wasn't going anywhere.

0:05:51.142,0:05:53.053
It was a blessing in disguise,

0:05:53.053,0:05:55.503
although if anyone had said that[br]to me back then,

0:05:55.503,0:05:58.823
I probably would've given them the finger[br]and told them to jog on.

0:05:59.552,0:06:01.912
I wasn't willing to give up that easily.

0:06:02.192,0:06:06.953
So at age 11, I was bursting[br]with excitement

0:06:06.968,0:06:10.800
when my dance teacher[br]informed me of a talent show

0:06:10.800,0:06:14.430
which boasted opportunities[br]of making you a star.

0:06:15.924,0:06:20.375
This was the second opportunity[br]I was faced with.

0:06:20.538,0:06:24.895
I entered into singing, acting,

0:06:25.189,0:06:27.629
dancing and modeling.

0:06:28.680,0:06:32.835
The talent show consisted[br]of workshops and seminars

0:06:32.835,0:06:35.881
with specialists who would help[br]train you up for your performance

0:06:35.881,0:06:37.644
at the end of the week.

0:06:37.790,0:06:40.044
After meeting a woman[br]called Louise Johnston

0:06:40.044,0:06:42.891
in an improvisation acting workshop,

0:06:42.891,0:06:45.110
she gave me the words "bowling ball,"

0:06:45.110,0:06:49.038
and asked me to create a short scene[br]inspired by these words.

0:06:49.199,0:06:51.881
After making her laugh[br]with a fictional story,

0:06:51.881,0:06:55.568
of how I threw a bowling ball[br]at my brother and it bounced,

0:06:55.568,0:06:58.600
she asked me to join her acting agency.

0:06:59.351,0:07:01.265
I didn't really know what this meant.

0:07:01.701,0:07:07.213
I knew that I would do auditions[br]for films and maybe become an actor,

0:07:07.512,0:07:11.244
but I still had big dreams[br]of becoming a professional dancer,

0:07:11.244,0:07:14.294
so this woman was going[br]to have to work a lot harder than that

0:07:14.294,0:07:16.842
if she was going to convince[br]eleven-year-old me

0:07:16.842,0:07:19.086
that I was going to become an actress.

0:07:21.544,0:07:23.246
Was this going to take time away

0:07:23.246,0:07:26.469
from the 30 hours of dancing[br]I was doing a week?

0:07:27.052,0:07:29.052
And what if I didn't get the part?

0:07:29.052,0:07:30.948
Was this going to be too upsetting?

0:07:31.093,0:07:33.613
And do actresses have teeth like mine?

0:07:33.613,0:07:36.810
Because if they do,[br]I'm yet to watch any of their movies.

0:07:37.811,0:07:41.133
After meeting Louise[br]in the February of 2009

0:07:41.547,0:07:44.223
and trying but failing to land the part

0:07:44.223,0:07:48.282
in the hit sequel "Nanny McPhee"[br]to "The Big Bang,"

0:07:49.050,0:07:52.717
my second audition was for a show[br]called "Game of Thrones."

0:07:54.596,0:07:59.342
This was the third opportunity[br]or challenge I was presented with.

0:08:00.328,0:08:03.206
I climbed the steps[br]to the Methodist Church

0:08:03.206,0:08:05.225
with my mother's hand in mine.

0:08:05.792,0:08:09.882
I perched my tiny bottom in one[br]of the seats outside the audition room

0:08:09.882,0:08:13.400
and listened to an annoying girl[br]with her even more annoying mother

0:08:13.400,0:08:16.906
tell me all about the number of auditions[br]she had done prior to this one.

0:08:16.906,0:08:18.841
And also about her pet fish.

0:08:20.883,0:08:23.458
My name was called, then I stepped inside.

0:08:24.241,0:08:26.638
I had a hard Bristolian accent

0:08:26.638,0:08:31.351
and dark rings around my eyes that were[br]so big they took up half my face

0:08:31.351,0:08:35.152
and a hole in the knee of my trousers[br]which I tried to cover with my left hand

0:08:35.152,0:08:38.732
as I was talking to the kind lady[br]who taped my audition.

0:08:39.529,0:08:41.554
But as soon as she pressed record,

0:08:42.310,0:08:44.120
it all drifted away.

0:08:45.190,0:08:48.481
Much like when I was dancing[br]in my mother's living room,

0:08:48.481,0:08:51.813
I harnessed all of[br]my insecurities and self-doubt

0:08:51.813,0:08:55.256
and let it flow through the words[br]that came out of my mouth.

0:08:56.110,0:08:57.646
I was cheeky.

0:08:58.150,0:08:59.723
I was loud.

0:09:00.064,0:09:01.726
I was angry.

0:09:02.489,0:09:05.765
And for this, I was perfect.

0:09:07.821,0:09:11.502
After getting the part[br]and shooting the pilot episode,

0:09:11.502,0:09:12.980
the show slowly grew

0:09:12.980,0:09:16.055
to become one of the biggest shows[br]in television history.

0:09:17.206,0:09:21.593
To this day, we've smashed[br]previous HBO viewing records.

0:09:22.063,0:09:24.841
We've been nominated for over 130 Emmys,

0:09:24.841,0:09:28.473
making us the most Emmy-nominated[br]show to ever exist.

0:09:29.679,0:09:33.210
We've recently finished shooting[br]our eighth and final season,

0:09:33.210,0:09:36.489
which is predicted to smash records[br]that we've already broken.

0:09:36.901,0:09:42.913
And nearly a decade to the day[br]since my first audition,

0:09:44.013,0:09:45.836
I'm still wondering,

0:09:46.884,0:09:49.334
when am I going to get to be Billy Elliot?

0:09:49.727,0:09:51.255
(Laughter)

0:09:51.705,0:09:56.823
I joke, but in all seriousness, I have[br]absolutely no plans of slowing down.

0:09:57.046,0:10:00.897
Throughout my time in this industry,[br]it has been a minefield.

0:10:00.897,0:10:03.995
I have grown from a child into an adult,

0:10:03.995,0:10:07.678
and from four feet tall[br]into a whopping five feet tall.

0:10:07.864,0:10:09.515
(Laughter)

0:10:10.225,0:10:13.535
I have constantly been trying[br]to say the right thing,

0:10:13.535,0:10:15.837
accidentally saying the wrong thing,

0:10:15.837,0:10:17.906
trying not to swear too much

0:10:17.906,0:10:21.316
and trying to stop saying[br]"like, like" all of the time.

0:10:23.146,0:10:25.566
In February of 2017,

0:10:25.566,0:10:28.630
a friend of mine, Dom, and I[br]were swigging beers in my kitchen,

0:10:28.630,0:10:29.727
and he confessed to me

0:10:29.727,0:10:33.266
that there is a huge problem[br]with the creative industries.

0:10:33.421,0:10:34.694
I agreed.

0:10:34.694,0:10:37.093
The series of events[br]that had got me to that point

0:10:37.093,0:10:41.089
were based mainly on luck and timing[br]and were unable to be recreated.

0:10:41.365,0:10:44.337
He suggested to me[br]that we create a social media,

0:10:44.337,0:10:48.076
but just for artists to be able[br]to collaborate with one another

0:10:48.076,0:10:49.730
and create a career.

0:10:49.866,0:10:53.847
This was the fourth opportunity[br]or challenge I was presented with.

0:10:54.636,0:10:56.526
"Great," I thought.

0:10:57.389,0:10:59.381
"How the hell do we do that?"

0:10:59.889,0:11:01.591
And daisie was born.

0:11:02.088,0:11:06.944
Of course, everyone who I spoke to about[br]my latest endeavor thought that I was mad;

0:11:07.072,0:11:10.560
however, I know that this is something[br]that I can help change.

0:11:11.673,0:11:15.977
This last year in the industry, we've seen[br]a huge shift with the Me Too movement.

0:11:16.319,0:11:19.917
The industry is built with gatekeepers[br]holding all of the power

0:11:19.917,0:11:23.886
and selecting who they deem talented[br]enough to advance to the next level.

0:11:24.095,0:11:27.697
More often than not, it's easier[br]to catch the attention of those people

0:11:27.697,0:11:30.588
if you have graduated[br]from an expensive school.

0:11:30.588,0:11:34.417
But even then, I have so many friends[br]who are fresh out of art school,

0:11:34.417,0:11:38.816
having trained for years and are still[br]no closer to creating a career.

0:11:39.552,0:11:42.947
Now, I'm not claiming that with daisie[br]I can make everybody a star,

0:11:42.947,0:11:44.185
but I do believe

0:11:44.185,0:11:48.325
that the key to success within creative[br]industries is collaborating.

0:11:48.458,0:11:51.425
Actors are only as good as their writers.

0:11:51.557,0:11:54.676
Musicians are only as strong[br]as their producers.

0:11:54.826,0:11:58.176
And designers need their teams.

0:11:58.946,0:12:01.597
To start the company, we self-funded.

0:12:02.861,0:12:04.928
I had a pot of cash from "Game of Thrones"

0:12:04.928,0:12:07.251
that I was free to invest[br]wherever I liked.

0:12:07.576,0:12:10.574
Dom had a series of businesses[br]from the age of 16,

0:12:10.574,0:12:13.397
which meant he was also left[br]with a pot of cash.

0:12:13.397,0:12:17.227
We threw our money together 50-50,[br]and we built a team.

0:12:17.747,0:12:21.617
Now, Lady Gaga has repeatedly said

0:12:21.617,0:12:27.267
that there could be a room of 100 people,[br]and 99 don't believe in you,

0:12:27.267,0:12:30.375
but it just takes that one person[br]to believe in you,

0:12:30.375,0:12:32.616
and they can change your life.

0:12:32.820,0:12:36.045
Well, now we have a team of six.

0:12:37.495,0:12:40.567
Over the next 16 months, we built our MVP.

0:12:40.567,0:12:42.853
Now, if you're wondering what an MVP is,

0:12:42.853,0:12:45.528
I only found out what it is[br]about six months ago.

0:12:45.528,0:12:50.571
And from what I can gather, it's a product[br]which proves as a problem worth solving

0:12:50.571,0:12:52.874
with the minimum team effort.

0:12:53.237,0:12:56.510
So basically from my point of view,[br]you're marketing something

0:12:56.510,0:12:59.126
which you know[br]is going to be good one day,

0:12:59.126,0:13:01.507
but is a little bit bad right now.

0:13:01.936,0:13:04.476
And for us, that was an iOS app.

0:13:04.787,0:13:07.857
The six of us made an office[br]in Dom's garden,

0:13:07.857,0:13:12.358
and on August 1, 2018,[br]we released our version one.

0:13:12.786,0:13:17.158
We had over 30,000 downloads[br]in the first 24 hours

0:13:17.158,0:13:19.357
and over 30,000 comments

0:13:19.357,0:13:22.550
asking when the Android version[br]was going to be coming.

0:13:23.297,0:13:28.721
Despite our app being imperfect, buggy[br]and literally built by one man alone,

0:13:28.721,0:13:31.815
this was exactly what we needed[br]for people to invest.

0:13:31.815,0:13:36.196
We learned a lot from our angry users[br]and our scary investors.

0:13:36.406,0:13:41.019
And over the last six months,[br]we have grown our team to 16 people.

0:13:42.723,0:13:45.156
From then till now,[br]we've been building version two,

0:13:45.156,0:13:47.253
which we will be launching in April.

0:13:47.768,0:13:48.904
Within the industry,

0:13:48.904,0:13:52.188
there is a common phrase which I think[br]we're all pretty familiar with.

0:13:52.188,0:13:55.588
And that is, "It's not what you know,[br]it's who you know."

0:13:55.588,0:13:59.415
And with daisie, I hope to give[br]that power back to the creator.

0:13:59.598,0:14:02.509
I want to encourage people[br]to create a list of contacts

0:14:02.509,0:14:05.975
that they will work with and support[br]as they take their first steps

0:14:05.975,0:14:09.427
into the fickle and often[br]challenging creative world.

0:14:10.143,0:14:13.340
I am of the generation[br]who grew up with the Internet.

0:14:13.340,0:14:15.401
I've never known anything else.

0:14:15.908,0:14:20.796
We are connected, we are aware,[br]and we are the future.

0:14:21.757,0:14:23.836
I hope daisie can breathe new life

0:14:23.836,0:14:26.838
into the slightly dystopian,[br]ad-riddled hellscapes

0:14:26.838,0:14:29.414
that social media platforms have become.

0:14:29.767,0:14:33.567
I hope to create a space where people[br]can boast their art and creativity

0:14:33.567,0:14:35.467
rather than what car they are driving

0:14:35.467,0:14:38.349
and whether or not they bought it[br]in cash or on finance.

0:14:38.625,0:14:42.558
In a world where literally[br]anyone can be famous,

0:14:42.558,0:14:45.960
I hope to inspire people[br]to be talented instead.

0:14:46.897,0:14:51.116
Talent will carry you so much further[br]than your 15 minutes of fame.

0:14:52.579,0:14:54.638
So why am I telling you all this?

0:14:56.817,0:14:59.657
The very fact that I'm here[br]giving a TEDx talk right now

0:14:59.657,0:15:02.877
is so far from anything[br]I thought that I was capable of.

0:15:03.606,0:15:06.696
Even writing the bio[br]for my speech made me realize

0:15:06.696,0:15:10.536
that in a decade,[br]everything in my life has changed.

0:15:11.235,0:15:16.615
I am an Emmy-nominated actress,[br]an entrepreneur and an activist;

0:15:16.960,0:15:20.139
yet I have no formal[br]qualifications to my name.

0:15:22.565,0:15:27.074
When I left school about seven years ago,[br]I made it my mission to continue learning

0:15:27.074,0:15:30.164
even though I never wanted[br]to set foot in a classroom again.

0:15:30.753,0:15:34.107
Who knows what's going to happen[br]to my life in the next 10 years?

0:15:34.107,0:15:36.081
I surely have no idea.

0:15:36.587,0:15:38.755
I've never had an end goal.

0:15:38.755,0:15:40.908
It's working out okay so far.

0:15:41.907,0:15:44.268
So trust that you're good enough.

0:15:45.506,0:15:50.098
If there's one thing that I've learned is[br]that there truly is a place for everyone.

0:15:51.089,0:15:52.757
Ask questions,

0:15:52.757,0:15:56.351
and laugh in the face of people[br]who say that they're stupid questions.

0:15:57.418,0:15:59.947
Be open to learning and admitting

0:15:59.947,0:16:02.254
when you don't know[br]what the hell is going on.

0:16:03.088,0:16:05.587
Refuse to hold yourself back,

0:16:06.080,0:16:08.084
and dare to dream big.

0:16:08.821,0:16:10.377
Thank you for listening.

0:16:10.377,0:16:12.867
(Applause)