Meet the M.Y.O team
We have a team of people who are incredibly passionate about helping guests get creative
in our colourful Central London studio and around the world.
Diana Muendo and Sam Lehane
Co-creaters of M.Y.O
Diana and Sam are a couple who ditched their corporate careers in 2017 to pursue a mission of helping adults around the world get more creative through arts and crafts! They believe everyone is creative, they just need an outlet. This is why they set up M.Y.O, as they felt so many adults don't explore that side of themselves enough and it has lots of mindfulness benefits, along with being just good fun and a way to boost confidence and connect with others.
It's been quite the journey and they can't wait to meet you in the studio one day, so you can enjoy exploring that creative side of yours.
Diana is CEO and Sam heads up marketing and operations.
Feel free to reach out on Diana@MYO.Place and Sam@MYO.Place.
Maika Spooner
Studio Manager and Pyrographer!
Maika joined us in late 2020 and we're so happy to have her on board! She started out doing marketing and is now running the studio for us.
With a passion for wood burning (pyrography) and helping people get creative, along with netball, dogs and lots more!
She runs her own creative business called MadebyMaika and is always up for giving creative things a go!
As well as running the studio, she is known to teach our lino printing, watercolour painting and painted ceramics classes and help us produce crafty how-to video content for brands.
Check out MadebyMaika.co.uk and @madebymaika.
For anything related to the studio, drop her an e-mail on Maika@MYO.Place.
Hannah Adams
Creativity and Partnerships Manager
Hannah joined us in June 2021 and really hit the ground running. With a background in PR, Marketing and experience running her own business. Her main focus is on growing our creative kits offering and partnerships, but she has also been know to pull together great collaborations and host classes.
She's a dab hand at all things creative and also runs her own eco-friendly jigsaw puzzle startup called Pieces of the Puzzle. She has a lovely dog called Jura, who has his own instagram and loves going for walks, wild swimming and playing netball.
Check out @pieces_ofthepuzzle and for anything partnerships or creative kits e-mail Hannah@MYO.Place.
Kirsty Poole
General Manager and All Round Maker
Kirsty, who hails from Birmingham, joined the M.Y.O team in July 2019 to run the studio day-to-day and is smashing it! She left her corporate job doing Internal Comms to get some more creativity back in her life, since leaving it to the weekends after studying Art & Design and Product Design. An avid traveller, skier, musical watcher and maker of all things from Macrame, crochet (amigurumi apparently!) to sewing! Favourite colour? Blue.
Check out her creative blog here.
*Currently on maternity leave.*
Abby Hobbs
All round Illustrator and Designer
Abby has been with us for over 2 years now and loves drawing, painting and illustrating. She does commissions for companies, websites, children's books and tonnes more, along with recently being awarded a scholarship by The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, so she can pursue a masters in Children's Book Illustration. She also illustrated Diana's children's picture book - Big Hair Parade.
As she now lives outside London, she tends to host our virtual illustration and drawing classes.
Check her out @Hobbbins and AbbyHobbs.com.
Edlyl Asis
Master Calligrapher and Brush Letterer
Edlyl is a gem of a creative and uses her lettering skills to design wedding decor, chalk boards, signage and shop windows, along with teachers others how to do it. She also works in events, PR and partnerships at stationer Martha Brook.
Edlyl hosts our popular modern calligraphy classes and has also learned how to do painted ceramics and lino printing.
Check out Edlyl.co.uk and @by.edlyl.
Kendall Murphy
Lino Printer and Creativity Champion
Kendall was a regular guest in the studio, trying lots of our creative classes, so we were delighted she was interested in joining the team to help us teach classes too!
She is a bit of a lino printing fanatic, but likes to dabble with all sorts of creative things.
Jack Casey
Master Ceramicist and Potter
Jack is 25 years old and hails from North London. He specialises in creating functional ceramics but loves all things making. In his spare time he likes cycling, mountains and retro video games. He's thrilled to be joining the talented group of creatives at M.Y.O, from whom he can learn and be inspired by, whilst helping to spread the creative bug and all the joy and satisfaction it can bring to anyone's life.
"Creativity is contagious. Pass it on." - Albert Einstein
"If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done." - Rita Mae Brown
Check her out @JackCaseyCeramics and Jackcaseyceramics.com
Sarah Beckett
Pottery Specialist and All-Rounder
Sarah is a graphic designer and marketer by day and creative host with M.Y.O by night. She is a pottery whizz and an all-rounder too.
Super friendly and gets a real kick out of helping others explore their creative side.
Claire Austen
Musician, Jeweller and Performer
Claire is a musician (the violin!) and teaches music. She also loves watercolour painting and the mindfulness benefits of getting creative. She recently completed a masters in psychology and loves running workshops and helping others explore their creative side.
She'll be helping us teach watercolour painting, lino printing, t-shirt and tote bag design, handmade pottery and painted ceramics classes, along with many more! Oh, she's Irish too.
Carla Williams
All Round Creative
Carla was mega happy to join the team as really believes in what we are trying to do - providing fun and creative experiences for everyone to enjoy. She is very much into self love, wellbeing and expression and she thinks that getting creative and crafty can be the perfect way to do that! She's resourceful, regularly finding old or broken bits around the home and pimping it to make something new and unique. She feels that putting your energy into making something is special - even if it isn't perfect or you don't keep it, its the experience that makes you feel good! A couple of quotes she loves below - lovely!
"There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way."
"Leap, and the net will appear"
You?
Have a desire to help spread more creativity and colour around the world?
We're regularly on the look out for general creatives, potters, textilers, studio helpers and everything in between, so if there's a particular class you like to teach or job you'd like to do to keep our studio looking amazing, drop us an e-mail on GetCreative@MYO.Place. Thanks
Privacy Policy M.Y.O is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors; this policy sets out how we will treat your personal information. Please take a moment to read it. (1) Information M.Y.O May Collect We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data: (a) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website (including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views); (b) information relating to any transactions carried out between you and us on or in relation to this website, including information relating to any purchases you make of our goods or services; (c) information that you provide to us for the purpose of registering with us (including name and email address); (d) information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our website services, email notifications and/or newsletters (including name and email address); (e) any other information that you choose to send to us; (2) We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at www.google.com/privacypolicy.html (3) How may M.Y.O use your Personal Data Personal data submitted on this website will be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in relevant parts of the website. We may use your personal information to: (a) administer the website; (b) improve your browsing experience by personalising the website; (c) enable your use of the services available on the website; (d) send to you goods purchased via the website, and supply to you services purchased via the website; (e) send statements and invoices to you, and collect payments from you; (f) send you general (non-marketing) commercial communications; (g) send you email notifications which you have specifically requested; (h) send to you our newsletter and other marketing communications relating to our business which we think may be of interest to you , where you have specifically agreed to this, by email or similar technology. You can inform us at any time if you no longer require communications from M.Y.O by sending an email to Hello@MYO.Place or unsubscribing in the e-mail that is sent; (i) provide third parties with statistical information about our users – but this information will not be used to identify any individual user; (j) deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you relating to the website; We will not provide your personal information to any third parties for the purpose of direct marketing. (4) Disclosures We may disclose information about you to any of our employees, officers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy policy. In addition, we may disclose information about you: (a) to the extent that we are required to do so by law; (b) in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings; (c) in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk); and (d) to the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of any business or asset which we are (or are contemplating) selling. Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties. (5) Security of your Personal Data We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. Of course, data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet. (6) Policy Amendments We may update this privacy policy from time-to-time by posting a new version on our website. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. (7) Your Rights You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you. You may instruct us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes by email at any time. In practice, you will usually either expressly agree in advance to our use of your personal data for marketing purposes, or we will provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of the use of your personal data for marketing purposes. (8) Third Party Websites The website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party websites. (9) Updating Information Please let us know if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated. (10) Contact M.Y.O If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our treatment of your personal data, please write to us by email to hello@MYO.Place. **For public class bookings - please note: No refunds within 7 days of class, a transfer fee of £7.50 applies. No refunds or transfers within 48 hours of class. **For private group bookings - please note: we take a deposit to confirm the reservation, the balance being payable after the session. If a private group booking is cancelled by you within 14 days of the session date, we can transfer half the deposit to a future date. If the private group booking is cancelled by you within 48 hours of the session date, we cannot refund or transfer. If the private group booking is cancelled by you prior to 14 days of the session date, we can transfer the full deposit amount to a future session. **Note - due to Covid-19 and in the interests of you and the public's safety, the studio has been closed until the Government advises otherwise. We'll be open as soon as possible then. Given the ongoing uncertainty, we are unable to process refunds at this time, but can issue ticket transfers from cancelled classes to future ones or issue M.Y.O gift vouchers to equivalent value. For group deposits paid, we can transfer the deposit to a future group session. We really have no idea how long this will go on for and are trying to be as fair as possible given all the uncertainty. We hope you stay safe and that you can understand why we have to do this - we will all get through this and can't wait to host you in the studio in the future for much needed creative time. Many thanks, Sam, Diana and Team M.Y.O**
Privacy Policy M.Y.O is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors; this policy sets out how we will treat your personal information. Please take a moment to read it. (1) Information M.Y.O May Collect We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data: (a) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website (including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views); (b) information relating to any transactions carried out between you and us on or in relation to this website, including information relating to any purchases you make of our goods or services; (c) information that you provide to us for the purpose of registering with us (including name and email address); (d) information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our website services, email notifications and/or newsletters (including name and email address); (e) photos taken during the session, with your permission (f) any other information that you choose to send to us; (2) We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at www.google.com/privacypolicy.html (3) How may M.Y.O use your Personal Data Personal data submitted on this website will be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in relevant parts of the website. We may use your personal information to: (a) administer the website; (b) improve your browsing experience by personalising the website; (c) enable your use of the services available on the website; (d) send to you goods purchased via the website, and supply to you services purchased via the website; (e) send statements and invoices to you, and collect payments from you; (f) send you general (non-marketing) commercial communications; (g) send you email notifications which you have specifically requested; (h) send to you our newsletter and other marketing communications relating to our business which we think may be of interest to you , where you have specifically agreed to this, by email or similar technology. You can inform us at any time if you no longer require communications from M.Y.O by sending an email to Hello@MYO.Place or unsubscribing in the e-mail that is sent; (i) provide third parties with statistical information about our users – but this information will not be used to identify any individual user; (j) deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you relating to the website; (k) Regarding your photos taken during the session; used in our marketing materials and on our social channels with your consent We will not provide your personal information to any third parties for the purpose of direct marketing. (4) Disclosures We may disclose information about you to any of our employees, officers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy policy. In addition, we may disclose information about you: (a) to the extent that we are required to do so by law; (b) in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings; (c) in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk); and (d) to the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of any business or asset which we are (or are contemplating) selling. Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties. (5) Security of your Personal Data We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. Of course, data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet. (6) Policy Amendments We may update this privacy policy from time-to-time by posting a new version on our website. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. (7) Your Rights You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you. You may instruct us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes by email at any time. In practice, you will usually either expressly agree in advance to our use of your personal data for marketing purposes, or we will provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of the use of your personal data for marketing purposes. (8) Third Party Websites The website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party websites. (9) Updating Information Please let us know if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated. (10) Contact M.Y.O If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our treatment of your personal data, please write to us by email to hello@MYO.Place.