I felt quite empowered stepping away from my radio show. And don’t get me wrong, it was really scary. And I’m still getting to do great things that I love, but I remember a few people were just like, “Oh, my gosh.” Like, “You’re stepping away from Future Sounds, I can’t believe it!” And I said, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” Because I think with all of us, there comes a point in our life where it’s okay to say no to things. I think it is empowering to know when you’ve had your fill. Whether it’s through a work situation, certain relationships in your life, if that’s romantic, platonic, whether it’s how you treat yourself, I think it is empowering to learn when you’ve had enough of something. Respectfully.
GLAMOUR: After 10 years of hosting various Radio 1 radio shows, you said something had to give. And you said that that was empowering. What motivated you to do that?
Clara: Honestly, it was work/life balance. I’m so, so, so lucky and I’ve worked really hard to be able to do all the different types of things that I get to do, but I was spinning a lot of plates and I thought, “Oh, gosh. I can’t…” I think, for me, I never want to feel resentful. I don’t want to feel like, “Ugh,” doing this.
I was just thinking, “I’m not seeing my mates. I’m not seeing my family enough. I’m using up holiday dates to do extra work outside of radio.” And I thought, “I don’t want to live like this.” And the feeling wouldn’t go away because I actually took a little sabbatical. I took a step back because I hadn’t really taken a big, big, big chunk off for about 10 years. It was empowering to come back and be like, “Okay, right. This is what I’m doing”.
GLAMOUR: It’s about trusting your gut, as well, isn’t it?
Clara: Absolutely. The gut doesn’t lie and I think that’s been a recurrent conversation I’ve had with people throughout this whole year. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is so valuable to listen to advice from people that you trust implicitly. But also, you know yourself, generally speaking, better than anybody.
GLAMOUR: It’s also a big change, which is something that can really frighten people. Most people, in fact. What’s your relationship like with change? How has it evolved?
Clara: In many ways, I’m such a creature of habit and I like having a routine. But at the same time, I can’t stand making plans four months in advance. I like to really be in the moment.
But change, I welcome it. I like it. If it wasn’t for change, I’d have a really boring life. I think we all would. And change is awkward, it’s empowering but it can make you question things about yourself. It forces you to look at your life and say, “Okay, can I handle this? Am I prepared for this? Do I actually want to do this?”
GLAMOUR: Looking back on the 10 years that you have been at Radio 1, what was the high point of that journey?
Clara: When Harry Styles winked at me in the Live Lounge. I was gassed! We saw Paul McCartney. That was amazing. We sang together, a little bit, which was fun. Names just dropping from the sky. Sir Elton John, I got to go to his house, we just played tunes.