Joy Is Not Optional: Creativity, Youth Work & Community with Zoë Carassik

In this episode of Where Are We Heading?, Kim and Dan walk with Zoë Carassik, CEO of Pie Factory Music. Zoë reflects on her own journey through youth arts spaces and how those early experiences shaped her confidence, creativity, and sense of belonging. What starts as a conversation about music soon opens out into a wider discussion about youth work, community, and why spaces that centre creativity and care matter more than ever - especially at a time when youth services across the UK continue to disappear. As we walk, Zoë shares what it’s really like to lead a charity in the current climate, and why she believes joy, playfulness, and silliness aren’t distractions from the work, but essential to sustaining it. We talk openly about responsibility, burnout, and how creativity can exist alongside leadership and accountability without losing its humanity. This episode is a reminder that creativity isn’t a luxury - it’s infrastructure. That small moments of validation can stay with a young person for life. And that community is built not through grand gestures, but through consistency, care, and shared creative experiences. Zoë Carassik is CEO of Pie Factory Music, a music and youth work charity based in a busy youth centre in Ramsgate, East Kent. With a background in community music engagement and music education, Zoë’s work has predominantly focused on supporting social justice causes and has taken her from immigration removal centres, women’s refuges and community centres to world-class cultural institutions and strategic charitable organisations. Zoë is a passionate advocate for young people’s rights, ensuring young people are front and centre of the cultural regeneration of Thanet and other areas of high deprivation. https://piefactorymusic.com/ Join the journey ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/whereareweheadingpod⁠⁠ Credits Hosts: Kim and Dan Logo Design: Jane Hogan Illustrates Music & Production: Kim Recorded in: Margate, UK