Today we’d like to introduce you to Esther Kentish.
Esther, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Houston, Texas, but much of my adult life, creative perspective, and professional development evolved through years spent living throughout England while traveling extensively across Europe and parts of Asia. These experiences deeply shaped the way I approach education, publishing, mentorship, intercultural communication, and creative collaboration.
My early academic background in undergraduate education in English and Philosophy at the University of Texas at Arlington helped shape my long-standing interest in ethics, storytelling, language, human behaviour, and interdisciplinary thought—interests that would later expand into publishing, medical humanities, education, and creative research. I earned a Master’s degree at North Carolina State University in Technical Communication, where I developed interests in systems design, interdisciplinary communication, emerging technologies, and project management—foundations that would later influence the operational and creative structures behind Kentish Publishing Games, an entity of Kentish Publishing Company now led by senior engineers.
Academically, I graduated with a second Master’s in Medical Humanities from King’s College London and later matriculated at the University of Oxford while conducting portions of my doctoral research. I later published several doctoral outcomes, including work in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) examining COVID-19, narrative medicine, physician writing, and patient experience within the National Health Service (NHS). My research examines COVID-19, narrative medicine, and doctor-writing. I interviewed National Health Service (NHS) patients and doctors, and published those outcomes as well.
Alongside my academic work, I spent years teaching and mentoring students internationally through research and writing programs, helping young people develop confidence in their ideas, communication, and intellectual curiosity. I also spent several years teaching English as a second language to Chinese and Korean students, while teaching GCSE and A-Level coursework to British students—experiences which significantly deepened my understanding of intercultural communication, educational collaboration, and the role globally connected mentorship can play in expanding opportunities across borders. Living and working internationally also deepened my awareness of the subtle cultural, linguistic, and communicative distinctions between British and American English, further shaping the way I approach global education, editing, storytelling, and cross-cultural collaboration.
Over time, I realized that many emerging writers, creatives, and students had powerful stories and ideas but lacked accessible, supportive publishing and creative development spaces. That realization ultimately led me to found Kentish Publishing Company, a multidisciplinary publishing and creative media company focused on publishing, mentorship, design, and long-term creative development. Through Kentish Publishing Company, I have collaborated with emerging and international authors, students, interns, and creative professionals across Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America on projects exploring themes such as religious violence and moral trauma in Nigeria, domestic violence and cultural silence in Ecuador, emotional healing and motherhood through psychology and spirituality, and emotionally introspective fiction emerging from Iran. I am deeply passionate about this work because my understanding of the world was shaped through lived encounters across vastly different communities and experiences. I have walked past silent protests organized by Palestinian students and listened to spoken-word reflections centered on peace, justice, and displacement. I have befriended Afghan and Pakistani asylum seekers navigating uncertainty about their futures. I have attended garden parties with British colleagues whose conversations moved effortlessly between aerospace engineering, satellites, and measurements of the sky and moon. I have shared meals with Chinese students entering Russell Group universities in the United Kingdom for the first time, celebrated life milestones with Kenyan friends, and learned fragments of language and survival from an Albanian rough sleeper. I have also helped elderly travelers who could not communicate their needs in unfamiliar environments. These experiences fundamentally shaped the way I understand storytelling, human dignity, intercultural connection, and community. In many ways, my authors reflect the way I see the world.
From there, the company naturally expanded into multiple creative directions, including the development of Kentish Élégante Journals, a luxury journal and lifestyle line that blends storytelling, visual design, emotion, and personal reflection. One of the concepts I became especially passionate about was creating “synesthesia journals,” journals inspired by the emotional imagery, movement, and atmosphere evoked by specific pieces of music and lived experiences.
My journey has not been linear, and much of it was built independently through experimentation, international collaboration, mentorship, and learning how to navigate both creative and operational challenges simultaneously. Today, my work sits at the intersection of publishing, education, design, research, and global creative collaboration. I continue to focus on building platforms, products, and opportunities that encourage people to create meaningful work, think deeply, and feel empowered to tell their stories.Today, my work sits at the intersection of publishing, education, design, research, and global creative collaboration. I continue to focus on building platforms, products, and opportunities that encourage people to create meaningful work, think deeply, and feel empowered to tell their stories. Drawing from my background in technical and scientific communication, I also place significant emphasis on mentorship, interdisciplinary learning, and creative development within the teams and interns I work alongside. Much of my approach explores the relationship between artificial intelligence, human empathy, memory, storytelling, and communication, encouraging emerging creatives to think critically about how technology can support—not replace—meaningful human connection and ethical creative practice. Many of the journals and reflective materials developed through the company are also donated to crisis centers and community-based organizations across the United States and the United Kingdom. I also facilitate workshops and interdisciplinary conversations centered on emotional healing, reflective practice, storytelling, and human connection, particularly within educational, creative, and wellness-oriented spaces. Several of my interdisciplinary works exploring narrative medicine, emotional healing, neuroaesthetics, and reflective storytelling are also archived within the collections of the Wellcome Collection in London. In addition, my work examining the historical and human dimensions of COVID-19 and physician narratives is held within the collections of the Royal Society of Medicine. I also serve as a Trustee with the London Vocational Ballet School in the United Kingdom, where I continue to grow in governance, leadership, and arts education. Earlier experiences connected to ballet, public culture, and extensive international travel throughout places such as Paris, Japan, and Italy further shaped my understanding of artistic accessibility, cultural memory, education, and global community-building. My work is also informed by a strong interest in perception, memory, emotional cognition, and visual imagination, including experiences associated with hyperphantasia and heightened facial recognition ability, which have influenced the way I engage with storytelling, atmosphere, observational detail, and human emotion.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not been a completely smooth road, although I think many of the challenges ultimately shaped both my perspective and the way I lead today.
One of the biggest challenges was learning how to build something multidisciplinary without a traditional roadmap. My work has existed across publishing, education, research, design, mentorship, and entrepreneurship simultaneously, which can be rewarding creatively but also difficult operationally. There were many moments where I had to teach myself systems, branding, publishing logistics, business structure, and leadership in real time while still managing academic responsibilities and international transitions.
Another challenge was building independently and often without large institutional backing. A great deal of what I created through Kentish Publishing Company and Kentish Élégante Journals came from persistence, experimentation, and long-term vision rather than immediate resources or funding. There is a misconception that creative businesses grow quickly, but in reality, many creative entrepreneurs spend years refining systems, developing products, building trust, and learning from mistakes behind the scenes.
Living internationally also brought its own challenges. While those experiences expanded my worldview tremendously, navigating different environments, cultures, professional systems, and personal transitions required resilience and adaptability. There were periods where I had to balance academic research, teaching commitments, entrepreneurship, and personal uncertainty all at once.
I also think one of the more difficult lessons was realizing that creativity alone is not enough to sustain a vision long term. Building something meaningful requires operational discipline, communication, boundaries, structure, and the ability to continue moving forward even when outcomes are uncertain.
At the same time, many of those struggles became the foundation for the work I do now. They taught me how to mentor others more compassionately, how to think globally, and how to create opportunities and environments that encourage both creativity and personal growth.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
It definitely has not been a completely smooth road, although I think many of the challenges ultimately shaped both my perspective and the way I lead today.
A large part of my journey has involved balancing multiple worlds at once — academia, publishing, education, creative work, and entrepreneurship — often without a traditional roadmap. Over the years, I lived throughout England while pursuing my academic and creative work internationally, and that experience taught me resilience, adaptability, and how to navigate unfamiliar environments while continuing to build long-term goals.
Academically and creatively, much of my work has centered around storytelling, narrative medicine, emotion, healing, and the relationship between language and human experience. Some of my published works include “The Story of Covid-19: Tracing Doctor-Writers from Hippocrates to the British Frontline”, “The Emotional Healing Behind Words”, “On Love: Transmuting Embodied Experience into Neuroaesthetics Poetry”, and “Prevailing on the Inside: Fractures of Justice and Self, via Bodily Trauma and Narrative Medicine”. Writing and researching these themes required engaging with deeply personal, historical, emotional, and interdisciplinary subjects while also navigating my own personal and professional growth.
At the same time, I was building Kentish Publishing Company and later expanding into creative product development through Kentish Élégante Journals. One of the biggest challenges was learning how to transform creative vision into sustainable operational systems. Creative industries often look glamorous from the outside, but much of the reality involves problem-solving, logistics, long hours, financial uncertainty, and constantly learning new skills independently.
There were also challenges connected to building something multidisciplinary. My work sits at the intersection of publishing, research, education, design, mentorship, and global collaboration, and at times it was difficult explaining a vision that did not fit neatly into one category. I had to learn how to trust unconventional ideas and continue building even when the path forward was not entirely clear.
Another major lesson was understanding that creativity alone is not enough to sustain a long-term vision. Leadership, communication, structure, patience, and emotional resilience became just as important as artistic or academic ability.
At the same time, many of those struggles became the foundation for the work I do today. They helped shape the way I mentor students, collaborate with creatives, approach storytelling, and build environments where people feel encouraged to think deeply, create meaningfully, and share their voices authentically.
What’s next?
Right now, a large part of my focus is centered on continuing to expand Kentish Publishing Company as a multidisciplinary creative and educational ecosystem rather than simply a traditional publishing company. I’m especially interested in building more opportunities for writers, students, researchers, and emerging creatives through mentorship, publishing development, collaborative projects, and international creative partnerships.
I’m also continuing to grow Kentish Élégante Journals and further develop some of the more conceptual and artistic directions behind the brand, including the synesthesia journal collections inspired by music, emotion, movement, and sensory experience. I love exploring the intersection between storytelling, design, psychology, and human emotion, so I’m looking forward to creating more projects that merge those worlds together in meaningful ways.
Beyond product and publishing development, I hope to continue expanding globally through speaking opportunities, educational initiatives, cross-cultural collaboration, and future research and writing projects. Much of my long-term vision involves creating environments where creativity, intellectual curiosity, emotional reflection, and mentorship can coexist rather than exist separately.
I’m also looking forward to refining the operational side of everything I’m building. One of the biggest lessons entrepreneurship has taught me is that sustainable growth requires strong systems, structure, and community just as much as creativity. A lot of what I’m planning next involves strengthening those foundations so the work can continue growing long term and support more people in the future.
Overall, I’m excited about continuing to evolve both personally and professionally while building projects that encourage people to think deeply, create authentically, and feel connected through storytelling and shared human experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kentishpublishingcompany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherrkentish/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EstherRKentish
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentish/
Image Credits
Images by Esther Kentish
