The RSA Short, “Brené Brown on Empathy,” celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. With over 20 million views on YouTube, the video features Brené’s voice as she teaches us about the difference between empathy and sympathy depicted by an iconic animal trio — a bear, a fox, and a deer. The video is RSA’s most viewed video of all time and was made as a part of RSA Shorts, a Webby Award-winning animation series spotlighting voices from the RSA Public Events Programme. The series features creative talents from around the world to bring big, world-changing ideas to life through illustration and animation.

The RSA, or the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, is an organization that translates ideas into action, catalyzing social impact across the globe. We reconnected with the video’s director, illustrator, and animator, Katy Ross (AKA Gobblynne), to reflect on the video and its impact a decade after its creation. 

I really love employing humour to deliver a message (as does Brené!). Even with a serious or sensitive subject matter, we can find ways to soften ideas and make them super accessible, and laughter is a great way to open up connection. So with that, my favourite moments in “Brené Brown on Empathy” have got to be either when the deer says “you wanna sandwich?” or the classic eye roll after “. . . at least you have a marriage!” Brené’s concepts and stories are so wonderfully captivating, it’s so fun to emphasise her humour and comedy timing with some exaggerated facial expressions.

The phenomenal organic reach and positive response to the video has been wonderful to witness! Even a decade later, “Brené Brown on Empathy” still has such incredible ongoing impact. The most surprising thing for me has been the messages from close friends and family — I have had so many moments of “Oh Katy! You made that? I use this in my training material at work! No way!” “Oh! My husband works at a charity and uses this in his volunteer onboarding process!” etc., etc. . . . Whenever I have shared or spoken about this animation, there’s always someone who says it’s used as a training tool at work, and it’s always in completely different industries, from divorce or bereavement counseling, to the Police Service, to the NHS, to schools and colleges, and beyond. I love that it has been used so widely to help educate people about empathy — it’s just been astonishing how many people I know who have seen it independently, it seems to get everywhere!

I have three main areas of work/joy; client work, passion project work, and mum work (!), so I am certainly keeping busy.

In 2015 I opened a creative company called Superdoodle and we’re currently working on a series of animations for a fantastic company called My Day Maker, who will be launching their wellness web app later this year. The app includes a gratitude journal and a daily ‘present’ of inspiration, which will empower you to reboot your mindset for a positive, purpose-driven life. The animations are educational and super fun; picture a clumsy bull that drops a plate of spaghetti and a horse who angrily spills a cup of coffee over a shocked porcupine — it’s wonderfully silly yet loaded with insightful lessons about us and our brains.

Although the My Day Maker website hasn’t been launched yet, the animations have been on the film festival circuit since December and are doing amazingly, having been officially selected for many screenings, and having already won seven awards! It’s wonderful to hear they are being so well received.

Any spare moments I get (which seem few and far between!), I am writing pitches for exciting projects, working on a kids’ book about how wonderful it is to wear glasses (which both of my sons do), and making a comedy animated music video called “Big Up My Boobs” about being a new parent and the hilarious perils of breastfeeding, like answering the door to the postman, sleep deprived, with a boob whopped out. I found breastfeeding very painful and difficult, so wanted to remind mums that they are daily superheroes, and they’re not alone in their experiences, be they positive or negative!

I love that it has been used so widely to help educate people about empathy — it’s just been astonishing how many people I know who have seen it independently, it seems to get everywhere!