Few people seem more effortlessly confident than Amelia Dimoldenberg.
As the creator and host of the hugely successful Chicken Shop Date, she has interviewed everyone from Hollywood stars and musicians to internet personalities and cultural icons, building a global audience through her unique blend of awkward humour and disarming charm.
Yet speaking at Cannes Lions 2025, Dimoldenberg revealed something unexpected.
Success, she said, has not necessarily made her more confident.
In some ways, it has had the opposite effect.
Building a Brand One Video at a Time
Today, Chicken Shop Date is one of the most recognisable creator-led formats on the internet.
But when Dimoldenberg started in 2014, things looked very different. Many episodes struggled to attract even 1,000 views.
Still, she believed in the concept.
From the beginning, she had a vision that the show could one day sit alongside mainstream television programmes and major media brands.
“It took me 11 years,” she reflected.
The lesson was simple: success rarely happens overnight.
What appears effortless from the outside is often the result of years of persistence, experimentation and belief.
Make It for One Person
Asked about audience analytics, Dimoldenberg’s answer was refreshingly unconventional.
Rather than obsessing over data, she focuses on something much more personal.
“If my sister doesn’t think it’s funny, I’ll keep editing it until she does.”
For years, the opinions of her friends and family served as her most trusted benchmark. The philosophy remains the same today.
Create something for a specific person rather than trying to please everyone.
Ironically, she believes that approach often helps content connect with larger audiences.
Once creators begin making work purely for the masses, she argued, it can lose the personality that made it special in the first place.
Protecting What Makes Chicken Shop Date Different
One reason *Chicken Shop Date* has endured is its consistency.
Dimoldenberg is highly selective about the guests who appear on the show.
Fame alone is not enough.
She has to genuinely like them, be interested in them and believe they have something unique to bring to the format.
The audience, she believes, can immediately sense when that connection is real.
Authenticity extends to brand partnerships too.
She only works with brands whose tone and personality align naturally with her own.
Scripts, she explained, must remain flexible enough for her voice and humour to shine through. If she cannot make something feel authentic, she would rather walk away.
Confidence and Self-Doubt
Perhaps the most revealing moment came when the conversation turned to confidence.
Dimoldenberg has long projected an image of self-assurance.
In fact, she joked that she once made “CEO” her Instagram bio largely because she thought it was funny.
Her advice?
“Just call yourself one.”
Yet beneath the humour was a more nuanced reality.
Growing up in Westminster, she credits local youth programmes with teaching her that her opinions mattered and helping build the confidence that later fuelled her career.
Today, however, she admits that taking risks feels harder. When nobody is watching, experimentation is easy.
When millions of people are watching, the stakes feel different.
“I am more nervous to do something new now,” she admitted.
It is a challenge she is still working through.
The Art of Reading People
Part of Dimoldenberg’s success comes from an ability to read people quickly.
Whether interviewing celebrities on a red carpet or filming a full *Chicken Shop Date* episode, she constantly assesses body language, energy and personality.
On a red carpet, she explained, there may be only 90 seconds to create something memorable.
Questions are adjusted in real time.
Instinct takes over.
The challenge is one of the aspects of the job she enjoys most.
Even after interviewing some of the biggest names in entertainment, she still feels nervous before shoots.
The guests, she said, often do too.
What Comes Next?
For many creators, building a successful format would be enough.
Dimoldenberg sees it as the beginning.
She revealed that she is developing projects across television, film, scripted content and live experiences, while continuing to expand her creative ambitions.
The biggest challenge may not be generating ideas. It may be having the confidence to pursue them.
As she looked ahead to the future, there was a sense that the creator who built a global brand from a chicken shop still has plenty left to prove – perhaps most of all to herself. Although she did joke that “The mould that’s left to break? I’m the only celebrity without a drinks brand.”
