Dr Terri Simpkin blew me away. Listening to everything she said, has given me the push to apply for something I have always wanted to do but never felt I could…. who knows where this may lead? Wouldn’t the world be a very different place if all women got to spend 1 hour with her. Thank you so much.
A mission | A community | A call to action
This a site for all those people who know they could take on the the world. If only…
If only they could get rid of the fear of failure, the fear of being found out as a faker, the fear of success or the fear of not being good enough.
Who’s behind the site?
Well, me. Dr Terri Simpkin. Researcher, author, academic, public speaker and self confessed ‘impostor’. I’ve been researching and presenting on the impostor phenomenon for ages. It’s a bit of a mission to shift the mindset about this illogical feeling of intellectual phoniness and so I hope the material you find here will be of use to you.
The impostor phenomenon (no, it’s not a bloody syndrome!) is an insidious beast that keeps people from being as good as they know, in their quiet moments, they could be. I’ve been interested in this ‘beast’ since 2011, I’ve been researching it for the last five or so years and have now made it a large part of my day to day work.
So, For Fake Sake is a place to find out more about what this beast looks like, how it behaves and some options for getting it under control.
For Fake Sake, at its most granular is a mission, a community, a call to action.
Welcome, ‘fakers’ all.

“…you are braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.!
AA Milne
Look What We've Been Up To
- All
What People Are Saying
“I felt that my soul was on a dissection table and that Terri was explaining what she was seeing“
Just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed your session in the imposter phenomenon at the Governance conference. A light bulb moment for me. Life changing in terms of me telling my own story in a different way. THANK YOU
Stuff For You To Read
New resources!
Check out the new resources brought to you by the good people at Total Jobs. Kate Atkin and I have been working with Total Jobs…
FFS! *insert celebrity name here* has ‘imposter syndrome’… Why I love and loath these social media stories.
I knew it would be a problem when I did it. Setting up a Google alert to diligently track how the imposter syndrome is reported…
A university mentor’s guide to Impostor Phenomenon
There is widespread research investigating the prevalence and impact of the impostor phenomenon as experienced by university students. My own research has indicated that people…
Continue reading → A university mentor’s guide to Impostor Phenomenon
The only benefit of impostor phenomenon is getting rid of it.
While others might argue that the impostor phenomenon can be of benefit as it might drive people to be ‘better’, I have different ideas. I…
Continue reading → The only benefit of impostor phenomenon is getting rid of it.
It’s not a bl**dy syndrome!
My unabashed rant about the trivialisation of a very real and often serious topic by social media and people who know very little about it……
Faker to Fabulous – e-book
A little something I knocked up in response to people wanting something quick and easy to read about the impostor phenomenon. It’s based on my…
take on the world
