Shows
Everyday Creative PeopleRoger Nierenberg on music, conducting, and what it can teach us about leadership “Being stuck is an important part of the creative process – every great creative advance has been preceded by being stuck. And it’s staying with that, and then suddenly you see it differently. You discover that… there are different forces at play here than what I thought, and there are different barriers, and some of the barriers that I was fighting against, they don’t even exist! They’re just a construct.” Roger Nierenberg is a conductor who has enjoyed long tenures...
2019-07-3040 minEveryday Creative PeopleKristin Richardson Jordan on choosing love This week I got to interview a dear friend and a true renaissance soul, Kristin Richardson Jordan, about her work as a social justice poet and in particular her most recent book of poetry, Water and Light: Choose Love Now. Kristin is a book printing poet, writer, teaching artist, whose work is driven by an activist spirit. She grew up in the historically black neighborhood of Harlem, New York, and draws a great source of inspiration from the deep roots of activism, community, and artistic excellence in this community.
2019-07-0843 minEveryday Creative PeopleKofi Oduro on finding creativity in unexpected places Photo credit: Stéphan Ballard Kofi Oduro is a creative coder, creative engineer, thinker, poet, and performer living in Montreal, Quebec (my new hometown!). In this week’s episode, we take a dive into computer science and finding creative fulfillment when you’re also a math geek. Kofi fills me in on the intersections of live coding, video, AI, spoken word poetry, music, and “algoraves,” an event where people dance to music created by algorithms. Turns out, math is at the foundation of pretty much everything we do.
2019-06-1144 minEveryday Creative PeopleBen Falcon on painting bikes, playing with legos, and working in New York City Ben Falcon paints custom bicycles, motorcycles, and more. Having felt constrained by the opportunities available to him as an architecture student, Ben sought out something that would enable him to do more hands-on work. He found it in custom painting. In this week’s episode, Ben and I discuss how he stumbled upon this niche career, what he would do if he weren’t doing custom painting, and what it’s like to run a custom paint business in New York City. Ben has worked with some...
2019-05-2033 minEveryday Creative PeopleVessna Scheff, on following your heart This week I caught up with Vessna Scheff, an emotive, abstract painter and musician living in Philadelphia. Vessna has the attitude of a perpetual student, and has jumped into her creative pursuits more than once with little to no formal training! In this episode, Vessna shares her incredible journey to becoming a working artist, and the attitudes, approaches, and beautiful moments of magic that got her there. Vessna combines sounds, movement and color to create encompassing performances. Her work is inspired by stories of social and personal...
2019-05-1341 min
Hustle & Grace with Hilary Sutton: A Work/Life Balance PodcastHilary Sutton On Her Career Journey from Acting to Writing and EntrepreneurshipOn this special crossover episode with Everyday Creative People Podcast, Dena Adriance interviews Hilary Sutton on her career journey from acting to writing and entrepreneurship. Hilary shares what she loves about theatre, how she stumbled into being a full-time professional actor in her early twenties, and how she navigates the challenges of balancing multi-gig work with life outside of work. Show notes available at hilarysutton.com/podcast. Connect with Hilary on Instagram,Twitter, and Facebook. This episode is sponsored by Get Your Dream Off the Ground.
2019-05-0134 minEveryday Creative PeopleStephanie Simpson on Creative Stress Management This week I chatted with artist, educator, consultant and coach Stephanie Simpson about the interplay between stress and creativity, and how to nourish and draw on the power of our full human selves. Drawing on her background in movement, meditation, and psychology, Stephanie guides people to achieve their greatest potential by nurturing the connection between the mind, body, and spirit. With a focus on helping people find their true balance and align with their authentic selves, Stephanie empowers them to live their lives unapologetically and to the...
2019-04-2939 minEveryday Creative PeopleTodd Emaus on the role of play, connection, and belonging in business “Leaning into a beginners mindset is really helpful for me. I have some [internal] stories that I need to be great at everything, and a lot of times that keeps me from leaning into creativity where I can just be curious about what I’m capable of. Not only in seeing what that first version is and almost how bad it is – because I do have a sense of taste, and can tell like, wow what I just made really isn’t great – but also being able to say...
2019-04-1638 minEveryday Creative PeopleCarving out time for art with Heather Kirtland and Marissa Huber Heather Kirtland and Marissa Huber are two artists and mothers, who happen to be the dynamic duo behind the Instagram community Carve Out Time for Art and blog by the same name (COTFA for short). The goal of COTFA is to cultivate a positive and nurturing community for creatives who want to find time to satisfy this part of their identity – a perfect match for Everyday Creative People! Some of the things we talked about included: * The power of self talk and the importance of choosing to...
2019-04-0958 minEveryday Creative PeopleClaiming your creativity (and recovering from burnout) with Rosita Choy “I never thought of myself as being creative. But at a certain point I needed to tell stories out loud on stage. And part of that was because some of the social justice work I was doing, I felt people needed to change something more than their logic about things. You know, racism is illogical, but I felt like we had to get beyond that, that you couldn’t rationalize it. And also that emotionally, some people just feel different things along those lines. And so my stor...
2019-04-0449 minEveryday Creative PeopleThe Power of Play with Chloe Varelidi “I’ve worked with kids all my life, but when I became a mother myself, I realized how babies, that’s the first thing they do before they even talk, you know, they just play and tinker. And that’s how they understand the world and how they learn. And then as, we grow older, play is our favorite way of coming up with new ideas, and… play often becomes social. So you start playing with others. And it’s a key way, actually, for us to develop empathy, and connect...
2019-03-2632 minEveryday Creative PeopleLifting up community through creativity, with Steve Lucin Steve Lucin is a creative entrepreneur who helps passionate visionaries bring in more cash to their businesses through creativity. Lucin pulls his technical design, motion graphics, and entrepreneurial skills from running his own entertainment and nightlife creative business, Halucinated Design, Inc. He was the VRFX supervisor at Michael Bay’s 451 Media, where he oversaw the creation of VR/360 (Virtual Reality) content from creative to post-production. He also animated many of the original 451 motion comics.Since then he has decided to pursue his personal mission in life, which...
2019-03-1942 minEveryday Creative PeopleCuriosity, Courage, and Taking Big Leaps with Katie Visco Katie Visco, who has been called a “bubbly and offbeat running, biking, soup-making, people-loving, community-building exclamation mark,” loves peoples’ stories, healthy and delicious food, traveling, and human-powered adventures. In 2009, promoting the importance of a bold and passion-driven life, Katie ran solo across America, from Boston to San Diego, and became the 2nd youngest and 13th woman overall to make the crossing. During, and the year after her transAmerican crossing, she raised funds for the charity, Girls on the Run, and also stopped to visit more than two hundred audiences en route to...
2019-02-2639 minEveryday Creative PeopleWhen Creativity is Hard with Rebecca Davis “I believe that as we’re being creative, sometimes we really have to practice creativity, as opposed to wait for creativity. And I found that that’s such a powerful practice for me when I’m working with young people, because part of my job is to hear terrible things all the time. And to make those things playable. And it’s really, really hard. It’s really hard and scary to play with things that you don’t think you can play with. And in drama therapy, and in developmental...
2019-02-1946 minEveryday Creative PeopleLeadership and Innovation with Saleema Vellani “Creativity goes hand in hand with emotional intelligence. The more self aware we are, the more we practice self awareness and empathy and all these things, the more we’re able to be resilient, the more we’re able to unleash that creativity inside of us. A lot of times in our workshops, we get people that say, oh, we’re not creative, or, you know, I’m just not a creative person, and they have a lot of what we call limiting beliefs about themselves. And oftentimes, after going through our workshops, they’re li...
2019-02-1139 minEveryday Creative PeopleWelcome back for Season 2! At long last, Everyday Creative People has returned for a second season! Here’s my brief introduction to set the stage for what’s to come. Stay tuned for the first interview, coming next Monday!
2019-02-0610 minEveryday Creative PeopleThe Magic of Glasswork with Anita Merina “I literally spend hours just staring at my glasswork or my worktable, and think: ‘Ok I’m gonna give it up.’ And then my husband always says, ‘Just go down there and work, go and try this, get in there and immerse yourself.’ You know, I struggle all the time. That’s part of it: it’s pain and pleasure. Pain, pleasure, and definitely passion. And sometimes the pain is worse than the pleasure is, or sometimes the pleasure of something coming out… is wonderful. And, you know, I think that they come in waves, and you gotta ride som...
2018-06-0554 minEveryday Creative PeopleThe power of joy, creativity and healing through movement with Tatiana Zamir “The more that I show up for myself and therefore am able to show up for others, it just, gets me into my purpose, and why I’m here. I think that when we do that, we’re able to feel more joy, and when we feel more joy, we’re able to reap the benefits of that joy. And when we’re in our happiness and our joy, we’re able to just think more clearly, and we’re more inspired, and we’re more open to the possibilities of life and recreating ourselves… I feel like I’ve opened th...
2018-05-2842 minEveryday Creative PeopleAlexandra Zsigmond – On creative recovery Alexandra Zsigmond spent 7 years doing art direction for the New York Times’ Opinion section before deciding to refocus her energy on personal creative pursuits. In this week’s conversation we chat about her “dream job” as an Art Director and her current process of creative recovery. Alexandra is an award-winning art director and visual thinker working at the intersection of fine art, illustration and editorial design. Her core interest lies in the use of metaphor and symbolism in visual art, as a tool to represent complex ideas and visualize the invisible realms of mind, thought, and emotion. S...
2018-05-2344 minEveryday Creative PeopleNatalia Zamparini on loss, overcoming fear, and defining career on your own terms “I am of an immigrant family. So this is what we were taught: ‘This is, you know, America is the land of opportunity, and this is what you must do in order to become successful.’ So, if this is what has been taught to each one of us, then me pursuing art was something very risky, and in that risk, and I think even behind the scenes, you know behind the Instagram photo that I would put up, there was a lot of that sacrifice, and struggle… My family and close friends saw that most. So I did ge...
2018-05-1447 minEveryday Creative PeopleThe essential integration of arts, advocacy, and community life, with Rebecca Kelly-Golfman “The idea that the arts need to be something separate from your socially engaged life, or your community-based life, its really been created by institutions and it isn’t true. Every community… has been using the arts and creativity to thrive, since forever.” Rebecca Kelly-Golfman is a facilitator, entrepreneur, theatre artist, and activist. She has spent her entire career figuring out how to integrate the arts and advocacy/activism work, and helping others to learn how to do this too. Rebecca is a true Renaissance Soul/Multi-potentialite, cobbling together a variety of different activities to build a life a...
2018-05-0744 minEveryday Creative PeopleFreelancing, side hustles, social media, and acting, with Hilary Sutton “I’m at the point where a gig is not just a gig anymore. I have to ask myself, am I getting so caught up in the ‘paying the bills’ jobs, or am I making time for what really energizes me? It’s a constant tight rope.” Hilary Sutton is a writer, speaker, consultant, coach, and sometimes actor. She runs HSL Enterprises where she helps people spend their days in work that is wildly fulfilling. Five years ago Hilary started a blog at hilarysutton.com to explore social media, creativity, personal development, and writing. S...
2018-04-3035 minEveryday Creative People“If you’re gonna go, go all the way” with Tomislav Benzon Tomislav “Tom” Benzon taught himself how to play guitar in high school, winning his first band competition only two weeks after forming the band, at a time when Tom himself knew only a few chords. The audacity and sheer determination behind this win is a theme seen over and over again, throughout Tom’s career, which spans 25 years as a full time touring musician. A dynamic personality, Tom has organically lived his life by the principles behind “The Secret” since long before he even knew it was a thing with a name. He has played a...
2018-04-2345 minEveryday Creative PeopleMiriam Castillo on tapping into creative capacity and being a multi-focused professional What does it look like to have a healthy creative career that brings together a wide variety of different mediums and practices under one umbrella? I think Miriam Castillo gives us a pretty good picture of success with a portfolio of careers. As a visual designer and illustrator who also teaches yoga, paints murals, designs a line of yoga pants and makes vegan cheese (who knows what project may crop up next?), Miriam is going all out in pursuing whatever creative projects come her way. If you’re in New York on April 21st, check out Miriam’...
2018-04-1647 minEveryday Creative PeopleMajella Mark – Data Storyteller, Social Justice Creative, Womanist What is your reason for creating? Majella Mark was raised by artist-activist parents who instilled a strong sense of social justice in her from a young age, and this has been a clear driving force behind her own creative ventures. By day, Majella is an analytics professional in New York City, creating performance analysis and strategic planning for major television networks such as Spike TV, NBC and ESPN under the tech company TiVo. By night, she organizes a variety of arts-oriented social justice and community activities such as Perception Theatre (a monthly film d...
2018-04-1037 minEveryday Creative PeopleErica Soultanian on entrepreneurship, fear of failure, and when to take the leapThis week’s guest is practicing creativity in a slightly different way from many of the folks on this podcast so far. Erica Soultanian is a co-founder of Mission Collaborative, a DC-based organization that helps professionals design careers they love through workshops and immersive programming. Erica was inspired to co-create Mission Collaborative after struggling through a career change herself and realizing that there aren’t many resources or support organization to help professionals change careers once they graduate college. Erica also works at DC’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development where she helps grow DC’s...
2018-04-0241 minEveryday Creative PeopleCaroline Watters – Being the Magic Behind the Curtain “It’s a very weird job because you do all this work, and your whole life is engulfed in the show that you’re working on and every bit of attention to detail, and most of the people who come to the show have no idea that you exist… Most people know there’s carpenters, or there’s lighting people – but they don’t understand that there is somebody, who’s like a mystery person, that brings all of this together, and for some reason that attracted me. I want to be this person that does all this coordinating to bring every...
2018-03-271h 06Everyday Creative PeopleBallet, choreography, and finding your place in the world with Claudia Schreier“Once I left college, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And I think for a lot of “former dancers” that becomes an issue, because when you’ve put every fibre of your being into your art form since whenever you started – at 3, 5, 13, or whatever – ballet is all-encompassing in a way that can be compared to training to become a professional athlete, or a professional musician. It takes up everything in you mentally, physically, emotionally and beyond. So when you lose that part of your identity, in a way it’s really hard to recalibrat...
2018-03-2050 minEveryday Creative PeopleNatasha May Platt on the Fashion, Embroidery, Muraling, and Persistence“It’s kind of like falling in love, you know? it’s like, oh my god this is the person! And then you go through all the difficult moments and you remember that first moment and you’re like, ok, this is worth working on because I felt very strongly about this at one point. And it’s kind of the same way with art – it’s like there’s so many hurdles, and some things are not going the way as planned, but I kind of think back to my original inspiration moment and I think, it’s my duty to this ins...
2018-03-1240 minEveryday Creative PeopleBen Blum on “humble food”, constraints, and giving it your all“When you look at Thai cuisine and even Taiwanese cuisine, the use of things like the offcuts of meat and stuff like that, it’s like ok, this is literally something that most of the world will throw away. How do you make it delicious? And how do you make it so that you can sustain not only yourself but your family? And so some of the things that people come up with is absolutely amazing.” Ben Blum is a chef who spent most of the first 8.5 years of his life in Taiwan, a country whose approach to food is an...
2018-03-051h 01Everyday Creative PeopleClare McNamara on redefining failure and managing Imposter Syndrome“I needed to know that it wasn’t going to somehow be a failure if I tried this thing where there was no guarantee of success… if simply the attempt to do something would be seen as enough of a good thing, whether it led to any future in that subject or not. I knew that I would regret it one day if I hadn’t tried going down that path.” This week I caught up with Clare McNamara, a Boston-based oratorio soloist, choral artist, and chamber musician. Clare, who initially intended to pursue a more “practical” career in e...
2018-02-2754 minEveryday Creative PeopleAnousheh on illness, overnight success, and creative blocks – Ep. 009 Join me as I chat with Grammy-nominated songwriter Anousheh about what happens when a major illness upends your life, evolving expectations after a big success, day jobs that capitalize on your creative strengths, and much more. Anousheh has captivated audiences both overseas and in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia with her epic melodies. Drawing early influences from some of her 90’s music idols like Tori Amos, Bjork, and Radiohead, her songwriting style has always been rooted in introspection and metaphor. As an adult, Anousheh’s love of pop music, hip hop and indie rock has focused her songwriting i...
2018-02-1939 minEveryday Creative PeopleJM – Ep. 008 This week’s guest is J.M., a fellow theatre kid from my college years. Today, J.M. is a physicist and the author of the political webcomic Doomed To Repeat it. They have always enjoyed drawing and cartooning and harbors a deep love of political and historical analysis. This is not J.M.’s first bout with mixing creativity and analytical thinking as they have degrees in Theatre and Physics from Mary Washington College. JM also loves Rugby and truly terrible young adult fiction novels. J.M. lives in Northern Virginia with their wife, Becky, two young k...
2018-02-1230 minEveryday Creative PeopleEric Harper – Ep. 007At the age of 7, Eric Harper was struck dumb by a piece of music he heard playing on the radio – and he immediately knew that he would do anything if he could figure out how to give people that same feeling. In today’s episode, Eric gets real about the sacrifices he has made and lessons he’s learned along the way to becoming a successful professional musician. Award Winning Flamenco Guitarist Eric Harper creates not only a unique sound all his own but his music is melodically entrancing, virtuosically ferocious and harmonically soul-stirring to the core. Among other a...
2018-02-0530 minEveryday Creative PeopleLisa Hanash – Ep. 006This week I spoke with creative catalyst and painter Lisa Hanash, about embracing your artist self and becoming ok with imperfection. From a young age, Lisa has always appreciated the beauty around her. From her trip to Europe in 2012 to the bottom of her street in the Lachine neighborhood of Montreal, Lisa would wait to capture moments on her camera. After graduating from university in 2014, the places that inspired her once through a lens became her inspiration to paint on canvas. After rummaging through her grandmother’s basement and finding old canvas, palettes, art books, watercolors, and old paintbrushes...
2018-01-2945 minEveryday Creative PeopleJustin Sky – Ep. 005Multi-dimensional LA-based artist, writer, composer, and performer Justin Sky, is not afraid to try his hand at whatever new creative medium will best serve his purpose. In my conversation with Justin I found him to be deeply spiritual – we talked a lot about opening yourself up to the creator within and allowing the art to just flow out of you. He has followed his instincts to great success, with doors practically falling open for him along the way. Justin uses his craft to push his audience to reflect and navigate our many realities. Distinguished first-place emcee of the Dub...
2018-01-2239 minEveryday Creative PeopleMichael Burgos – Ep. 004 Michael Burgos is an internationally acclaimed writer and performer. His one-person show, The Eulogy, is a six-time internationally award-winning comedic play and has been performed nearly 150 times in 25 cities worldwide. He holds a Diplôme from École Philippe Gaulier and a B.A. in Theater from George Mason University, where he received the Chris Parsons Acting Award, the Greenspring Players Scholarship, and the Outstanding Achievement in the Major Award. He has taught theater with Acting For Young People since 2010 and has written and directed over twenty short plays for children. In this episode, Michael and I...
2018-01-1542 minEveryday Creative PeopleCat Francis – Ep. 003Cat Francis is a singer/songwriter and musician from Brooklyn, New York. At a very young age she expressed a passion for poetry writing, arts, religion, and philosophy – publishing her first poem at age 11. Her love for writing led her to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, and piano. In 2015 she released her first all-acoustic EP ‘Saint Francis: Finding Faith.’ This EP has received rave reviews, including some notable attention by AFROPUNK. Since the release, Cat had her first child and became a birth Coach, or Doula. These new changes infused Cat with new inspiration for her music...
2018-01-0830 minEveryday Creative PeopleAnaïs Maranda – Ep. 002Anaïs Maranda is a musician from Quebec City who has been living in Montreal for 10 years. She loves to contemplate the why and how of creating, and to understand a little better techniques to achieve these projects. She hosts the Podcast Muse, teaches singing, works on her music, and works as a coordinator for the Montreal International Jazz Festival. You can find her work at http://desmotsquisonnent.com, and listen to her music on Spotify or iTunes under her name, Anaïs Maranda. In this episode, we discuss Anaïs’ creative journey, the ups and downs of doing non...
2018-01-0145 minEveryday Creative PeopleAwais Javed – Ep. 001 Awais Javed is a neurobiologist studying the development of the retina for his PhD. He is a first-generation Saudi-born Pakistani who has been fortunate enough to live and travel to the U.K and Canada for his studies. Growing up in Saudi Arabia, Awais had zero exposure to the act of artistic creation, and didn’t really get into the arts at all until he was in London studying for his undergraduate degree. About two years ago, he started to dabble in oil paintings and now he is hooked. In his brief time as a self-taught visual artist, he h...
2017-12-2643 minEveryday Creative PeopleWelcome to Everyday Creative People! – Ep. 000I’m so psyched to announce the launch of my brand new podcast, Everyday Creative People! I created this podcast because I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what it means to be a creator, and who gets to be put up on a pedestal and given the label of “artist.” I believe that creative people come in all shapes and sizes, and that cultivating a creative practice is healing for the soul. In fact, I think that creative play is an essential ingredient for self care, and something that we don’t get nearly enough...
2017-12-2403 min
The Path Hunters Podcast with Paul LamPH - 103 | Dena Adriance | The Insider's Guide to Digital NomadsBook recommendation: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel I love interviewing digital nomads, by definition they are people who share the love for travel and leverage the internet to create a source of income to travel the world. As I've always said before that travel makes you smarter, it allows you to see the world. Adds to your perspective on life, and grows you as a human being. After traveling to multiple places in the world. My guest Dena Adriance, recently started her digital nomad journey and is 1 yea...
2017-10-1053 min