Everyday Creative People

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

This 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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

 “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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

At 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 […]

This 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 […]

Multi-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 […]

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 […]

Cat 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 […]

Anaïs 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 […]

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 […]

I’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 […]