WEBVTT
00:00:11.651 --> 00:00:16.696
A piece of advice would be to reach out and ask for help.
00:00:16.696 --> 00:00:24.603
Ask for support from your network and if you don't know people, well, now you know Dwight and Maddox, so that's income.
00:00:24.603 --> 00:00:27.846
Reach out to me like the people who want to help.
00:00:27.846 --> 00:00:29.730
I think most people do.
00:00:29.730 --> 00:00:31.373
I'll go back to that with my.
00:00:31.373 --> 00:00:40.100
My reflections on traveling around the world is that I think, overall, people want to help others succeed.
00:00:52.271 --> 00:00:57.436
Hello and welcome to another edition of For the Love of Creatives podcast.
00:00:57.436 --> 00:01:07.320
I am your host, dwight, joined by our other wonderful host, maddox, and we are the Connections in Community, guys.
00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:11.329
And today we're joined by our featured guest, the lovely Marissa Heil.
00:01:11.329 --> 00:01:12.653
Hi, marissa.
00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:16.189
Hey guys, so nice to be here, thank you.
00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:19.180
I was so glad that you could join us today.
00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:24.484
I know that you've done a lot of things that are really fantastic.
00:01:24.484 --> 00:01:45.278
I know that you've had the chance to go and be a part of some incredible adventures where you got to weave in your experience as someone with a background in anthropology and neuroscience and all kinds of fun things.
00:01:45.278 --> 00:01:52.873
But you've done things that are so rich and varied that I don't think that I could do you justice in a proper introduction.
00:01:52.873 --> 00:01:56.290
How about you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?
00:01:57.379 --> 00:01:58.322
Well, that's very kind.
00:01:58.802 --> 00:02:18.324
I've definitely been told by a Brit that I have quite a quirky backgrounds and you know, I think, though, that that's sometimes this, this space in between these different ways of um, you know thinking and industries, is where the juicy, innovation and creativity comes out.
00:02:19.205 --> 00:02:23.950
Um so um, a little bit about me.
00:02:23.950 --> 00:03:13.731
I am currently the program manager for the Social Impact Lab at SMU, which is a fantastic new lab and opportunity for students and alumni who want to receive funding and mentorship in for-profit businesses that prioritize social and environmental responsibility, and I absolutely love this, because it's so much of my life has been focused on looking at taking the best of philanthropy and the best of business and putting them together and really thinking about how these don't have to be mutually exclusive and we can prioritize people, planet and profit all together.
00:03:13.731 --> 00:03:27.887
And then I'm also a creative entrepreneur, and I think there's so much opportunity to highlight the work of artists and designers, and particularly underrepresented artists in these works.
00:03:27.887 --> 00:03:49.301
So that's been my background is in starting several ventures that really highlight the work of folks who are underrepresented, and creating spaces of belonging, and creating a clothing line that makes women feel empowered and beautiful, but also as a symbol of the values that they hold dear.
00:03:49.301 --> 00:03:56.094
So, yeah, I don't want to get into it too much, because I could talk for days.
00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:10.496
But yes, it all sounds amazing and I know that there are a lot of beautiful threads to weave together and it's really hard to capture it in the short time that we have.
00:04:10.496 --> 00:04:24.468
But I'm just curious what stands out as the what would be your greatest achievement up to this point, the thing that you're most proud of personally?
00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:51.386
That's a great question, I think, from a entrepreneurial perspective, starting a business that I have, a sustainable clothing line that I've had for 12 years called symbology, and it was born out of a trip that I went on in college, so 20 years ago.
00:04:51.386 --> 00:05:00.103
Now I'm back working at a university, which is so exciting to tap into that potential and that idealism that you know we all have.
00:05:00.103 --> 00:05:27.738
And I got to go to India to research how women are empowered through fair trade business models and I went to visit women in slum areas and in villages and in some of these areas the craft traditions, the weaving and embroidery is actually taking place of a written history or a written language.
00:05:27.738 --> 00:05:44.153
So textile and craft all over the world, not just in India but in many other countries, plays such a huge role in identifying cultural heritage and recording community history.
00:05:44.153 --> 00:05:55.480
And as an anthropology student, as a journalism student, I found that really fascinating and I watched a woman block print, which is the hand stamping technique.
00:05:55.480 --> 00:06:02.374
Watch her block print a tablecloth, and that's when I had the you know, aha moments.
00:06:02.374 --> 00:06:04.863
That that's what I want to do.
00:06:04.863 --> 00:06:10.434
I want to make that into a dress and I want to be able to create.
00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:12.286
I mean, I always loved fashion.
00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:22.149
I just thought fashion was exploitive and superficial as an industry and I thought that maybe I wouldn't be able to do that with my passion for social justice and human rights.
00:06:22.170 --> 00:06:51.877
For social justice and human rights, but being there with those women, seeing how transformative those cooperative models were that not just gave women an opportunity to earn an income and a sustainable income, but to also connect with other women, learn financial literacy, have healthcare programs, really how it's so transformative and so beautiful and how impactful investing in those women was in impacting their communities.
00:06:51.877 --> 00:07:03.307
So they're sending their kids to school I mean, they're reinvesting To see that firsthand and not just study that in school was really, really powerful.
00:07:03.307 --> 00:07:14.641
And it's through community and I'm sure we'll tap into this, but it's through mentors and supporters and wonderful folks that I was able to then launch my line.
00:07:14.641 --> 00:07:31.833
But I was very scared to do so and there were some things that happened in life that kind of pushed me in gently or not so gently pushed me into that role of doing the thing that I had wanted to do since I first went to India, but it took a few years to get there.
00:07:33.781 --> 00:07:38.028
Well, I would like to kind of tug on that thread about community.
00:07:38.028 --> 00:07:43.122
Tell me just a little bit about how that came about.
00:07:43.122 --> 00:07:44.702
What were those gentle nudges?
00:07:45.242 --> 00:07:49.906
Sure, well, 2009 recession was one.
00:07:49.906 --> 00:07:56.711
I was working at an immigration and refugee agency in DC and I loved it.
00:07:56.711 --> 00:08:02.574
I grew up going to DC with my family every Cause.
00:08:02.574 --> 00:08:12.000
My mom was a history and government teacher, so that was of course.
00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:15.771
We'd go to the mall and to the museums and the monuments, and that was like very much ingrained in my upbringing.
00:08:15.771 --> 00:08:27.942
Um, and I think that was cool because I think that you know what later kind of transpired was really kind of goes back to this idea of civic engagement as well, but just maybe a little bit more on a global scale.
00:08:29.026 --> 00:08:34.437
And I lost my job in 2009 recession.
00:08:34.437 --> 00:08:46.211
Oh man, I was working at the Starbucks serving some of the people who were my colleagues a week before, and it was hella humbling for sure.
00:08:46.211 --> 00:08:51.746
And I worked in an Indian restaurant in Alexandria.
00:08:51.746 --> 00:09:05.371
I mean, I was, but I was applying to jobs, you know, doing marketing for international NGOs, and no one was hiring and so, yeah, so it was humbling, I desperately wanted to stay there, but I just couldn't make it work, and so, yeah, so it was humbling.
00:09:05.371 --> 00:09:08.105
I've desperately wanted to stay there, but I just couldn't make it work.
00:09:08.105 --> 00:09:21.028
I remember sending out, I think, like 60 resume and cover letters and this is a little bit pre LinkedIn and you know where some of these things could be expedited and I just never heard responses.
00:09:21.028 --> 00:09:22.711
And it was heartbreaking.
00:09:23.393 --> 00:09:50.554
Um, so I moved back home with my family in North Carolina and, um, I applied to I okay, so I applied to the London college of fashion and that's where the Brit who I mentioned earlier, who said I had a quirky background Um, I was speaking with their admissions officer and I wanted to get a degree in sustainable fashion, because we didn't really have anything in 2010 in the US.
00:09:50.554 --> 00:09:58.490
Thankfully, now it's more of an established course and curriculum and I got into the program in London.
00:09:58.490 --> 00:10:18.493
But then I also thought, you know, I've always wanted to actually design my own clothes and start my own line, and I really figured I was like I'm either going to, I'm going to spend a lot of money, either pursuing this graduate program, and then you know I'll I won't be able to design.
00:10:18.493 --> 00:10:19.981
That's the challenge, right?
00:10:19.981 --> 00:10:36.046
So I could, you know, probably be in a safe place where I'll be able to get hired in some of these design firms to really focus on more sustainability, more people-centric production and supply chains, which would be great.
00:10:36.046 --> 00:10:49.916
But I'm a creative and I knew that I wanted to and I needed to design the textiles and the clothing, which is something I wanted to do since I was really little.
00:10:49.916 --> 00:10:59.506
And I took the leap of faith to start my own line and it was actually through.
00:10:59.687 --> 00:11:02.421
I only knew one entrepreneur at the time and it was a.
00:11:02.421 --> 00:11:16.889
It was a white dude, beau, um, lovely guy in finance and very different, uh, industries altogether, but he was the only person I knew who had a business and I was intimidated.
00:11:16.889 --> 00:11:18.174
He said no, no, no.
00:11:18.174 --> 00:11:32.722
He literally, we literally were like getting a drink and he pulled out the napkin, and it wasn't just the proverbial napkin, but we started charting out what a business plan would look like and I realized, oh yeah, it's not rocket science and I know fashion.
00:11:32.722 --> 00:11:46.514
I may not have a background in it officially, but I know, I know clothes and I can, I can, I can figure this out, and that's really that was another seed, another aha moment planted in me.
00:11:47.081 --> 00:12:04.793
And then I went to my alma mater, I went to university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and they were just starting very nascent kind of ecosystem for entrepreneurship and so, again, not a lot of there wasn't a fashion program, wasn't a lot of focus on design, but I got a lot of.
00:12:04.793 --> 00:12:21.748
There wasn't a fashion program, wasn't a lot of focus on design, um, but I got a lot of support from the business school and some of my professors, um, and even new ones, um, one very generous, uh, advertising professor who also owned a boutique, um, near campus, opened up her.
00:12:21.748 --> 00:13:00.692
She transformed her entire store into sorry, her her home, into a boutique and brought her friends and this was my first opportunity selling my line and it just was so validating and so beautiful, this community of women supporting other women and really, like, like, I could see how excited they were in their, in their eyes and their you know, their feedback about how fashion could actually be a source of good and a source of connection to women thousands of miles away, um, and so that was wonderful.
00:13:02.322 --> 00:13:06.110
I love that how in in you're telling that story.
00:13:06.110 --> 00:13:07.251
There's the community.
00:13:07.251 --> 00:13:29.446
That was immediate, I mean even with the the humbling challenge of having to face your colleagues from you know the week before when you were serving them in the Starbucks and you know having to reach out and and get the support of your family to start over again.
00:13:30.307 --> 00:13:37.224
Yes, yes, and and very and they are were very supportive of me.
00:13:37.224 --> 00:13:45.009
I don't think that they fully understood what it is that I wanted to do, but they, they believed in me nonetheless.
00:13:45.009 --> 00:13:53.163
So I definitely give credit to my family, to the university, to friends.
00:13:53.163 --> 00:13:54.846
So, yeah, that definitely hugely pivotal.
00:13:54.846 --> 00:14:13.072
And then my interns I also recruited from the university and some of my first hires, and then I saw some of those students start their own fashion lines too, which is just like the chef's kiss right when you see their you know mentees doing their own things and carrying that torch.
00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:20.693
Marissa, you said something that was really key for me that I'd like to back up for a minute and kind of expand on a little bit.
00:14:20.693 --> 00:14:35.690
You said your family didn't really understand, but they supported, and you know, I just want to say that it doesn't matter who it is in your life, whether it's your friends, your family, a spouse, it doesn't matter who it is.
00:14:35.690 --> 00:14:37.413
That's the way it should be.
00:14:37.413 --> 00:14:41.147
They don't need to understand in order to support.
00:14:41.147 --> 00:15:09.269
Support is what we do for people we care about, and family community is an extension of family, and so you know we're always trying to drive home that if you're not in a community where people believe in you, celebrate you and support you, then you're in the wrong community, Even if it's family.
00:15:10.967 --> 00:16:21.264
Yeah 100, 100 yes, and and in being intentional and and the chosen family that you can bring around and manifest, and and I I'm seeing that show up in some of my friendships uh, as well, you know, I think that we all have different journeys and chapters in our lives, and just any relationship I think this is something I'm noodling on this year in particular and communication and boundary setting and vulnerability, just like romantic relationship, which is what we're taught all the time, can take work, but family relationships, but friendship, is one of those things that I think we take for granted and I know I've done it myself and I really want to be intentional in investing in that chosen family that I call friends.
00:16:22.929 --> 00:16:32.823
You know, I think one of the things I've learned in that department is that the way I determine my friends is by really stepping back and looking.
00:16:32.943 --> 00:16:37.458
Each time I leave their presence Do I feel drained or do I feel lifted?
00:16:37.458 --> 00:17:08.463
And, of course, any loved one that you have occasionally you will walk away feeling drained because they may be going through a really, really hard time in their life and they may be sharing that with you, they may be venting, and so it's one thing to occasionally walk away feeling drained, but when we consistently walk away feeling drained, that's worth looking at to determine.
00:17:08.463 --> 00:17:11.373
Is this really a valid relationship in my life, no matter who?
00:17:11.373 --> 00:17:20.622
It is a valid relationship in my life, no matter who it is, whether it's a family member, a parent, a sibling, a coworker.
00:17:20.622 --> 00:17:38.123
You know there's a lot of conversation about cancel culture and I'm not one who really believes in canceling, but I do very much believe in surrounding myself with people that lift me up and the people that don't lift me up, letting go of them.
00:17:38.123 --> 00:17:45.980
We get to curate our own community and we get to have as many communities as we want.
00:17:48.523 --> 00:18:00.055
True, true, and it's so empowering, that reframe, that shift in thinking, because this is, this is not something that I was really taught, you know, we.
00:18:00.055 --> 00:18:18.624
I think that the narrative is you make friends in your life and then, um, depending on it's almost like um, depending on circumstance, you know you'll, you'll meet new friends, maybe if you have kids um, have kids once you're out of school, out of college.
00:18:18.624 --> 00:18:28.798
But I think that there's a lot of folks struggling right we have talked a little bit about this in the past too is that we're in a loneliness epidemic in the US.
00:18:28.798 --> 00:18:33.573
It's unique to the US, and so I think that's also worth introspection too.
00:18:33.573 --> 00:18:50.244
What is it that's really driving this preference for staying home and Netflixing and binging, which, of course, you know we enjoy sometimes and that can be a source of recharge.
00:18:51.192 --> 00:18:52.237
But I don't know.
00:18:52.237 --> 00:18:55.396
You know I'm an extrovert and I get.
00:18:55.396 --> 00:19:11.278
I get, I get real sad if I sit at home too much by myself and I really need that energy and fit like in-person energy, being around others and and, of course, those that you know that do fill my cup.
00:19:11.278 --> 00:19:14.270
I think that's a great point, that you bring cause.
00:19:14.270 --> 00:19:36.230
That's a very you're listening to your intuition Right and feeling that energy it's a bodily response that you'll have from your body knows if you're around people who are supportive and good and nourishing or maybe detracting interacting.
00:19:36.230 --> 00:19:43.032
So that's because sometimes I'm like I want to figure out what's the line and I don't want to give up on a friendship that maybe I've had for a long time and I've held sacred um.
00:19:43.032 --> 00:19:59.478
But trying to understand and trust my, my gut, my intuition is is one of the things I'm really trying to hone in on I've also come to believe that friendship lives on a two-way street, If it's real friendship.
00:20:01.172 --> 00:20:09.674
I have lived on streets and in varying friendships where it was a one-way street and I now know that that's not true friendship.
00:20:15.224 --> 00:20:15.525
Indeed.
00:20:21.809 --> 00:20:24.756
That's pretty heavy, and a while ago you kind of touched on something that I think might be a a lighter topic.
00:20:24.756 --> 00:20:32.814
You you mentioned about how you add certain creative inclinations, even as a little girl.
00:20:32.814 --> 00:20:36.863
So, uh, tell us a little bit more about little Marissa.
00:20:39.691 --> 00:21:23.872
Well, I had recently come across my scrapbook that I had made when I was little and I was like, when I grow up, I want to be dot dot and I had put a writer, which is you know why my parents had encouraged me to study journalism and I love storytelling and that is a through line or fabric, you know, thread that that weaves together all of these different ventures that I'm on, because story is so important and powerful writer, fashion designer and primatologist.
00:21:23.872 --> 00:21:24.353
So I, and I love man.
00:21:24.353 --> 00:21:25.355
I could talk about bonobos all day long.
00:21:25.355 --> 00:21:37.290
They're fascinating, genetically closer to humans than chimpanzees, but I had read Jane Goodall's In the Shadow of man, I think in sixth grade, and it was just like Whoa, I was like I want to be her.
00:21:37.290 --> 00:21:49.400
Uh, then I realized you know, there's a lot of uh, I don't know uncomfortable bug, like dealings with large bugs and snakes and things that are involved in that.
00:21:49.400 --> 00:22:01.034
I don't know if, um, my little prissy self would be the best for that, but I do love a good, like gorilla video.
00:22:01.034 --> 00:22:03.218
I love learning about bonobos.
00:22:03.218 --> 00:22:05.844
There's a great book called the Bonobo Handshake.
00:22:05.844 --> 00:22:23.607
Like I said, it's a little raunchy what the Bonobo Handshake refers to, but it's a matrilineal group that focuses on having sex instead of having more going into fighting, which is fascinating.
00:22:23.607 --> 00:22:24.992
So, anyway, that was.
00:22:25.093 --> 00:22:34.758
My little self was kind of thinking about these different directions, but I was glued to the TV whenever there was a fashion show on.
00:22:34.758 --> 00:22:49.039
I'll tell you, I still love Project Runway this is also adult Marissa but that show lifted that veil of obscurity for me big time in fashion, because I did not know, it felt a million miles away.
00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:55.478
But then I saw these designers draping fabric on a garment and then I took some classes.
00:22:55.478 --> 00:23:16.259
I actually audited a class that for $50, I don't think that they think it was like a loophole I found in the system, but just for, you know, a small amount of money I was able to take some pattern making classes at a university nearby and then I went to India.
00:23:16.419 --> 00:23:21.353
I spent a lot of time in India and made friends there.
00:23:21.353 --> 00:23:23.458
I made some friends who were designers.
00:23:23.458 --> 00:23:31.882
This was a year before I decided to launch my label and I met them at fashion week there and I was like ended up dating one of them.
00:23:31.882 --> 00:23:46.529
But one of them, yeah, tush, is um, a really great designer and he just let me kind of sit in his studio and like, be a little sponge and I absorbed so much and again.
00:23:46.630 --> 00:24:03.336
That's like international community too right yeah I think that you know, I think overall people really want to help other people and there's's this feeling of hospitality that I've experienced time and time again in India and on other travels too.
00:24:03.336 --> 00:24:37.990
That makes me appreciate it protective, and we assume that strangers, stranger, danger, you know, maybe aren't out for our best interest, but I think overall that people are really we're so much more alike than we are different and and people want to open their hearts and homes, at times too, to others and I think there's some great lessons from my travels in that.
00:24:39.374 --> 00:24:50.683
Well, and speaking of lessons, it sounds like you're you're dropping some hard earned wisdom, but what are some other lessons that you've learned on your journey?
00:24:52.230 --> 00:24:53.810
I think so this last.
00:24:53.810 --> 00:24:58.213
So okay, so I talked about symbology and launched in 2012.
00:24:58.213 --> 00:25:00.435
So it's been a minute.
00:25:00.435 --> 00:25:18.327
And then I launched a company called Etico, which is a women owned sustainable cooperative, like a boutique in Fort Worth on Magnolia Avenue, and we had 16 women owned brands, majority BIPOC owned.
00:25:18.327 --> 00:25:24.838
About half were working with artisans in abroad in a fair trade context.
00:25:24.838 --> 00:25:40.476
So we had beautiful bags and belts from Peru, we had jewelry from Kenya, we had my line from India, my clothing line, and then some really great locally made skincare and candles that were made using sustainable materials.
00:25:40.476 --> 00:25:51.821
And but I opened right before a couple months before the pandemic October 2019, late October, basically November, and it was.
00:25:52.163 --> 00:26:18.299
It was rough, you know, having my this was my first go at a brick and mortar store and what I will say again, community that Fort Worth community and near South side or Fairmount district was so supportive through all of the bullshit and the heartache and the scare, the scary times that were 2020.
00:26:18.299 --> 00:26:36.838
And we, I remember feeling I mean, we had to shut our doors in March, like everybody else, but I felt obligated to these women who had put their money and trust into me to have this store, cause this was all of us, although my name was on the rent, so it was like okay.
00:26:36.838 --> 00:26:41.598
So I built an e-commerce site to kind of drive traffic while we weren't open.
00:26:41.598 --> 00:26:50.813
But I opened on Mother's Day and we had a table outside and we had folks who were able to shop outside and those who were coming in wear the mask.
00:26:50.813 --> 00:26:54.843
We started selling masks that went, you know, sold like crazy.
00:26:54.843 --> 00:27:00.694
Selling masks that went, you know, so like crazy.
00:27:00.694 --> 00:27:03.782
And I think that I mean just that community loved and supported us and nurtured us more than they.
00:27:03.782 --> 00:27:22.123
I think that we would have and we not had that story of supporting other women and um, and that connection of the community, because these were all local women who were local to DFW and people seek that they want meaning behind the products that they're buying.
00:27:22.123 --> 00:27:24.170
So that was really beautiful.
00:27:25.231 --> 00:27:38.153
And then I think, oh man, my, I was started going like going through a divorce around that time and my mom got diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at 66.
00:27:38.153 --> 00:27:40.337
So I got started.
00:27:40.337 --> 00:27:59.030
It was in, it was rough, it was COVID and sales were not where they needed to be and so I had to shut the store down and I really leaned on a women's group in Fort Worth that I was a part of and there was it was called the Queen's Circle.
00:27:59.030 --> 00:28:17.769
My friend, sarah Sutherland, still runs these groups of women who are really coming together in intentionality and from a place of discovering our divine feminine and leaning into that and then into that intuition.
00:28:17.769 --> 00:28:46.840
And it's from that a lot of deep soul work, but also in community with other women who were going through, you know, just different stages of their life, connected in this, this search for being vulnerable together and digging deep into what it is that our passion is and our strengths and really our inner calling was.
00:28:46.840 --> 00:28:54.738
And then, from that place of alignment, I came up with the inclusive wellness design venture.
00:28:54.738 --> 00:29:17.200
So I still run that part-time while I'm working at SMU and it's all about creating spaces that promote belonging and flourishing and connection and creativity and innovation.
00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:32.044
And I think these things are all interconnected and really envisioning, you know, like what does work look like in this new era where we're in a hybrid now we're kind of people are getting forced to go back in.
00:29:32.044 --> 00:29:41.814
But I mean, can we rethink work as a space of of this beautiful regenerative community that we were talking about?
00:29:41.814 --> 00:29:53.799
And I do think it can happen, and so I'm excited to see some of that, but it can also feel really dark right now too, but it wasn't't.
00:29:53.900 --> 00:30:09.143
It's only through that community and collaboration, like, I think, really just coming from a place of um of of curiosity and abundance.
00:30:09.143 --> 00:30:26.704
I think there's a very two clear, clearly distinctive mindsets and there's a a great video that talks about living above the line or below the line that one of my mentors shared with me and I think it's it's so telling.
00:30:26.704 --> 00:30:27.992
You can find it on YouTube.
00:30:27.992 --> 00:30:35.537
But when you live below the line which a lot of us do and a lot of our the way society functions, society functions.
00:30:35.537 --> 00:31:13.297
We're kind of taught that there's a finite pie, the world is a scary place, people are out to get you, you've got to fight for yourself, everything is a competition, and then that leads us to a place of immediate kind of judgment of others and a very small way of living, Whereas if we can live above the line, that's a place of curiosity and play and abundance and the space where things are not mutually exclusive.
00:31:13.297 --> 00:31:16.262
We all can win and benefit together.
00:31:23.590 --> 00:31:36.415
And I think I've been really fortunate, in the businesses I've created in some of the communities I've joined, to have been able to really experience what that life of abundance feels like and looks like in a really tangible way, and it's incredible and it's beautiful.
00:31:36.415 --> 00:31:56.258
And what you do in Maddox, you know you all create these beautiful bubbles as well, and I just really I'm passionate about extending some of this beautiful learning and connection beyond these smaller circles and beyond these smaller circles and bridging the gap.
00:31:56.258 --> 00:32:03.663
And my goal is, if we can get corporate America to be more on board we spend two thirds of our lives at work.
00:32:03.663 --> 00:32:05.826
You know that's a lot.
00:32:05.826 --> 00:32:07.567
That's a lot of our, our life.
00:32:12.830 --> 00:32:16.036
And if we can reshape what can feel like such a I don't know.
00:32:16.036 --> 00:32:34.512
Think about Office Space, that movie right, like incredibly just humdrum, you know, soulless experience into something that we look forward to and we love, and either we join something like that or we create it, because it doesn't exist in bountiful amounts right now.
00:32:34.512 --> 00:32:56.486
It feels like, so do we just disengage and do we create something on our own, with others, that isn't dependent on the system that tends to reward extraction, exploitation and individualism, that it was like one person who did all the things Right.
00:32:56.486 --> 00:33:01.077
So kind of noodling on these themes at the moment.
00:33:02.460 --> 00:33:05.741
You know, there's two things that stick out for me as I listen to you.
00:33:05.741 --> 00:33:31.280
One is with everything you're sharing about your values, your philosophy, it is very much in on it, and much more clear that how how much we have in common.
00:33:31.280 --> 00:33:39.840
The other thing that stands out for me in your stories is that you, my dear, are a master at pivoting.
00:33:43.006 --> 00:33:45.288
That's sweet yeah.
00:33:45.890 --> 00:33:51.765
And resilience, because pivoting is a part of you know, pivot is part of resilience.
00:33:51.765 --> 00:33:58.826
You've been able to shift gears when the proverbial shit hit the fan and figure out a way to make it work.
00:33:59.708 --> 00:34:00.709
It's funny you say that.
00:34:00.709 --> 00:34:13.371
I think, uh, it's felt at times, especially in this latest venture, because I don't have a background in interior design and that's what technically the industry I'm, I'm kind of in.
00:34:13.371 --> 00:34:17.351
I feel like I'm throwing pasta at a wall and seeing what sticks.
00:34:17.351 --> 00:34:23.485
Now it's all good pasta, like I believe in everything, but especially the way that I'm framing things.
00:34:23.485 --> 00:34:57.063
You know, I have to figure out, especially if I'm going for corporate leaders, who, what's the what's the language, what's the thing that's going to pull them in to be part of our journey, because I can't lead necessarily, especially these days around DEIB, which is always going to be important for me I can't necessarily lead, even with like joy and play which one would think this is something that we would want to have at work, but we've again been so conditioned.
00:34:57.063 --> 00:35:00.612
So I think that there's something and I just brought this up recently.
00:35:00.612 --> 00:35:20.054
It feels like a muscle that I've built and it's not anything really special about me in any way, it's just literally I started kind of I didn't start a business, but I started a magazine, an international human rights magazine, in when I was at the university in North Carolina.
00:35:20.054 --> 00:35:34.641
I hadn't taken classes in magazine journalism so I didn't totally know all of the correct things to do, but we didn't have one and I said you know, we there's super important things that we're learning in class.
00:35:34.641 --> 00:35:40.393
Let's like, let's make these, um, let's create an engaging magazine.
00:35:40.393 --> 00:35:56.527
Anyway, the process of going through and starting a magazine and finding funding and finding resources is so similar to me starting a clothing line, which was the same thing as me starting us opening a store and then starting another business.
00:35:56.527 --> 00:36:02.262
So I and I and it's, and it's also, yes, listening to the customer.
00:36:02.262 --> 00:36:13.275
I think that's super important as creatives, because I've seen this come up in my mentorship with other designers and artists who were in my boutique space.
00:36:13.275 --> 00:36:21.094
It's that you know, we have a vision and we have something that is really beautiful, that we want to bring to the world.
00:36:21.094 --> 00:36:29.552
And then, of course, as we're trying to market it, you want to get into this very specific what is your signature, what is your unique value add?
00:36:29.552 --> 00:36:32.981
And that's all good kind of from a business and marketability sense.
00:36:32.981 --> 00:37:05.242
But at the same time, if we get a little too focused on what we bring to the world as artists and and particularly I'm thinking about designers, interior fashion and, and particularly I'm thinking about designers, interior fashion, it's all you have to make sure that your customer you're creating something your customer wants.
00:37:05.262 --> 00:37:08.606
I think listening, that active listening that's where a lot of my pivoting has come, because I'll see is another thing I could nerd out about.
00:37:08.606 --> 00:37:31.791
I think it's such a great way of thinking about creativity and innovation in a way that kind of ensures success but also ensures that the end customer really gets a product or a service that's really going to be tailored to their needs, because it involves a lot of this empathy, interviews, understanding of those people.
00:37:31.791 --> 00:37:48.643
So I think, just in being a creative person, yes, I have my own ideas of what I would love to see, but I need to make sure that my customers really want that and it's going to resonate with them because I need that to sustain my business, want that and it's going to resonate with them because I need that to sustain my business.
00:37:48.643 --> 00:38:08.373
So I think that the pivoting piece it's like a little bit of a yeah, I suppose that getting a little bit detached from my designs is being necessarily my design has been really helpful, design has been really helpful and I'm designing for others within my signature style.
00:38:17.121 --> 00:38:23.902
But I think about Elizabeth Gilbert writing about the creative process and I can't remember the name of this, but she's talked about this little figurative creature and I think, roman and Greek times.
00:38:23.902 --> 00:38:36.427
There's this idea that this little creature comes and visits you when you're in this process and, like, imbues this creativity and then leaves, and then so it's not really even necessarily my work.
00:38:36.427 --> 00:38:57.791
It's this work of this little figure, this little creative, little nugget, little guy who comes through and I think that that detachment can be really healthy for creatives, as we're, like, trying to navigate, you know, living, being entrepreneurs, like we're selling our art, we're selling our designs.
00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:04.954
I hadn't thought of it like that from a detachment point, but so that's that's.
00:39:04.954 --> 00:39:06.925
I'm grateful for what you just said.
00:39:06.925 --> 00:39:13.469
I really do believe that our creativity is not of us, it doesn't come from me, it comes through me.
00:39:13.849 --> 00:39:14.010
Yeah.
00:39:14.831 --> 00:39:40.353
And I think that I can see the detachment in that as I say it, but had never been able to connect the dots until just this moment when you said it that if you can realize that the creativity is coming through you and not from you, you can detach from it and diminish the control that ego tries to exert sometimes.
00:39:41.460 --> 00:39:44.460
Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly.
00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:46.623
Exactly.
00:39:46.623 --> 00:40:06.664
Well, I think we've covered quite a bit of ground and in telling your story, even though we've just done the highlights, I think that there's a lot that up and coming creative entrepreneurs can probably pick up from what you've shared.
00:40:06.664 --> 00:40:22.036
But if you could whisper into the ear of someone that wanted to make that first bold leap into that realm, what advice would you share with them?
00:40:22.036 --> 00:40:23.422
Mm-hmm.
00:40:24.963 --> 00:40:26.065
Okay, I've got two.
00:40:26.065 --> 00:40:32.682
I work, I'm mentoring some students right now too who are in the exact same situation.
00:40:32.682 --> 00:40:40.521
I think develop your we call it in business an MVP minimum viable product.
00:40:40.521 --> 00:40:48.387
That just means a piece of art or something that you want to sell but put it out there in the world.
00:40:48.387 --> 00:41:07.469
It does not need to be perfect and especially, I will say speaking to my fellow women in the audience we are socialized to be small and to be perfect and to not speak up right, and so this all manifests in the ventures that we pursue.
00:41:07.469 --> 00:41:22.384
And, even if it's not a conscious thing, a lot of times we second guess ourselves and we think things have to be perfect to put it out there in the world, and that if it doesn't immediately resonate or something doesn't work, that that's a reflection on ourselves.
00:41:22.384 --> 00:41:29.023
Right, but that's why, again, it's important to be detached, because this is not, this is not who you are.
00:41:29.023 --> 00:41:38.007
Your art is an expression, but it does not have to define you, and the immediate I mean very few people.
00:41:38.068 --> 00:41:48.835
If we listen to the stories of entrepreneurs time and time again how I made this, that great podcast, right, it is grit, it is perseverance, it is persistence.
00:41:48.835 --> 00:41:51.268
So put it out there.
00:41:51.268 --> 00:42:02.385
Whatever it is that you want to do, go ahead and start getting feedback Like you're going to have to rework, that You're going to have to do some pivots and you'll have little.
00:42:02.385 --> 00:42:03.429
What do I say?
00:42:03.429 --> 00:42:05.880
You know little failures.
00:42:05.880 --> 00:42:18.248
You could say that that way, or little pivots, opportunities to pivot, and that will make your product and what you're offering all the better, because we're providing a service for folks.
00:42:18.248 --> 00:42:37.666
So I think that that's really important and my second piece of advice would be to reach out and ask for help, ask for support from your network, and if you don't know people, well now you know Dwight and Maddox, so that's and come reach out to me.
00:42:37.666 --> 00:42:59.523
Like the people who want to help I think most people do I'll go back to that with my reflections on traveling around the world is that I think, overall, people want to help others succeed and I don't think that we are all coming from this place of competition.
00:42:59.523 --> 00:43:10.753
What I will say is that it's important for you to be able, once you start getting all this advice and help and connections, because people will help connect you to other folks who can change your life.
00:43:10.753 --> 00:43:34.588
Understanding and discerning what is good advice from maybe what isn't going to serve you is a challenge, but at least you're getting those ideas from other, from other people, and a lot of my success is from luck and, yes, grit, sure, perseverance, because I'm so passionate about the work that I'm doing.
00:43:34.588 --> 00:43:41.769
But also a lot, a lot, a lot on the people who I reached out to and my network.
00:43:41.889 --> 00:43:44.483
And I will say I moved to Dallas in Fort Worth.
00:43:44.483 --> 00:43:52.010
It's almost been 10 years, but I didn't know anyone and I wasn't particularly excited.
00:43:52.010 --> 00:44:00.869
I didn't really know much about Texas other than some of the more negative stereotypes, and so it took me a while to find my people.
00:44:00.869 --> 00:44:11.445
And now I feel like, oh, I'm so plugged in and it's beautiful and they're all over the Metroplex and I think, as we.
00:44:11.445 --> 00:44:19.349
Yeah, it kind of goes back to our earlier conversation a little bit about friendship and adulthood, and that can be a daunting thing.
00:44:19.349 --> 00:44:36.092
I don't have children, for instance, and so I don't meet other parents of youngins at school or PTA, and so I have to be really intentional and as an artist and entrepreneur, I also really have to get out of my own little.
00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:39.947
I'm not the biggest hermit, though there's some.
00:44:40.688 --> 00:44:48.161
I mean, a lot of talented artists are more, you know, introverted and they're working and creating these beautiful things at home.
00:44:48.583 --> 00:45:37.164
But I think it's so important, no matter how busy we are, that we take a beat and connect with other folks, because being an entrepreneur, being an artist, can be really lonely and having that connection, even if somebody doesn't, isn't an artist, doesn't exactly know or have the same experience that you do in in that venture, just going it alone, but knowing you're not alone and you can bitch together, you can support each other and find collaborations, like there's so much that has come from me just seeking out some of that community, and then I then it like compounds, I keep manifesting, and like meeting cool people like you, right, and it's, it's just.
