How I Create Me

From the island of Guam , Richard is an engineer/designer and now co-founder at Bettersum. He's building the marketing tool Supercopy because he believes we should communicate to people in the manner they want to be communicated to. Richard chatted with us about the mandate of creative outputs and how our quick-to-commercialize economy has perhaps skewed our engagement with the joy of learning and sharing as a community. As a serial entrepreneur, his combination of generosity and boldness have positioned him to repeatedly challenge prevailing assumptions about the bifurcation of “design” and “STEM” through building approachable tech solutions that live at the intersection of code + culture. He's currently building an AI tool for marketing professionals called SuperCopy. Join us to hear why apprenticeships beat entry-level jobs any day and why a trip to the gym an hour before midnight was the best part of the weekend.  RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Contact richard@bettersum.com  CREDITS Music

Hello remarkable humans! Your host, Jessica, here, to share a quick show update. How I Create Me is wrapping Season 1 with Episode 17, and we'll be back with Season 2 on January 12, 2023. For many businesses, Q4 can be an essential time of both intensive retrospective and ambitious planning. For many creatives, the changing seasons and slate of new year holidays can be an essential time of ritualized connection with Nature, community, and self. We'll give each other space to embrace these moments for all their value, and we'll reconvene to celebrate more stories of divergent productivity in 2023. In the meanwhiles, if you want to stay connected, share ideas, ask questions, or generally get amongst it, visit howicreate.me or find us on any of the socials @howicreateme. A deep and heartfelt thank you to everyone who's welcomed us into their headspace: it's a sacred sphere, and we take the invitation seriously. Thank you for listening. Further gratitude to our Season 1 guests: You make me and our world better by sharing so generously of yourself. May your forward payment come back around to you more abundant than when you gave it. Special thanks to our production team at Chat with Leaders Media: Jeff Bond, Quentin Thomas, Catherine Tran, and Georgette Eva and our show sponsor, The Frame Brain. This podcast is the best part of my week. Wishing you and yours many merry months! Cheers to 2023!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgette Eva is a freelance writer, social media professional, and morning person who runs the appropriately named Morning Person Studio, where she helps brands shape and share their stories. A journalist by trade, Georgette's excitement for social media happened by chance as she discovered how it combined her love of writing, community connection, visual design, and, yes, puns. Now with 10 years of experience, she's had the opportunity to work in a range of industries from fashion, food, to Saas startups helping brands get to the next level of content and community. Georgette shares why showing up in social spaces still matters and how the exchange of value isn't purely fleeting and transactional. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Find Georgette on LinkedIn Facebook Twitter YouTube Visit https://morningperson.studio/ CREDITS Music

Lauren Merceron is an artist & teacher who currently lives in Atlanta, GA. Her work embraces the essence of human bonds and connectedness. Through the use of curved lines, texture and monochromatic color schemes, she represents the relationships that tie us together. Her most recent work focuses on the joy and emotion of motherhood. Lauren discusses the importance of not hiding behind your art, connecting with those who are different, and more in today's episode. When you purchase a piece of artwork by Lauren you are helping to make our world a better place! Ten percent of all sales will go directly to Draw Change. This nonprofit organization provides art therapy services to children in underserved communities. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Visit https://www.laurenmerceron.com/ Follow Lauren on Facebook Follow Lauren on Instagram CREDITS Music

Alex Spitzer is a choreographer and dancer who chatted with Jessica about how perseverance opened up new vistas of expression, embodied and virtual, leading to a 30-year career on stage and in various dance companies. As the first dancer in a wheelchair to receive a 4-year degree in dance, Alex shares his distinctive experience and inspiring story with Jessica in today's episode. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Visit SpitzerArts.com Follow Alex on Facebook See Alex Dancing on YouTube Attend Spitzer Arts Company's next performance in Marietta on Nov 4 thru 5th, 2022 CREDITS Music

In this episode, Jessica Matthews sits down with her Executive Producer of How I Create Me Podcast to talk about the journey of launching and maintaining a podcast, lessons learned, and the opportunities it's created to build deeper relationships within a community of influence. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE This playbook will help you make important decisions around how to cultivate authentic relationships with key stakeholders, grow revenue, and maximize social impact through the power of podcasting https://chatwithleaders.com/launch/ Follow Jeff Bond at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbond123/  CREDITS Music

In today's episode, Jessica sits down with Chris Appleton, Founder & CEO of Sewn Arts and the Art Pharmacy. You'll hear how Chris and his team are creating a solution for care providers to prescribe and refer patients to health-improving arts & culture experiences, how they're uniquely bringing together key stakeholders in the healthcare and arts communities, and how creatives can meet people where they are with their craft's life-giving therapy. More about Chris Appleton Chris Appleton is the Founder & CEO of Sewn Arts and the Art Pharmacy, a solution through which care providers prescribe and refer patients to arts & culture interventions that improve mental health and emotional well-being.  A social entrepreneur, Chris has spent his career developing organizations where the arts meet civic life. Previously, Chris was Co-founder and Executive Director of WonderRoot, where he was focused on social change movement-building through the arts. Chris and his work have been featured in the New York Times, CNN, ABC, CBS, NPR, Fast Company, and more. Chris has been honored with numerous awards, including the Americans for the Arts National Emerging Leader Award, Emory Center for Creativity and the Arts Community Impact Award, and New Leaders Council Alumni Award. He was a special guest at the 2011 White House Youth Summit, a member of the 2019 Class of Leadership Atlanta, and received honors such as Atlanta Business Chronicle's 40 Under 40, Georgia Trend's 100 Notable Georgians, Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2014, and World Economic Forum's Global Shapers. Currently pursuing his Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Chris is engaged in a range of initiatives beyond his professional work. He helped build Vote with Dignity, a healthy democracy effort to improve the voting experience through line-warming and neighborhood engagement. He has served on numerous boards including the Grady Health System's Ambassador Force, City of Atlanta Mayor's Affordable Housing Advisory Board, Americans for the Arts EL Council, Alliance Theatre Advisory Board, Health Connect South Advisory Board, and more. Chris lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife, Annie, and two young children, Alexander and June. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE For more information on Chris Appleton and the Art Pharmacy, check out www.artpharmacy.org & https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-appleton-atl/ To explore the Arts and Health Matrix from the Rhode Island's Department of Health and Council for the Arts, check out https://www.aerodatalab.org/arts-and-health  CREDITS Music

In today’s episode, Jessica chats with standup comedian, podcaster and creator, Damon Sumner, to learn more about his story of becoming a comedian, meeting the moment, taking chances, and fruits of persistence. Fast forward twelve years, and Damon brings us practical advice on how to navigate the complexities of building your brand, taking chances, being persistent, and staying positive. MORE ABOUT DAMONDamon Sumner has been bringing laughter to people’s lives even before he held a mic on a stage. He has continued to hone his craft and every time he touches the stage, he delivers hilarious stories about his upbringing, and witty, high-energy observations of everyday life. Since starting stand up in Atlanta, Damon has shared the stage with numerous headliners, like Iliza, Brent Morin, Todd Glass, Sarah Tiana, George Wallace, and so many more. He can be seen on The Weather Channel’s “Weather Gone Viral”, The Circle Network’s “Standup Nashville”, and EPIX’s “Unprotected Sets. He co-hosts a relationship podcast with his wife, “Sum it Up with The Sumners”, is ⅓ of the hilarious sports podcast, “Forth and Ten” and runs shows all-around the ATL. Damon has also performed in illustrious comedy festivals around the U.S. including the Laughing Skull Festival, Red Clay Festival, Dallas Comedy Festival, Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival, Out Of Bounds Comedy Festival, Hell Yes Comedy Festival and was a semifinalist for the American Black Film Festival's Comedy Wings Competition, sponsored by HBO. If you didn’t know, he’s about to become your new, favorite comic. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Links to follow Damon at https://linktr.ee/damonsumner CREDITS Music

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Miri Nadler to unpack her inspiring story of overcoming adversity and building her hugely successful cake business that now has over 100K combined followers on TikTok and Instagram… and growing! Miri is originally from Los Angeles where she began her food blog in 2009 called “Miri in the Village.” She set out to teach herself how to bake, and in the process, perfect her recipes, technique, and flavor pairings. While in LA, Miri worked in the administration of a luxury bakery, where she received a front-row education on how to run a kitchen. Though she explored many culinary avenues on her blog, Miri’s biggest strength and deepest passion has always been pastries. In 2016, Miri and her family moved to North Carolina, and are currently settled in Charlotte. Having seen women in Asia use palette knives to decorate cakes on Instagram, Miri made her 2019 New Year’s resolution to figure out how to do the same. It wasn’t long until Miri mastered the craft and developed her own unique style. An Instagram account and several requests for orders later, Ten Bloom Cakes was born. Miri is delighted to have the support of her husband and two young sons as she starts on this brand new endeavor! RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Follow https://www.tiktok.com/@mirinadler Follow https://www.instagram.com/mirinadlercakes Follow https://www.facebook.com/MiriNadlerCakes Follow https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQFaUP-phH2A9i6UpGxqOQ Visit online at https://www.10bloomcakes.com CREDITS Music

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Jeanette Gregory to unpack her creative superpowers around people-wrangling, event activation, overcoming challenges with alcohol early in her career (leading to her celebrating 12 years of sobriety), and how she’s embracing her abilities to shine in the worlds of film festivals as an organization guru. Jeanette hails from Salt Lake then big risks she did take. First a Geology major, then she changed her behavior. To Atlanta she fled and did film festivals instead. Through office jobs and night school, she began collecting admin tools. Wrangled volunteers while in a skirt, with pockets, found her place in media as a corporate sprocket. Now she organizes creatives, dazzles and amazes, toddler mom, thrifting bomb, crafty maker, mover and shaker, trying her best to not be a faker. She also collects Smith Corona typewriters; second favorite collection. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Follow Jeanette Gregory on LinkedIn Msjpg on Instagram Shoutouts Atlanta Film Festival Bronze Lens Film Festival WIFTA ASIFA Dragon Con Independent Film Festival Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Turner Classic Movies Film Festival CREDITS Music

In this episode, Jessica chats with Skyeris (she/they), who has been a sinistral, spitfire creatrix their entire life. Voice too loud, hair too unruly, spirit too wild—all of which they’re happy to claim. A neurodivergent synesthete, she has always explored and dwelt in liminal spaces and borderlands, which are most natural to her innate curiosity and love of diversity. She has lived and traveled abroad for many years, for both study and work. A lifelong vocalist and wordsmith, she deftly wields sound and language in various webs and weavings. From the Atlanta Beltline to Black Rock City to rural Japan, Skyeris has activated spaces, shared her voice, and expanded collective consciousness. In no particular order, they are also a wanderer, ritualist, speaker, yoga practitioner, lover, thinker, rape survivor, reader, dancer. They also live with an invisible, chronic illness. In the visible realms and beyond, she skillfully bridges the sacred and the mundane. She grounds spirit into matter; she transduces matter into spirit. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Visit Skyreis.art to sign up learn more and newsletter sign up Follow Skyeris Art on Instagram | SoundCloud CREDITS Music

A lifelong lover of language and stories in all their forms, Tom Bell is co-founder of Rootstock, a thought leadership and brand growth consultancy, and of Chronicle, a brand narrative and content marketing firm. He is also the co-founder and founding program director of the AJC Decatur Book Festival and a 25-year veteran journalist in the arts. Discovering a love for contemporary and aerial dance later in life, he has since performed professionally and choreographed with companies including Crossover Movement Arts, Brooks & Company Dance, me.you.us.we.them, Beacon Dance, Rule of 3, and the Candybox Revue. He also produces occasional dance and performance art through Minecart, his experimental performing arts incubator. Jessica sits down with Tom to talk about how he finds creative inspiration by practicing things like getting outside more, listening, being still, storytelling, and performing arts. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Visit Rootstock.Agency Visit ThisIsChronicle.com Visit MineCart.biz Follow Tom Bell on LinkedIn CREDITS Music

Leo Falkenstein is the Co-Founder and Executive Producer of Consume Media in Atlanta, GA. From start to finish, Leo ensures their clients’ visions come to fruition. If he isn’t listening to the Grateful Dead, the Universe gets misaligned. Leo has played hockey (basically) since birth and his life-long goal is bringing the Thrashers back to Atlanta. Jessica chats with Leo about how far a “can-do” attitude can bring you, the three touchstones every entrepreneurial creative should keep in their back pocket, how he founded his media business as a student at the University of Georgia, and how he’s been able to evolve into the thriving business Consume Media is today. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Learn more at Consume-Media.com Follow Consume Media on LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook Follow Leo on Linkedin CREDITS Music

Ask 12 Italian grandmothers for their special tomato sauce recipe, and you will get thirteen different answers. They will all use tomatoes, olive oil, basil… but the quantities will vary, as will the one special ingredient everyone has. A business is the same: it is the combination of service, values, and culture that makes each one unique. Rebecca Brizi brings management consulting services to small businesses, examining each of her clients to discover what their special, unique recipe is, and to build a plan for all those separate ingredients to function well together, so the business owners can focus on what they do best: their craft. Rebecca built her career managing the many moving ingredients of a software company, joining at the initial startup phase and moving the company through a major product change, to establishing a new office and subsidiary company in the United States. This office was generating more than 45% of the company’s business growth (by volume and value) within 3 years. Jessica sits down with Rebecca to talk about the creative side of management consulting, how creativity can be seen in multiple professions (not just the Arts), and some fantastic ways to approach learning and development in our creative careers. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Visit Rebecca’s website https://rgbrizi.com (and her blog: https://rgbrizi.com/blog/) Rebecca’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFhkoqC7DfnFHGRYrxZ1SXg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgbrizi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/rgbrizi Grab a copy of Rebecca’s book Phrases For Business Success: Or Ideas That Beat Thinking Outside The Box http://rebrand.ly/ct4jn CREDITS Music

This episode is me, myself, and I having a conversation about my story! Here at How I Create Me, I request and invite a lot of vulnerability and openness from the guests who come on this show... and I really look forward to celebrating our stories and engaging with you all in a safe space of community. It seemed really important to follow through on that for myself with you all and be willing to share my story with that same expectation... and it was definitely tricky! Our stories are really a precious and vulnerable piece of ourselves that we're offering to one another. Because of that, there's so much opportunity for connection when we dig into those deep places and are willing to share what we have tucked away inside ourselves. There's a lot that can be possible from this starting point. CREDITS Music

Born and raised in Houston, Texas during the oil boom years of the sixties and seventies, Bill Hawkins began working at age 12. Through his high school years, he worked as a machinist, painter, roofer, hardware store clerk, carpenter, sheet metal worker, and mechanic at a motorcycle salvage yard. He met interesting people, including drug dealers, bikers, a world-class physicist, a CIA field operative, a guy with a machete scar across his face, and an English teacher named Dell Gunter. When he wasn’t working, Bill was playing ball, working on cars, building things in his father’s shop, writing in the journal that Dell Gunter insisted he keep or reading Bradbury, Forsyth, Tolkien, Tolstoy, or Solzhenitsyn. Gunter nudged Bill to pursue his dream of writing, but his life took a different course when he accepted a scholarship to Texas A&M to study electrical engineering. After graduating with degrees in Broadcast Management and Anthropology, Bill picked up a camera to make a living as a freelance photographer. One thing led to another and with his natural drive to write and entertain Bill began to sell DIY articles with a humorous twist to Shutterbug and Handguns Magazine. Bill’s long and twisted path took him into the tech industry, and eventually back to his love of the written word where he insists that he will succeed or die trying. Bill has written five screenplays, six novels, and two novellas. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Purchase Bill’s latest book, Armed To The Dentures, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo or go to BillHawkinsWriter.com to learn more. ABOUT Armed To The Dentures Six heavily armed, elderly women, what could possibly go wrong? Swindled of their life savings by their retirement home manager, the ladies of the 4 o’clock poker club are destitute and off the grid. Violet, Marybeth, Mini, Doris, Ruby, and Bernice retire to an abandoned farm. How long can the fragile peace last, with all those years of experience demanding to be unleashed? Each with a full life of success and hardship behind them, the ladies are, to a woman, determined not to be a burden on anyone. But when the FBI fails to retrieve their savings, the reality of dying poor crashes in on them, and desperation and anger push them inexorably toward a life of crime. A direction that not all of them are strangers to. “What happens when five ‘golden years’ escapees set out with a hundred thousand dollars and a rental car on a tropical island? Great fun, that’s what! Hawkins’s tenderness for his characters enriches the wit and wisdom of these golden gals on their high-spirited adventure.” – Barbara Kyle, bestselling author of the Thornleigh Saga novels. CREDITS Music

As Senior Program & Industry Relations Manager at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Shellie Schmals plays a lead role in selecting the nearly 800 films that are considered for each annual Festival. She has 25 years of experience in the non-profit universe, holds an MBA from Brenau University and EDM in Higher Education Administration from the University at Buffalo. As a talent wrangler and producer/emcee, Shellie has been involved in many projects past and present, including Roxie Roz burlesque, Minette Magnifique Burlesque; Georgia Pinup Posse, DanceATL AM Collaborative, and most recently, curated a burlesque/short film collaboration with the Philadelphia Jewish Film & Media (2021). Shellie currently sits on the national board of the Film Festival Alliance, state-wide Georgia Production Partnership as Membership Chair, and locally, as Women in Film & Television Atlanta as Vice President of Programming, coordinates WIFTA industry panels at Dragon Con (Film Track), and for the nationally known Cinema Life Collective, is past co-chair of the WIFTA Short Film & Talent Showcase (2017-2020) and past WIFTA Secretary (2016-2020). Jessica unpacks Shellie’s story of taking chances, finding her creative community, and learning how to navigate relationships that opened doors along the journey. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Instagram.com/vonschmals Linkedin.com/in/shellieschmals Facebook.com/shellie.schmals Twitter.com/shellieschmals ShoutOutAtlanta.com/meet-shellie-schmals-creative-curator-burlesque-producer CREDITS Music

A true explorer and creative, Atlanta artist Meredith Ochoa has been reinventing alternative and digital processes since 2007. As part of her body of work, Meredith has developed a new portable scanning process in which the subject becomes the "negative" through digital degradation with a portable wand of light. The portable scanner describes the subject through a life-size depiction of the number of pixels the subject amounts to. Meredith received her Masters of Art from Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD)and has recently started a 13-year 'Every Phase' series revealing how she healed herself from Endometriosis with the lesser-known feminine infradian rhythm clock in contrast to the masculine, 24-hour clock or 'every day' lifestyle. The series is also a direct response to and inspired by Beeple's $70 million 'Everydays' NFT project. Jessica sits down to Meredith to learn about her journey of overcoming significant obstacles and challenges to find her creative self and authentic approach to building relationships with her collectors. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE art // meredithochoa.com Every Phase series - meredithochoa.com/every-phase photo portfolio // anotherfingartist.com subscribe // art is not what you see...newsletter CREDITS Music

For many expressive folks, our productivity is divergent. It doesn’t fit a 9-5 routine or trendy coaching tips. And yet! Many of us find unique ways to produce–creatively–while also thriving in the commercial world. How I Create Me hosts conversations with these remarkable humans. We’re gonna chat about how we craft our personal and professional selves. How we build identities and skills. We think they deserve attention. We carry them through life, but sometimes, if we’re lucky, they also carry us. It can be discouraging to consume business-oriented content. It’s usually laden with pithy advice that doesn’t apply. And there’s a frustrating spectrum of opinions. We’re told to stay true to our idiosyncrasies, profits, and performance reviews be damned. We’re told to rein it in if consumers or corporations aren’t buying our personal brand. So, as we mitigate these tensions, instead of “one-size fits all” tips and tricks, we’ll be sharing: Distinct stories from our creative journeys Impediments we’ve overcome--or are still wrestling with today Insights we’ve gathered along the way There will be some quirky questions. And you’ll get to know us better as the remarkable humans we are… I hope you’ll join us. Together, we can find resonance in each others’ stories. We can find the courage to keep going--or the wisdom to try something different. So come get amongst it. Join the HICM Family at HowICreate.Me. Proudly sponsored by The Frame Brain at FrameBrain.co. CREDITS Theme Music