Lessons in Creativity with Jenna Masi

Lessons in Creativity with Jenna Masi

by Jenna Masi
ArtsBusiness
Season 1

#14 Jeff Metzler | From Broadway to Business: Navigating the Spectrum from Creative to Practical

This episode is with Jeff Metzler! Jeff started his career as a Broadway performer, appearing in two Tony winning shows, three award winning national tours, and on live television. He eventually transitioned from being a performer to working on the business side of Broadway and eventually into the world of consulting. Jeff talks about the opportunities and challenges across worlds of creativity and business in this episode and shares some insights about how to foster a creative culture in the corporate world. 3 of the main lessons from Jeff: Excellence: Details matter, repetition matters, and creating a culture of ongoing feedback contributes to an excellent product. Agility: It is critical to understand the WHY before starting something and have the flexibility to experiment, learn, and pivot along the way. Collaboration: Understand your role within a production and how it contributes to shaping the actual end product.
S1 · E14
Jun 18, 2024
43:55

#13 Adi Surendran | Creative Constraints as a Tool for Comedy Writing and Life

Adi Surendran is a comedy writer who grew up in NJ after his parents moved from India. Adi started his career as a lawyer but events in his personal life, along with his love of comedy, caused him to slowly work at developing his comedy writing in the form of mundane short stories. After going to open mics and joining writers groups for several years, Adi published a book called CheeseDosa: The Legend-Dairy Tales of a Suburban Dork, a collection of short comedy stories. In this episode he shares about his journey, his writing process, his views on creative identity, and some hot takes along the way! I hope you have fun listening! Here were some of my take-aways: Creative constraints help you figure out what is important in life: “Constraints are not only just things you do to generate creativity that can be fun exercises like, oh, now let me make a joke only using the color green. But it can also be like, hey, these things are no longer important to you.” AI can enhance your creativity and allow you to do more of what is important to you: “It has been very important to me to figure out what's important to me. I don't know if people have necessarily unlocked that AI will give you the opportunity to figure out what's important.” Communities are key to nurturing creative growth over time: “That community eventually became my home, that was when I found my tribe, every time I would go there, which was once a month, I would tell a brand new short story, and they would eventually start to build and build, I'd take those stories and, put them onto a website, that website would eventually get the name Cheese Dosa and turn into the book that I published.” More about Adi – Get his book on Amazon: CheeseDosa: The Legend-Dairy Tales of a Suburban Dork Follow him on instagram Read his blog
S1 · E13
Jun 11, 2024
52:31

#12 Allie Moss | Songwriting, Community, and Overcoming Creative Blocks

Allie Moss is a singer-songwriter (check out her music on Spotify) whose songs have been featured on TV shows like Bones, Pretty Little Liars, and Parenthood. She has released several albums and EPs and toured the country for her own music and as a member of the Ingrid Michaelson band. In this episode, you’ll hear Allie talk about how she got interested in songwriting, how she turned her own struggle with writer’s block into creating the Thinking Outside the Blocks (TOTB) community with Bess Rogers, and the behind the scenes of several of her songs and creative process. I hope you enjoy the episode! Here are some highlights from our conversation — Curiosity and growth over fear: Allie’s biggest strength is her mindset and belief that she can learn anything. Commitment to practice: Allie measures herself by the activities along the journey rather than how her songs are received. Importance of community for creative works: Allie created the TOTB community after her own struggle with writer’s block and she shares how community helped her with her own writing and sharing process. To learn more about Allie take a look at the following - Allie’s music on Spotify Allie’s website and instagram. Thinking Outside the Blocks community - co-led by Allie Moss and Bess Rogers Link to her latest song release - Trying
S1 · E12
Jun 4, 2024
53:00

#11 Lauren Ducrey | Poetry as a Tool for Connection with Ourselves and Others

In my most recent episode I spoke with, poet, Lauren Ducrey. Lauren studied literature and grew up with the belief that you’re either born creative or you’re not. Events in her own life caused her to shift from analyzing works of art to creating them and just earlier this year, she left her job at Google to pursue poetry full time. She now leads creativity & poetry events in NYC for companies, individuals, and groups to help people find well-being through poetry. Listen to hear her talk about her journey and process, embracing her identity as a poet, AI and creativity, and how poetry is more accessible to us than we might think. Here were some of the lessons I took away from Lauren: A poem can be a pick me up, a meditation, or even a friend: Just like music, poetry can be used to access different parts of ourselves, build empathy towards one another, and have challenging conversations as a society. Creative identity can be formed from your process rather than output: Lauren has learned to re-frame her identity based on the activities she does everyday, regardless of if they result in a ‘finished’ work of art. AI can help us bring greater awareness to the creative process: In order to use AI well in creativity, we need to truly understand the discrete parts of the creative process, which requires actually engaging in the practice! To learn more about or get in touch with Lauren, check out her website, and follow her on Linked In or Instagram. Also check out her book, Tongues Tied and album, Cordes sensibles.
S1 · E11
May 21, 2024
57:06

#10 Rob Lawless: Robs10kFriends | Committing to an 8+ Year Project to Infuse More Empathy into the World

My next episode is out! In this episode I spoke with Rob Lawless. Rob started his career off in consulting but very quickly realized he missed the close connections he had felt while in college at Penn State. He designed a project for himself called Robs10kFriends where he is on a mission to meet 10,000 people, each for one hour, to see what can come of connection with no specific agenda. He has been working on this for the past 8 years and has been covered by the Kelly Clarkson Show, the TODAY show, and Ryan Seacrest. Listen to hear about Rob starting this project, how he has re-framed his mindset along the way and what he has learned about intentional connection. Thanks to Adam Wise for connecting us! Here were some of the lessons I took away from Rob: Learn to trust commitments to yourself rather than relying on external promises - “Your idea is going to be perceived as silly until it's not. And then people flip their perception on it and it becomes inspiring.” Recognize the cyclical nature of confidence and doubt and attach to action rather than emotion - “If I'm feeling confident today, I don't get too comfortable because I know that there's a doubtful me in the future. And if I feel doubtful, then I don't sit in that either because I know there's a confident me coming down the road. I try to attach myself to the action of what I do rather than the emotion.” Be the most interested in your own creative project in order to get through the tough times - “There are times when no one pays attention to it. There are times when a lot of people pay attention to it… the most important thing is that I’m interested in it.”
S1 · E10
May 14, 2024
50:43

#9 Saba Ahmed | Exploring Social Wellness Entrepreneurship

In this episode I spoke with Saba Ahmed, previous Chief of Staff of the Skimm and current social wellness entrepreneur. In our conversation, I got the chance to hear from someone who is right in the middle of her creative process - Saba is currently intentionally exploring the social wellness space in an effort to help people connect in person with their local communities. She also is the host of Friends of Friends, a social dance party designed for intentional connection. You’ll hear Saba share what she has learned about community architecture, how she is approaching this time in her life, and what she’s learned about herself in the process. I’m so grateful to David Nebinksi for introducing Saba and I back in the Fall! Here are some of the topics we covered in our conversation: Why do we create? Saba’s view is that we feel compelled to create something because we want to enjoy the process and see what comes out of it. How can you best support a community builder? Saba points out the value that these community builders are providing in hosting intentional events and therefore encourages us to think about the best ways to support and contribute to what they are doing. How do community builders design events where people feel comfortable going deep? Saba shares many examples of intentional design to help curate a ‘third place’. Connect with Saba on Linked In and follow @friendsoffriends.bk on instagram to stay tuned on future events.
S1 · E9
May 7, 2024
42:57

#8 Ana De Matos | Defining Well-being within the Workplace and Lessons Learned as a Knicks City Dancer

In this episode I spoke with Ana De Matos. Early in her consulting career, Ana’s passion for dance drove her to audition for the NY Knicks dance team. She was ultimately accepted and chose to pursue this dream while balancing her career in consulting. This experience of balancing both taught her the value of bringing her whole self to work and sparked a passion for and interesting in the concept of well-being. In our conversation, you’ll hear her talk about the experiments she is now running with well-being individually, with her teams, in the workplace, and in other settings. I hope you enjoy the episode! Here were some of my main take-aways from the conversation: Earning trust and setting boundaries early on: Ana’s experience dancing with the Knicks early in her career taught her how to earn trust, set boundaries, and pursue her passions while working. Running experiments with well-being: Ana’s experience caused her to create her own definition of well-being and then test it across different arenas in her personal and professional life. Her interest and learnings drove her to ultimately roll out a major well-being initiative within her current consulting company. Detachment to identity: Ana purposely detaches herself from identities to allow herself freedom to continuously grow, evolve, and try on new channels of expression. Connect with Ana on Linked in!
S1 · E8
Apr 30, 2024
52:36

#7 Aaron Berger | Starting a Public Relations Consultancy

In this episode, I spoke with Aaron Berger, a Public Relations specialist and entrepreneur focused on the fintech space. Aaron tells his story of getting started in the PR industry, deciding to move to freelancing, and evolving his freelance business into his current PR consultancy with a business partner. You’ll also hear him talk about how he approaches his work with founders to craft their narratives and how the PR industry has changed. Hope you enjoy! Here were some of my main take-aways from the conversation: The current environment yields strong partnership opportunities: Aaron noticed changes going on in the job market and took advantage of the availability of strong talent by finding his business partner. It is always challenging to craft your own narrative: It is so important to have a third party help with working through emotions involved, gaining alignment amongst co-founders, and articulating the story. Starting a business will never feel perfect: If Aaron had waited to get everything exactly right, he never would have started! Follow Aaron on Linkedin or reach out to him at aaron@am.partners!
S1 · E7
Apr 23, 2024
39:48

#6 Scott Wolfson | Creative WorkCrafting

In this episode I spoke with Scott Wolfson. Scott’s career has ranged all the way from being a street performer, video producer, radio broadcaster, to working at KPMG and BCG in innovation consulting. Today, Scott, self identifies as a curious human and is on a personal mission to help people love to learn changing their minds. In this episode, You’ll hear Scott talk about his views on creativity, detachment to identity, how he approaches learning in this age of AI, and his newest cohort-based bootcamp, Workcrafting - which he co-created with his business partner Kes Sampanthar to help individuals embrace uncertainty and craft a career. Here are some of my main take-aways: Learn how you learn: One of the best ways to embrace AI and a fast changing world is to become observers of how our mind inputs, processes, and outputs information so that we can best understand how to augment ourselves in the future. Separate your identity from what you create: Scott has intentionally worked at freeing himself from attachment to what he has created in the past to stay open to what can come next. Creativity is a means to express subjective human experience: Scott believes we create because there is no current language that exists to express our subjective experience as humans. (I love this definition!) Follow Scott on Linked in! Sign up for Scott’s upcoming bootcamp - The World of Work Crafting - which is aimed at helping individuals discover their unique potential, explore possibilities, and take action to create the life and career you desire.
S1 · E6
Apr 15, 2024
1:00:32

#5 Amanda Pena | Starting and Pivoting as a Content Creator

Amanda Pena has been writing and creating content most of her life. Her most recent project was a social media account called the Rules of 30, aimed at personal development for women in their 30s which gained 150k followers on instagram. In this episode, you’ll hear Amanda talk about starting personal projects, honing her ability to listen to her gut, and making a decision to pivot. Here are some of the main take-aways from her story: Skills compound over time from practice: Amanda developed a fast following for her most recent instagram account, but much of that quick success is due to years and years of writing and trying previous projects. It's OK to pivot: Sometimes after starting a personal project, it's time to pause, reflect on what you learned, and make space for something new. Intuition as strength: Amanda has a deep trust in herself and has learned how to lean into her intuition as a strength to guide decisions. Follow Amanda on Linked in to stay tuned for what is next for her! Check out the Rules of 30 for personal development for your 30s. PS - Please excuse a slight recording mishap midway through this interview!
S1 · E5
Apr 9, 2024
46:39
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