Lesson 26: Create Work That Has Purpose and Meaning with Von Wong

How to craft epic stories that are impactful and meaningful

with Von Wong

On this week’s episode of Creativity School, I talk to legendary viral photographer, artist and visual engineer Von Wong. Von has been hugely influential in the photography industry for over a decade with his massive online following and work seen all over the world, and he drops so much knowledge and insight about the creative life in this illuminating conversation about success, failure and everything in between.

Von Wong is a former mining engineer turned self taught photographer, and we learn how he transitioned from engineering to traveling all over the globe as a social impact artist and viral photographer. We also talk about his pivot into creating work that has purpose and meaning, and how uses his work to tell impactful stories about environmental issues like plastic pollution, fast fashion, and electronic waste. Von also explains the importance of using strategy to build your creative career rather than sheer impulse.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Why it’s important to know yourself – know what makes you tick, know what you enjoy, and leverage that to the best of your ability in order to make things work

• Why failure is actually multidimensional – how failure can also be successful

• Why other people’s templates for success are totally irrelevant

• The recent struggles Von’s had while pivoting into new things, and how keeps going

• Building through calculated, new steps to get to where you want to go instead of being impulse driven

• How to collaborate with others and the importance of thinking how you can benefit others instead of yourself

CONNECT WITH VON:

Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

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Lesson 25: Simple Social Media Strategies to Grow Your Following

How to make social media less overwhelming and GROW An engaged following

with Andrea Jones

Whether you love it or hate it, social media is one of the best ways for getting our creative work out into the world. But it can be so overwhelming, time consuming, and yet another thing to do when we’re already so busy! How can we make social media simple and fun and use it to actually grow our following?

On this week’s episode of Creativity School, I talk to social media strategist Andrea Jones. Andrea loves to help people build profitable communities online through simple solutions, and she’s also the host of the Savvy Social Podcast. She’s here to answer ALL THE QUESTIONS, and do I mean all the questions. We talk about it all - like what kinds of posts perform best (photos of ourselves? product shots? graphics? personal posts?), how much time we *actually* need to spend on our accounts to be effective, and how to make this whole thing simple and easy. Andrea also shares how to beat Instagram’s algorithms and authentically increase engagement, and she also answers a ton of listener questions. This episode is packed full of great information and you won’t want to miss it if you want to build your social platforms.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How much time you REALLY need to spend on social media to make it work for you

• Which social platform to start with

• Why social media is like dating and how to use Instagram to meet new people to connect with using hashtags and using Gary Vee’s $1.80 strategy

• How to increase engagement and beat Instagram’s algorithms

  Resources:

• Canva

• Social Report

CONNECT WITH ANDREA:

Website | Podcast | Instagram

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

Thank you so much for listening!

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Lesson 23: Change Your Money Story and Make More Doing What You Love

How to heal your money story and make money doing what you love

with Sarah Li-Cain

“How you handle money and the decision making process around money is an emotional thing. Even though money itself is a neutral source, how we feel about it, how we handle it, what we say about it, is so emotional.”

— Sarah Li-Cain

If you’re like me and were told you can never make money being creative, (or countless other limiting beliefs about money!) starting the process of uncovering your money story is an essential step on your creative journey. I didn’t even know what a money mindset was back in 2008 when I started my side hustle, and I had NO IDEA how deep my unconscious beliefs about money went and how much that was impacting my income.

Today’s guest Sarah Li-Cain is a finance writer and host of the Beyond The Dollar podcast, where she has deep and honest conversations about how money affects our well being. Her work blends practical tips and mindset strategies so that money becomes a tool to enhance people’s lives. On today’s episode of Creativity School, we talk about all things money mindset - how we’ve absorbed messages about money and how that affects our day to day life and the way we interact with it, make it, spend it, and our relationship with it. We also discuss how to begin the process of changing our beliefs about money to ultimately make more money doing what we love.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How personal and emotional issues affect the way we interact with money

• Why we feel the need to hoard money

• How our behaviors around money and the decision process around money fills an emotional need

• Techniques to help you move through your negative emotions about money and begin the process of changing your money story

  Resources:

• Overcoming, Underearning

• The Soul of Money

• You Are a Badass at Making Money

• Get Rich Lucky Btch

CONNECT WITH SARAH:

Website | Podcast | Instagram

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

Thank you so much for listening!

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Lesson 22: Loving Yourself Even When People Say You Suck

How to withstand the sting of rejection, stand up for yourself, and stop the need to make people like you and your work

with Laurenne Sala

“It’s just all about standing up for myself every single time, which is so hard to do, but it’s worth it. We do so many thing because we want people to like us.
We put people on pedestals, and they’re just people. ”

— Laurenne Sala

I’ll be the first to tell you that I used to think “loving yourself” sounded like the cheesiest, most cliché mantra, and totally irrelevant to creativity. But what I’ve learned over the last 11 years as a creative entrepreneur and artist is that loving yourself is the superpower we need to stay the course on a journey that can oftentimes get really, really hard.

On this week’s episode of Creativity School, I talk to my good friend, essay writer and children’s book author Laurenne Sala all about what loving yourself actually means, what that looks like in practice, and how it allows us to withstand the sting of rejection and stop our constant need to make people like us and our work.

We dig into ALL the things in this episode, from the secret formula to writing a successful children’s book, to dealing with rejection after Laurenne submitted hundreds of manuscripts, and to feeling like a total failure when you don’t make 100% of your income from your creative work. We also discuss the 3 essential parts of the creative process that highly creative people embrace.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Laurenne’s amazing new book You Made Me a Dad

• How a commercial Laurenne wrote for a baby brand went viral and turned into her first children’s book You Made Me a Mother

• How her entire children’s book career started with overcoming her lack of self-esteem and learning to stand up for herself

• Learning how to deal with rejection

• All the steps to become a children’s book author and write a great children’s book

• 3 essential parts of the creative process that highly creative people embrace

• How to know what critiques to take from people and know what to ignore

• Thinking you’re a failure because you can’t make a living full time with your creative work

CONNECT WITH LAURENNE:

Website | Instagram | You Made Me a Dad

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

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Lesson 21: The Power of Redefining How You Measure Success

How to reimagine the meaning of success

with Anna S. E. Lundberg

“What does success mean to you?
You can define what that aim or purpose is for yourself and go about doing it.
Explore what’s important to you, listen to it and trust it.”

— Anna S. E. Lundberg

The dictionary defines success as “attaining wealth, prosperity and fame”. Oftentimes, the more achievements we can accomplish and the more money we make, the more successful we feel. But being on this never ending hamster wheel of chasing external validation and accomplishment can leave us burned out and feeling unfulfilled. Is our creativity only meaningful when it receives attention and accolades? Of course not! So how do we begin to reimagine what success really is, so we can live a life of more meaning and purpose?

Today’s guest Anna S. E. Lundberg is a success coach, business strategist and founder of One Step Outside. Anna is passionate about inspiring and supporting others to reimagine what personal success means so we can have businesses we love and live with more freedom and fulfillment. We talk about how to overcome fear and take “one step outside” to start the process of redefining success, and how to discover what personal success is to us so we can find more meaning in the lives we live and the work we make.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Overcoming fear and taking just one step outside your comfort zone to begin to redefine success

• The importance of reimagining success beyond external validation, achievement and accomplishment

• How to discover and redefine what personal success means to us

• How to find work life integration through the 5 L’s – Live, Love, Learn, Lead and Laugh

CONNECT WITH ANNA:

Website | Podcast | Instagram

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

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Lesson 20: Creativity and the Brain

How to be more creative according to a neuroscientist

“It’s always easier to be a critic than a creator.”

— Nathan Myhrvold

Want to learn how to be more creative by hacking the way your brain naturally works?

On this week’s episode of Creativity School, I watch and recap my favorite takeaways from Netflix’s new documentary The Creative Brain with neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman. Dr. Eagleman has been a neuroscientist for over 20 years and shares the various ways our brain naturally works for and against our creativity. The movie features creative minds like architect Bjarke Ingels, musician Grimes, actor Tim Robbins, and more. It’s a fascinating documentary that looks into the creative process of innovators across multiple disciplines while exploring brain-bending, risk-taking ways to spark our own creativity.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

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Lesson 19: Create Work that Connects with Your Audience Using the 5 C's with Hommy Diaz

How to create an emotional connection with your product

With Hommy Diaz

“Some people might think their story is not interesting or impressive but it’s quite the opposite. It will be compelling and interesting to someone else. Think about how your life can help change someone else’s life and put it into whatever you’re trying to create.

”

— Hommy Diaz

We’re back with more wisdom from Hommy Diaz on this week’s episode of Creativity School! If you haven’t already, be sure to back and listen to last week’s episode where he shares his origin story and how he navigates the unknown of his creative journey without stress or fear.

This week Hommy’s talking to us about the formula he’s come up with to create work that connects with people called “The 5 C’s.” Hommy has used this formula successfully for his projects working on collaborations for brands like DC Shoes and K-Swiss. You’ll find out why he says some people get the formula backwards when creating, and when they do, it inevitably fails.

Hommy also shares how he uses the 5 C’s to create products with meaning and depth, and how he utilized his formula for building his own brand, Magnus Alpha. We also talk about how to execute ideas to make them awesome, and how to build a great brand from the ground up.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Why you should align your work with the 5 C’s and then create

• How he tells stories through footwear design

• Why he says the context around your product is the most important thing to consider

• Why you shouldn’t be in a rush to develop an idea and get it out

• How appreciating what he has helps his mindset and creative journey

CONNECT WITH HOMMY:

Website | Instagram

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

Thank you so much for listening!

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Lesson 18: Don't Stress About the Unknown of Your Creative Path with Hommy Diaz

How to stop dwelling on things you can’t control

With Hommy Diaz

“If there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s that stressing about the unknown is so detrimental to your health. It doesn’t help you, it wont make things happen any faster, and it wont put you in a position of clear thinking. I’ve always practiced not dwelling or stressing out about something I simply can’t control. ”

— Hommy Diaz

We all know the unknown and uncertainty of forging ahead on your own creative path can be terrifying! So how can we overcome all the fears and move forward?

On this week’s episode of Creativity School, I’m talking to Hommy Diaz. Hommy is an influential designer in sneaker culture with over 15 years of experience working with with top brands like KSWISS, Palladium Boots and DC SHOES. He is also the cofounder of MAGNUS ALPHA, his own designer sneaker, accessories and apparel company.

Hommy is a proud child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic and his family told him he couldn’t make money being an artist. Despite this, he went to Parsons art school, graduated, and then took a part time job at the Apple Store, much to the confusion and disappointment of his family. Somehow, Hommy leveraged that experience to end up as the global product line manager at DC Shoes... with zero shoe design experience! We talk about how he navigated this journey, his particular way of thinking that allows him to stay open to possibilities without trying to control the outcome of the unknown, and how this has consistently opened doors for him on his creative path.

Stay tuned for Part 2 with Hommy next week, where we talk about how to create work that's meaningful to consumers and more.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Being open to opportunity even if it’s not exactly what you expect

• Why its so important to create your own opportunities

• Why Hommy says setting expectations is self sabotage

• How to release the impulse to control things and enjoy the process

• Why Hommy says to rack up as many small failures as possible

CONNECT WITH HOMMY:

Website | Instagram

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

Thank you so much for listening!

Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and connect with me online!

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Lesson 17: Believing in Yourself even When no one Else Does with Sara Carson

How to dream big and succeed even when you don’t have support

With Sara Carson

“If somebody is bringing you down or telling you you’re not good enough, show them that you are. Show them that you can do it and just do it. There should be nothing holding you back except for you. ”

— Sara Carson

On today’s episode of Creativity School, I’m talking to Sara Carson, celebrity dog trainer, top international trick dog trainer, and finalist on Season 12 of America’s Got Talent.

Sara and her dogs now have fans all over the world, but she faced harsh criticism and lack of support from her family and friends while she pursued her dreams of training and performing with dogs for a living. Despite starting her own dog training business at 15 years old, Sara was told her entire life that what she was doing was silly, unrealistic, and that she could NEVER have a career doing what she wanted to do.

When she auditioned for America’s Got Talent, even the judges didn’t understand her work. It took Simon Cowell getting on stage for the first time ever, to vouch for Sara and her dogs and get her through to the show.

Sara shares how to overcome the lack of support from your family and friends and how to create the things you love anyway. We also get a behind the scenes look at her time on AGT - from the audition process, to the moment the judges criticized her act, to Simon getting on stage and fighting for her. She also talks about the process of creating new performances week after week under high stress, how she overcomes her nerves before big shows, how she deals with online critics, and more.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How Sara learned how to do dog training while watching YouTube videos when she was 10 years old

• How she started a dog training business when she was 15 years old, teaching at night after school

• Her experience having a video she made for fun go viral, getting 22M views overnight

• How she got onto America’s Got Talent Season 12, her process auditioning for the show, getting rejected and hearing criticism from the judges, and how Simon Cowell believed in her

• Sara’s advice on how to create things when you don’t have any support

• How she deals with the nerves of performing in front of a huge audience

• Her advice for creating work through anxiety or depression

Resources:

• Sara’s AGT Audition | Sara’s Viral Video

CONNECT WITH SARA:

Website | Instagram

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

Thank you so much for listening!

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Lesson 15: Overcoming Adversity and Making an impact with your creative expression

How to make a positive change in the world with your creativity

With Simon Tam

“When you find the right person that connects with the art that you make, there’s something profound in that. You just literally changed their world. You just created something out of your imagination, out of the depths of your soul to move them and there is something that is so incredible about that.

”

— Simon Tam

This week on Creativity School, I’m talking to self proclaimed troublemaker Simon Tam, founder and bassist of the first Asian American dance rock band The Slants, author, TEDx speaker, podcaster, and the David that went up against the Goliath that is the US government in a fight for freedom of speech.

Simon is a strong believer in creating work from your values and making the things you want to see in the world, in order to make an impact and create positive change. In this episode we talk about why he is committed to making the work he does, even when it puts him on a difficult path, and how he overcame incredible obstacles in the music industry that discriminated against his band simply for being Asian American.

Simon and his band have extensively been in the news because of his 8 year lawsuit against the US Patent and Trademark Office over the right to use the name The Slants (the USPTO argued it was racist), and we discuss what happened when his landmark case went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2017. (Spoiler alert - they won!)

We talk about making work that you know you have to make, despite the odds, despite the rejection, despite people not believing in you, and despite having to fight giants like the US government. Simon offers so much wisdom about why overcoming all those obstacles was worth the fight.

**Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.audibletrial.com/gracechon.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How to take action on the things that you want to do

• How Simon learned survival instincts – perseverance and persistence – from watching his immigrant parents

• How he finds the time for all his creative pursuits and juggles them all

• His advice on how to create connection with people and get them interested in the work  you create

• Why he started the first Asian American dance rock band and why he chose the name The Slants as an act of reappropriation

• How he deals with rejection

• Why it’s important to embrace who you are and not let anyone stop you

• Living in alignment with what you believe is right

• How starting your creativity journey can lead you to unexpected places

Resources:

• The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

• Rolling Stone

• USA Today

CONNECT WITH SIMON:

Website | The Slants | Slanted Book

CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL:

Thank you so much for listening!

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