Creative in Process

Welcome to the season finale of season 2 (and of this podcast)–for now. Be sure to stay tuned till the end for more updates, reflections, and next steps! Our delightful guest today is: Meg DeBrito. Meg is a communication design strategist with a passion for art, craft, food, and ecology. She has led organizations in both executive and director roles with a proven track record of thought leadership, messaging, and storytelling to promote mission-driven organizations. Holding a Bachelor of Architecture from Tyler School of Art, Meg has a creative imagination for what we shape around us, focusing on the shared health between our bodies and the ecosystem we live within. Over the years, Meg has built a beautifully complex life renovating housing, biking the entire east coast of the U.S., training as a certified yogini in India, and engaging in a local community on urban farms and food access, all while working to build a catalytic voice in public policy, university research, social impact organizations, community trusts, and impact investment. Meg and I chat about what it means to reweave: and why it’s so crucial for us to reweave not just ourselves, but each other. How moments of adversity–or “crumble”--in our personal and collective lives cause us to hold onto each other more tightly, and how this is the key to not just surviving, but healing and thriving. We ask: How do we look beyond old, decaying systems and embrace a regenerative approach to climate, gender, economics…technology? How can we build a future that is truly sustainable, equitable, and aligned with our deepest values? It has been a gift to be creative humans in the process of becoming...of growing our qualities of being, together. Cheers, to you, my friends, listeners, community–from all across the world–as you close out this year and enter into 2025, remember: you are a beautiful process in the making. And that is a very good thing. You are a gift and a wonder to this ever-unfolding, unpredictable, but gorgeous process of life, itself. I can’t wait to see where I’ll see or encounter you–next.

Today’s guest is a lovely gatherer of humans, as well as a fellow neighbor and friend: Tina Lu. Tina is a Taiwan native and transplant who has now lived in three out of four U.S. continental time zones (Eastern, Central, Pacific). Tina now finds herself mostly traversing the 4.12 square miles of Somerville on a daily basis -- shuttling kids, groceries, freebies found on sidewalks, and ideas about how to make her local community a more resilient, interconnected place. If you are ever awake at 5:30am on a breezy summer day, you just might find her walking along the bike path, admiring native plant species and making friends with baby bunnies along the way. Today, Tina and I chat about: how our hunger for belonging, community, and holding spaces for each other is birthed from our own experiences, the messiness of immigrant identity and inhabiting awkward decimals (like 1.25 or 1.5) as immigrants or children of immigrants, why belonging in tension also means doing conflict well, the search for a meaningful model for how to do conflict in community and listening and storytelling as meaningful antidotes, the relationship between agency and belonging, and many other things…including how chill spouses and pokemon-loving children are necessary (albeit challenging) counterbalances to those of us who struggle to embrace the process.

Our guest today is the wonderful Mark Robinson. Mark enjoys playing basketball, coding, and serving others–among many things. His life motto is "It is what it is.” In his own words, Mark’s goal is to grow closer to God every day, follow Him shamelessly, and share about Him with everyone he meets. Today, Mark and I chat about why body language and nonverbals can speak louder than words, how team sports like basketball expedite opportunities for connection and intimacy with our fellow humans, why it’s sometimes good to lose track of the score in a game–and how things we learn on the courts translate into the larger court of life itself. You can learn more about Mark through his Instagram at @wakrson. 

Our guest for today is the spectacular and beloved Jessica Gath. Jessica Gath is a possibilitarian who makes artwork in paint, garments, zines, food, correspondence, community, activism, songs, dirt, plants, videos and whatever else gets the job done. For almost 30 years, the concepts behind her art practice have been to connect us (humans) in our shared humanity and to strengthen perceptions of our oneness with Earth.  Today, Jessica and I chat about: why we should see ourselves not just as creatives but as citizens, why we should get uncomfortable artistically, women's magazines and how to say no to things that drain us, how to accept that we’re beloved, why smiling first increases our quality of being, how art can disarm both the dictators and creepers in our lives, and how we can surprise ourselves even in old age. And be sure to stick around to the end of this episode to hear the answer to the question: "Why are Bostonians known to be less friendly?" You can learn more about Jessica at www.jessicagath.org and the below websites: www.phullyrooted.com | @phullyrooted on Instagram. www.artistscommit.com | @artistscommit on Instagram. www.5millionstrong.art | @5millionstrong on Instagram.

Welcome to the third episode of Season 2! Our guest for today is the spectacular voice behind the first seconds of this episode: Krystal Ray. Krystal is a full time lover and liver of life. She is at once Wife, Mom, Educator, Singer, Worship Leader, Entrepreneur at Mary Kay and Beautifly You, and last but not least, Jesus Follower. And Foodie. Today, Krystal and I chat about butterflies, the importance of community, how to practice self care when you’re mom-ing, life-ing, and work-ing all at once, how to create safe spaces even when we didn’t have them as kids, how to attend to family members with completely different creative needs, why cleaning and organization are intensely creative acts–and lots more. You can learn more about Krystal on Instagram at @krystalursula and @beautifly.blessed. You can also contact her at krystalraymusic@gmail.com.

Welcome to episode 2 of season 2! Today’s episode kicks off an exciting new kind of conversation. In my work, I coach creative leaders across all sorts of industries. So for every other episode this season, I'll feature one of these coaching conversations. Today is our first live coaching conversation, featuring Jubilee Chen. Jubilee is a musician, community practitioner, and educator. She is most curious about how wonder and deep friendship change us. Jubilee and I chat about how to make quick, yet heart-centered decisions as a creative at work. We’ll process everything from the day to day of how to prioritize time as a freelancer, to the big picture of what it means to pursue sustainability, set boundaries, and operate in an always-on, hustle culture. You can learn more about Jubilee and her work on her Instagram at @jubileeviolin. And if you’re interested in working with me or exploring what this kind of conversation could look like for you, check out my website at lisaxiaremba.com, or email me at lisa@lisaxiaremba.com.

Welcome to the premiere of SEASON 2! Our guests for today are superpartners, co-creators in life and work: Scott & Louise Walker. Scott and Louise have been friends for 50 years, married for 37 and work partners for the last 25 of those years. They lead Life/Work Direction, a small non-profit where they help people of all ages listen for direction in their work and relational lives. They love good stories and believe every human life has a unique capacity to tell one. Today, we’re chatting about: the difference between art and creativity, how to hold onto wonder and grow young as we age, how learning to dance frees us from having “one right answer” when it comes to finding our calling and our spouse, why staying “unfinished” and “incomplete” makes us more human, why we should regularly walk away from our work, and how to set boundaries in life and marriage. You can learn more about Scott and Louise at lifeworkdirection.org.

Welcome! I can’t believe we’ve made it to Season 2 of Creative in Process! Hi, I’m Lisa, and I’m a podcast host, speaker, Youtuber, and life coach–with a past life in journalism and marketing. Last season of this show was a season of discovery, exploration: cataloging my transition from a season of grinding and living for other peoples’ dreams–into a season where I finally asked myself: what’s my dream? This show was one of the fruits of this journey. ' This year, we’re still figuring out who we are, how to live, how to be...this process is still creative, still fresh, still fun. So let’s stay free.   I'm introducing something a little new and different in Season 2. Every other month, I’ll be bringing on a guest for a live 1:1 coaching session to process a particular creative theme or topic in their lives, as another way for us to see the beauty and diversity of what it means to be creative in the 21st century.  I’ll also be continuing what I’ve done all along: talking with everyday humans like you, from various industries and walks of life, on how to create space to be creative at work and play. Season 2 starts in December! Mark your calendars. Make sure you're subscribed. I hope you’ll join me :)

Cheers to our Season 1 finale!!Today, we're chatting with a very special voice: Joya. Joya is an independent singer-songwriter from Hong Kong who identifies as a third-culture kid, queer, Christian, and a number of other things, but most importantly - “not one thing.” Already gaining recognition for her unique sound and honest approach to songwriting, Joya is quickly making a name for herself as a must-hear artist. Don't miss out on the chance to see Joya live, or stream her latest singles. She is scheduled to release her highly anticipated debut album “SHE IS JOYA” later this year. Joya and I chat about what it’s like to take your creative craft from hobby to profession, how to hold onto who we are across wildly different industries like music and tech, how to give ourselves more credit as creators, and how to give the inner child in us the opportunities to pursue things that make us come alive. PLUS…she shares a stripped down clip of her newest single, “Credit,” released shortly after this conversation was recorded. You can follow Joya on Instagram at @sheisjoya, visit her website at officialjoya.com, check her out on Youtube at @sheisjoya, or visit her on LinkedIn. See you back here in the Fall! In the meantime, please be sure to leave a review for your experience of this show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or drop me a note at thesoulsspot@gmail.com. I'd love to hear any  recommendations for folks you want to hear on season 2!Support the show

This live demo is an add-on to Lisa's conversation with Gail and Andrew, which didn't make it into the final Creative in Process episode, "The Act of Co-Creation." Gayle Scott 🔥 is an igniter of life, lover of people,  explorer of worlds unknown, and rebel. Andrew Chua, 寬仁, is a dreamer, innovator, catalyst, architect of worlds unknown, and friend. Together, Gayle and Andrew are co-creators of wildly safe spaces.You can learn more about Gayle and Andrew's work at authenticlives.org and authenticbusiness.solutions. You can also email Gail at gayle.scott@authenticbusiness.solutions or Andrew at  andrew.chua@authenticbusiness.solutions with any questions or partnership opportunities. Support the show