Sparks of creativity can come from so many experiences including gratitude and joy, loss and devastation, and even total destruction. On this episode, Susan and Laura discuss some incredible creative works inside these topics, including the shocking play “Medea,” which was given a new life by director/performer Fiona Shaw on the BBC, the devastatingly beautiful book “Wave” by author and economist Sonali Deraniyagala, and even a special hidden gem embedded right into our very own Spark File website. Join us in celebrating the human possibility of creativity.Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

'Tis the season, everyone! The 4th season, to be exact! Time to jump back into our spark files and share some creative inspiration! This week we're just dippin' our toes in and teasing out a few of the topics we're gonna cover in the coming weeks!Remember, if you hear something that piques your interest, you gotta take it and make it!Happy creating, y'all!Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

For everything there is a season, friends! And this season is winding down. Time for a brief respite. But, before we go, let’s talk season highlights! And we’ll leave you with an excerpt from In Your Light by Rumi...“I know you're tired but come, this is the way...In your light, I learn how to love.In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you,but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.You and I have spoken all these words, but for the way we have to go, words are no preparation. I have one small drop of knowing in my soul.Let it dissolve in your ocean.A mountain keeps an echo deep inside. That's how I hold your voice.Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.”  Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

Long time listeners will know what a joy this episode was for us!In the way back times, Susan introduced us to a human spark named Lynne Cox - a celebrated athlete who set swimming records around the world and achieved astonishing feats of strength and endurance (including swimming with a baby gray whale - eighteen feet long! - in open waters)She is internationally famous for swimming the world’s most difficult waterways without a wet suit, and she is able to endure water temperatures so cold they would kill anyone else.Lynne is the acclaimed best-selling author of Swimming to Antarctica and many more books, including her upcoming Tales of Al.She is also a beautiful human being who recognizes and celebrates all forms of athleticism and creativity in others!And this week, we got to talk to Lynne!! Join us as we explore the creative mindset of Lynne Cox - her resilience, gravitas, discipline, imagination… (make us stop because we could go on and on…) Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

John Lennon said, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end”This week, we admire the imagination and, frankly, the balls of @connorratliff, creator of Dead Eyes podcast.Connor created an unbelievable podcast experience in order to solve what he calls “a very stupid mystery that has haunted him for two decades: why Tom Hanks fired him from a small role in the 2001 HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers.”Instead of running from the experience, he dove directly into the mix of emotions surrounding the event  - confusion, shame, humor - and found a very entertaining way to explore it all.He took a perceived ‘failure’ and created a new (and very satisfying) ending to the story.In other words, he gave himself quite possibly the best “Let Me Try That Again” that we’ve ever seen. By taking charge of ALL the stories of perceived failure, Collin has empowered us all to rewrite the ending.And we are here for it.Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

This week, Susan and Laura got to hang with bad ass lighting designer and friend, Marc Janowitz, whose holistic, dynamic lighting designs illuminate a story and light up an audience.His bold, no holds barred lighting transforms comedians into a rock stars and rock stars into gods.Tune in to hear how Marc approaches designs for concerts for My Morning Jacket, The Lumineers, Fun., and many others, and comedy specials like Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Flight of the Conchords, Bo Burnham, theatre shows like Blue Man Group and Forbidden Broadway and so much more…Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

This week, after experiencing unexpected loss, Laura and Susan discuss the role of grief and friendship, and the bittersweet and inevitable intermixing of joy and heartbreak along this journey we call life. Inspired by the genius of Brene Brown, Karen Walrond and Susan Cain, Laura and Susan agree with the conclusion that our broken hearts connect us all. And as creators all we can hope to do is make works of profound sadness and beauty. Break our hearts. Use all of the pain. Like Marcus Aurelius said, “A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it”Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

This week, Susan and Laura had the distinct pleasure of unpacking the mind of Mike Michalowicz, the man Simon Sinek claims might be “the patron saint of entrepreneurs”.We have to agree.He’s a saint, but our kind of saint -  comfortable with subversive humor served with a dash of profanity. On a mission to end entrepreneurial poverty, Mike changed our lives (and the way we think about making a living) with his book, Profit First. He has done the same for millions of other entrepreneurs as well.If you want a fresh, bold perspective on earning a living as a creative entrepreneur, please tune in! Mike is a joy to talk to, and life-changing to learn from!Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

Whether the war in Ukraine is causing feelings of unease, uncertainty, or outrage, there are creative ways to activate and support. There are ways to use your talents and resources for the power of good.Tune in this week to hear of creative acts by artists and others to support our colleagues in Ukraine. If you’ve wondered how you can put your thoughts and prayers into action – this episode is for you!Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE

Everywhere you look these days there is a con going down… Inventing Anna, The Tinder Swindler, The Dropout, The Puppermaster, Super Pumped, WeCrashed… Con artists are having a moment.  Tune in this week to learn more about the hustle, and how you can avoid being a “sucker”, a “stooge”, or a “gull” – Better yet, turn the confidence game into an inspired spark!Feeling the urge to use your creativity to make a difference? Join us for a FREE WORKSHOP on January 15, 2025 from 6:30 - 8:30pm ET.  You are a Creative Catalyst, using your creativity to make change It's totally free, we just need you to RSVP PLUS! Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Get all the information you need HERE