

Creative Control
Fast Company
The days of celebrities, athletes, and creators relying solely on their talent to build their brands is over. Today, it’s all about partnering with brands, investing in companies, or even launching a business of your own. Join host KC Ifeanyi each episode as he talks to one of the world’s most creative people about how their business endeavors intersect with, and grow, their creativity.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 15, 2020 • 16min
Creativity Equation: Collective Knowledge
A custom series on science, technology, and innovation in partnership with GSK.In this episode, we hear from Kim Branson, global head of artificial intelligence and machine learning at GSK. He talks about how AI helps automate the boring and create knowledge for future generations.

Oct 8, 2020 • 32min
Dr. Diana Anderson and Healthcare Architecture
In this episode Kc speaks with Dr. Diana Anderson as she discusses being a board-certified healthcare architect and the impact of innovative hospital design on treatment.

Oct 1, 2020 • 16min
Creativity Equation: Collaboration
A custom series on science, technology, and innovation in partnership with GSK.In this episode, we hear from GSK's Chief Scientific Officer and President of R&D Hal Barron as he explains how GSK collaborates with its competitors to solve the world's biggest problems.

Sep 24, 2020 • 30min
How this doctor paved his way into Hollywood (While still practicing medicine.)
For most people, being a doctor is fulfilling enough of a career. But for Dr. Roshan Sethi, he saw no need to pick a passion, which led him down the path to becoming both a screenwriter and a doctor. In this episode, Dr. Sethi explains how his dual careers inform each other and how he’s leveraging his voice for more authentic cultural representation across TV and film

Aug 7, 2020 • 18min
The First Step: How To Build an Effective Narrative When Building a New Company
In this episode, our host Chris Denson talks to Rene Lammers, Chief Science Officer at PepsiCo, and Erik Roth, Senior Partner at McKinsey and Company. They discuss the importance of messaging when building a new business.

Jul 23, 2020 • 38min
Viral rapper Saweetie is ready to show you who she really is
Rapper Saweetie’s breakout moment came in 2017 with her cocky freestyle “ICY GRL.” Quelling any notions of being a one-hit-wonder, Saweetie scored another viral hit with 2019’s undeniable song of the summer “My Type.”But even with two platinum hits, two well received EPs, and blipping on everyone’s radar as the one to watch, Saweetie didn’t feel successful or that people got a full sense of who she is.But she’s planning to fix that with her first full-length album Pretty Bitch Music.In this conversation, Saweetie explains the deeper meaning behind her project and its title, her rather scholarly approach to writing rhymes, how she’s breaking down misconceptions of what it means to be a woman (let alone a woman who raps), and more.

Jul 9, 2020 • 45min
Inside the no-sleep hustle of Grammy-winning songwriter The-Dream
In addition to penning hits for the likes of Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, and more, The-Dream has his own prolific R&B career. And he recently enrolled in design school during quarantine. In this episode, he breaks down his non-stop work ethic and why he doesn't believe in writer's block.

Jun 25, 2020 • 26min
This ex-Google employee built a better platform for protesting
Creative Conversation is doing special three-part series covering specific issues within the ongoing protests for racial equality. Every Thursday this month, we’ll be spotlighting the creatives and professionals using their backgrounds, skills, and platforms to push for lasting change.Social media has been a natural component in organizing and disseminating information during these recurring protests against racial inequality.However, there's understandable concern in how these platforms may be censoring and suppressing posts, or remaining complicit in fueling misinformation and divisive rhetoric. As valuable as it can be to leverage massive platforms like Facebook, Tik Tok, and Twitter, there is an argument to have a less policed space or, at the very least, one that has activists' best interests in mind.That's exactly what Chloë Cheyenne Rogers set out to build with CommunityX, a platform connecting people locally and globally around causes and movements. In this conversation, Rogers explains the personal family trauma behind CommunityX and why it's important to rethink how we organize.

Jun 18, 2020 • 30min
Black Trans Lives Matter, too—and this activist won’t let you forget it
Creative Conversation is doing special three-part series covering specific issues within the ongoing protests for racial equality. Every Thursday this month, we’ll be spotlighting the creatives and professionals using their backgrounds, skills, and platforms to push for lasting change.It's easy for some to push violence against the black trans community squarely into an LGBTQ+ issue—and it certainly is. However, it's also a race issue that can't be ignored. And Ianne Fields Stewart is one of the many voices ready to remind you. Stewart is a New York City-based black transfeminine actor and dancer working at the intersection of art and activism. She's also the founder of The Okra Project, a collective that targets food insecurity within the black trans community. And the confluence of the recent murders and attacks on trans men and women during the larger movement for racial equality—all while COVID-19 is still very much a threat—has given Stewart a new perspective on her activism.

Jun 16, 2020 • 19min
The First Step: How Affirm CEO Max Levchin handles risk-taking in launching a new business
In this episode, our host Chris Denson talks to Max Levchin, co-founder and CEO at Affirm and co-founder of PayPal, about how to overcome a fear of failure and embrace risk in bringing forward new ideas. Then Chris dives into how established organizations need to be constantly iterating and incorporating their learnings from failures with Dilip Mistry, Partner at McKinsey and Company.


