slow inside

Multi-disciplinary artist, Liz Tran, makes joy for a living. Her art is big and colorful and full of play. It is about extroversion and experimentation and all the things that look like happiness. Art is where Liz escaped from anxiety and depression and found safety and freedom. Today Liz's work is all over the world. From Toronto to Miami, San Francisco to Iceland, her paintings and sculptures hang in galleries, museums, and the homes of private collectors. Some things we talk about: advice for starting an art career anxiety, mental illness, and art being a woman in a very male-dominated, often discriminatory, world how to get unstuck when you’re knee-deep in stuck hustle, persistence, and crafting your own career May it inspire you to make your thing and change your world.

Sheila Pree Bright is a photographer using the camera to change how we see the world. Her work has won numerous awards, she was a runner-up for the million dollar TED prize, her photographs have appeared in galleries and museums around the world and she lectures all over the country. Her images break down old beliefs, shake up stereotypes, and help us all see the “other” for what they truly are: people. Sheila's photography is more than art, it's activism, change, and love. Some of what we talk about: how to use art as activism the power of the lens to change what we see what it means to be black in a racist America how to build your own art business using social media to launch your career May it inspire you to make your thing and change your world.

Mati was 18 months old when her father died in a car accident. He was an artist, a woodcarver. As Mati got older, she made a lot of art but making art was hard because it reminded her of death. And then when Mati was 29, she went to art school and she gave her life to art. Mati got an agent. She wrote and illustrated children’s books. She started a blog and built an online following. Today, Mati leads workshops all over the world, her books include Daring Adventures in Paint and Painting the Sacred Within, she has over ten online courses, and her original art can be found in private collections around the world. Art is no longer about death for Mati. Art is what makes Mati come fully alive. Some things we talk about: losing her dad at 18 months old and her grandma when she was five going back to art school at 29 building trust in her own voice getting started in the art world and creating an art career

heads up: this conversation was recorded in Thailand. There is a clicking sound in the background. That is a gecko. Gabrielle Tesfaye has been making art forever. When she was little she knew she would be an artist. When she went to art school and people asked her what she planned to do with the rest of her life she simply replied, "make art." And that's what she does. All the time. Gabrielle has figured out how to devote one's life to doing exactly what one wants. In this conversation we talk about: making art no matter how much, or how little, you have – time, money, resources -how to price your art the pain of losing a child and the art that came out of it how to never give up on yourself – no matter what the world tells you

Amber is an illustrator who makes images of women all shapes and sizes. Hairy and big. Short and wide. Arms too long, legs too short. Women who are beautiful simply because they are women. Amber's work has appeared on the cover of numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, she's partnered with big names like Conde Nast, Man Repeller and Gucci and she sells her art all over the world. All from taking a stand for what she believed in, resisting what she didn’t, and making art that is honest to who she is. Some things we talk about are: how to hustle and get your art out there even when no one’s heard of you or knows your work the best practices to grow your Instagram following disrupting a broken system how to make your own success and create your own career

Harper Watters is a soloist with the Houston Ballet - the fourth largest dance company in the United States. Harper has stood out his whole life. His parents are white. He's gay. He's a ballet dancer. He doesn't fit. When Harper was growing up, not fitting in was hard. People stared at him. He was scared of being bullied. But as cliché as it sounds, it was when Harper learned to use his differences, to embrace them, that he found serious success as a dancer. And as a person. Some things we talk about: the moment Harper realized he was gay the video that went viral and catapulted his Instagram fame what it means to be an influencer going from small town great to big town nobody finding his way to the dance world and making his way within it May it inspire you to make your thing and change your world.

Satsuki Shibuya had it all: her own graphic design business, great clients, money in the bank and then she got sick. So sick she couldn’t get out of bed, read a book or talk on the phone. And she stayed sick for a year and a half. During that time she lost everything: her business, her clients, her reputation. But she found something bigger: painting. Now she’s a watercolorist with 33,600 Instagram followers, work that often sells out within hours, and a Kickstarter campaign that was 133% funded. In this interview, we talk about what it means to lose everything, finding you're true calling, and starting and growing a full-time art business.

Melissa Dinwiddie is an amazing talent. It’s like everything she touches becomes beautiful. At 12 she was in adult-drawing classes. At 19 she was a dancer at Juliard. When she was 27 she was in galleries for her paper cut art and by 29 she had her own business making commissioned calligraphy and papercut art for clients all over the country. Now Melissa runs the Creative Sandbox. It's a community, a consulting agency, retreats, and playdays. But most of all it's a way of life where art is just art and creativity is (almost) always fun. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha, The Abundant Artist, Creative Pro, and Life Hack. Some things we talk about: abandoning drawing in 7th for not being “good enough” getting into Juiliard at 19 and dropping out at 20 starting her own business at 29, getting divorced, shutting her business down and starting over with The Creative Sandbox.

Murphy Funkhouser Capps has lived many, many lives. She’s been a military preacher’s daughter. A theater geek. A bible college dropout. Lived in a car. A party girl. A six-figure earner and then broke. A single mom. A married mom. A playwright. An entrepreneur. A branding specialist. Unemployed. Fired. A CEO. A storyteller. And, above all, a survivor. This is Murphy’s story. Much of it anyway. From the child to the woman, through the dark and into the light. It’s all here. A gloriously beautiful, totally messed up, well-traveled life. Some things we talk about: repression, creativity, and freedom, her dark period of alcohol, drug abuse and homelessness writing an award-winning play and going from broke, single mom to owner of a seven-figure a year branding business

When Alexandra Bowman isn’t working her 9-5, she’s an illustrator. She draws all kinds of pictures, many of them women of color who are artists, writers, activists, and leaders. She “ focuses on ways to celebrate the female and illustrate her as a focal point of the community and social movements.” Alexandra's work has been featured in The New York Times, Edible Magazine, Pop-Up Magazine, Food 52, and the BBC. Some of the things we talk about: being the daughter of bi-racial parents in a mostly-white neighborhood using art to find your place in the world the best advice for getting your freelance business off the ground and making art about what matters