Unlocking Creative Wellness: The Ongoing Project

This transcript was made in part by an automated service, in some cases it may contain errors.

 

AJ: [00:00:00] Welcome everyone to Once Upon A Project. I'm AJ Perone, your host and design futurist today, and I'm so excited to have an incredible team, some of my favorite people from SHA contract here. And we're we're gonna talk about something really, really important to my soul, but first of all, let's talk about who we have here as our guest. Shannon, why don't you kick it off.

Shannon: I'm Shannon Connor Langley. I'm the Director of Marketing Forshaw contract,

and

AJ: I oversee our workplace and retail segment studios as well as our sustainability and our studio one in-house.

Interior design team.

Kaylee: Hi, I'm Kaylee Decker. I am a workplace wellness consultant, and I have collaborated with Shannon and the SHA team

for

Shannon: the

AJ: the past four years, bringing more mindfulness and wellness to the workplace. I'm also an intuitive life coach, so

Kaylee: [00:01:00] I

AJ: I blend all of my modalities and practices into the workspace.

bringing all of those.

Kaylee: Energies

AJ: Into the space we need it most so that we can enjoy what we do even more. Kaylee, you're gonna be my new best friend. I'm just gonna tell you. 'cause I, I feel that. I

Shannon: I

AJ: feel that, yes, I want an intuitive life coach really badly, so we all need it.

And then Ashley?

Ashley: Yeah,

Ashley Olson.

I'm

the

the

director

of Design for Workplace and Hospitality for Sean Contracts. leading those teams to develop all of the products.

products,

That you

see,

from those students.

AJ: we usually go through projects like design projects, but today we're gonna do a little bit something different because I think this is so important, especially for young designers.

And the project we're gonna talk about is creative wellness. Okay? So let's, let's talk for a second about what that actually means. Kaylee, do you [00:02:00]wanna give us a description of what creative wellness is? Yes, I'd love to. And first, really kind of honoring the

Shannon: space

AJ: and some of what the research is showing and why we feel creative wellness is so important.

Um, just knowing that burnout is, is really an epidemic. And we think about the younger generations, millennials, gen Z. Um, a recent study just showed that 77% of workers in 2024 reported experiencing burnout. And when you think about that, this is also juxtaposed with 86% of those people really still feeling passion for their jobs.

And so,

Shannon: how

AJ: sad to me it is that we have these really passionate people, designers like you. That are experiencing such stress and overwhelm that are then reporting that it's impacting their work and their personal lives, ultimately [00:03:00] your happiness, right? And so creative wellness is really this antidote to

Kaylee: preventing

AJ: burnout.

We are innately wired to be both creative and well, it's not something we do, it's who we are.

Kaylee: And

AJ: so creative wellness is a strategy that blends this beautiful intersection. Of

Shannon: of

AJ: who we naturally are

Kaylee: and

AJ: activates our capacity to feel like we are in more control of our own

Shannon: destiny,

AJ: really. And so this is giving us control back where we really need it to be able to feel better.

And let's talk about how that relates to design. And this is what I love about this project is because it's not just about being well and. Avoiding burnout. It is really talking about the design process. So another fun fact that Kaylee, you might not know that before the pandemic, when they rated all the industries on [00:04:00] burnout, interior designers were at the top.

Above nursing. the pandemic happened and nurses were our heroes and.

Shannon: I mean,

AJ: You probably all know someone that was in nursing that has now left because it was so horrific during the pandemic. But just think about that for a minute. Like interior designers, I think some of the burnout that escalates, it's because you're deadline based, right?

There's always a new project First time you're ever gonna do this project. Every time, And then you have, you know, demanding clients. So it's a recipe. For you to be so susceptible to burnout, and that's why this program is really important. So shock contract has always been on the cutting edge very innovative, right?

And you guys are not afraid to be like, Hey, we see this problem, we should do something about it. So Shannon, talk a little bit about why you created this program and what you saw and how you [00:05:00] pulled this all together. you are right, and, and I actually did. I didn't know that. Statistic. They were at the very top.

But I am a designer by trade, and so I sat where you are. I, I've worked like you have worked. And um, and I left and went into sales.

Shannon: And

AJ: then as I started really looking back and interacting with designers, it seemed as though that never changed because we're constantly being pulled on. You are constantly being pulled on for your creativity, for your deadlines or specifications for all the little tiny.

Shannon: details

AJ: that many people don't see when they walk into a space, right? Because it's everything behind the scenes and everything that went on paper.

Shannon: And

AJ: so as we started to talk to designers,

Shannon: we

AJ: saw this overarching theme and um, it compelled us to do something about it. So when you think about wellness and creativity and the passion that you all bring, we need to encourage that,

Ashley: um,

AJ: that balance.

And We were fortunate enough to meet Kaylee and [00:06:00] her skillset aligned perfectly with what we were wanting to do. So we introduced creative wellness as that wholeness to being able to show up and bring your best self. Forshaw contract, um, our promise is people together, planet forever, and we focus so much on the planet and bettering the planet.

And so, um, about three, four years ago, we said, Hey, we wanna take a really strong look at the people. Yeah.

Shannon: Um,

AJ: Behind everything. And that's really how creative wellness came to be. And then, the other thing I'll say is that in talking with designers,

we know that you all have to have, continuing education credits.

Shannon: And

AJ: so when we looked at really what was being offered, we found a gap when it really came to that personal development of wellness

Shannon: and

AJ: all that entails wellness. And that

key component of

Shannon: creative wellness.

AJ: You know, and we're in such a stressful moment right now 'cause we're all at NeoCon and there's 50,000 people in the building and I had, I ended up having [00:07:00] two meetings in the bathroom yesterday because I ran into people that I hadn't seen for a while and we ended up like figuring something out.

And then I also had a meeting in the elevator today, which was so fast. It was like 10 seconds. I'm like, okay, okay, we're gonna connect. It's a lot. But I think the thing that saved us is everyone is a hugger. Right. How many hugs have you gotten while you've been here? I've gotten at least a hundred.

Kaylee: Yes.

AJ: And that does help because we are all we all want to be together. it's fun to have the inspiration. So it's not as stressful. It is for maybe some people that are maybe have sensory overload or have other, you know, neurodiversity issues, which it can be very stressful. But for someone like me that's like an extrovert is like, oh, I'm getting my juices.

I'm exhausted, my feet really hurt, but I'm getting. All of that, that bucket is getting filled. And I think for design, we have to remember that you have like this creativity bucket, right? And every day it gets drained because you have to come up with a new idea, [00:08:00] maybe six or seven new ideas a day. And if you don't fill that bucket, you are empty.

Right? And then something happens on a project and you have to pivot and you have to come up with a new idea and you can't, and that's when you fall apart. Right? Has that happened to anybody? Yes. It's happened to me all the time. So, Ashley, you are a designer. So tell us a little bit what you were trying to make sure this course, this project would do for the designers that are like in this room.

Yeah, I mean, I, I think exactly what you're saying. You have to find ways to pour into yourself so that you have something to pour into others and two different projects.

Ashley: Um,

Shannon: and.

For you

AJ: as an extrovert that could be meeting with people and connecting with people.

Shannon: I

AJ: am very much an introvert. Uh, so for me, I have to really make time for myself and find time to

Kaylee: [00:09:00] spend

AJ: in nature

Ashley: and

AJ: take walks and just do a lot of reflecting.

And so you have to just figure out what is it that really fills your cup up. And with this course,

Ashley: we

AJ: really wanted to help. Gift designers, the tools

Shannon: and

AJ: the knowledge to

Kaylee: figure

AJ: out ways to do that. Okay. So who wants to know the secret sauce here of finding creative wellness? I do. I really do. So Kaylee, can you walk us through kind of the tenets of what this program is?

How does it work? Teach us, teach us

Kaylee: teach

Shannon: us

AJ: to have creative wellness because I really wanna know. I'd love to.

Shannon: to.

AJ: Um, so really when we think about feeling more, well, a lot of what we are seeing as trends in the built environment

Shannon: are

AJ: clues to

Shannon: how

AJ: we cont contend to ourselves better. And there's this interesting tension between us [00:10:00] designing for this sense of belonging in the spaces that people inhabit.

Shannon: right?

AJ: And we're pouring our heart and soul into creating a space that really holds someone safely so that they can feel like they can be their best selves. Yet we're on the other end and feeling

Shannon: stressed,

Kaylee: burned

AJ: out at the end of the day. My, my cup is empty. My bucket is empty. And so what we can do here is really look to the pieces that we're designing for and say.

Kaylee: where

AJ: am I feeling a gap in my own sense of belonging and creative wellness? Some of the tenets around being able to do that, first and foremost is just deciding that we're gonna start working for a state change, and we actually have the capability within us to do that. I think one of the biggest challenges right now is that we oftentimes are waiting for businesses to catch up the times to change [00:11:00] the deadlines.

To extend,

Kaylee: you

AJ: know, the, these external variables to shift and adapt with what we want. But what's happening now is we have this opportunity to say, I want this change for me right now, and I can be part of that rising tide that's going to be part of the change at a more macro level.

Kaylee: And

AJ: so one of my favorite places to start is just this beautiful movement of return to sell.

Is really coming back to yourself and you all just had a beautiful experience at a sound bath. You're in that energy. And so I encourage you throughout this process is just to stay connected with your body, your breath returning to yourself. And when you think about what's happening in the design world with just all of this soul that's being poured into the spaces that we're designing, how can we pour

Kaylee: More

AJ: self into.

Ourselves

Kaylee: [00:12:00] and

AJ: access this deeper part of who we are. And so through that, we can find things that work for us. So some of us, like Ashley said, are extroverted. Some of us are introverted. But to me, the commonality that holds us all together is that we all have our breath, we all have these amazing lungs.

And, and it's a free accessible tool.

Kaylee: And,

AJ: um, the research shows that by breathing. Deep breathing, even three deep breaths in 30 seconds can reduce our cortisol over time up to 20%. And so cortisol is our stress hormone,

stress really to me becomes a habit. And so it's really starting to change that habit.

Kaylee: and

AJ: the breath is a wonderful tool in deciding with our will that we are going to commit to the change.

Shannon: Change

AJ: Now when that happens, we have to also combat right? All of the things that we believe about ourselves, and also about things [00:13:00] like breath work or meditation or visualization that might prevent us from being able to do it.

And so many of us feel like, well,

Shannon: my

AJ: mind won't slow down long enough. Um, it needs to look a certain way. I don't have an hour to sit down and, and spend on myself. And so. We kind of have to check ourselves in those automatic thoughts that we're having

Kaylee: to

AJ: be able to create spaciousness inside of ourselves to say, okay, I'm going to start here today no matter what,

Kaylee: and

AJ: it doesn't have to look perfect.

And as we start practicing the practice, it becomes easier.

Kaylee: Some

AJ: of my most important

Kaylee: times

AJ: in breath work or meditation have been the hard. The ones where I'm just sitting there and it feels like the mind is racing. I can't slow it down,

Kaylee: and

AJ: then I just sit with it. I don't judge it. And I think that that's one of the pieces of creative wellness is really [00:14:00] committing to ourselves, this practice of returning to ourself throughout the day and doing it in small micro moments, finding magic in the mundane, being able to bring creative bursts and wellness bursts to ourselves.

Even if we are not being told to, right? So how do we start really creating these moments throughout the day? So a lot of my clients, a lot of the people I work with, I say, start your day with this

Ashley: Check

AJ: in at the middle of the day. And at the end of the day, you're wanting to kind of create some space within your day.

And even

Shannon: five minutes,

AJ: even 30 seconds, three times a day, can start making a sizable impact. After 10 years of doing this, I'm a mom of three children and I still only use 10 minutes a day. And it has changed my world. I have shifted from

Kaylee: chronic

AJ: stress,

Shannon: crazy

AJ: anxiety, [00:15:00] debilitating anxiety, working in the business world to a world of calm and ease and flow.

Even when my children are being crazy, things are feeling busy. So how creative wellness is really about how. We cultivate a state of equilibrium even when there's so much noise on the outside. And let's just be real here. stress, and we're all under stress. And some of us take stress on more harshly than others, right? But. If you're like, oh,

Kaylee: I, I,

Shannon: I run

AJ: on stress and it's fine. I can go from deadline to deadline and do all these things, your body is not going to like you. Something bad will happen, and I know you're all young.

It's much more apparent when you're old like me, how stress affects you.

Shannon: Definitely feel it,

AJ: But that is something that you have to be really conscious of. [00:16:00]let's go back for a second about time, because when I talk to designers, I know. The scarcity that we have the most of is time. Does anybody feel that? Like I just don't have enough time.

Like, oh, I wanna take the N-C-I-A-Q, I don't have enough time. Oh, I wanna get my well ap, I don't have enough time.

Kaylee: You

AJ: have to find the time. But here's the thing. Um. You hear like what's happening with ai and people are like, oh, you're not gonna have to work on Fridays because we're gonna be so efficient with AI that you will have to only work two or three days a week.

That is never going to happen.

Shannon: Gonna happen, happen, happen. Yeah.

AJ: We will just, your projects are gonna have to go faster. You're gonna get more projects, and it's that Amazon tendency that, okay, I want it in 24 hours. I used to get it in 48 hours. Now I want it in 24 hours, and now I want it in six hours. So that's [00:17:00] only going to speed up.

So you have to find things of how you can regulate and deal with that stress on an ongoing level starting today. So let's bring up the slide. On your program called Unbound, and maybe you guys can walk us through unbound, explain what it is, and give the designers the suggestions of maybe some things that they could do.

That sounds great. And I invite everybody, even those listening after to take a moment while I walk through this and actually just practice the breath. Um, so when I think about the word.

Kaylee: unbound,

AJ: When we were really putting this program together, so much of what I found helpful was when I

Shannon: cultivated

AJ: this ability to transcend what was happening in the moment.

So I used to work in advertising for 10 years, and the more and more I learned, it's such a sister [00:18:00] industry to design. When you think about the impact that we want to make on the world,

Kaylee: the

AJ: legacy that we want to leave on design, um, and, and that put. Right. A lot of pressure on us. And so

Kaylee: we

AJ: tend to, when we feel pressure, when we feel stress, we tend to constrict.

We tend to

Kaylee: hold

AJ: on to

Kaylee: the

AJ: details down here. And so what we want to do is we wanna start practicing. How do we actually create more space, allow ourselves to rise up and kind of see everything below us from that higher perspective. So

Kaylee: what

AJ: I like to talk about is when you're up in the airplane, you're at that 30,000 foot view.

Kaylee: and

AJ: you can kind of notice all the different players and the pieces and, and maybe you can actually see what's going on there because you feel less attached and bogged down by it. And so it's like an out of body experience you're trying to It is. And, and you can do it in any moment. Right. And, and people don't even have to know you're doing it.

It's a way

Shannon: of

AJ: this inner world being able [00:19:00] to

Shannon: return

AJ: to self, like we talked about earlier. And it's also a practice, when you think about the word unbound, I immediately go up. Kind of like a hot air balloon,

Shannon: right?

AJ: Where you're not tethered by a lot of limitations. And

Kaylee: when

AJ: we think about the modern workplace, when we think about your project work, there's a lot of, you know, incoming limitations.

When we think about the timelines, um, being so aggressive, budget changes and we're having to pivot a lot. And so what we want to do is we want to try to remove ourselves from those tethers. Become more unbound, more often throughout our day. And so the U of Unbound, we create this acronym just to help you

Kaylee: remember

AJ: what to do.

And this is a process. You may spend one month, even six months, just on practicing

Shannon: the

AJ: first couple of letters of this framework, but it will quickly translate into moving through

Shannon: what

AJ: the [00:20:00] magic is.

Shannon: it.

AJ: so the first U is unwind. Mean

Kaylee: The

AJ: mind noticing when you need a break. And we all know how we feel when we're in that stress spiral.

I call it the stress spiral, right? Like I kind of feel like my energy starts coming outside of my body. I'm starting to feel like my

Kaylee: heart

AJ: might beating fast. Noticing what your clues are, what your bodily clues are for when you are stressed,

Kaylee: and

AJ: that when you start feeling that is your clue to say, oh, I need to take a.

Mini break, even 30 seconds getting up, walking around,

Shannon: Starting

AJ: to get out of the mind, and then we move into the first in which is nurturing the soul.

Kaylee: I

AJ: work a lot with moving from the mind into the heart. The heart actually emits frequencies that help us relax the amygdala in the brain so we can gain better coherence.

A more regulated state that then alone. Allows us to be more creative,

Kaylee, [00:21:00] help me here

what does that mean to go to your heart? when we think about that, okay, I've noticed I'm in the stress spiral.

take a breath and literally like you're taking an elevator from your head into your heart.

And now the heart in the workplace is not something we talk a lot about, but the heart really has a lot of power to bring coherence to our whole system so that we can be better at what we're doing.

our five senses are a great tool to bring us

Kaylee: Back

AJ: to ourselves. what do I see? What do I hear? What do I feel?

So, Ashley, I know being a designer.

And you got a lot of things going on, deadlines, you've you gotta come up with new ideas and multitasking is always what we're doing at work. Now you've got an email coming in, somebody calling you, and a slack message and a text message. What have you done in this program to help you be a

better designer?

dropping into the present moment, that has been huge for me. It's something that I [00:22:00] often do several times.

Shannon: during

AJ: the day and tapping into your senses, starting to just, even if it's just 30 seconds,

stopping. And I, I always start with listening and I like, what are those layers of sound that I can hear?

and then kind of going through the senses and it actually just kind of brings you into your body and it, it quiets my thoughts and it helps me to just kind of reset Yeah, it really helps. Shannon, what about you?

in that moment of stress

Shannon: it

AJ: for me, I look around, I think so many times we miss

Ashley: miss

AJ: the miracle of.

Shannon: of

AJ: Creativity

Shannon: all

AJ: around us. And when I can see something creative, it snaps me out of it.

So for me it's sight. I'll stop and I look around and I look for that pleasant environment, that present thing that sort of draws me out and into something else. And then that pulls me into being present.

you bring something up and I would really like to know, Kaylee's your thoughts on [00:23:00] this.

I've seen this happen a lot with designers and design. Let's say you were at the hip awards and you were looking at projects, or you come across something that someone else has done at a competing firm. Or even somebody that's at your firm that you might feel like you're in competition with, and your first reaction is like, oh my gosh, I would've never done that.

Some of the best designers I've ever seen can look at. Any project from any person and find the beauty and something that they think is interesting that like, wow, I would've never done that, but that's kind of interesting. Or maybe I would've done this, but I really respect that they tried this. Like how can designers get into that state where we don't get the jealousy, the um, inadequacies, like I think everyone, including myself, we all have imposter syndrome all the time.

Shannon: We do,

AJ: Right? Mm-hmm. And it doesn't matter what side of the business you're on, and some of [00:24:00] it is being a woman, some of it is being a young designer. Some of it's just being a human right, that you're like, oh, I'm not good enough to be here. And so how, how can we get through that language so that we can be more open to finding that creativity?

What, what is the key to that? I love this question so much because I feel like it really does bring me back to the important. Of being strong in yourself is really knowing yourself, really being comfortable in what we talk about a lot is just this idea of the dark and the light. And when you think about that part of us, that shadow part of ourselves where we might feel jealousy or envy, like what a kind of getting curious about the layers of that initial reaction and asking, Hmm, why am I.

Feeling that way is that coming from a place of

Kaylee: me

AJ: wanting to be that [00:25:00] and, and really getting curious around the why we are responding and, and with loving awareness, not judgment of self, but loving awareness, being able to then try to start shifting that. And honestly, things like giving yourself more time to be both creative and mindful.

So. I've talked a lot about the breath work, which is just an amazing tool. You take a deep breath,

Kaylee: it

AJ: opens you up and you're, you're setting your sights on seeing the magic around you. So it's a whole mindset shift where you're starting to try to look for the magic

Shannon: Around

AJ: you versus the things that incite fear or worry.

Kaylee: And

AJ: so we really have to just become better. Um, companions to ourselves, if that makes sense. So I always talk about kind of being our best inner coach or re-parenting ourselves and just really questioning those initial reactions.

Kaylee: And

AJ: then as we practice that with some of the [00:26:00] tools like being more creative, doodling more, getting lost in time, getting lost in your imagination,

Kaylee: The

AJ: combination of those two things catapult you into a new frame of mind

Kaylee: that

AJ: just organically.

Opens you up

Kaylee: and

AJ: allows you to be available and compassionate towards all of your fellow designers. To me, the key there is developing empathy. and I think too, the other piece is, and you're extending. Empathy to the person who designed that. Like getting curious, what's their story, what's their background? I wonder what about them made them make those choices? What were the limitations?

What was the budget? Right,

Shannon: exactly.

AJ: Or maybe they had somebody that came in and made a decision for them. And so really understanding that there's so many other aspects and variables to each situation and, and trying to.

Kaylee: get

AJ: curious about that

Kaylee: when

AJ: we start [00:27:00] feeling more compassion, more gratitude, more love inside of our bodies, it actually helps us

Kaylee: fuel

AJ: our creativity,

Kaylee: our

AJ: capacity for more original thought and risk taking when it comes to our project work.

and the success of your project, because

Shannon: of

AJ: if you don't have design empathy and really be able to understand what the users need and have that empathetic mindset, because the users don't all look like you.

They don't, and if you don't understand that, that project will not be successful, and that's the thing that usually gets missed in a project Deadlines. Budget, all that sort of stuff. Taking the time to really understand what the humans need, that's so important.

Shannon: Yeah,

AJ: And I think I'll add one thing to, to what you're talking about here, we often say what, name it and tam it. acknowledge

Shannon: how

AJ: you're feeling in that moment, but let it go. Because oftentimes what we want to do is we wanna take [00:28:00] something that is, is either a fact or something that we.

Ashley: think

AJ: a fact.

Shannon: and

AJ: then we begin to build our own narrative.

Shannon: and

AJ: that is a spiral. Yeah.

Ashley and Jan. I, I would love to hear from you guys you've released the CEU, it's been out in the marketplace. You've learned a lot from Kaylee. What things have you learned from this practice? ' that has changed your life or your thinking, or your design process.

Ashley: just

AJ: having these tools to be able to go back to,

Ashley: in

AJ: those times where you might start feeling like you're spiraling, or really stressed out.

having these tools has helped me, and my team, I think to just work better together. collaboration is,

Ashley: it's,

AJ: it's not just important. It. Mandatory in like what we do. We have to work together.

and knowing that you can encourage other people as [00:29:00] well on the team to use these tools.

And whenever I feel like the energy that you have when you are creating. In the end, you can absolutely see the, the output of that energy that you put into.

Shannon: it.

Ashley: And

AJ: you wanna put

Ashley: That

AJ: good, positive energy you wanna have fun. We're all in design because we love to create

Shannon: What

AJ: about you, Shannon?

so I have learned so much from this. And, I've had to remember a, to make time have it stack.

you know, I have about four ounces of coffee every morning, and that's a moment for me, but that's my moment. And so I might doodle. I still love a magazine, so I might flip through into your design magazine. Thank you. Yes.

Kaylee: Thank you.

AJ: I might take a moment, I have an embroidery machine and, and I literally might have two minutes to throw something on the machine and I'll do it because I think it just

Shannon: gets

AJ: me into that state of making time.

[00:30:00] It doesn't have to be 30 minutes, an hour, it can be two minutes to just

Shannon: reset.

AJ: You do something for you every single day.

And we need that, moment to continue to fuel who we're and to fuel our passions and surrounding yourself with people that do things like that. My brother-in-law is, uh, a musician, so as my partner, and they're very different mindsets, but related 'cause it's a creative process and every day. My brother-in-law sketches while he drinks coffee, no matter where he is, You can turn that on or turn it off. And many times we get so distracted and we're such a rush, we should be turning it on more and that will help fill your bucket. And I think that's a lot of what your practice is talking about is being aware in the moment and pulling that information into your body.

Completely. Completely. And I think as we allow ourselves to have more spaciousness for that [00:31:00] inspiration to come in. The,

Shannon: the,

AJ: the faucet. You know, I love this turning it on because you think about it and you're turning on the faucet and, and the inspiration can flow and connect with your consciousness, and then you're kind of bringing it down into your body.

Has everybody had that light bulb moment, right? Where we might be working through a design challenge and you're just trying to solve it with the mind and then all of a sudden, oh my gosh, I have to go to bed. I can't solve this tonight.

Kaylee: And

AJ: you wake up in the morning, you get into the shower. And

Kaylee: The

AJ: idea just drops in.

And how amazing would it be that we could have it drop in more effortlessly, more often? And so does, has anybody had that happen during

Shannon: light bulb

AJ: they're, they're sleeping. Does that happen when you're sleeping? Mine happens and I'm driving.

Ashley: it's

AJ: hard. I can't stop. I am like driving, so I am like.

Please

Shannon: please

AJ: come to me again.

Ashley: in like

AJ: I need to remember this so I can write this

Kaylee: So I

Shannon: write

AJ: down.

Shannon: Yeah,

AJ: amazing.

Shannon: I'm the

AJ: the person that it drops Shannon. Then five [00:32:00] minutes later I'm like, what? Good idea.

Shannon: was

AJ: It was so good.

Shannon: It

AJ: need to do voice memo, Shannon. Voice memo.

Kaylee: I

Shannon: I

AJ: Everything. So yes,

Shannon: So

AJ: let's bring up my favorite quote I'm a middle aged woman, of course, I love Brene Brown, right?

Love her. It's, you know, that's middle aged women, but I think this quote is amazing. Unused creativity isn't benign. It metastasizes. Can you talk a little bit about what that means? Absolutely. So I spent 10 years, um, in advertising and I spent the first. Three decades of my life winding myself up in this kind of chronic state of fight or flight.

So my background really, um, inspired all that I'm doing now because all of the things that I teach and talk [00:33:00] about are actually what really helped transform

Kaylee: me

AJ: and my experience. And when I found Brene Brown, what I loved about her was a of all, she's just an amazing person.

Kaylee: Uh, and

AJ: also she has done so much research around creativity, and one of the biggest complaints that I had in advertising was I came into this industry

Shannon: to

AJ: be creative,

Shannon: and

AJ: yet I don't feel like I'm tapping into my creative potential as much as I want to.

Kaylee: And

AJ: that's something that we actually hear very often is we're in this creative environment. Oh my goodness, look at all of the amazing. Creations around us, even here at NeoCon.

Shannon: And

AJ: yet, in my day to day or your day to day, how creative do you feel like you get to be? And so this is really about maximizing our creativity.

And the research that Brene found was actually what I personally [00:34:00]experienced. I had shut my creative self down for so long, and I'm very creatively driven. I shut it down for so long that it started turning in. Into resentment, frustration, and then that started manifesting into physical anxiety. I was like trapping my soulful creative self inside of myself until it all combusted.

Kaylee: And

AJ: so Brene Brown with this quote just strikes me so strongly unused. Creativity isn't

Shannon: isn't

AJ: benign. It metastasizes, and her research in this quote goes on to say, it can turn into rage

Shannon: grief,

AJ: Resentment. And so

Shannon: We

AJ: we really do need to start working towards this state change today, if not now, when, and it's really up to us to decide because we are naturally creative beings.

You're drawn to this work because you have this creative heartbeat [00:35:00]inside of you

Kaylee: that

AJ: wants to. Make something amazing

Shannon: something amazing.

AJ: and it's hard because it's, you're in a business, right? You're in a business, you have clients you're bringing work in, and it's very easy to get stuck in all the administration details, your expense reports, doing your time sheets, all the things that you have to do that your systemized to make sure that you get it all done and get it done on time.

Shannon: where

AJ: Sometimes it's so easy to get lost in that, that you lose that creativity. You have to bring, you have to purposely

Ashley: focus on.

AJ: focus on creativity, and we hope by being here at NeoCon and visiting all of these amazing places and people and new designs, you guys are bringing that back.

Shannon: And

AJ: it's something that you look at every day.

Look at some, a picture that you took every day and go, what could I do with that one picture? And the next day it's another picture.

Shannon: and the

AJ: The next day it's another picture. You gotta figure out how you can bring this back into your work. So as we close out, I would [00:36:00] love to hear from each one of you. This program that you guys have created has been really important to Shaw contract, really important to the industry.

What's your highest hope by delivering this content to the design industry? What's, what's your highest hope that will happen? By teaching everyone this process you'll avoid

Shannon: burnout,

AJ: that you won't carry stress with you for your health and wellbeing sake,

Shannon: and

AJ: that you'll continue to be passionate about what?

You do and why you do it.

Kaylee: That's

AJ: Kaylee, what excites me most, my biggest hope is that we can feel more harmonious with what's happening in the design trends and each of the creators that are, are

Kaylee: are

AJ: creating those spaces actually feel that well as well. I really dream of this symbiotic relationship that we have with our outside environment.

Ashley: that

AJ: we can feel that good on the inside as well, that [00:37:00] we can feel as lit up by ourselves and our own inspiration, our own intuition, and, and be great models for the future. And, and you're all future leaders. And how do we

Kaylee: really

AJ: create a strong foundation to model and guide people that are gonna rise up, um, after you as well.

Ashley?

Ashley: remember

AJ: to. Keep

Kaylee: creative

AJ: wellness really at the center of what you do. being able to kind of center yourself, being able to have these tools and always come back to them

Ashley: allows

AJ: you to be able to approach your projects, in a creative way that is going to be sustainable for your career

Kaylee: your

Shannon: for your career

AJ: and just carrying that

Kaylee: that

AJ: forward

Kaylee: with you and,

AJ: with you and, and having all of the projects.

That you work on, be a reflection of that. Okay? So I'm gonna give this, this group of young designers a challenge. You guys ready? when you go back and I want you to, find time [00:38:00] to really be mindful and work on your creative process, and you will all have an aha idea. It might be great.

It might be crap, it might be benign. It doesn't matter. Okay.

Shannon: Right.

AJ: But if you create something off of that moment, I want you to email it to me. Okay. And we're gonna collect them all and bring it back to S Shah. Loving

Shannon: this.

AJ: Yes. you're all brilliant.

You're all so special, and. You know, the thing about this program that I love that SHA contract has done is your brains, your unique creativity that every single one of you has inside of you is so special and that we can easily lose that. You have to actively, actively

Shannon: actively

AJ: protect that with everything that you have Okay. Thank you to this amazing panel of strong women. trying to do good in the world.

Thank you so much Shaw contract for coming here, for [00:39:00] sponsoring these group of amazing young designers and we hope you guys have a great rest of the day and get inspired and

Shannon: And

AJ: ready to roll and conquer the world with design.