“Create an Extraordinary Life” with Maria Kellis (GWTW722)
I believe that people come across your path when you need to learn from them. Today’s guest brings her tools and life story to Getting Work To Work to help those stuck and looking to create extraordinary lives. Maria Kellis is a leadership coach and teacher who is endlessly curious about the possibilities available to each of us. In this conversation, she dives into the four steps of what she calls “The Empower Game”: 1) Intention, 2) Clearing, 3) Gratitude, and 4) Trust in order to receive. Maria also shares her lessons in the power of gratitude while recovering from a broken back, body, and spirit. Not to mention how she discovered patience through discipline, her approach to routines that aren’t boring, systems of creativity and the power of teams, and scarcity versus abundance. Open your mind to the extraordinary life you want to create and listen in as Maria shares a lifetime of wisdom.
“Behold The Miniverse” with Steve Berry (GWTW720)
Do you know your life’s destiny? Are you actively doing the things you were born to do or wishing you could one day? Today’s guest took his obsession with film and his need to diversify his services and fell into the rabbit hole of something unexpected. Steve Berry is the artist and photographer behind Robot Wig, what he calls “the Miniverse,” a place for miniature pop culture creations. In this conversation, we obviously talk about movies and his journey to the Miniverse. But we also explore how he sees art in everyday objects, how he taught himself lighting by making mistakes instead of watching tutorials, creative patience (or lack thereof), and the challenges of turning his passion into a viable business. If you are a creative entrepreneur looking for a new way to see your business, this is the conversation for you.
“Driving Force of Greatness” with Lindsay Gay & Trevor Solomon (GWTW718)
I love how spaces can influence our creativity. Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon, has impacted many people, especially past guests of Getting Work To Work. Jack Kent once saw a man and a llama walking through the square at night and would turn that moment into a book cover for Sketchy People. Bill Will, a conceptual sculptor and installation artist, created a public art installation during the pandemic to promote safe gatherings in a public space. Today, my guests are here to talk about PDX LIVE, a series of concerts in the heart of the city, and how creativity can be a reinvestment in the city and help revitalize downtown. Lindsay Gay is the director of operations at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Trevor Solomon is the lead talent buyer at TrueWest. Together, we are ready to discuss creativity, collaboration, the challenges of managing events for an entire city block, and the joys of people-watching.
“Stockpiling Hope & Curiosity” with Jarret Keene (GWTW716)
As a creative, what are you stockpiling? For today’s guest, he is not only collecting historical tidbits and fodder but also curiosity, hope, and optimism. Jarret Keene is a professor and author of Hammer of the Dogs, a new novel about a dystopian future set in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. In this conversation, Jarret shares an unbelievable wealth of wisdom about creativity and why we should be tour guides of our curiosities. He talks about the bright darkness of 1980s pop culture in which he found inspiration and the power of emotion and vulnerability to transform the creative process. He also touches on why you should steal time to write or create, the impact of writing alongside his students, how positive writing can change the world, and why we should be more silly and less serious in a world hell-bent on making us passive consumers of corporate propaganda.
“The Human Touch of Tech” with Farzad Rashidi (GWTW714)
What are the hints and clues of who we become sprinkled throughout our lives? From his early years of wanting to know how things worked and taking apart his toys to learning about business as a young child watching his father’s entrepreneurial experiences, today’s guest found inspiration in many places for his entrepreneurial journey. Farzad Rashidi is the lead innovator at Respona, “the link-building outreach platform that helps businesses increase their organic traffic.” In this conversation, Farzad shares several examples of how Respona works to create backlinks, establish credibility, and, most importantly, build relationships. He also talks about humility as a leader, the difference between being an employee and leading a company, how an internal tool became a product for others, and optimism’s role in his exploration of future possibilities.
“Creating an Impact” with James Jensen-Grace (GWTW712)
Have you ever gone to a meetup not knowing what to expect or who you will meet? You sit down and awkwardly chit-chat with people around you before it finally happens: you meet the one person who makes the event worth attending. Two months ago, that happened to me. I went to a podcast meetup and sat next to today’s guest. James Jensen-Grace is the founder and CEO of Branding4Pride, an LGBTQ+ digital media marketing and branding consultancy firm. In this conversation, James shares his experience and wisdom as a transgender man and serial entrepreneur, not just around branding, marketing, and impact, but with life. We discuss his approach to building connections with people and how it relates to his desire to learn, evolve, and continually impact others. James also shares many stories, from growing up on a ranch, running a wedding DJ business, and building resilience to knowing when to quit, how to fail forward, and his three-step approach to spreading love and joy.
“Speak Out Against Racism” with Dr. Rob Eschmann (GWTW710)
How does racism hide in our daily lives? How does history impact us today? What are jobs going to look like in an AI future? What is the society we want to live in? These are a few of the massive questions Dr. Rob Eschmann explores in today’s conversation. Rob is a scholar, educator, filmmaker, and author of When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Age. He is endlessly curious about ways to end oppression and better understand the mechanism of racism. Throughout this conversation, he shares his hope for the future, what drove him to research structural racism, education as a path for social change, what jobs AI might render obsolete, and how he uses art, film, and storytelling in the struggle against racism.
“Feed Your Greatness” with Darryl Bumpass, Sr. (GWTW708)
To give you an insight into what the next 30 minutes of your life will be like, today’s guest has this remarkable phrase on his website: “If You Are What You Eat, Then Feed Me Greatness™.” Darryl Bumpass, Sr. is an author, speaker, and life coach exploring greatness, creating a life that reflects the best version of ourselves, bringing out our purpose from within, and turning dreams into reality. Darryl shares his wisdom gained from experience, insights, reading, and listening throughout this conversation. He also talks about self-care, self-investment, tips for recovering from burnout, and his own diet of greatness. I hope you’ll grab a notebook and get ready to take some notes because Darryl brings the passion and inspiration that you need.
“Chronic Illness at Work” with Julie Hamilton (GWTW706)
I was shocked to read the statistic shared by today’s guest that “34% of the US population suffers from a chronic illness.” How does that impact the world of work? Julie Hamilton is a workplace consultant, chronic illness specialist, and author of Chronic Illness at Work: How Managers Can Support Employees with Chronic Illness. In this conversation, she shares her journey as an HR professional managing her chronic illness and why employees are reluctant to disclose their illnesses. We also talk about finding purpose later in life, productivity versus socialization, why open communication and trust are essential tools in building empathy, humor’s role in her life, and how her chronic illness helped her be a better leader. Most importantly, Julie explains why taking care of yourself and giving yourself grace are two of the most important things you can do daily.
“How You Want to Live” with Patrick McAndrew (GWTW704)
How do you want to live? What is your morning practice? Your evening practice? Your work practice? These questions are but a few expressed in my conversation with Patrick McAndrew, the Founder and CEO of HARA. As he writes on his website, “Patrick focuses on developing the whole person, knowing that high performance is determined by how you live – not just how you work.” In our time together, we explore how where we live influences our creativity, the system of the Internet, living with intention versus being manipulated, self-awareness and self-regulation, and our need for one another. At the core of the conversation are two ideas: 1) focus is not a single skill but an outcome of how you live, and 2) human potential is the ability to explore the range and depth of human experience.
