In this episode, we sit down with Angela Brown, founder and executive director of Craft Lake City and publisher of SLUG Magazine, to explore what it really means to build and sustain a creative community in a place like Utah.

Angela shares her journey growing up in Salt Lake City in the 90s, a time when creative culture felt limited and hard to access. Instead of leaving for a bigger city, she made a pivotal decision: stay, and help build the kind of creative ecosystem she was craving. That mindset ultimately shaped her work with SLUG Magazine and Craft Lake City, both of which have become pillars of Utah’s creative scene.

We talk about:

• How “underground” culture has evolved in the age of the internet
• Why creativity isn’t just about art, it’s about elevating people and stories that might otherwise go unnoticed
• The power of grassroots communities and volunteer-driven ecosystems
• Utah’s unique tension between conservative culture and creative rebellion, and how that tension fuels innovation
• What makes Salt Lake’s creative community so distinct (hint: it’s equal parts stubborn, generous, and deeply committed)

Angela also reflects on her early identity as an outsider, experimenting with self-expression through punk aesthetics and DIY culture, and how that rebellious energy carried into her career as a community builder.

At its core, this episode is about choosing to build the world you want to live in, and realizing you don’t have to leave your city to do it.

Get tickets to this year's Letter West conference with code DESIGNMOB for 15% off.

Keep the conversations going. Join The Mob: https://discord.gg/tZgNgkZKbT

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.