Eddie Ross is a designer and author known for his resourceful, layered approach to interiors and entertaining. Raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, he developed an early appreciation for well-designed homes and, on the advice of Martha Stewart, attended the Culinary Institute of America.  Before launching his own studio, Ross built a substantial editorial career, serving as a design, decorating, and food editor at major national publications including Better Homes & Gardens, Food Network, Martha Stewart Living, and House Beautiful. 

Eddie has built up a social media following where he shares his inventive reuse of antiques and flea-market finds. He is the author of Modern Mix: Curating Personal Style with Chic & Accessible Finds (2015) and has launched a hardware collection with Modern Matter as well as a Christmas decoration line (sold to the trade) in collaboration with Whitehurst. 

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Rob Wilson is a designer and illustrator who switched paths mid-career.  After working for more than 20 years at a Dallas design firm he founded his own practice.  He has a long-established habit of sketching in little Muji notebooks, and those illustrations have become the source material for numerous projects including greeting cards, prints, and work that he’s produced for clients like the men’s clothing retailer Todd Snyder, furnishings retailer Design Within Reach, and Cafe Luxembourg in New York City.  Rob brings the humanity of everyday life into drawings that have become his signature style.

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Karen Robert founded Aux Abris, a wallpaper design and manufacturing company, in 2015.  The lead up to this chapter in her professional design career started when she was just 17 years old and discovered by a modeling agency in her hometown of Seattle WA.  From there she worked in the fashion capitals of Europe and along the way, as a keen observer of architecture and interiors, she built up a memory bank of inspirations that now feed her design process at Aux Abris.  Learn about how wallpaper is designed and made, and the collaboration she recently unveiled with Eve Ashcraft who co-hosts with Melañio on this podcast episode.

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Michael Boodro and Kate Betts came of age in magazine publishing’s pre-millennium heyday, meeting at Vogue in the 1990s while working for Anna Wintour during her early years at the helm. Kate spent her formative career years in Paris, working out of the bureau of Women's Wear Daily, while Michael began his career in the publicity department at the Museum of Modern Art—and, in a very New York aside, as a busboy at Tavern on the Green.  Both went on to storied careers as journalists and editors at various magazine publications.

Fast forward to now: they’ve launched Editors@Large on Substack, where they offer a discerning, sharply edited view of contemporary culture—fashion, design, art, books, travel, and more. Years of editorial experience have honed their instinct for spotting what matters, filtering out the noise, and connecting the cultural threads that define the moment.

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PROGRAM NOTE: the next new episode of A Life Creative will air in a couple weeks, in the meantime check out the video versions of past episodes on YouTube and subscribe to our Substack for more on A Life Creative and our featured guests.

Sourabh Gupta joins us on today's episode.  He's an artist who transforms paper and other materials into exotic and mythical flowers.  He shares the story of how he grew up as a creative kid in a small village in India and ended up creating bespoke botanical commissions out of his art studio in Brooklyn, NY.  His work has appeared in public spaces such as at Tiffany's flagship store and at Hudson Yards' Spiral Building and he's created pieces for fashion clients like Tory Burch for the Met Gala. Sourabh's artistry taps into the world in which he grew up, his resourcefulness in making and repurposing materials and tools, and his constant thought process of how the worlds of his imagination can be brought to life.   

Co-hosting with Melañio is Sourabh's mentor, Stephen Earle, who was a guest on A Life Creative for episode 6.  We talk about the importance of mentors and what a successful mentor relationship can look like.

For more on Sourabh and A Life Creative: 

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Melanio and Emma have worked together on commercial photo shoots including one fantastic gig with Olympic athletes on the slopes of a Utah ski resort a few years ago.  Fashion styling is one of those glamour professions that is often misunderstood.  Emma breaks down how she entered this field and the ins and outs of what this profession entails.  She's dressed models for advertising as well as celebrities like Ellie Kemper, Jessica Chastain and Matthew McConaughey. 

What I've enjoyed about Emma in our working relationship is her sense of fun as well as her commitment to getting the job done in a very time sensitive environment.  She makes people feel great in the clothing she selects.

See more about our guests and find show notes at:

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Sharing with the world what life is like on a 14,000 acre ranch in Southern California is the vision and effort taken up by Elizabeth Poett. She's written the cookbook The Ranch Table and her family and life on Rancho San Julian was the subject of 4 seasons of the ‘Ranch to Table’ program on the Magnolia Network. She joins A Life Creative to share the story of what led her to creating experiences that are not only enjoyable (think freshly made strawberry jam with strawberries picked from her garden) but also opportunities to learn about a life many of us can only imagine.

For more about Elizabeth visit www.alifecreative.com

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In 1990 Gael Towey helped launch the very first issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, establishing its iconic visual style and serving as Chief Creative & Editorial Director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO).  Imagine rolling up your sleeves alongside Martha Stewart to create a brand new magazine from scratch elevating domestic arts to new heights.  It was a paradigm shift in the magazine publishing world that led to honors from the American Society of Magazine Editors, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, as well as the Chrysler Design Award.  During her 22 year tenure at MSLO she helped launch multiple magazine titles and built a product line sold through Kmart and the Martha Stewart ecommerce web-site.  

Since moving on from MSLO Gael formed Gael Towey & Co. producing intimate short documentaries under the banner Portraits in Creativity.  These films celebrate the courage and curiosity of artists and artisans. 

Show host, Melanio Gomez, along with several show guests like Jodi Levine and Stephen Earle worked with Gael as former employees at MSLO, and Melanio is delighted to have her on the show today to talk about what's most important in a creative life. 

For more about Gael visit www.alifecreativepod.com

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Jim Newman is a long time pal of host Melanio Gomez having met years ago as new homeowners in Asbury Park, NJ.  On this episode he shares how he built his career in the performing arts, debuting on Broadway early on in The Who's Tommy, and performing in numerous other shows with names in lights, including Kristin Chenoweth and Liza Minnelli.  For several years he travelled the world as the 'Cowboy' in the Village People and from there landed a leading role in ABBA's Mamma Mia roadshow, which is currently playing on Broadway.  He also shares how he grew a substantial social media following, why it's become a necessity for actors, and a cautionary tale of romance scams played out with his images on social media.  

For more about Jim visit www.alifecreativepod.com

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Artist Jeff Wallace (from episode 4) joins Melanio to co-host this episode with guest Devin Wilde.  Devin channeled drive and discipline across competitive cycling as a teenager, getting through Stanford's architecture program, designing digital user-experiences for tech companies, and ultimately crafting his own educational curriculum in the arts through various creator residencies.  All of these steps led to an epiphany that clay was 'the thing' that really captured his imagination.  In this episode Devin shares how he's built his design practice and studio from the ground up, and the retailers and media that helped garner attention to his work that enabled his business to get off the starting block.  And, also how the Gilmore Girls can be essential viewing in a design studio.

For more about Devin visit www.alifecreativepod.com

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