Art is the New Wall Street

There is a version of the arts world where everyone shows up for each other. Where young artists have a safe place to practice, make mistakes, and figure out who they are before the world decides for them. Where elders are integral to creative spaces because intergenerational connection is how culture moves forward. Where artists are protected emotionally, financially, physically, and creatively. Tish Jones has spent 20 years building that version.

Tish is a Saint Paul poet, MC, hip hop artist, and founder of TruArtSpeaks, a non-profit organization focused on literacy, leadership, and social justice through spoken word and hip hop culture.

We talked about:

• Seeing the world as a poet
• The three things that inspired Tish to found TruArtSpeaks in 2006
• What young artists need to be protected from
• Exploitation in creative industries
• The pressure to choose the "practical" path
• Early art champions and detractors 
• The emotional weight artists carry during collective grief and unrest
• Creative practice, the myth of the daily routine, and meeting the spark when it comes
• Creativity as ancestry, intuition, and spiritual practice

TruArtSpeaks is currently celebrating 20 years with a fundraiser punch card featuring 20 Twin Cities businesses and the Urgent Emergent Performance Art Series at Icehouse every third weekend of the month.

Connect with Tish: tishjonespoet.com

Learn more about TruArtSpeaks: truartspeaks.org

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
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• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

A lot of marketers are just would-be artists who took the practical path. Think about it. We came in because we were good at writing, or design, or knowing instinctively what makes something feel right. We took creative risks. We cared about craft. We ended up here because we were creative and needed a way to get paid for it.

What nobody told us is that creativity is a finite resource. When you spend it at work all day, there isn't much left for the novel you've been meaning to write or the instrument collecting dust in the corner. So...there's this deep sense of discontentment. Especially now that AI is here. Our inner artists are feeling neglected.

Amanda Jackson is a freelance content writer and original research content strategist who has spent the last decade giving her best energy to B2B marketing. She knows something needs to change, she just hasn't figured out what yet. One of her goals for 2026 is to like her work more. She also hosts Hone Your Craft, a low-key community gathering for people who just want to spend an hour making something alongside other people. 

We talk about:

• What choosing a creative adjacent career can actually cost you
• The disillusionment so many marketers are feeling right now and why it makes sense
• What it feels like to watch the world debate whether your skills are replaceable
• The itch to blow it all up and start over in a completely different field
• Why putting your hobbies on a to-do list is the fastest way to kill them
• Amanda's Hone Your Craft sessions and what inspired her to start them
• Our definitions of success and how they've evolved
• Why we need to get more comfortable with being bad at things
• Our complicated relationship with being a beginner

This one is for anyone who has given their best years to a field that doesn't quite feel like theirs anymore and is starting to wonder what comes next.

Connect with Amanda: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajacksonamj/

Substack: https://substack.com/@mandaroostack

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

ICE has been occupying Minnesota for weeks now. They are targeting workplaces, neighborhoods, and even schools. Protestors are being met with pepper spray and tear gas. Community members, including Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, were killed in January. Fear is present. So is organized resistance.

This episode was recorded January 28th just a few days after a large ICE Out march and strike in Minneapolis. It documents what artists can do when harm is unfolding in real time and communities are mobilizing to protect one another.

Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre, a Minneapolis-based poet, educator, and activist, joins the show to talk about the roles artists can play in moments of crisis. Artists are connectors, organizers, storytellers, and resource-sharers. 

We talk about:

• What people on the ground in Minnesota are witnessing
• The workshop Kyle hosted for artists in MPLS and lessons learned
• Simple ways artists can move information, resources, and supplies
• How to use your platform and your voice
• What zines are and how they are a useful tool for spreading information
• The difference between outrage that mobilizes and outrage that demobilizes
• How to create responsibly when real people are at risk
• Why expertise is not required to help
• Staying informed without burning out

Kyle also shared an original piece, "Discourse - Let Your Heart be a Whistle"

If you're feeling powerless right now and want to get involved, but don't know where to start, this episode is for you. 

Find movement-related resources for artists
Zine featured in the episode
Learn more about Kyle
Kyle’s Racket Article about what artists can do in Minneapolis

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

I’ve been trying to record this solo episode for weeks.

I wanted to start the year with it. I wanted to begin 2026 grounded and clear.

But since January 7th, I’ve felt paralyzed. Heavy. Like my nervous system can’t catch up with reality, especially here in Minnesota.

So today I’m starting here.

My word for 2026 is sovereignty.

Sovereignty is self-ownership. It’s the decision to live like your life belongs to you again. To become the final authority over your body, your time, your attention, your energy, and your choices.

In this episode, I talk about:

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why the world feels designed to fracture our attention and drain our nervous systems
• The path millennials were sold, and the reality we’re living in now
• What it looks like to outsource your authority
• What sovereignty looks like in practice 

This episode is for you if:

• You’ve been feeling burnt out, scattered, numb, or stuck on autopilot
• You’re tired of living like your worth is measured by your output
• You’ve been waiting for permission to want something different
• You’re ready to come back to yourself and take your life back

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

Something big is coming at the end of February, beginning of March 2026. An astrologer predicts “there will be literal fire” and “things will burn.”

Beca Bagdocimo, aka The Code Fairy, reads birth charts like code. She predicted her own corporate exit by studying her transits, journaled about wanting to leave, and got laid off on the exact date her chart said it would happen.

Now she lives in a van, does astrology full-time, and helps people uncover their purpose by reading their charts.

Beca joins Art is the New Wall Street to share her story, read my chart, and explain why we’re living through the most significant astrological moment in modern history.

Here's what's happening with the stars:

Pluto entered Aquarius in November 2024 (after initial moves in March 2023 and January 2024). The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was between 1778 and 1798, a period marked by massive global upheaval including the American Revolution.

Neptune officially entered Aries on March 30, 2025. The last time Neptune was in Aries was from 1861 to 1875, which coincides with the American Civil War.

Right now those cycles are happening at the same time. The energy of a revolution. The energy of a civil war. A collapsing system and a new world forming underneath it.

In this episode:

THE COLLECTIVE RESET:

• From greed and corruption (Pluto in Capricorn) to power to the people (Pluto in Aquarius) 
• Why Trump's election was astrologically inevitable
• The Leo/Aquarius energy imbalance and what it means for generational change
• Beca’s predictions for 2026

BECA’S STORY:

• How she went from learning Java to realizing astrology is code
• The corporate tarot campaign that accidentally foreshadowed her entire career pivot
• The impact she had on Chris Walker after reading his chart
• Predicting her own layoff
• Taking the leap into vanlife despite just signing a lease

BIRTH CHART READING:

• Beca reads my solar return chart live
• Why I need to go deeper and ask questions most people avoid
• Beca pinpoints the exact spot in my chart that could have predicted my health issues

This episode is for you if:

• You feel a shift in the collective
• You sense the system breaking and something truer emerging
• You are stuck in corporate and wondering what your chart would say
• You want to understand the astrology behind the moment we are living in

Systems are collapsing right on schedule. The new world is already humming underneath them. Are you willing to listen to the code?

Beca's astrology course, Cosmic Coded Course launches mid-December at thecodefairy.com. Find her on TikTok @becabagofdonuts

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

Important note: This episode includes conversation about trauma, depression, suicide, and substance use. Please take care of yourself. Listen cautiously or consider skipping this one if these subjects are triggering for you.

Art is often an outlet for healing. For digital nomad, Felicia Clark, poetry was her medicine of choice.

Felicia joins Art is the New Wall Street to talk about her debut poetry collection, Awake: Poetry for the Healing. Together, we explore what it means to be awake, notice synchronicities, write through pain, and use creativity as a form of healing. Felicia reads multiple poems from her book on air and shares how The Artist’s Way, sobriety, and radical self-acceptance shaped her healing journey and subsequent spiritual awakening.

In this episode we talk about:

• Being awake to generational cycles and toxic patterns
• Obsessive writes: the themes that haunt your creative work and following them
• Foster care and the mysterious letter A
• Sobriety, nomad life, and rebuilding creative confidence
• Pets as lifelines (hi, Luna Moon)
• Boundaries, mirrors, and the friends who make up a support squad
• Manifestation as a creative practice
• The Artist’s Way, Big Magic, and other creative works worth checking out

This one is for the artists who are healing, the writers who are listening, and the souls who are learning to see their story as sacred.

Felicia’s creative affirmations:

I am willing to create. I am willing to be of service through my creativity. I, Felicia Clark, am a brilliant and prolific writer, worthy of being a published author.

Connect with Felicia (and buy her book!):

• Felicia's Author Website
• Measure Life in Bookmarks Facebook
• Measure Life in Bookmarks Instagram

Creative works mentioned in this episode:

• It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn
• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• Becoming A Published Therapist: Bill O’ Hanlon 
• Big Magic by Elizabeth GIlbert
• Mirror Work: 21 Days to Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

I've been quiet for the last few months. There's a big reason for that. This summer, I was diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine tumor called a paraganglioma. I had surgery in August. They removed four tumors. They weren't cancerous, and we caught them early. But the journey to get there—and what came after—changed everything.

In this solo episode of Art is the New Wall Street, I'm pulling back the curtain on where I've been, what I learned, and why I finally left corporate America.

We talk about:

• The health scare that started in November 2024 with a hospitalization and hypertensive crisis
• What it's like to get a tumor diagnosis over MyChart with no phone call
• The summer I disappeared: medical leave, surgery, and learning to listen to my body
• Being an alien in your own body and confronting years of body image struggles
• Why I couldn't go back to corporate after recovery
• The current state of the job market and what it's really like climbing a ladder that leads nowhere
• Going solo and building a business aligned with my values
• What's next for the podcast 

This one's for anyone who's been thinking about making a big change. Anyone who's tired of being out of alignment. Anyone who needs permission to get quiet, disappear for a while, and go inward.

No one is coming to save you from yourself. You have to choose you.

Life doesn't wait for anyone. Off the ladder. Going solo. Still telling stories that matter.

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

You can’t always see a breaking point from the outside. Erika G. Musser looked like she had it together. She was working in nonprofits, climbing the ladder, and doing everything by the book. 

But at home, she was unraveling. At one point the burnout was so bad her husband even said, “I feel like I don’t have my wife anymore.” So she started rewriting her life on her own terms.

In this episode of Art is the New Wall Street, Morgan talks with Erika, a freelance content strategist, ghostwriter, and the mind behind The Secret Life of Freelancers newsletter.

We talk about what it really means to choose yourself in a world that rewards conformity. Erika shares her journey through burnout, freelancing, an adult ADHD diagnosis, and the freedom of going nicheless.

We also get into:

• The cost of burnout
• The decision to freelance and the freedom that comes with it
• Her ADHD diagnosis and how it helped her create better, not less
• What it means to be a multipotentialite and fun stuff about human design
• Going nicheless because “you are the niche”
• Her Business Insider essay and the costs of going viral (hint: don’t read the comments)
• Why you don’t have to monetize every corner of your creativity
• The balance myth, especially in motherhood

This one’s for the nonlinear creatives. The ones who are done fitting into other people’s systems and are ready to build their own. It’s raw. It’s funny. It’s honest. And it might just give you permission to bet on yourself.

💌 Subscribe to The Secret Life of Freelancers Newsletter 

🔗Connect with Erika on LinkedIn or visit her website.

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

Are you feeling disconnected from your work? Curious about how creativity and passion can redefine success? Then this conversation is for you.

In this episode of Art is the New Wall Street, host Morgan Short welcomes Katherine Pomfret, founder of the Society of Alternative Entrepreneurs. Katherine shares how she left her corporate head of marketing career in the tech industry to a life full of makership, van-life, hospitality, community management, and creative expression in service to her values. 

Whether you’re contemplating a career pivot, seeking to heal and find fulfillment, or just curious about alternative paths to success, Katherine offers practical advice and perspective on:

• Overcoming the realities and traumas of corporate environments (02:53)
• The philosophy and practice of alternative entrepreneurialism (09:34)
• Navigating financial realities and redefining 'enough' (17:28)
• Addressing healthcare concerns and assessing risks (20:36)
• The future of work with AI, layoffs, and economic turmoil (28:42)
• Exploring the history and evolution of entrepreneurship (31:52)
• The gritty realities of freelancing (37:38)
• Rediscovering childhood passions (44:48)

Katherine emphasizes the significance of self-discovery, healing from workplace trauma, and reprogramming our mindset for a fulfilling life. The episode concludes with practical advice for those looking to embrace a life driven by passion and values.

Find the society at https://www.societyofalternativeentrepreneurs.com/ or on Instagram at @thesocofalts. Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn. 

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.

Art is the New Wall Street is BACK! Host Morgan Short kicks off season 2 with a solo episode summarizing season one, setting intentions for season two, and shedding light on the societal structures that often exploit rather than support us. These very structures sparked the creation of the show and are the basis for the show’s name.

After a health scare last November that forced Morgan to slow down, she’s approaching this season with more ease and grace. Season 1 included 13 episodes that connected with over 1,000 listeners. This season you can expect about one meaningful episode per month.

Season 2 will feature stories from people like Katherine Pomfret (our next guest) who have left high-paying corporate careers to pursue alternative paths. We'll explore what happens when we reject the "Wall Street mentality" and embrace creativity and all the beautiful things that make us human.

Thanks for tuning back in. 

• 00:00 Welcome back for season two
• 03:13 Reflecting on season one
• 04:29 The Wall Street Mentality vs. the non-traditional path
• 06:21 Student debt, the American Dream, and AI's impact on our world
• 08:30 The power of art in addressing systemic challenges
• 09:47 Highlighting stories of those who have left corporate careers
• 11:18 Sustainability over burnout
• 12:19 Art as an act of resistance

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.