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On this episode of the Creator Hub podcast, Lloyd is joined by Diamonde Williamson - arguably one of the most creative people he knows – to chat about her creative journey, following our intuition, and making space for the solution to appear. Ever since they were young, Diamonde has been creative and a storyteller, whether she was making furniture and taking art classes with her grandparents or creating storylines for her Barbies. For most of her life, she knew she wanted to do something artistic, and currently is a documentarian, producing and directing her films. On August 16, she will be debuting her latest documentary, Best Friends Not Forever, in Atlanta. The film focuses on friendship breakups and how we heal from them, a topic that is deeply personal to Diamonde.
Follow The Feeling
From starting as an artist storyteller to focusing on the content that highlights black women, Diamonde built a lane for herself by trusting her feelings. She lives by the Marie Forleo quote, “The secret to finding passion is to bring it to everything you do.” Sure this requires lots of trial and error, and not being attached to how long one tries something, but following the feeling is part of the journey. There’s no blueprint for entrepreneurs or artists, Diamonde views the path as an experiment of intuition instead.
Top 3 Favorite Creatives
Trick question! Diamonde finds more interest in business people and their journeys. For example, Kevin Hart is an artist, but he’s also turned his art into a big business. The same goes for others like Oprah and Beyonce. And they did it before social media.
The Highs and Lows
It can be a constant struggle feeling like as a creative, success depends on following certain steps or achieving certain milestones like views, or clicks. Diamonde wrestles with this by going back to her creative intentions. If the goal is to get to a certain number of clicks, the power is outside of oneself, and dependent on others. If the goal is to create something that she would like even if others didn’t, she walks away with more healing and enthusiasm to put into the next project. With less attachment to the outcome, we make more room for opportunities made for us on a heart level. Remember that social media is just one form of sharing. Diamonde encourages fellow creatives to spend more time with their feelings, and truly dissect how things affect your creative psyche.
Making Money As An Artist Vs. Making Money From Your Art
Also known as, making money bringing someone else’s vision to life as opposed to your own. While Diamonde doesn’t have the answer to that yet, she believes it’s a matter of having space and time to figure it out. If a creator is constantly busy, there’s no space to think about a plan of action (or have it appear for you). Instead of trying to fill the calendar with things that are going to help get us from A to B, make room to explore unexpected routes. When it comes to this and deciding who to work with or how to make a project happen, Diamonde just takes the first step and sees what happens rather than getting bogged down by the details.
Lloyd and Diamonde work through an example of one of Lloyd's goals that currently feel overwhelming, and conclude that all we can do is everything within our control. Once those pieces are in motion, it’s time to let go and let God. And even when imposter syndrome sneaks up on you, take a pause and think about all of the things you’ve done or are doing that you said you would.
