Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents

Our twelfth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features five students who attended the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Program in Myanmar in 2018 and 2019. This episode is the second part of our series about this program of the State University of New York, Buffalo State's International Center for Studies in Creativity founded by John Cabra, Ph.D.  The participants usedCreativity to transform, make history, and profoundly impact the people of Myanmar.

Rakia Akter is a fourth-grade teacher in Buffalo who traveled to Myanmar to connect with people, cultures, and languages. This life-changing experience helped her be a better teacher and relate with her students and parents who immigrated from this country. Matthew Burch has a BFA in wood working and furniture design from SUNY Buffalo State and is a US Army Vet who went to Myanmar to work on new and improved techniques for funeral caskets. This work led to an opportunity to design a guitar-shaped casket for a beloved local musician and activist. This project became a life-changing experience for a new designer that made him part of the country's history.

Jeremy Brewster participated in the Myanmar program twice and worked for over a year to develop a unique course to help students express themselves through art. This class became a unique, shared experience for people who don’t usually learn art at school and brought the students and teachers closer together. Ashley Daigle is an arts educator in Buffalo who was involved in delivering this course at a Monastery School and discussed co-creating a large piece of art. She discovered the difference and connection that art can make in lives. Maggie Giamo is a Visual Arts instructor in Buffalo Public Schools and a freelance artist who also taught the class. She discusses how she was able to connect with students at a profound level and shares her view of creative flow through the eyes of a teacher.

This emotional discussion discusses how the University's program brings more meaning to each student's life and the far-reaching impact they had on the people of Myanmar. Don't miss the stories of five students who became global citizens and worked together to make the world a better place.

Our eleventh episode features John Cabra Ph.D., a professor at the State University of New York, Buffalo State's International Center for Studies in Creativity, a Facilitator at Knowinnovation, and a Fulbright Scholar. This episode focuses on his work as a Program Director of the University's Service-Learning and Civic Engagement program in Myanmar. Our next episode, part 2, involves five students who completed some meaningful projects in Myanmar over the past several years.

John shares his path to Creativity as driven by serendipity because he had the curiosity to sit in on a friend's class and happened to walk in the wrong classroom. Ultimately, he completed his Master's Degree at the International Center for Studies in Creativity and became a faculty member.  He discusses how the program in Myanmar began by learning the story of his student Myo Thant. Myo Thant had a background in political activism and worked with Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Ky during a period of intense political upheaval in the country that involved both danger and struggle. He ultimately left Myanmar and become John's student when studying for his Masters in Creativity in Buffalo, NY, but had promised Aung San Suu Ky that he would return to help his country.

The friendship and work of John and Myo Thant in Myanmar became larger than both of them. John discusses the impact as being so much larger than the projects completed to encompass bringing hope, freedom, and meaning for a country that has gone through so many years of trauma.  The influence on the students who participated involved a transformation for each of them to become a global citizen. This work is part of a larger trend John identified of using Creative Problem Solving to address "wicked problems requiring new thinking" that are increasingly presenting themselves in our societies. This program focuses on civic engagement and service-learning to offer students a chance to work in social justice and make essential contributions to society's betterment. As we will learn in the next episode, the result is bringing more meaning into each student’s lives.

This emotional discussion touches on how creative flow can manifest from the impact of this work on individuals at an international level by touching the participants' hearts. He encountered so many obstacles when starting and continuing this program but was able to overcome each one. Don't miss this story of creating global citizens and how creativity is transforming, making history, and profoundly impacting the people of Myanmar.

Our tenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Najja Bouldin, an Innovation Coach, a Leadership and Entrepreneurial Development expert, and Founder of Phoenix Innovation Group. He holds a Master’s Degree in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State.

Najja shares his path to Creativity, where he started studying for his Masters as a new father in the middle of a semester. After graduation, he launched his consulting firm to work as a growth coach and consultant for many large, international companies. He shares some of the creativity tools and frameworks he uses as a Creatologist and Innovation Coach. The story of his work with a physician that he called reverse engineering serendipity involved helping her break through a period of career disillusion to help make an impossible dream come true.

Known for his work with disadvantaged youth 17-25 years old, Najja discusses how he validates their issues, appeals to their need for freedom, and gives them tools to overcome their challenges.  Best of all, he furnishes them with innovation fitness sessions that make them the victor of their own story vs. the victim. He also discusses cultural competence and its role in working with organizations to explore issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 

Don’t miss this episode and the opportunity to hear the story and wisdom shared by this leader, who is changing the field with his insightful perspective.

Our ninth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Susan Newhouse, Principal, Susan Newhouse & Associates, LLC, a strategic innovation consultant, expert facilitator trained in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, and Executive coach based in Chicago, IL, USA.

As a young person, Susan wished she was a creative person and throughout her early work life and education she was successful but had trouble finding her passion. A guidance counselor helped her realize she could work in a creative field and at the time of this podcast she has been living in the world of creativity for over 20 years.

Known for impersonations, she studied intensive long form improv and has worked with large Fortune 500 companies at some of the preeminent organizations devoted to innovation. She discusses her experience at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) where she started as a student and has been teaching since 2008 as one of the highlights of her creative experience. At CPSI she found her new family in creativity and enjoyed the greatest satisfaction helping people find their own creativity and flashes of inspiration.

Susan discusses her ideas to democratize creativity for all and her belief that each person needs to find their own definition of creativity and learn what inspires them to be more creative. Her creative flow involves humor and laughter and here is a lot of this in this episode including an impersonation of Pee Wee Herman. Don't miss this episode. 

Our guest for the eighth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series is Noor Baig, M.D., an emergency room physician in one of the largest hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Dr. Baig is currently working on his Master’s Degree in Creativity from SUNY Buffalo State and PhD. in Clinical Sciences at The Aga Khan University. Dr. Baig shares how he developed an interest in creativity and the ways he applied it with medical students to open up new thinking. 

The story of creativity and his passion project is particularly moving. His mother passed away prematurely from a sudden cardiac event and he wants to prevent this tragedy for others. By applying deliberate creativity he has trained more than 2,000 people in CPR skills and is on his way to teach 10 million people CPR and life saving skills - making Pakistan a nation of lifesavers.

Dr. Baig discusses what he has learned about using creativity in the world of medicine and describes his latest exciting project — a new app designed to help prevent COVID19 in Pakistan. It was developed in collaboration with other students in his Master's Program, who helped him achieve its recent launch on the Google Store.  Finally. we discuss his approach to creative flow and lessons learned in using creativity to help in the field of medicine in the future.

Our seventh episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series is Juliana Sanchez Trujillo. Based in Colombia, she is a Creativity and Innovation Consultant at Borealis Innovations. Juliana holds a M.S. in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State is also a certified Prosci Change Management Practitioner, a Lego Serious Play workshop designer and FourSight facilitator.

Juliana shares how she came to Buffalo to learn about the Masters Degree in Creativity program in the worst snow storm she had ever seen, yet knew the program was meant for her. She shares her passion for helping her clients, at Borealis Innovation, to put everything in place to make innovation sustainable in their own organizations, Her new business focuses on nutrition and wellness to help individuals to create the lives of their dreams.

Through teaching and consulting she has trained over 7,000 people in Creative Problem Solving in Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Panama. She inspires people to increase sales, take their business in new directions, have a healthier family life, and most importantly deliver new purpose for their organization. She also discusses living happily in ambiguity and her approach to creative flow.

Our guest for the sixth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series is Brandon Williamson. He is a Creativity Consultant, an Admissions Counselor at Fredonia State University of New York as well as the founder and creator of the internationally recognized Pure Ink Poetry Slam. Brandon shares his love of all things creative and how applying the intellectual side of the topics that he studies helped him achieve successes with multi-cultural groups on the SUNY Fredonia campus, minorities in the Department of Justice and in diversity workshops.

In this most entertaining episode, Brandon discusses how he uses a tool called Forced Connections in his poetry to help change perspectives so a poem can touch and move his audience. One of the insights he often shares in his workshops is “Creativity is the catalyst for change. Creativity is not the icing on the cake, it is the cake.” Listen to the end for a performance of one of his favorite poems called Buffalo Wings that ties into his feelings about his home, the City of Buffalo, NY.

Our guest for the fifth episode in the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series, is Paolo Sbuttoni. Based in Italy, he is an experienced leader and thinker who is helping to grow the field of creativity on a global basis. From working as a creative director at an advertising agency to changing corporate culture as a marketing manager at a manufacturing company to starting the CREA Conference in Europe, Paolo shares what he has learned about applying deliberate creativity. A long time speaker and participant in the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) he shares memories and knowledge he learned from important figures such as Sid Parnes.

In his charming and engaging style, Paolo discusses success stories including work on the CREA conference, an actionable win in a hospital environment and his professional journey to understand creativity. Don’t miss the lessons learned he shares including insights from his six year old daughter and his philosophy on creative flow.

The guests in our fourth episode, hosted by Kim Marie McKernan and Anthony Billoni are Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Ismet (Izzy) Mamnoon, both thinkers and change agents in the area of Creativity in Education. Cyndi is a Creativity and Education Specialist and Izzy is the Founder and Guardian of Imagination at Beyonder. Both are graduates of the Master's Degree program at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State where Cyndi was also a faculty member.

The focus of this episode is on the deep collaboration that Cyndi and Izzy have developed, starting with Izzy’s Master’s project and continuing with the Missouri Project. In just six weeks they developed a new online program to bring creativity to the education of gifted and talented students in the state of Missouri. That collaboration continues with Cyndi’s work on her Five Star Model for education on her new website, where visitors will be prompted to “Go Beyond” to access the deep resource Izzy shares on her website.

You will be introduced to Izzy’s alter ego, Wanda, and learn about her powerful creative flow. Cyndi also shares valuable tips for harnessing creative flow both in her work and artistic life.

Don’t miss this episode to learn how Cyndi and Izzy are is changing the world of education.

The guest in our third episode of the Creative Flow podcast series hosted by Kim Marie McKernan and Anthony Billoni, is Laura Ryan,  a change agent forging new ground in the area of strategy and creativity.  As an Advisor to the President, she responsible for Business Analytics and Strategy at Heritage Christian Services and uses the tools she learned in her Masters in Creative Studies and Change Leadership every day.

Laura candidly discusses the reality of using creativity in large, complex organizations as part of an ecosystem for both strategy and implementation. As an engineer, she regularly combines Creative Problem Solving (CPS) with agile and lean methodologies to use the right approach for the situation. We also explore outcomes her organization has achieved such as reducing the time to onboard new employees from 20 to 5 days and how employees feel about the process. Equally important is Laura’s sharing her own creative journey and approach to creative flow.

Don’t miss this episode to learn how Laura is changing the world.