This highlights episode features two moments from the full Creatives Processing conversation with Candace Cui and Carissa Potter, co-creators of the fantasy journaling book The Imaginary Atlas. First, Carissa on why art isn't a privilege—it's medicine—and how fantasy works as a tool to get around your own inner critic. Then Candace on what the writing process actually looks like when you stop forcing it, and why trust is what makes creative work possible, alone or with someone else. Between segments, creative director and podcast host Sarah Mulligan Williams shares what these moments bring up for her.

Highlight 1: Carissa Potter on why art isn't a privilege, it's medicine; fantasy as the mind's way of going somewhere the body hasn't figured out how to get to yet, and letting it be information rather than destination.

Reflection: On the inner critic, finding the side door, and journaling through an alien's eyes (with a little help from Marty McPug).

Highlight 2: Candace Cui on what the writing process looks like when you stop forcing it: write it, walk away, come back — and why trust is the root of creative work, alone or with a collaborator.

Reflection: On rumination as material (not distraction), and the trust that lets work change, break, or shift mid-project without it feeling like a threat.

🤩 Listen to the full conversation!

If you liked this episode, the full conversation with Candace and Carissa is available now. We get into how The Imaginary Atlas came together, what it looks like to build something across different creative skill sets, all the different ways trust comes into play, and why they both believe imagination isn't an escape from real life, but a tool for building one.

The Imaginary Atlas — ⁠peopleiveloved.com/products/the-imaginary-atlas-journal⁠

About Candace Cui

Freelance growth marketing consultant and writer. Her advice column, Dear Candace, and her book, Why Do We Avoid the Hard Thing?, tackle the questions most people can't bring themselves to ask out loud—about life, love, and the impossible choices in between.

Candace Cui — ⁠candacecui.com⁠

Dear Candace — ⁠dearcandace.substack.com⁠

About Carissa Potter

Artist, illustrator, and founder of People I've Loved, a Bay Area studio and imprint making books and paper objects that help people get through their days.

Carissa Potter — ⁠www.carissapotter.com⁠ 

People I've Loved — ⁠peopleiveloved.com,⁠ ⁠peopleiveloved.substack.com⁠

🗓️ UPCOMING EVENTS

Comedy 101 presents...

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Sunday, July 6 — Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR

⁠https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/o-brother-where-art-thou⁠

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER

Monday, August 17 — The Roxie, San Francisco, CA 

(Tickets available in July)

👋 SAY HEY!

Creatives Processing is hosted by Sarah Mulligan Williams. Find them at their creative studio, Word of Mouth — ⁠wordofmouthcreative.co⁠

If you're looking for a creative partner who leads with strategy, storytelling, and a real human point of view — come say hey! 

⁠https://www.wordofmouthcreative.co/contact⁠

sayhey [AT] wordofmouthcreative [DOT] co

👍 FOLLOW

For updates on Creatives Processing, Comedy 101, and everything else happening across the Word of Mouth studio, sign up for the monthly dispatch — ⁠wordofmouthcreative.co/newsletter⁠

Or follow on Instagram — ⁠@creativesprocessing⁠ ⁠@wordofmouthcreative⁠ ⁠@comedy101presents⁠

👄 REAL WORD OF MOUTH 😁

If you loved this episode, spread the word! Leave a rating and some love, or share it with a friend.

Produced by Word of Mouth, edited by Cai Indermaur, music by John Michael Rouchell

Candace Cui and Carissa Potter are the co-creators of The Imaginary Atlas, a fantasy journaling book that invites you to imagine yourself as a character in a fantasy world—as a tool for real-life reflection and change.

In this conversation, host Sarah Mulligan Williams and her guests explore how The Imaginary Atlas came together, what it takes to build something across different creative skill sets, the many ways trust comes into play, and why they both believe imagination isn't an escape from real life, but a tool for building one.

The Imaginary Atlas — peopleiveloved.com/products/the-imaginary-atlas-journal

About Candace Cui

Freelance growth marketing consultant and writer. Her advice column, Dear Candace, and her book, Why Do We Avoid the Hard Thing?, tackle the questions most people can't bring themselves to ask out loud—about life, love, and the impossible choices in between.

Candace Cui — candacecui.com

Dear Candace — dearcandace.substack.com

About Carissa Potter

Artist, illustrator, and founder of People I've Loved, a Bay Area studio and imprint making books and paper objects that help people get through their days.

Carissa Potter — www.carissapotter.com 

People I've Loved — peopleiveloved.com, peopleiveloved.substack.com

🗓️ UPCOMING EVENTS

Comedy 101 presents...

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Sunday, July 6 — Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR

https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/o-brother-where-art-thou

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER

Monday, August 17 — The Roxie, San Francisco, CA 

(Tickets available in July)

👋 SAY HEY!

Creatives Processing is hosted by Sarah Mulligan Williams. Find them at their creative studio, Word of Mouth — wordofmouthcreative.co

If you're looking for a creative partner who leads with strategy, storytelling, and a real human point of view — come say hey! 

https://www.wordofmouthcreative.co/contact

sayhey [AT] wordofmouthcreative [DOT] co

👍 FOLLOW

For updates on Creatives Processing, Comedy 101, and everything else happening across the Word of Mouth studio, sign up for the monthly dispatch — wordofmouthcreative.co/newsletter

Or follow on Instagram — @creativesprocessing @wordofmouthcreative @comedy101presents

👄 REAL WORD OF MOUTH 😁

If you loved this episode, spread the word! Leave a rating and some love, or share it with a friend.

Produced by Word of Mouth, edited by Cai Indermaur, music by John Michael Rouchell

Three key moments from the full Creatives Processing conversation with artist, photographer, and director Maegan Gindi, photographer, director, and artist whose career spans portraiture, writing, audio, and fine art. From the self-funded project that launched her career to the "eternal hustle" of running a creative business, this episode explores what it actually means to keep going in an industry that never stops shifting. Between each clip, host & creative director Sarah Mulligan Williams shares her own perspective on treating feedback as diagnostic information, the 85/15 ratio of business to flow, and why we all need a space to show our unfinished work.

Featured Highlights:

1. The Avedon Connection — How studying art history and iterating on feedback transformed a self-funded political project into a career-defining breakthrough.

2. The Eternal Hustle — Why Maegan's definition of failure is simply "stopping," and how the relentless work of being your own CEO/CFO creates the conditions for creative flow.

3. Crit Nights and the Unfinished — The importance of building community-led spaces where work doesn't have to justify itself economically and can be looked at with serious, empathetic eyes.

About the Guest: 

Maegan Gindi is a New York and LA-based photographer, director, and artist whose work focuses on the intersection of human connection and cerebral, timeless aesthetics. A graduate of the ICP Teen Academy with a background in art history, she has built a career that spans high-stakes commercial assignments and deeply personal fine art projects. Her client list includes The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, and Louis Vuitton.

Beyond the lens, Maegan is a community builder, hosting quarterly critique groups and fostering collaboration across the creative industry. Her work is characterized by a "sleek sensibility coupled with grit"—a nod to her South Brooklyn roots. She is currently exploring the medium of audio-portraiture and directing, while continuing to develop her long-term series In Conversation With.

Want more than just these highlights? Check out the full conversation episode!

Connect with Maegan Gindi

Website: www.maegangindi.com

Instagram: @maegangindi

SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co

About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing:

• Website: wordofmouthcreative.co

• Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process

• Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers.

Credits

Edited by Cai Indermaur

Music by John Michael Rouchell

Maegan Gindi sees herself as an artist first, with photography as her primary medium. In this conversation, we trace her journey from starting with disposable cameras at age twelve in Brooklyn to shooting commissioned celebrity portraits. Maegan shares the story behind Shots at the Rally, the self-funded project that launched her career by referencing Richard Avedon’s In the American West to capture political supporters. We dig into the high-stakes reality of a 5-minute celebrity shoot, why she’s leaning into directing, and her deeply personal project In Conversation with Death. It’s a look at what it takes to build a sustainable creative life while staying true to a timeless, empathetic vision.

About the Guest:

Maegan Gindi is a New York and LA-based photographer, director, and artist whose work focuses on the intersection of human connection and cerebral, timeless aesthetics. With a background in art history, she has built a career that spans high-stakes commercial assignments and deeply personal fine art projects. Her client list includes The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, and Louis Vuitton.

Beyond the lens, Maegan is a community builder, hosting quarterly critique groups and fostering collaboration across the creative industry. Her work is characterized by a "sleek sensibility coupled with grit"—a nod to her Brooklyn roots. She is currently exploring the medium of audio-portraiture and directing, while continuing to develop her long-term series In Conversation With.

Episode Highlights:

• The Vegas detour: Using a move to the desert to repair a relationship with her father through photography and audio

• Why a portrait where someone isn't smiling is actually harder to get than it used to be

• The “adrenaline-addicted” personality type required to thrive in commercial production

• 85% vs 15%: The honest ratio of business admin to creative flow state

• Dealing with “no chill” moments and why being equals with celebrity subjects is essential for the shot

• Her definition of failure: It’s not a rough quarter or a shifting industry—it’s stopping

Connect with Maegan Gindi

Website: www.maegangindi.com

Instagram: @maegangindi

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co

About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing:

• Website: wordofmouthcreative.co

• Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process

• Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection

Get the Word of Mouth monthly newsletter! https://www.wordofmouthcreative.co/newsletter

Check out the April edition of the Word of Mouth Mixtape! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2roZNrEDcmkoKCV7bkwJvP?si=5a04f721155140cf

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend!

Credits

Edited by Cai Indermaur

Music by John Michael Rouchell

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams pulls three moments from her conversation with Mona Shomali — author, visual artist, and director of a Youth Environmental Leadership Program. Between each clip, Sarah shares her own perspective on the creative process and connects Mona's insights to her approach to building authentic, human-centered creative work. This episode covers what it actually takes to get a book into the world on your own terms, why dreaming has to come before doing, and what technology and Western isolation are quietly costing us — creatively and as humans.

Featured Highlights

1. The 180 Nos — What 180 rejections did to Mona's sense of self, how one conversation helped her reframe it, and why building your own publishing infrastructure isn't settling — it's strategy

2. Before Reality Shuts You Down — Why dreaming has to come first, what Mona's youth program has taught her about keeping creative possibility alive, and the danger of closing the window before it's even open

3. Too Afraid to Be Human — What phoneless activities and indigenous community structures reveal about Western isolation, why no one dances anymore, and why showing up imperfectly is both a creative and a human necessity

About the Guest:

Mona Shomali is an author, visual artist, and director of a Berkeley-based youth environmental leadership program. She spent a decade teaching International Relations at three New York universities, where she led courses on Indigenous human rights in the Amazon, resource conflicts in the developing world, and international environmental governance — and took students to live with the Makushi people in Guyana.

Her debut novel, Water Mamas: A Novel of Climate, Spirituality, and Indigenous Human Rights, follows a UN environmental scientist navigating a clash between a proposed geoengineering project and the indigenous communities whose land — and spirits — would be affected. It's a book that reads like a thriller and teaches like a course. The cover is Mona's own painting — a work she envisioned before the novel was even finished.

Get Water Mamas on ⁠Bookshop.org⁠ or ⁠Amazon⁠. Also available through the IngramSpark catalog — request it at any independent bookstore near you.

Connect with Mona Shomali

Website: www.monashomali.com

Substack: monashomali.substack.com

Instagram: @monashomali_

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co

About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing:

• Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process
• Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection
• wordofmouthcreative.co⁠

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend!

Credits

Edited by Cai Indermaur

Music by John Michael Rouchell

Mona Shomali spent years as a professor of International Relations teaching courses on Indigenous human rights, resource conflicts, and environmental governance — and she had a book's worth of material to show for it. The problem was, nobody wanted to read it. In this conversation, Mona shares how she transformed a dense, unreadable nonfiction manuscript into Water Mamas, her debut climate fiction novel. We get into the five-year editorial journey, what it took to survive 180 rejections, and the collaborators who made self-publishing not just possible but excellent. We explore how her background as a visual artist shapes the way she writes — including the painting that became the book's cover. And we dig into what her work with youth has taught her about keeping the dreaming alive before reality shuts it down, and what technology and Western isolation are quietly costing us.

About the Guest:

Mona Shomali is a visual artist, author, and director of a Berkeley-based youth environmental leadership program. She spent a decade teaching International Relations at three New York universities, where she led courses on Indigenous human rights in the Amazon, resource conflicts in the developing world, and international environmental governance — and took students to live with the Makushi people in Guyana.

Her debut novel, Water Mamas: A Novel of Climate, Spirituality, and Indigenous Human Rights, follows a UN environmental scientist navigating a clash between a proposed geoengineering project and the indigenous communities whose land — and spirits — would be affected. It's a book that reads like a thriller and teaches like a course. The cover is Mona's own painting — a work she envisioned before the novel was even finished.

Episode Highlights

• From art major to Amazon obsession: how an environmental studies class changed everything

• The pivot from nonfiction to fiction — merging the academic mind with the creative one

• The painting on the cover: Death in the Forest, the Yanomami, and why the trees are bleeding

• 180 rejections, one botched yes, and the Reddit thread that pointed toward self-publishing

• Building a creative team you love: editor Dana, book designer April, and what great collaboration actually looks like

• The IngramSpark strategy that got Water Mamas into Barnes & Noble, the Strand, and indie bookstores nationwide

• What Mona can control in a painting that she can't control in prose — and vice versa

• Working with young people who haven't reached the place where reality shuts them down — and what that does for her own creativity

• What success looks like now: contentment, not benchmarks

Connect with Mona Shomali

Get Water Mamas at ⁠Bookshop.org⁠, ⁠Amazon⁠, or request it at your local independent bookstore.

Website: monashomali.com

Substack: monashomali.substack.com

Instagram: @monashomali_

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co

About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing:

• Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process
• Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection
• wordofmouthcreative.co⁠

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend!

Credits: Edited by Cai Indermaur. Music by John Michael Rouchell

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features key insights from her conversation with Alicia J. Rose, a Portland-based multi-disciplinary artist whose three-decade career proves that vulnerability and empathy are creative superpowers, not weaknesses. Alicia's candid reflections on rejection sensitivity dysphoria, building creative community, and her upcoming documentary “Menopunks” and new podcast offer essential lessons for any creative professional navigating self-doubt, collaboration, and the intersection of personal health and creative potential. Between each highlight, Sarah shares her own perspective on humanizing the creative process, connecting Alicia's experiences to her approach to building authentic creative work that serves community over ego and transforms challenges into strategic advantages.

Featured Highlights:

1. Empathy as Creative Superpower - Why sensitivity and empathy aren't weaknesses to overcome but essential tools for creating meaningful art

2. Documentary Process Flexibility - How Alicia's approach to filmmaking evolved from commercial work to documentary storytelling, and why following the story is more important than controlling it

3. Building Creative Community and Support Systems - The long game of building goodwill in creative communities and why staying in Portland instead of moving to LA or New York was Alicia's most strategic career decision

Want more than just these highlights? Check out the full conversation episode!

Connect with Alicia J. Rose:

• Website: ⁠menopunks.com⁠, ⁠aliciajrose.com⁠

• Instagram: ⁠@ajrhq⁠, ⁠@menopunks⁠, ⁠@party_witch⁠, ⁠@girlsintroublemusic⁠

• Podcast: ⁠Menopunks podcast⁠

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co

About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing:

• Website: wordofmouthcreative.co

• Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process

• Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers.

Rate and Review: If this episode resonated with you, please rate the show and share it with another creative who might benefit from Alicia's insights.

In this deeply personal conversation with Alicia J. Rose, we explore what it means to transform vulnerability into creative power. Alicia shares her journey through RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria), ADHD, and imposter syndrome—revealing how embracing sensitivity rather than hiding it became her greatest asset. We dig into the genesis of her upcoming documentary "Menopunks," which examines how 23 years of HRT (hormone replacement therapy) misinformation has systematically disempowered Gen X women's creative potential. Alicia explains what hormonal optimization unlocked in her own creative practice, why she believes the medical establishment's treatment of menopause connects to broader political power, and how building goodwill within creative communities creates lasting impact that transcends individual recognition.

About the Guest:

Alicia J. Rose is a Portland-based filmmaker, photographer, musician, and cultural curator whose three-decade career has shaped the Pacific Northwest music community. From her early days as Miss Murgatroid playing avant-garde accordion to her current work with Party Witch, Alicia has consistently championed collaboration and authentic creative expression.

As a booker, she helped define Portland's music scene at legendary venues like the Doug Fir Lounge and Mississippi Studios. She's directed over 35 music videos for artists including Bob Mould, Corin Tucker, and The Decemberists—whose visual aesthetic she helped establish through five to ten years of album photography and creative direction.

Her upcoming documentary “Menopunks” and new podcast examines how hormone replacement therapy misinformation has impacted Gen X women's creative potential, featuring conversations with musicians and artists from Sleater-Kinney, Neko Case, The Thermals, and the broader Pacific Northwest creative community. The project has already garnered significant attention, growing from 1,000 to 7,000 Instagram followers in one week following the teaser release. We can’t wait to see it!

Episode Highlights:

• Alicia's creative journey from childhood show-and-tell to multi-disciplinary artist
• Understanding rejection sensitivity dysphoria and how it manifests in creative work
• Learning to embrace sensitivity and empathy as creative strengths rather than weaknesses
• The power of being a "yenta" and bringing people together through curation
• The origin story of "Menopunks" and discovering hormone optimization and the connection between HRT and creative output
• The documentary research process and letting the story evolve
• Why collaboration and service are more radical than individual achievement

Connect with Alicia J. Rose:

• Website: menopunks.com, aliciajrose.com
• Instagram: @ajrhq, @menopunks, @party_witch, @girlsintroublemusic
• Podcast: Menopunks podcast

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing
• Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co

About Word of Mouth:

• Website: wordofmouthcreative.co
• Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process
• Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers.

Rate and Review: If this episode resonated with you, please rate the show and share it with another creative who might benefit from Alicia's insights.

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three insights from her conversation with Joan LeMay, an artist whose creative career spans visual art, music publicity, and collaborative book projects. Joan's unflinchingly honest approach to the business of creativity offers essential lessons for any creative professional navigating market challenges, pricing decisions, and the question of artistic value in an increasingly automated world. Between each highlight, Sarah shares her own perspective on sustainable creative practices, connecting Joan's experiences to her approach to humanizing creative work and building authentic client relationships that honor both artistic integrity and business realities.

Featured Highlights:

1. From Steely Dan to the Grateful Dead - How a pandemic fanzine idea became a critically acclaimed book series

2. The Economy, AI, and the Value of Human Art - Joan's perspective on market challenges and why AI and budget services aren't actually competition

3. The Transparency Experiment: Too Much Information - Joan's business lesson about how putting detailed process information on her website killed all inquiries

Connect with Joan LeMay:

• Website: joanlemay.com

• Instagram: @joanlemay

• Book: Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan (co-created with Alex Pappademas)

• Music: Viennetta; Bull Thieves

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: [email protected]

• Highlights Episode: Listen to the companion highlights episode for Sarah's reflections on Joan's most powerful insights about creative business, market realities, and artistic value

Learn More About Word of Mouth:

• Website: wordofmouthcreative.co

• Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process

• Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers.

Rate and Review: If this episode resonated with you, please rate the show and share it with another creative who might benefit from these insights.

Joan LeMay is a painter, analog illustrator, author, and musician whose creative journey spans fanzines, seventeen years as a music publicist, and a thriving visual art practice and commissions business. In this conversation, she speaks about what it actually takes to sustain a creative life—the financial extremes, pricing disasters, and why making art is vital. We dig into her book collaboration with Alex Pappademas on Quantum Criminals, her philosophy on the value of human-made work, and returning to her creative practice after open heart surgery.

About the Guest:

Joan LeMay is a Brooklyn-based painter and analog illustrator known for emotionally charged portraits and fragmented figurative work. Her art and text book with writer Alex Pappademas, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan, was called "weird and wondrous" by the New York Times and "one of the sharpest, funniest, and best books ever about any rock artist" by Rolling Stone. They're currently working on two more books for Random House—the first, Friends of the Devil, goes deep on the Grateful Dead.

Her work has been exhibited internationally across New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Provincetown, London, and Cologne, and appears on several album covers. Before focusing on visual art full-time, Joan spent seventeen years as a music publicist—including at Sub Pop Records and running her own firm, Riot Act Media.

Episode Highlights:

• How Quantum Criminals evolved from a pandemic fanzine to a multi-book deal

• Balancing multiple creative identities across visual art mediums and playing in bands

• Surviving open heart surgery and wanting to "live triple" afterward

• The pricing lesson she learned from oversharing process on her website

• Why human-made art carries value that can't be replicated

• Not letting the "working" part destroy the "creative" part of being a working artist

Connect with Joan LeMay:

• Website: joanlemay.com

• Instagram: @joanlemay

• Book: Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan (co-created with Alex Pappademas)

• Music: Viennetta; Bull Thieves

Connect with Creatives Processing:

• Instagram: @creativesprocessing

• Email: [email protected]

• Highlights Episode: Listen to the companion highlights episode for Sarah's reflections on Joan's most powerful insights about creative business, market realities, and artistic value [RELEASES 2/24/26]

Learn More About Word of Mouth:

• Website: wordofmouthcreative.co

• Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process

• Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection

Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers.

Rate and Review: If this episode resonated with you, please rate the show and share it with another creative who might benefit from Joan's insights.