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.

In this special episode, host Sarah Mulligan Williams shares recommendations from Creatives Processing’s 2025 guests—books, memoirs, and unexpected pieces of media that have genuinely shaped how these working creative professionals approach their craft. With the holidays approaching, think of this as both a gift guide for the creatives in your life and a way to prepare yourself for creative work in the new year.

From David Byrne's theories on how environment shapes music, to books about overcoming creative resistance, to a wrestling match that's a masterclass in audience connection—these recommendations challenge conventional wisdom about where creative insights come from.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Creative insights often come from unexpected sources—comedy memoirs, wrestling matches, and books about small business failures

• The common thread through all recommendations is intentionality and creating deliberate practices

• Creative growth is practical: expose yourself to different ways of thinking and find tactics that work for your brain

• Sometimes the best creative education comes from learning how other art forms solve problems

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FEATURED RECOMMENDATIONS

Music & Production Insights

“How Music Works” by David Byrne

Recommended by John Michael Rouchell

🎧 Listen to John Michael’s full conversation and highlights episodes

Practical Creativity & Business Resources

“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield

Recommended by Craig Winslow

🎧 Listen to Winslow Studio’s full conversation and highlights episodes

“The Artist's Way” by Julia Cameron

“The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber

“You Are a Badass” by Jen Sincero

Recommended by Kira Corbin

🎧 Listen to Kira’s full conversation and highlights episodes

Unexpected Wisdom

“The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to The Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More” by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

“Leslie F*cking Jones” by Leslie Jones

Recommended by Lee Hedgmon

🎧 Listen to Lee’s full conversation and highlights episodes

Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest at Backlash 2023 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Recommended by Eliana Mendez

Listen to Eliana’s full conversation and highlights episodes

Host Recommendations

“The Sunny Nihilist” by Wendy Syfret

“The Crossroads of Should and Must” by Elle Luna

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ABOUT CREATIVES PROCESSING

Creatives Processing is the podcast that illuminates the human journey behind creative work – where professional creatives share their authentic processes, struggles, and triumphs.

About the Host

Sarah Mulligan Williams is a creative director and the founder of Word of Mouth, a creative studio where she helps mission-driven organizations tell their stories through strategic branding and design. She is a champion of creative collaboration and human connection & kindness.

Connect with Creatives Processing

Instagram: @creativesprocessing  

Email: [email protected]  

Website: wordofmouthcreative.co/creativesprocessing

Share your unexpected creative recommendations with us—we'd love to hear what books, media, or experiences have influenced your creative work!

Creatives Processing will return in 2026 with more conversations exploring the human journey behind creative work.

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CREDITS

Produced and edited by Word of Mouth Creative

Theme music by John Michael Rouchell

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three transformative insights from her conversation with prop and interior stylist turned homewares entrepreneur Kira Corbin, founder of ceramics line Standard Affair. Kira's evolution from commercial styling to launching her own product line offers essential lessons about creative service, adaptive resilience, and the irreplaceable value of human collaboration in an increasingly automated world. Between each highlight, Sarah reflects on how these insights connect to her philosophy of humanizing the creative process, offering practical guidance for creative professionals seeking to build meaningful work that serves something larger than themselves.

Featured Highlights:

1. Reframing Creative Collaboration - How approaching styling as service rather than self-expression creates better outcomes and stronger client relationships through collaborative problem-solving
2. Preparation Meets Pivot - Why thorough preparation paired with adaptive thinking transforms unexpected challenges into growth opportunities rather than creative failures
3. Relationships Over Efficiency - Kira's choice to work with an experienced developer rather than AI tools, and why investing in human collaboration creates stronger creative outcomes

Connect with Kira Corbin:

Join us for a conversation with prop and interior stylist turned homewares entrepreneur Kira Corbin, founder of ceramics line Standard Affair. After years of perfecting the art of curating and arranging objects to tell stories for clients, magazines, and cookbooks, Kira embarked on a two-year journey to create something entirely her own.

This honest conversation explores the evolution from creative service to creative authorship, covering everything from the meditative aspects of styling to the challenging realities of product development. Kira shares insights into her commercial styling process, the importance of cultural exploration in creative work, and why she believes human craftsmanship matters more than ever in an automated world. Whether you're a creative professional considering your own evolution or simply curious about what goes into creating beautiful objects, this episode offers valuable perspectives on creative courage, authentic growth, and redefining success on your own terms.

Episode Highlights:

• How Kira’s high school exchange year in Argentina sparked a lifelong love of cultural exploration and language learning

• Her journey from graphic design student to discovering styling at Glamour magazine

• The transition from fashion styling to still life and food styling, and why she prefers the intuitive, meditative quality of prop styling

• The comprehensive process of commercial styling, from initial client briefs to on-set problem-solving

• Her philosophy that there are many right answers in styling

• Why she launched Pillar, her retail shop, and the strategic decision to close it after three years

• Working with a career coach to break circular thinking patterns and make intentional growth decisions

• The two-year development process for Standard Affair, including factory negotiations and the compromises between artistic vision and production realities

• Choosing Portugal for manufacturing: personal heritage, cultural craftsmanship, and sustainability innovations

• Why she believes creative work provides essential relief and beauty in people's daily lives

• The human element in manufacturing and why collaboration beats automation

Connect with Kira Corbin:

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three essential insights from her conversation with creative director, videographer, and photographer Eliana Mendez. Eliana’s approach to storytelling demonstrates how authentic integration of self and work, combined with genuine care for subjects and clients, creates more powerful creative outcomes. Between each highlight, Sarah explores how these insights connect to her philosophy of human-centered creative leadership, offering practical guidance for building sustainable creative practices that prioritize authenticity, empathy, and service over perfection and validation.

Featured Highlights:

1. Your Values ARE Your Value - How integrating your authentic self into your work creates more effective creative outcomes and builds lasting professional relationships

2. What AI Can't Replicate - Why human empathy, emotional intelligence, and genuine investment remain irreplaceable in creating work that truly resonates

3. Alignment Over Accommodation - Reframing client education as an opportunity to demonstrate value rather than defend worth, and how service-oriented approaches build stronger business relationships

Connect with Eliana Mendez:

• Website: humancentricmedia.com

• Instagram: @humancentricmedia

Want to hear more? The full conversation with Eliana covers their entire creative philosophy, from documentary-style production to redefining client relationships through authentic care. Listen here!

Featured Highlights: