211: Grace Harry – Creating Your Arsenal of Joy Snacks

“All of these things around joy and pleasure are so penalized and stymied in this country for the business of capitalism.”

- Grace Harry

Welcome back to ONKEN RADIO (previously NION Radio), the podcast where we explore the body, mind, and soul of the creative entrepreneur. It's my goal to help you take your creativity, business, and life to the next level. I'm so glad you're joining me on this journey.

In today's episode, we will talk about how you can cultivate joy in your life. I think that many people start this creative business journey with the best intentions of creating a joyful or fulfilling work environment for themselves. Yet the reality is that a lot of times, we beat ourselves up. We feel like we're working really hard and not getting any results. Then we start to think, "Oh well, maybe I just don't have enough energy to do this full time, or maybe I don't have all the skills that I need. Maybe I just don't have what it takes, and there's no way I could get to this next level."

But what we really need to do is get ourselves some joy snacks! Joy snacks are the little things that give us a quick boost of energy to focus on feeling good and being inspired for a little bit longer.

Our guest for today is my dear friend, Grace Harry. Grace is a boss and a keeper of wisdom. Most importantly, she is a joy strategist. So, what does that even mean? It means she teaches people how to take control of their own joy in life. It's been a pleasure to witness her go through her own deep work over the last couple of years!

Read through as Grace and I discuss the many times we shift identities throughout our lives, how to cultivate our own "joy snacks," and what we lose when we don't protect our joy.

Who Is Grace Harry?

Today's guest, Grace Harry, is a Joy Strategist, among many other things. After dropping out of high school in tenth grade and working for The Cosby Show, Grace ended up working in the record industry for 27 years. When she decided to move on from the industry, she was the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services at Def Jam Records. She has also worked for MCA Records, Jive Records, and Geffen Records.

We had met through our friends, Scooter Braun and Usher. We all ended up on a bit of vacation together a few years back, and I really loved getting to know Grace and all that she represents. She shares her fear that people are forgetting how to be themselves and explains that, now, her thing is people who create art to connect with others. She and I talk about how to get back to how we feel and the process of shedding the things that don't grow us.

She has done a tremendous job of moving herself to find her own joy and help share that with others. So with that, I bring you, Grace Harry!

Shifting Identities Throughout Our Lives

I believe that our identities change over time because of the different experiences that we have. In the process of changing, we all shed and let go of our previous identities so we can step into new and brighter ones.

I asked Grace to share about how her identities have changed over time, and she shared, 

"Growing up, my mother and I moved to different places every year. I went to six elementary schools, one middle school, and four high schools and still didn't finish after 10th grade."

- Grace Harry

This experience allowed her to meet new people. Yet for every encounter made,  all she craved for was to be wanted. So she had to create for herself these new identities to keep up with these personalities she met along the way. 

Over the years, Grace would find herself being a chef at The Cosby Show. Then she would work in the record industry for 27 years, running creative and marketing and digital at times and working with artists in so many exciting ways.