Interesting Humans

Autumn has come alive here in the midwest. It's my favorite time of the year. For most of three months -- from about September 1 to December 1 -- I feel productive and energized by the cooler temps and the color.  I've appreciated the color of fall all my life. 

I love bringing out the sweatshirts and the coats to accommodate the early morning and evening chill. How about you? Do you love fall too?
Sitting recently with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law (whom you'll meet in this episode) at their Northern Indiana home out on the deck enjoying good, hot coffee and the warmth of their fire and conversation, I was reminded why I love this time of year. 

With the coronavirus, we are severely limiting our circle: a few very close friends and a few family members. That's it. I crave real, honest connection and conversation and the mental health impact of the coronavirus has made these connections timely and important. 

Speaking of connection, a book is a kind of conversation too, isn't it? Between the author and the reader? Through their characters, the author invites you into their world. The best writers can make you feel as if you are right there at the table, on the bus or sitting close by. It is a special feeling when you connect with a book, the author and their characters.

It is connection that led today's guests, MAIJA WALTERS STUTSMAN and ALEAH DECHANT , to create SHELFRIGHTEOUS, a subscription book box built around a novel and the idea of supporting women businesses. Starting this December, Maija and Aleah will start sending their very first subscription boxes. 

The concept started more than a year ago. Aleah and Maija, friends for nearly a decade and colleagues at Maija's Fitness Studio "The Bubble", began discussing a different business. Maija's body was a bit beat up after 10 years of teaching classes in Zumba, Barre, Rowing, Boxing and doing massage and Aleah also was anxious to move to something new.

The name they chose for the business, SHELFRIGHTEOUS, is a play on words. In one sense they want to share their love of incredible literature, as Maija says, "make your bookshelf the best" in the neighborhood. In another sense, they want to especially support women. That's where the righteous part comes in. Each quarter, a new box will ship out with a novel written by a woman, several items consistent with the novel's theme, a themed playlist and a recipe Aleah and Maija think fits with the book. The boxes are environmentally friendly and the contents are sourced from women-owned businesses wherever possible.

Maija and Aleah want to build a community of subscribers and encourage conversation, both through a virtual book club included in the subscription and through others who form their own book clubs with their subscriptions. In these turbulent times--politically and medically--these two strong and thoughtful women want to bring people together around a common love of books and create a sustainable business that eventually will support their families.

We talk about how they came up with the name, SHELFRIGHTEOUS, how their separate paths led them to come together to create a business, the challenges of starting a small business and what they've learned and can teach others, and their hopes for how SHELFRIGHTEOUS might allow them to connect with and support women.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelfrighteousbookbox
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelfrighteous.box/

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

I have to admit to being a bit bouncy right now. It happens every year around this time. It’s as if I emerge from the doldrums of late summer with a renewed sense of purpose and, yes, even optimism. The change of the calendar from August to September is exciting for me. I always anticipate good things for September and October. E and I were married in September—and yes, I haven’t forgotten our anniversary. There is a change in the quality of the light, weather is a bit crisper and that optimism for a better future always seems to move in. 

Now I know this might sound ludicrous in the face of everything going on.  I know if you are a parent of school age or college age children or a student yourself you might feel very little reason for excitement as most of you are starting school virtually and not getting to do the normal things of school. I’m sorry about this as the start of school is always a benchmark in our lives. but if you can just fuel even a tiny spark of positivity it might help you feel at least a little better. 

Speaking of optimism, today’s guest, Veronica Aimee Centeno-Cruz, is a study in optimism. Veronica was in the 2018 documentary film Me, the Other, which centers around the marginalization of people because of their backgrounds, heritage, or lifestyle. The film, which was produced and shown extensively locally, displays the challenges of 12 people who don’t feel to be a part of “normal” life. 

Veronica, for example, who is Puerto Rican, grew up with her single mom in Ypsilanti, Michigan because her biological father decided when Veronica was little not to participate in the household. As she talks about in our conversation, Veronica became a de facto a parent in her home. Her mom, Aimee, was in and out of hospitals throughout Veronica’s childhood. In fact by the time she appeared in Me the Other, Veronica’s mom had had three liver transplants. 

So even at the tender ages of 5, 6, 7 Veronica was looking after her mom, ensuring her medications were lined up, her mom was comfortable and even helped to prepare meals when her mom was too sick or tired to cook. This forced Veronica to grow up quickly.

When Veronica’s mom met a man and remarried, things weren’t perfect. Sham, her mom’s husband, took to Veronica right away and became her dad. You can hear Veronica’s pride and joy talking about Sham and belting out songs while he jammed on the drums. But that turned dark for Veronica as Sham was in and out of prison and was killed just as she started filming the documentary. 

Inspired by her mom's health issues, Veronica is now a student in Occupational Therapy at Eastern Michigan University. She carries a kind of grace, a humility, a gratitude and yes, even a sense of optimism for life despite her challenges. To hear Veronica talk about this gratitude in our conversation is inspiring and I hope you feel it too. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Veronica Aimee Centeno-Cruz.
Links:
Veronica on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hairwithvero/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veronica.centenocruz.5
Me, the Other on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metheotherfilm/
Me, the Other film website: https://metheotherfilm.com/

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

One of the great gifts of curiosity is that it takes you places you can’t foresee. That was the case for Elin and me July 4th when we slid over to downtown Ypsilanti to see the 2nd Annual Black Empowerment Awards. We were not feeling the patriotism associated with the national holiday with the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police and Ahmaud Arbery by white men who chased him down in their truck, and then the protests and rioting all over the country and the teargassing of peaceful protestors in Washington D.C. so that President Trump could hold a bible in front of a church for a photo op. 

When it was his turn, Hakim Crampton wove a tapestry of poverty, violence and a community forced into a corner by racism. His mom had pimped for his dad in Detroit and he became involved in drug culture in the sixth grade as a way to earn money and respect and this led to a life on the streets, hustling to earn money and sell drugs and deal with an awful lot of violence.

Hakim freely admits he was no angel. In and out of juvenile detention and jail growing up, he carried weapons, stole, slept in crackhouses, shot people and was shot, and got in fights—all in the pretext of surviving. in 1992, at age 18, he and his best friend were convicted of a murder the previous year by all accounts he had nothing to do with.  The confession a step brother gave to police after four days of relentless questioning implicating Hakim—a confession he later recanted—that led to Hakim’s conviction and time in prison in Wisconsin. 

This part of Hakim’s story is very similar to the murder convictions of five young black men in New York city in 1989, known as the Central Park jogger case, who were all totally exonerated after spending years in prison. 

Hakim spent 14 1/2 years in prison before being paroled. But his story doesn’t end there. Our conversation moves to his life where he understood he was on the wrong trajectory, to his rediscovery of poetry to his work advocating for and guiding young black men as a part of Just Leadership USA. 

This might be uncomfortable for some. I have to admit this conversation made me question my own ideas of racism and a naive sense I’ve carried that not being racist is enough. This is a little longer interview and I didn’t get to all my questions for Hakim so I don’t know if I’ve done he and his story justice. I hope you find something valuable in this conversation with Hakim Nathaniel Crampton.

Innocence Project/Canada: https://innocencecanada.com/
Rubin Hurricane Carter's story: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/sports/rubin-hurricane-carter-fearsome-boxer-dies-at-76.html
Clean Slate Program:
https://detroitmi.gov/departments/law-department/project-clean-slate

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

“I was born with a big engine, a big heart and a really bad chassis," Keith Kelly, today's guest tells me in his familiar Irish. 

Keith was the NCAA National Cross Country Champion for Providence College in 2000. He has won dozens of races at the national and international level as he was the Irish National Cross Country Champion in 2009, which would have been a comeback year for Keith after years of battling injury and even depression. That championship could have led to competing for a spot on the Irish Olympic Team at the London Olympics but Keith's 14th or 15th stress fracture derailed his world class running career.

Keith Kelly is one of my dearest and oldest friends. Regardless of his standing as an ALMOST World Class Runner and Olympian, I see him as a WORLD CLASS PERSON.

In today's episode, we talk about his work with New Balance Running Shoe Company, his upbringing in a small town in Ireland  with deaf parents and his discovery and love for running, along with some of the successes he had as a runner. 

When his running career ended, still needing something to do with his big aerobic engine, Keith turned to cycling and was soon competing--and beating--pro-level cyclists. Imagine being an experienced pro cyclist and this gangly, skinny, six-foot-three dude with toothpick legs sprints past. Of course, nothing is easy for Keith and he experienced setbacks cycling too. In fact, in one of his first races, he got caught in a crash and broke a collar bone and some ribs. But that didn't deter him. 

Keith is a study in adaptability and humility. He loves and appreciates his parents who provided he and his brother with opportunities to pursue their passions even though, as he says, "we didn't have a pot to piss in." 

Along with his love for training harder than anyone else and racing, the other enduring passion for Keith is music. We talk about his experience growing up with deaf parents and how he thought he was going to be a DJ spinning music at on BBC Radio 1.

I met Keith 12 years ago while at Reebok and knew he was a unique and good person. This conversation dives into the intricacies of training at a high level, challenges and even depression, and redemption in the hands of new found love.

I hope you enjoy meeting my friend Keith Kelly.

Links:
Keith Kelly on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelrock/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keith.kelly.33
On Blogspot: http://kelrock.blogspot.com/
On Radiohead, his favorite band: http://kelrock.blogspot.com/2012/04/radiohead-dreams.html
Radiohead documentary: Meeting People Is Easy
Reebok's Run Easy Campaign, 2007

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

Flow. Details. Impact. These are the hallmark words in Elin Walters' world. She is the owner and curator at Exactly Designs, an interior design firm she founded a little more than four years ago.
As Elin says on her website, "I was once asked, “how do you feel when you walk into a room? What do you notice?”I replied, “I just know visually and emotionally if it is exactly right, if the room has realized its full potential. I’m always finding ways in my mind to make a room better.”

The lane Elin has chosen is the midcentury modern and modern aesthetic. She loves to incorporate color and whimsy in spaces as well as move walls. When she approaches a design project she's looking for that hinge, a particular element on which to build a space her clients will love. As she explains in our conversation that one piece--a piece of furniture, a paint color on a wall, a section of flooring, a window that offers a certain light--can be the determining factor for everything that is built around it. And, despite what you might think you might know about what it is that interior designers do, Elin points out several instances where her work involves way more than picking out nice pillows or dropping a $20,000 rug on a floor and calling it good. 

"Design is design, not decorating," she says. The projects she gets the most excited about are the ones where spaces are completely reimagined. She often works hand in hand with her clients' contractors to ensure design is incorporated into the renovation process. If it's not, well, I'll let Elin explain that part. 

We dive into her approach as well as how her upbringing with artistic parents in Williamsburg, VA and Goshen, IN subconsciously influenced her eventual path to doing design for a living. 

Elin reveals some challenges that have impacted her business and her personal life as well in this far ranging conversation that I hope if you are a solo entrepreneur might help you. 

I applaud Elin for being willing to be my guest as she is also my wife. It took me a couple months to convince her to come onto the Interesting Humans podcast and she agreed if I promised to ask more about interior design and her work than about our lives together. And, truth be told, she and I have very similar conversations almost every day about both professional and personal topics so what you're going to hear is a lot like the two of us sitting down over coffee. I hope that warm vibe comes through.

I'm lucky to be married to such an articulate and engaging person as Elin. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Links:
Exactly Designs website: https://www.exactlydesigns.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exactlydesigns/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exactlydesigns/
Atomic Ranch feature, May 2020: https://exactlydesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AR-Argyle-Exterior-3.pdf
Seen Magazine, Interior Design accounts to follow on Instagram: https://seenthemagazine.com/instagram-accounts-for-home-design-and-decor-inspo/
Midcenturyhome.com: https://www.midcenturyhome.com/interior-designer-elin-walters-midcentury-home-renovation/
Elin's parents and their work in Goshen, Indiana: https://goodofgoshen.com/project/inside-downtown-goshens-emerging-renaissance/

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

I call Emily McGuire a Relational Marketer. Not only is she a guru of email marketing but she also is growing her one-person business to include copy writing and even business coaching. Emily and her company, Flourish and Grit, is the perfect person to talk about the coronavirus havoc on business, particularly small businesses. 

It takes grit to be a solopreneur as Emily and so many people are finding,  people who have pivoted their careers away from corporate jobs to working for themselves. Even amidst the pandemic, with layoffs across industries and companies, scores of people are looking to hang a shingle and rely upon their own abilities and passions to earn a living. 

But wait, how do you do that?

Emily started Flourish and Grit just under three years ago primarily focused on helping clients take advantage of their databases through reaching out with email marketing. Emily takes the pulse of her clients current database and marketing efforts and helps refine based on the client’s goals. 

Yet Emily is much more than that. She has become wise as a business person in understanding the nuances of creating long term clients through careful vetting, establishing boundaries and being authentic. She is who she is and she advocates for her clients to do the same.

So who is she? I met Emily in January at a gathering of business people and solopreneurs who were looking to find their marketing voices through understanding who they are. The event was co-hosted by Janelle Reichman, who was my guest on Interesting Humans Episode Two, whom you’ll recall owns her own website design firm. 

Emily learned through constant observation and practice what to do and what not to do as a solopreneur. In the process of building her business she experienced the reverb of some personal trauma from her younger years. We touch on it some in our conversation and Emily is pretty transparent about being excommunicated and shunned by her family and how the experience has served her as a solopreneur and a person today. 

Our conversation is both deep into the trials and tribulations of owning your own business and broad about the person behind it. I hope you will enjoy meeting Emily McGuire.
LinkedIn: ​https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcguireemily/
Instagram: ​https://www.instagram.com/flourishandgrit/ 
Facebook: ​https://www.facebook.com/flourishandgrit/ 
Twitter: ​https://twitter.com/flourishandgri​t 

Website: 

https://www.flourishgrit.com/ 

Freebie: 

Action Guide: Boost Your Email Open Rates ASAP 

flourishgrit.com/open 

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

If you saw Kendra Stanley Mills’ photographs you’d be impressed but you would have no idea of the story of how this incredible artist found her place behind a camera lens.

Kendra is a combination of extreme humility and equally big artistic talent. It might have something to with the way she was raised, having spent some time in rural Kentucky as a kid with her “hippie, Mother Earth News” parents living in a one room house with no running water and no toilet, that instilled in Kendra an ingenuity and a stubborn persistence to stay with things and make due with what’s there. 

As Kendra says, “I’m certain that the way I grew up has a direct correlation to why I became a photographer. My childhood was part “Little House on the Prairie” and part Woodstock. I had an outhouse, no running water, a milk cow, a wood cook stove and no television until middle school...We told stories, listened to old vinyl records, had chores (a lot of chores!) and more adventures than I can count.”

She has such fondness for those times that she and her husband Jon Mills moved the log cabin she lived in in Kentucky as a little girl to the property they live on in Montague, MI. 

From these humble beginnings Kendra eventually became a photojournalist for the Muskegon (Michigan) Chronicle and today is a portrait photographer of unique talent. Kendra’s photographs are infused with artistic elements, lines, geometry while still putting her subjects in the spotlight. The geometric elements are done so well and so deliberately yet so subtly they become elegant backdrops that enhance images rather than overpower. 

Our interview was conducted last February pre-coronavirus at her studio office in North Muskegon, the same town where she go her start as an intern for the Muskegon Chronicle. You might hear some hissing—that’s the steam running through the pipes that heated the building. 

Kendra won the internship just out of college even though as she recounts, “the editors thought others had more talent” but loved that she had a kind of courage. Over the course of her 13 years as a photojournalist Kendra refined a personal style as a newspaper photographer. Sometimes it was uncomfortable documenting the tragedies and hardships of her subject about which the reporters were writing. Kendra recounts the irony of her current business as a portrait photographer because when she started her editor told her her portraits were the weakest work she turned in. 

“So he made me go out and do every portrait photo assignment I could get so I could get better,” she says.

In addition portrait photography where she shoots weddings, families and individual portraits, Kendra works as a full-time photographer for Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI. 

Kendra also explores some aspects of the business of being a photographer and shares a couple important tips for anyone looking to create a business out of their creative endeavors.  Hope you enjoy today's conversation with Kendra.

Links:
Kendra Stanley Mills Photography: http://www.kendrastanleymills.com/about/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kendra.stanleymills
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kendrastanleymills/
Pinterest: https://www.instagram.com/kendrastanleymills/
Metcalf County, Kentucky: https://metcalfecounty.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx
Grand Valley State university: https://www.gvsu.edu/

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

interesting humans episode nine
I had the chance recently to sit in a Zoom meeting with one of my two high school senior daughters. It was a zoom call in place of the end of the year banquet for her high school news magazine where seniors are recognized. During normal times it’s filled with awards and speeches from the sponsor teacher (Tracy Anderson, I/H episode six) and sometimes emotional and awkward speeches from the graduating seniors about their experiences. This Zoom meeting didn’t have the usual potluck food and the speeches were shorter. There were fewer tears this year too and maybe that was because the medium precludes the same kind of proximity, the human context of togetherness that the coronavirus lockdown makes impossible. 

What amazes me every year I attend this banquet is how engaged, how adaptable and how intelligent these young people are. Their vision of the infinite possibilities for their lives and their appreciation for the things that got them this far is awe inspiring. 

What occurred to me the other night is how they show we adults how to be in this world. They take what happens and bend it to make sense for their lives rather than wallowing in a sea of depression or self-pity. No prom? No problem. No graduation ceremony. That’s okay. We’ll have a drive by. No end of the year gatherings at all? We’ll Zoom and take what we can get. 

Many people have been deeply affected by the coronavirus and the lockdown. Mental and physical health. Bank accounts and mortgages and jobs. Marriages and family relationships. 

There’s no doubt these past few months have drastically changed the paradigm of how most of us view what is a normal life. We adults have the benefit of many birthdays and life experience to contextualize these times. What about these young people

Today’s guests are four high school seniors. I’ve asked them to talk about what their daily lives are like and how their perspectives on their futures has been affected by the pandemic and the lockdown. In their own, eloquent and honest words they share the simple pleasures of family gatherings at dinner time. workouts with siblings, baking, and social distancing walks and auto corrals with friends. These kids are not binge-watching Netflix or sleeping all day

The conversations reveal how they are thinking, exploring, engaging and trying to make sense of a world seemingly run amok. And in an amazing twist, they are adapting and remain optimistic and excited for their futures. They are ready to do what needs to be done to live full lives no matter what comes.

This episode, which I’m calling Pandemic Seniors, runs a bit longer than previous interviews and I hope you can stay until the end because each one of these young people offers something unique. Here, in order, are Loey Jones-Perpich, Yakirah Mitchel, Andrew Lafferty and Ebba Gurney, crossing into adulthood in the time the coronavirus.
Loey Jones-Perpich https://www.emerson.edu/
Yakirah Mitchel https://umich.edu/
Andrew Lafferty https://www.pitt.edu/
Ebba Gurney https://www.scad.edu/

Ella Walker aka WILDES https://www.wildesmusic.com/?fbclid=IwAR13UpycADu7YeCpRb2Gfkw62AUDfijSHQ-uZlDr8mndfTwLIAyIC_XvLR

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

When I played tennis in high school, my coach was a guy named Ed Deitch. Ed was a new teacher and had never coached any sport before. And he didn't play tennis.

What I loved about Ed was that he didn't have an ego. He spent as much time off the court learning not only tennis but also how to coach as he did on the court leading his players.

In the summer between my junior and senior years, Ed introduced me to another coach who successfully helped a number of USTA regional and national players. Ed drove an hour from Virginia to pick me up in Maryland and take me to my lesson. Then we would grab a bite to eat and debrief. He'd drop me off at home before driving an hour back home to Virginia.

Ed was committed to whatever success he could create for each of his players first, rather than for himself. That, I think is what made him a great coach.

Years later I was introduced to today's guest NICK HANSEN. Nick coaches real estate agents all over the country to higher levels of professional and personal success. But he started his career coaching swimmers and was a hair from becoming the U.S. Olympic Swim coach. 

To hear Nick talk about it, there is great art to coaching. Whether it's swimmers, baseball players or real estate agents, the ability to see each individual's strengths an weaknesses and meet them where they are rather than adhering to some coaching dogma is what contributed to the success, however defined, of the coaching client.

It's also the coach's job, Nick says, to hold his mentee accountable and this is something he is very good at. To know when they are not "on board" with the program, not giving their best efforts.  While every person is different, there are fundamental things every athlete -- or Realtor®--needs to put them into position for success. Nick calls it winning the day. 

The harder you focus on those fundamentals, the more time you spend in the pool, and the more intensely you are committed to doing what he calls the boring work, the more likely you'll be to touch the wall first. 

We explore Nick's experience as a national class swimmer at Iowa state and then later coaching stints at the University of Arizona and then at Wisconsin. His success placing several swimmers on the U.S. National team led to him coaching the U.S. team at the world championships in Spain and to being that close to becoming the U.S. Olympic swim coach.

Nick is a friend and in full disclosure has been my coach in real estate. He approaches his clients like he coached swimmers: By understanding what each person's interests, commitments and abilities might be. For Nick the focus isn't touching the wall first. It's mastery of the craft that garners success. 

Links:
Real estate:
https://www.hansenteamrealestate.com/agent/nick-hansen/
https://www.hansenteamrealestate.com/about/
https://www.hansenteamrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RE-Coaching-Book-Hansen.pdf
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hansen-002201117/
As a high school swimmer: https://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/swimming-and-diving/college/hansen-inducted-into-swimming-hall-of-fame/article_46809a87-1adb-5d23-a446-605f950cceab.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nick.hansen.54922

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

Maybe a couple times in one's life are you lucky enough to come across truly unique characters. I'm talking about original, authentic and truly unique individuals who enlighten and inform your world view.
I'm thinking about just such a character right now. The guy I have in mind is kind of short and truth be told, though he might get a lot of attention, he is not someone who would be surrounded by women at a bar. It might be because he's green. Or the fact that his eyes happen to sit atop stalks on his head.
I know it sounds weird but if you have spent any time in Ann Arbor, you probably have seen this guy around town. He hangs out mostly on the sidewalks or alongside buildings downtown. He is almost always with a friend, someone as unique as he. He goes by the name of Sluggo. Maybe you know him.
Sluggo is the creation of today's guest, David Zinn, and, like Sluggo, David is just as unique, though he isn't green nor does he have eyes at the end of stalks. He looks like, well, like you and me.
David is world-renowned local artist who has created hundreds of characters in his favorite medium--chalk. He has had a substantial career as a commercial artist but a creative tangent took over his artistic mien and established Zinn as a premier chalk artist worldwide. His commercial work is seen all over the world. Sluggo's likeness is found on t-shirts as far away as China, though not authorized. We talk about the illegal use of his art during our conversation.
Kids and adults alike are enchanted with this artist's work. Ann Arbor's sidewalks and buildings are rich with his characters, not only Sluggo, but Phil, the winged pig, and dragons and other stylized characters from deep in the artist's imagination. Though we might have to be quick to see his work before mother nature -- or man -- washes it away.
Zinn admits that he is deliberate about, even loves,  that his art is temporary. The temporary nature of Zinn's art is something we discuss. It's the process of creating, then walking away, allowing whatever will be, that is his focus. David owns the process, not the outcome.

He admits difficulty seeing himself as a legitimate artist in the same vein as Jackson Pollock, Rodan or Annie Liebovitz. 

"I've spent most of my life, including up until now, not really thinking of myself as an artist because the word is so heavy," he tells me. 

His sincerity and mindfulness are authentic and while you might suspect his humility is not genuine, I can assure you it is. Our conversation is a far-ranging discussion of how an artist survives the coronavirus shelter-in-place age as well as a portrait of a creative who is intimately aware of his mission. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with David Zinn.

Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidzinn/
Tublr: https://sluggoonthestreet.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/davidzinn_art
Where to buy David's art: https://www.zazzle.com/store/david_zinn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L95cNBEfi5I&feature=youtu.be
TedX talk at UM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVXYrJs4S8
https://www.businessinsider.com/david-zinn-ann-arbor-street-artist-2014-10

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/