Episode summary: Lakisha gives voice to reason among the chaos. Her experience as Global Head of Workforce and Organizational Transformation at TransUnion in market research and technology illuminates change as a necessary good. Though not all traditional work-life rhythms are here to stay, she gives hope that some mainstream bedrocks of leadership and collaboration are here to stay.

Guest Bio: Lakisha is the Global Head of Workforce and Organizational Transformation at TransUnion. Clemons is an accomplished organizational change management and human capital practitioner with 15 years of experience providing solutions for multiple Fortune 100 companies such as Delta Air Lines, Hilton Worldwide, Southern Company, and JPMorgan Chase. Her areas of expertise are leading large cultural change transformations, process improvement initiatives, and large system implementations such as SAP, ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Oracle Suite.

Now a designer at Pentagram, Davian knows first hand how dubious the last 3 years have been. As a Gen Zer, he speaks to the resilience necessary for a young designer trying to keep his footing in the tenuous work market. He also gives voice to the growing demand to become a “generalist” as opposed to a traditional view of focused mastery.

Guest Bio: Davian-Lynn Hopkins is a designer based in Austin, Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech in May 2020 and took a position as a digital designer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. After his time at the Fed, he moved on to a position as an editorial designer at Entertainment Weekly and then on to Netflix when Entertainment Weekly ceased their print publication. Davian is currently a designer at Pentagram in Austin.

Lozano’s long tenure at Nike taught this Gen X baby that there is no “i” in team. Though the workplace be a house of cards, Sergio intimates that collaboration and mentorship are still an art worthy of cultivation. He shares his experience leading designers at Nike and abroad and proffers traditional and contemporary approaches to leadership that are both innovative and inspiring.

Guest Bio: Sergio is a designer and creative problem solver who enjoys leading and mentoring creative talent. He spent over 30 years at Nike, most recently as a Senior Design Director and Innovator. It is also important to note that he designed the iconic Air Max 95 while he was a relatively new designer there. (He has a hypebeast page dedicated to the legendary shoe!)

Katie Belloff has made a name for herself as a graphic designer. She is a millennial who currently serves as an Art Director over a team of growing designers. She offers a counter-argument to the old-school work-grind mentality and sheds light on the newer generation’s broader definition of collaboration and overall expectations around mentorship.

Guest Bio: Katie Belloff is an Art Director and Designer in Brooklyn. Born and raised in New Jersey, she attended Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts and currently works for The New York Time's TBrand Studio as an Art Director. She is also currently a board member for The Society of Publication Designers, for whom she designed the identity for their 56th Annual Awards. She previously worked as the Art Director for Popular Science magazine, where she received five SPD Merit Awards between the years of 2020-2021. In her free time, you can find her rock climbing, singing, and lurking in the magazine section of the bookstore.

In company with hosts, José and Nikolle, legendary graphic designer Gail Anderson digs into defining the existential crisis facing older creatives and the conflict with a generational mindset that doesn’t care about their glory days. What must change to continue to be relevant? How can younger creatives attain mastery with higher industry demands for generalists? Ultimately, what is at odds in the heart of a creative and what leads to career satisfaction?

Guest Bio: Gail Anderson is Chair of BFA Design and BFA Advertising at the School of Visual Arts and creative director at Visual Arts Press. Anderson serves on the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for the US Postal Service and the advisory boards of Poster House and The One Club for Creativity. She is an AIGA Medalist, the 2018 recipient of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a 2022 Art Directors Club Manship Medallion honoree. Her work is represented in the Library of Congress’ permanent collection, the Milton Glaser Design Archives, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

David Brooks is a researcher, former Yale professor, columnist for The New York Times, commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” This Baby Boomer shares what he has embraced while working alongside Millennials. He puts a finer point on the great resignation, apathy and toxicity in the workplace and the existential crisis facing all creatives.

Guest Bio: David became an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in September 2003. His column appears every Tuesday and Friday. He is currently a commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He is the author of “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” and “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.” In March 2011 he came out with his third book, “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” which was a No. 1 New York Times best seller.

Right Mind at Work celebrates the messiness and exhilaration of being leaders who happen to be creatives.

In partnership with the Society of Publication Designers, José and Nikolle Reyes, founders of Metaleap Creative—an Atlanta-based brand and publication design agency—delve into real-talk around the challenges facing industry leaders and the disconnect they are experiencing with their creative teams. With the professional world seemingly on shifting sand, many creative leads are reconciling traditional rhythms and desires for work/life “balance” with a growing preference to “bring one’s whole self” to work; all the while younger creatives grapple with misalignment in values and shared meaning with their leaders.

Rooted in the belief that courage and transparency can help bridge the generational divide between creatives, these conversations seek to find a path towards career fulfillment and healthier workspaces. Six heart-to-heart exchanges with trusted cultural voices and rising star Millennial and Gen Zers will cover workplace apathy and toxicity, mentoring and reverse mentoring, achieving mastery and collaboration all to better understand what it means to shift one’s thinking to have the Right Mind at Work.