Starting Artists

Mandy and Tony were colleagues during the Public Media phase of their careers. Join a warm, winding, and nostalgic conversation between two old friends catching up and talking about places where they've been able to find hope and humanity.

The impressive titles Mandy has held include Director of Membership and Development at PBS39, Director of Marketing and Community Relations for the Women’s Humane Society, and Director of Membership at Natural Lands. But she had ups and downs along the way before landing at Drexel University and advancing to the position of Director of Corporate Relations for The Solutions Institute.

Now, she's leaning into Found and Styled, her "veteran thrifter and personal style cheerleader" social media account that you really should check out and share!

There are many through-lines in her career journey, but at the heart is a commitment to creating and nurturing lasting relationships with community members and partner organizations. Innovation and problem solving. And, if you’ve ever seen anyone plan and execute an event of any size first-hand, nerves of steel and the adaptability under pressure are absolutely necessary. Helping people and supporting education and other people-focused initiatives to build communities up are definitely in Mandy’s wheelhouse, and she is more than able to jump in and make things happen!

Why has it taken so long to get another episode finished? Why am I suddenly dropping new shows after such a long hiatus? How does ice cream inspire me outside of wanting to eat it and what does it have to do with the meaning of life?

The answer to these questions and more await.

Be warned: There's some serious soul-searching going on. Are you ready to go down a road that ends with questioning your life choices on your death bed?

Of course you are.

Hit play.

Let's do this!

Jonathan Banchs is Senior Director of Content & Experience for Momentum Events. He was born in Costa Rica and has lived in Nicaragua for 20 years. He has an interesting life and career story to share and is also a voice of positivity and gratitude. His warmth is contagious.
You don't know Jonathan yet, but he may be just the person you need to hear from at this moment! Valuable wisdom and perspective await in the conversation that officially kicks off season 2 of Starting Artists.

Your host and podcast pal Tony Sadowski pops up with a between-season life and career update. What's been going on during the show hiatus? And, more importantly, what does "creativity" mean to you?
Does art stop belonging to the creator when it is interpreted by an observer and a new story begins?
We're catching up and getting philosophical in this bonus episode. Season 2 is still very much going to happen. Life got in the way, and the show needed a little fine-tuning anyway.
Thanks for listening and subscribing if you do. If you don't, follow Starting Artists wherever you podcast, and catch up on the open and inspiring conversations in Season 1!

Cassandra M. Bailey is the Founder and CEO of Slice Communications, a marketing and communications company in Philadelphia. She is also founder and current chairwoman of Social Media Day, Inc.Entrepreneur, author, thought leader, speaker, organizer, volunteer, mom—Cass is a creative force, an attention-getter, and someone Tony greatly admires.In this season one finale, the two discuss marketing philosophy, leadership styles, work-life balance, working through difficult times, what we learned from our grandparents, the cartoon anarchy of the 1990's, and how much our jobs have changed over the past 20 years.

Tony gets philosophical on your brand with the challenging question of what it might sound like. Sure, we put a lot of thought into the visual elements of a brand. Brand messaging, from mission to key talking points, are hugely important and far more likely to have been given serious thought. But in an increasingly content-focused digital world, the idea of your brand's signature sound is something you may want to take into account.With easily-recognizable examples of audio shorthand and some personal anecdotes from his decades as a promo producer, Tony makes a case for sound branding on this bite-sized but (hopefully) thought-provoking episode.Give it a listen and see (or hear) what you think!Plus: The debut of the official Spec Communications brand chime and a teaser for the guest joining us next time for the season finale.

Calling James F. Wright a writer, while true, doesn't feel like enough words to describe what he does or the various iterations of James that got him where he is today. He has written award-winning comics. He writes video game narratives at Deck Nine Games. He was a producer at NFL Media for 14 years. His path was anything but a straight line! As you'll hear, James fought "work guilt" and struggled at times to find meaning in what he was creating. That's why it feels so good to know he's happy today.Anyone starting out in a creative field, who dreams of creating some work of art, or who has been drifting along and feeling stuck for too long...give this one a listen. It's a great, candid conversation with plenty of wisdom to be gained.The similarities between James and Tony's careers are almost eerie at times!

To every* show, there is a season. That's definitely the case for Starting Artists. Listen up for an announcement about what to expect for the rest of what will become Season One of this podcast, and what I'll be working on during the hiatus.Also, some stats on the most-listened and least-listened episodes, reflections on the season to this point, what I DON'T want Starting Artists to become...and, of course, those lo-fi hip hop grooves you've come to know and love.As always, I'll drop the name of the guest you'll be hearing on episode 16!*not necessarily the case at all

Nigerian-Canadian writer of books and video game narratives Louisa Onomé had a few false starts along her career journey. Nothing nightmarish, some of them quite helpful to her now. But she had it in her mind that she need a "real job," because she didn't know if she'd realistically ever become an author.With two books (Like Home, Twice as Perfect) out on shelves now and more in the works, it's safe to say she's living her dream! But how exactly did she get there?Louisa also grew up loving video games - even interning in marketing for PlayStation - so how did she end up writing narratives for them?All will be revealed in this fun and inspiring conversation.WARNING: This episode contains music from Bust A Groove for the original PlayStation! Proceed with caution and only if you're ready to dance.

Thinking back to my conversation with Sonya Ballantyne last episode, I'm struck by her hard-earned sense of self and ability to bring all of who she is to storytelling.Sonya is doing what she wanted to do. She's seems unstoppable, and I can't wait to see what she does next! I'm also kind of scratching my head over how and when I lost touch with the cocksure, unflappable, ready-for-anything creative I felt I was earlier in my career. I'm still good at what I do. It still comes naturally. But why did I start doubting myself?I dig into the good and bad of Me Being Me at this particular point in my career journey. As I get busier and balance freelance client work with forming longterm business goals for Spec, one thing is clear - I love working in pajama pants.I was who I was.I am who I am.What next?