The Creative Life Show

Amrit Singh was a jobbing designer when a friend introduced him to the live-streaming app Periscope. In just 2 years he's attracted over 3 million viewers watching his live art and inspiration sessions. It's led to his own thriving art business, an international career as a speaker, two books and big-name clients queuing up to book him.

Amrit shares the story behind his apparently meteoric success, including the self-doubts that made him hide his face and his own art on camera for over a year.

Amrit Singh tells me about the huge leap of faith in himself it took to start going public. Rather than diving deep in, he slowly developed what he was doing as he gained confidence.

We talk about:

* The racism and prejudice Amrit experienced online, and how he turned that into a positive

* How he used Periscope to build a loyal, enthusiastic following that allowed him to launch his art brand

* Why he didn't share the art that was most important to him for over a year

* How he keeps the joy in his creative work, even when he's doing it live for an audience

* How being a positive voice in the world is at the core of all his work

This is a fantastic, inspiring listen if you've ever felt that you should be more visible, but you're too young/old, you're the wrong colour/gender/face shape, you hair/face/head-wear isn't appropriate, or whatever else is getting in the way of your real potential.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

You’ve got a huge vision for a creative, project, you know you have the skills, and you get fantastic feedback – and then all the people in positions of power try to change everything about it. What do you do? You go and build a community of the people who do believe in it.

Filmmaker Elena Rossini spent 8 years making her critically acclaimed film on the global beauty industry, The Illusionsists, 6 of those with nothing but rejections.

We talk about how TV studios told her they loved what she was doing – but wanted to replace her with a man. How they wanted to replace all the experts and thinkers so important to her with celebrities instead. How the film festivals rejected her continually. And how she found her own path to building, crowdfunding and launching a film that has been shown around the world, and which has put her on international stages as a guest and speaker.

There’s so much other great stuff too, including:

The business she launched within 24 hours

How she attracted interest from high-profile celebrities to support The Illusionists, including Stephen Fry

How she used Twitter to build a community that supported her at every step – from introductions to funding

How women are continually underrepresented in film, and Elena’s determination to change it

Click to view: show page on Awesound

You’ve got a huge vision for a creative, project, you know you have the skills, and you get fantastic feedback – and then all the people in positions of power try to change everything about it. What do you do? You go and build a community of the people who do believe in it.

Filmmaker Elena Rossini spent 8 years making her critically acclaimed film on the global beauty industry, The Illusionsists, 6 of those with nothing but rejections.

We talk about how TV studios told her they loved what she was doing – but wanted to replace her with a man. How they wanted to replace all the experts and thinkers so important to her with celebrities instead. How the film festivals rejected her continually. And how she found her own path to building, crowdfunding and launching a film that has been shown around the world, and which has put her on international stages as a guest and speaker.

There’s so much other great stuff too, including:

The business she launched within 24 hours

How she attracted interest from high-profile celebrities to support The Illusionists, including Stephen Fry

How she used Twitter to build a community that supported her at every step – from introductions to funding

How women are continually underrepresented in film, and Elena’s determination to change it

Click to view: show page on Awesound

You’ve got a huge vision for a creative, project, you know you have the skills, and you get fantastic feedback – and then all the people in positions of power try to change everything about it. What do you do? You go and build a community of the people who do believe in it.

Filmmaker Elena Rossini spent 8 years making her critically acclaimed film on the global beauty industry, The Illusionsists, 6 of those with nothing but rejections.

We talk about how TV studios told her they loved what she was doing – but wanted to replace her with a man. How they wanted to replace all the experts and thinkers so important to her with celebrities instead. How the film festivals rejected her continually. And how she found her own path to building, crowdfunding and launching a film that has been shown around the world, and which has put her on international stages as a guest and speaker.

There’s so much other great stuff too, including:

The business she launched within 24 hours

How she attracted interest from high-profile celebrities to support The Illusionists, including Stephen Fry

How she used Twitter to build a community that supported her at every step – from introductions to funding

How women are continually underrepresented in film, and Elena’s determination to change it

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Creatives work best when they collaborate, right? And isn’t it the ideal to work with a friend you know and like? Jordan Lloyd’s work as a highly specialist photography colourist relies on strong relationships, but he’s learnt the hard way. He shares the story of a journey into entrepreneurship with a friend that went disastrously wrong, and the crucial difference between working with a friend, and working with someone likeminded who becomes a friend.

We also talk about Jordan’s work bringing to life extraordinary historic images. How do you go about recreating something that we know only in sepia tones?

* Why Jordan doesn’t see himself as an artist, but instead getting into the mind of the photographer who created the original image

* The role of aesthetic judgment in his work

* The hours of detailed research that goes into just one picture – from advertising archives to museum shelves

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Creatives work best when they collaborate, right? And isn’t it the ideal to work with a friend you know and like? Jordan Lloyd’s work as a highly specialist photography colourist relies on strong relationships, but he’s learnt the hard way. He shares the story of a journey into entrepreneurship with a friend that went disastrously wrong, and the crucial difference between working with a friend, and working with someone likeminded who becomes a friend.

We also talk about Jordan’s work bringing to life extraordinary historic images. How do you go about recreating something that we know only in sepia tones?

* Why Jordan doesn’t see himself as an artist, but instead getting into the mind of the photographer who created the original image

* The role of aesthetic judgment in his work

* The hours of detailed research that goes into just one picture – from advertising archives to museum shelves

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Creatives work best when they collaborate, right? And isn’t it the ideal to work with a friend you know and like? Jordan Lloyd’s work as a highly specialist photography colourist relies on strong relationships, but he’s learnt the hard way. He shares the story of a journey into entrepreneurship with a friend that went disastrously wrong, and the crucial difference between working with a friend, and working with someone likeminded who becomes a friend.

We also talk about Jordan’s work bringing to life extraordinary historic images. How do you go about recreating something that we know only in sepia tones?

* Why Jordan doesn’t see himself as an artist, but instead getting into the mind of the photographer who created the original image

* The role of aesthetic judgment in his work

* The hours of detailed research that goes into just one picture – from advertising archives to museum shelves

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Geetika Agrawal has possibly the coolest business ever. Vacation with an Artist connects artists and craftspeople around the world with curious, engaged travellers who want to immerse themselves in learning or deepening a skill.

She'd been dreaming about it for years, and a place on a work/travel programme gave the chance she wanted. But, three months into a year-long trip round the world, signing up artists and preparing to launch, she froze.

Geetika and I talk about hitting the crisis point that's so easy to reach in a creative business, when you've got multiple ideas, different partners, big ideas, but you're still only human. You'll also find out:

* How YouTube and singing got Geetika through an immediate crisis

* How she deliberately simplified her environment so she could use her focus for the thing that mattered

* The importance of the right support system - and how it wasn't necessarily the one that Geetika thought was important

* The headache of finding a name for her business - and what to do when everyone hates what you love

We also talk about how it feels to launch a creative business that you've been working on for months - and how it isn't necessarily the big triumph it feels it should be.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Geetika Agrawal has possibly the coolest business ever. Vacation with an Artist connects artists and craftspeople around the world with curious, engaged travellers who want to immerse themselves in learning or deepening a skill.

She'd been dreaming about it for years, and a place on a work/travel programme gave the chance she wanted. But, three months into a year-long trip round the world, signing up artists and preparing to launch, she froze.

Geetika and I talk about hitting the crisis point that's so easy to reach in a creative business, when you've got multiple ideas, different partners, big ideas, but you're still only human. You'll also find out:

* How YouTube and singing got Geetika through an immediate crisis

* How she deliberately simplified her environment so she could use her focus for the thing that mattered

* The importance of the right support system - and how it wasn't necessarily the one that Geetika thought was important

* The headache of finding a name for her business - and what to do when everyone hates what you love

We also talk about how it feels to launch a creative business that you've been working on for months - and how it isn't necessarily the big triumph it feels it should be.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Geetika Agrawal has possibly the coolest business ever. Vacation with an Artist connects artists and craftspeople around the world with curious, engaged travellers who want to immerse themselves in learning or deepening a skill.

She'd been dreaming about it for years, and a place on a work/travel programme gave the chance she wanted. But, three months into a year-long trip round the world, signing up artists and preparing to launch, she froze.

Geetika and I talk about hitting the crisis point that's so easy to reach in a creative business, when you've got multiple ideas, different partners, big ideas, but you're still only human. You'll also find out:

* How YouTube and singing got Geetika through an immediate crisis

* How she deliberately simplified her environment so she could use her focus for the thing that mattered

* The importance of the right support system - and how it wasn't necessarily the one that Geetika thought was important

* The headache of finding a name for her business - and what to do when everyone hates what you love

We also talk about how it feels to launch a creative business that you've been working on for months - and how it isn't necessarily the big triumph it feels it should be.

Click to view: show page on Awesound