I interviewed the women in the creative industry I speak with every day about our common connection. Surviving toxic work environments. Jessica a Digital Graphic Designer, Stephanie a Content Specialist and Quality Assurance Specialist, and Carissa Director of Creative Services. We talk about the Bad Place job we met in and the HR nightmare it was. It's important to reflect on how jobs have treated their workers and how as a worker you cary that through to all your other jobs. We talk about that, and tips on getting through it if and when it happens.

I interview the Character design supervisor on Tuca and Bertie (Adult Swim), and my LONG time friend Amanda. We discuss art school and finding ‘our people’ and how to break into a field where it seems like ‘you have to know someone’ Amanda has a lot of great advice for students and career seekers and I felt like I learned a lot from her in our hour. She also shared a ton of resource links I have in the comments section on Patreon and Youtube.

I interview a User Experience Designer, and my friend Eric. We learn about how he got into a field that did not exist when we were in college, and he shares his art school journey with us. Eric is also the AIGA Chicago Mentorship Program Chairperson and the reason why I am like this. He’s very generous in talking about mental health through his successes and struggles through his career. No matter who you are, Eric has some great advice for everyone. 

Knowing how you want to work, is just as important as why you want to work. Working with in any system is not perfect. It can be a huge stressor on a worker. I walk you through what to expect, and help you figure out how to weigh how much you'll deal with at work, before you don't want to deal with it. 

Working is stressful. There are a lot of reasons why. Today I talk about some grounding touch points to help manage stress, and signs to look out for when dealing with stress so you don't bring it home with you, or back to work. 

I explore all the feelings the pandemic left with us about working. How the shift feels, how finding work feels, how creativity feels. It's a strange time.

We finally talk about art school. Is it worth going to? How to we measure its value? What's frustrating about it? We walk through all of it. 

Talking about how the system isn't perfect, and it's difficult for companies, corporations, and clients to measure the value of your creative skills. I talk about building interpersonal skills, and framing your mind to appreciate yourself and appreciate your own value.

We talk about setting up creative boundaries so that you can keep creative joy personally wile also doing creative work for yourself and brands.

Capitalism has another loop hole for us to exploit as creatives. Separate your 'creative money' from your personal money. We'll talk about the perks of becoming a 'business entity' and how the government LOVES that for you.