Under the Current

Taneshia Nash Laird is a social change agent and community developer with a pretty incredible resume.

She's served as the Executive Director of the Arts Council of Princeton, notably as the first person of color in that role. She's been the Director of Economic Development for the city of Trenton New Jersey; and co-founded Legendary Eats in LA's Staples Center alongside NBA legend James Worthy. With her late husband Roland, Taneshia she also co-founded MIST Harlem, a popular entertainment center in New York City.

She was also a special government employee during the Obama Administration, and her nonprofit board service has included the the Advocates for New Jersey History, Artpride, and the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.

Today, Taneshia is the President and CEO of Newark Symphony Hall, a historic performing arts center, currently undergoing a $40 million renovation, including a huge neighborhood revitalization project called Symphony Works.

Widowed in 2013 and a pink lady warrior since an early stage breast cancer diagnosis in 2019, above all these achievements Taneshia is most proud of being a mother to two young daughters.

In this conversation we talk about lessons from The Great Depression that can help move today's world forward; how to stay resilient when selling; the misconceptions around arts organizations;  her hopes for the next generation; and how to come back towards a dream that's been deferred.

Show Notes:

02:30: The city of Newark, its history, and its cultural institutions

07:00: What it’s like to take over running a 90+ year old arts organization

13:00: Taking ideas from recovery after The Great Depression and mapping them to 2020

21:00: Misconceptions of the operation of a nonprofit arts organization

24:00: Life’s a Pitch - how to sell, and stay positive and resilient

31:00: Seeing, touching, and deferring dreams

37:00: 4 parts of a daily practice, and coming back to the work each day

47:00: The meaning of purpose, impact, and legacy

55:00: Lessons from 2020

61:00: Taneshia’s peak moments to date

69:00: The importance of bringing others into the room

From his first release on XL Recordings in 1990, through to being called 'The Baron of Techno' by legendary BBC Radio 1 presenter John Peel; to his most recent project with classical musician Mathilde Marsal, and continuing to eschew trends in an industry that has a new flavor of the month almost every week - you can't pin down Dave Clarke as just another dance music producer and DJ.

Show notes:

04:00: The current mood in Amsterdam, and the Dutch approach to tackling Covid-19

08:30: Dave’s shift in focus in 2020, and taking the time to recover

15:00: Engineering as procrastination

17:30: Working with classical musicians

23:45: Professional environments

27:00: Long-lasting relationships, and staying consistent over a long period of time

30:15: What does punk does - and doesn’t - mean

34:30: What happens next for electronic music

38:30: The path forward for the younger generation of artists

41:00: The draw of radio

45:45: Following technology, and improving the work

50:00: Managing the balance of introvert and extrovert

54:00: Untangling hard work, skill, talent, and luck

57:00: Hope for the future - politically-driven music, and shifts in social media

Luciana is the founder of fashion brand Naissant - a womenswear line that takes a modular approach to female accessories.  

Coming from a family of Argentinian architects, Luciana has a unique perspective on product design, and balancing form and function. We talk about the importance of the women in her life, going from prototype to products, and why big cities matter.

Show notes:

03:45: The first few weeks post-launch

06:00: Conversations around the family table

10:00: Growing up in a architects’ family in Argentina

18:15: Feeling different, and the impact of big cities

21:45: Understanding London’s fashion hub

38:30: Being underestimated by the institutions, and underestimating NYC

43:00: Dealing with uncertainty of being a founder

47:30: Balancing creativity and business

52:00: Aspects of architecture in fashion

57:15: How do you know when something is working, even in prototype phase?

64:00: The importance of the muse

69:00: The impact of women on the work

Links:

- Naissant

- Naissant Instagram

Joey Cofone is co-founder of Baronfig - a company that makes tools for thinking.

We talk about the mirage of failure, recognising the spectrum of what’s difficult, and alternative approaches to rebranding. Joey also explains what designs means to him, and why he doesn't identify with most of today's design industry.

Show Notes:

02:15: Learnings from two Luigis

10:00: Developing a love of books

13:00: Rebranding Prince - in an unexpected way

21:00: What design means, and the fracture between two types of design

28:30: Bringing literature into design school

36:00: The catalyst for Baronfig

39:30: Dealing with the unknown between Kickstarter and a ‘real’ business

42:30: What failure really means

48:30: The spectrum of difficult, and dealing with tragedy

52:00: Are things fated? Exploring fate vs. free will

56:30: Framing lack of fate in an empowering way

57:30: Going remote in 2020

65:00: What a notebook does for its owner

70:00: Why video games are the ultimate form of creative expression

73:00: How school needs to change post-pandemic

Links:

- Baronfig

- Joey Cofone 

To be human in the information age is to experience deep-seated tension. Many of us feel what seems to be a constant pressure to iterate, ideate and innovate. 

To strive, do better, think bigger, be more productive. To be creative, entrepreneurial, do work that matters. To make an impact.

We exist in a constant overdose of information, yet we're also starving for meaningful engagement.

Being given co-ordinates and directives to follow is reassuring, but they're straight lines on the surface: a version of where someone else thinks we should go, or a smoothed out narrative that can mislead us when we seek to follow it. 

A path to the secret, when the secret doesn't really exist.

In today's tsunami of information and ideas, we need something different to help us move through the waves.

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Under the Current is a podcast that seeks to amplify the stories behind the life and work of creative people who come at things in unconventional ways.

They’re globetrotting DJs and design studio owners; magazine publishers and makeup artists; comedy writers and chefs.

Like you, like me,  they're all out there in the world - and they're in it - right now.

I hope the ideas, stories and challenges they share will help provide some fuel for your journey, whichever waves you're riding.

Hope you see on board.