“Everyone is creative. A creative life requires bravery and action, honesty and hard work. We are here to support you, celebrate with you, and encourage you to make the things you love. We believe in the power of community. We believe in giving a damn. We believe in face-to-face connections, in learning from others, in hugs and high-fives. We bring together people who are driven by passion and purpose, confident that they will inspire one another, and inspire change in neighborhoods and...

“Love is the thing in life that can cause you the most horrific, terrible pain, but it’s also the only thing on the planet that can heal you.” Philanthropist Maggie Doyne spoke at CreativeMornings/NYC in July 2016 to speak on the global theme of Love. In her moving talk, Maggie takes us from New Jersey to the majestic mountains of Nepal where she saw a problem and couldn’t look away. With a meager savings, a big heart, and the support of her community, she built a home for Nepalese children,...

“We connect human-to-human and heart-to-heart by empowering the entire community… and do nothing but love, love, love.” Alan Graham took the stage at in Austin, Texas to speak on the global theme of Fantasy at the 2016 CreativeMornings Summit. In his inspiring talk, Alan shares how and why he ended up building an RV park dedicated to the chronically homeless, complete with an organic urban farm, market, and 500-seat amphitheater. What mustard seed of an idea do you have? What will you do...

“Each time that we are courageous and brave enough to take a risk we're showing to ourselves that we're worth it.” Sarah Hernholm spoke at CreativeMornings/San Diego on the global theme of Risk in April 2016. In her talk, Sarah invites us to imagine what it might look like if we took risks and got over the “what if” moments. Society conditions us to view rejection as a negative and many of us end up making decisions based on fear of rejection. Sarah enlightens us to view rejection...

“The creative work life requires faith—faith in our craft, faith in the process, and the most challenging of all, faith in ourselves.” Self-taught designer Bryan Todd took the stage at CreativeMornings/Louisville in September 2016 to speak on the global theme of Magic. Bryan shares his creative journey as a self-taught designer and insight on how to chase the magic despite the various challenges that come along the way. His story encourages us to commit to the processes that awaken our...

“There is hope. After everything, you are able to survive. Listen to people, ask for help, receive the help. That would be the message… to receive the help. Take it when it’s being offered.” Reeta Kroner took the stage at CreativeMornings/Helsinki in June 2016 to speak on the global theme of Broken. Reeta shares how alcoholism sent her life into a spiral and why she had to break the person she had become. Being honest and facing our pain is the only way to start building a new life. Is...

“There's a larger system that you must learn to address rather than just people and that, I think, is a level of maturity that is very important to reach in learning how to live in the world.” Award-winning writer and blogger, Milisuthando Bongela gracefully took the stage at CreativeMornings/Johannesburg to tackle the global theme of Love. Miss Milli B shares her personal journey of growing through self-love and how it brought it brought her to a place where she learned to love others. She...

“If you want to have a happy, successful, fulfilling, confident life, you have to commit yourself to take care of the people around you.” Simon Sinek returned to the CreativeMornings stage to speak on the global theme of Transparency at the CreativeMornings/San Diego stage in October 2016. In his talk, Simon shares refreshing insights on millennials, technology, and the importance of empathy in good leadership. We flourish when we're seen, when our work matters, and when we connect with and...

“Do anything that you can possibly do in life to figure out the best way for you to become exactly what you want to be.” Speaking on the global theme of Action, Jecorey “1200” Arthur took the stage at CreativeMornings/Louisville in August 2015. Jecorey shared his personal journey of creative discovery and how he built confidence through blending his four passions — education, composition, performance, and curation. Do you have more than one passion that makes you tick? This episode was...

“The greatest form of humility is to take your talent and put it in the service of other people.” Creative strategist Justin Kingsley delivered a captivating talk on the power of remaining true to one’s values and dreams. He spoke on the global theme of Humility at CreativeMornings/Montréal in April 2015. By reframing humility, Justin encourages us to dream big, aim high, and to use our talents to serve the world with excellence. This episode was made possible by our friends at SiteGround...

“I think as a society we should move away from acts of balance and more toward acts of wholeness.” Katherine Wintsch spoke on the global theme of Broken at CreativeMornings/Richmond in June 2016, sharing her journey from broken to whole. In her humorous and down-to-earth talk, Katherine talks about why bigger isn’t better, how rejection can be a blessing, and much more. It’s possible to be successful in the eyes of others while being completely unhappy. We owe it to ourselves to stop...

“Today and going forward, the risk of separation is so much greater than the risk of connection.” John Zinsser took the stage at CreativeMornings/Charleston in April 2016 to speak on the global theme of Risk. In his talk, John opens our eyes to some of the risks that shape our day-to-day lives and invites us to think about what risks we’re willing to take for our creative selves, communities, environments, and more. This episode was made possible by our friends at TRY Studio, Audible, and...

"If we are going to change the world, we have to be open to the perspectives of what other people are going through — whether you've experienced it firsthand or not.” Speaking on the global theme of Love, Holley Murchison took the stage at CreativeMornings/San Francisco in July 2016 to share 8 lessons in love that she’s learned so far on her journey in changing education and communication. In divisive times, the acts of love we commit to now are more important than they’ve ever been. Are you...

"Creative people are being asked to work on really important problems, problems that matter in the world, and the good news is we’re coming up with new-to-the-world solutions, and so it’s a really good time to be a designer.” Speaking on the global theme of Freedom, David Kelley took the stage at CreativeMornings/New York in May 2014 to speak on the design revolution. Designers now have the respect and freedom to make a difference. Championing for design to be more inclusive in its meaning,...

“I think it’s everyone’s birth right. Allowing yourself to find the things that you love and dedicating your life to doing them.” In this talk from CreativeMornings/Los Angeles in May 2014, the renowned musician, DJ, author, photographer and activist, Moby, shares with us his thoughts on the theme of creative freedom. From an early childhood that encouraged creativity to finding his true calling and achieving worldwide success, Moby has learned quite a bit about how pursuing your passion...

"Take a chance and try some things you didn't try because that may be the thing that works for you." With a style that is as abrasive as it is welcoming, Emmanuel ’DDm’ Moss is one of the most idiosyncratic voices on the burgeoning Baltimore City rap scene. The Baltimore native, who made his name on the local battle rap circuit, manages to straddle the fence between cool kid and weirdo with a charming accessibility. In this CreativeMornings/DC talk from January 2016, DDm tells us how he got...

I'm not afraid to die. What I'm afraid of is becoming irrelevant, or invisible in my culture and in my society today.” Speaking on the global theme of “shock” in this CreativeMornings/Austin event from October 2015, Aralyn Hughes, a pioneer for women’s rights and self-proclaimed “Queen of Weird,” takes us on a colorful, poignant, and shocking journey through her incredible life. Whether it was teaching students about sex in a time when such topics were taboo, being among the first women in...

"I felt that I'd taken the easy road. Never one to set up camp in regret, I found myself face to face with giant, seemingly insurmountable, regret. I suddenly realized I had been wasting time." In this CreativeMornings/Toronto talk from December 2015, writer and artist Teva Harrison shares with us the lessons she's learned since being diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Among her biggest realization is the concept of time and how to seize it. Since her diagnosis, Teva has written and...

“The first step is being able to admit that you have a dream.” In this CreativeMornings/Chicago talk from May 2014, Dallas Clayton, a children’s book author and illustrator, public speaker, mural painter, and adventure seeker, shares some of his “kid lessons” based on a few life lessons he’s learned along the way. Whether it's figuring out what you dream about, putting yourself in situations where you have new experiences, or taking common experiences and making them a little bit more...

“It is only when you can name your prison that you can do the terrifying, but life affirming and necessary work of setting yourself free.” Katie Ford went to prison thinking it was her job to inspire the women there. A writer by trade, she volunteered to teach a writing workshop to incarcerated women, downloading classroom rubrics from the Internet and hoping to apply herself to something a little bit more meaningful. What she got was so much more. In helping incarcerated women write the...

"Starting work without a contract is like putting on a condom after taking a home pregnancy test." Mike Monteiro is the co-founder and design director of Mule Design, the company he co-founded 17 years ago. Mike writes and speaks frequently about the craft and business of design and extensively covers the topic of client services in his work. In this CreativeMornings/San Francisco talk from March 2011, Mike shares his no-nonsense and very practical advice on how to navigate through the...

"It's not about what you stand against, but what you stand for." Aisha Fukushima, a singer, speaker, educator, and activist, strongly believes that love work is the most ideal work. For her, it appears at the nexus of happiness and purpose, and is manifested by her work in RAPtivism, her global hip hop project spanning 10 countries and four continents. It highlights the ways culture can contribute to universal efforts for social justice by challenging oppression with creative expression....

“Embracing and provoking conflict is one of the best things you can do for the creative process." Rochelle King is VP of Data, Insights and Design at Spotify where she manages the teams that are responsible for analytics, user research and designing the product experience. Data and design are often seen as opposing forces, but she’s found that by experiencing conflict at their intersection she has pushed her creative process forward. In this talk from CreativeMornings/Stockholm in November...

“I am doing something about what everybody knows and nobody ever speaks about." Cindy Gallop, an advertising expert and business consultant who characterizes her approach as 'I like to blow s**t up. I am the Michael Bay of business,’ is passionate about changing the way the world talks about sex. She founded MakeLoveNotPorn to do just that. It is a user-generated video sharing platform that aims to make real world sex, and make the conversation about it socially acceptable and socially...