Innovation & Creativity Institute

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Innovation & Creativity Institute I help entrepreneurs claim their creativity & voice and build exceptional, aligned enterprises.

10/13/2026

Trade the mirror for a pencil and let your imagination play.

In this episode of The Courage to Live a Big Life, we dive into how constant self-scrutiny detaches us from who we truly are, and how a playful sketching exercise can completely dismantle perfectionism.

By treating our faces as an evolving map of our life stories rather than a fixed target for criticism, we can unlock a deep sense of self-compassion. We stop looking for perfection and start looking for poetry.

Let’s release our creative blocks, engage our subconscious minds, and discover the rhythmic, freehand path to seeing ourselves as a masterpiece of lived experiences.

Listen now: https://tinyurl.com/sfufd5mh

Am on a real sculpture kick. And just like Magic, I’ve been introduced to a museum in Paris that houses the most unique ...
10/13/2026

Am on a real sculpture kick. And just like Magic, I’ve been introduced to a museum in Paris that houses the most unique and beguiling works. 😍

Resentment is a map. It reveals where we have abandoned ourselves to keep the peace, meet expectations, and hold togethe...
10/08/2026

Resentment is a map. It reveals where we have abandoned ourselves to keep the peace, meet expectations, and hold together lives that break our hearts.

Beneath that bitterness lies a silenced need, a boundary we were too afraid to honor, or a longing for a life that feels like our own again.

Reclaiming ourselves does not require us to blow up our lives. It begins in a single, honest moment—one small act of self-trust, one decision to stop turning away from what we know deep down. The way out opens the moment we listen to the part of us that never stopped asking for more.

We are allowed to want a different life. We are allowed to choose ourselves. And we are allowed to build something new, one brave, imperfect step at a time.

https://tinyurl.com/4u6amnz8

10/07/2026

There's a moment that changed the entire direction of my career, and I can still remember exactly where I was sitting when it happened. 💡

On , I take you back to grad school in 2005, when my class was introduced to a design firm called IDEO. The top of my head came off, and I've been obsessed with innovation and creativity ever since.
Listen in: https://tinyurl.com/3zr7vwh2

10/06/2026

A beautiful life is born from the accumulation of tiny choices that have enormous ramifications. It is the art of learning that we do not have to merely inherit the days we are given. In fact, we can design them from scratch.

In this episode of The Courage to Live a Big Life, I trace a line of memory from the timeless wisdom my dad shared with me years ago in his luxury boutique to a recent, sumptuous experience in a sunlit shop in Paris.

Let's remember that beauty is an intimacy we practice. It lives in the slow conversations that alter the texture of an afternoon, the places that make the heart expand, and the fierce courage it takes to protect our capacity for joy.

If you have been waiting for a sign to rearrange your world, let this be it. We are allowed to rewrite the rhythm of our days, to decide what no longer belongs, and to make room for magic and wonder.

Listen now: https://tinyurl.com/sfufd5mh



https://tinyurl.com/3phb9ys8

When actor Domhnall Gleeson was cast in Taylor Swift’s "Opalite" music video, he didn't feel confident about the dancing...
10/01/2026

When actor Domhnall Gleeson was cast in Taylor Swift’s "Opalite" music video, he didn't feel confident about the dancing. So, he practiced the choreography until he knew every single move.

But despite all that preparation, when the cameras rolled, he still had to let go of the steps and just go for it.

Taylor noticed. She told him to "full send," reminding him that the exact moves mattered less than trusting himself and staying in the moment. The very next take was the one they used.

There’s a powerful lesson here for anyone standing at the edge of a big decision, a new idea, or a fresh chapter. Preparation matters. But eventually, we have to stop preparing and start living it.

Fear and uncertainty might still be there, but they don't get to dictate what happens next.

Our best next move? Trusting ourselves enough to commit and go all in.

Read more and commit today: https://tinyurl.com/u8fvd8bn

09/30/2026

Self-doubt has a funny way of convincing brilliant people that they're not creative. I see it constantly with the entrepreneurs, creators, and visionary leaders I work with.

On the , I break down how I help people move past that stuck feeling and reconnect with the creativity that's already inside them, so they can finally unlock their full entrepreneurial potential.

If that sounds like exactly what you need right now, give it a listen. 🎧
Full episode: https://tinyurl.com/3zr7vwh2

09/29/2026

We can spend so much of our lives surrounded by what we know that knowing itself can become a form of blindness. Until one day, something interrupts the familiar and invites us to see the world, and perhaps ourselves, with fresh eyes.

This is what happened in the summer of 1905 to Henri Matisse in Collioure, France, where the extraordinary light, vivid colors, and shimmering Mediterranean landscape opened something in him that had become constricted by the rules and expectations of his creative life in Paris.

He found a different way of seeing, and that new way of seeing became a new way of feeling, a new freedom in his work, and a new understanding of what was possible.

In this episode of The Courage to Live a Big Life, we explore how the same may be true for us. Perhaps reinvention begins, not by abandoning everything we know, but by allowing beauty, presence, and a shift in perception to loosen the boundaries of the life we have been imagining.

Sometimes the life we think is impossible is not far away at all. It is simply waiting for us to see it differently, and then to have the courage to embrace what we can finally see.

Listen now: https://tinyurl.com/sfufd5mh

Drinking coffee and reading all the lovely messages from readers. Apparently, yesterday’s newsletter really struck a cho...
09/26/2026

Drinking coffee and reading all the lovely messages from readers. Apparently, yesterday’s newsletter really struck a chord, and I am beyond thrilled!

I have been sent journal notes, descriptions of breakthroughs, and a chorus of emails highlighting relief at last.

One reader had goosebumps as she read. Another found the energy and willingness to do the thing she’s wanted to do for over three years. And yet another said he now has the clarity to commit to what he’s dabbled in for way too long.

I will always love the romance of slipping a message into a bottle, casting it into the sea, and wondering whose shores it will eventually call home.

(If you’d like to get my free Friday newsletter, please join us by signing up via the link in my bio.) See ya soon. 🩷

Growing up working in my dad's luxury retail shop taught me that beauty lives in the details, whether in a perfectly wra...
09/24/2026

Growing up working in my dad's luxury retail shop taught me that beauty lives in the details, whether in a perfectly wrapped package, an unexpected moment of delight, or the way we choose to experience an ordinary day.

This past week in Paris, watching a shopkeeper beautifully wrap my purchases transported me straight back to my childhood and reminded me of the wisdom my dad lived and taught: if we cannot find exactly what we love, we have the power to create it.

We know how we want to live, what we want our days to feel like, and what we want to make room for in our lives. Do our choices reflect that vision?

Remember: We get to design and redesign, one decision, one experience, and one beautifully intentional detail at a time.

Start actively designing yours today: https://tinyurl.com/3uwa3npe

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