Maegan Gindi on the Art of Connection, ‘Shots at the Rally’, and Moving Through Grief

Maegan Gindi on the Art of Connection, ‘Shots at the Rally’, and Moving Through Grief

Maegan Gindi sees herself as an artist first, with photography as her primary medium. In this conversation, we trace her journey from starting with disposable cameras at age twelve in Brooklyn to shooting commissioned celebrity portraits. Maegan shares the story behind Shots at the Rally, the self-funded project that launched her career by referencing Richard Avedon’s In the American West to capture political supporters. We dig into the high-stakes reality of a 5-minute celebrity shoot, why she’s leaning into directing, and her deeply personal project In Conversation with Death. It’s a look at what it takes to build a sustainable creative life while staying true to a timeless, empathetic vision. About the Guest: Maegan Gindi is a New York and LA-based photographer, director, and artist whose work focuses on the intersection of human connection and cerebral, timeless aesthetics. With a background in art history, she has built a career that spans high-stakes commercial assignments and deeply personal fine art projects. Her client list includes The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, and Louis Vuitton. Beyond the lens, Maegan is a community builder, hosting quarterly critique groups and fostering collaboration across the creative industry. Her work is characterized by a "sleek sensibility coupled with grit"—a nod to her Brooklyn roots. She is currently exploring the medium of audio-portraiture and directing, while continuing to develop her long-term series In Conversation With. Episode Highlights: * The Vegas detour: Using a move to the desert to repair a relationship with her father through photography and audio * Why a portrait where someone isn't smiling is actually harder to get than it used to be * The “adrenaline-addicted” personality type required to thrive in commercial production * 85% vs 15%: The honest ratio of business admin to creative flow state * Dealing with “no chill” moments and why being equals with celebrity subjects is essential for the shot * Her definition of failure: It’s not a rough quarter or a shifting industry—it’s stopping Connect with Maegan Gindi Website: www.maegangindi.com [https://www.maegangindi.com] Instagram: @maegangindi [http://www.instagram.com/maegangindi] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing: * Website: wordofmouthcreative.co [http://wordofmouthcreative.co] * Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection Get the Word of Mouth monthly newsletter! https://www.wordofmouthcreative.co/newsletter Check out the April edition of the Word of Mouth Mixtape! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2roZNrEDcmkoKCV7bkwJvP?si=5a04f721155140cf Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend! Credits Edited by Cai Indermaur [https://cai-indermaur.com/] Music by John Michael Rouchell [https://www.hereintheblueroom.com/about]

Mona Shomali Highlights: Author, Visual Artist, and Youth Educator on Why Dreaming Has to Come First

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams pulls three moments from her conversation with Mona Shomali — author, visual artist, and director of a Youth Environmental Leadership Program. Between each clip, Sarah shares her own perspective on the creative process and connects Mona's insights to her approach to building authentic, human-centered creative work. This episode covers what it actually takes to get a book into the world on your own terms, why dreaming has to come before doing, and what technology and Western isolation are quietly costing us — creatively and as humans. Featured Highlights 1. The 180 Nos — What 180 rejections did to Mona's sense of self, how one conversation helped her reframe it, and why building your own publishing infrastructure isn't settling — it's strategy 2. Before Reality Shuts You Down — Why dreaming has to come first, what Mona's youth program has taught her about keeping creative possibility alive, and the danger of closing the window before it's even open 3. Too Afraid to Be Human — What phoneless activities and indigenous community structures reveal about Western isolation, why no one dances anymore, and why showing up imperfectly is both a creative and a human necessity About the Guest: Mona Shomali is an author, visual artist, and director of a Berkeley-based youth environmental leadership program. She spent a decade teaching International Relations at three New York universities, where she led courses on Indigenous human rights in the Amazon, resource conflicts in the developing world, and international environmental governance — and took students to live with the Makushi people in Guyana. Her debut novel, Water Mamas: A Novel of Climate, Spirituality, and Indigenous Human Rights, follows a UN environmental scientist navigating a clash between a proposed geoengineering project and the indigenous communities whose land — and spirits — would be affected. It's a book that reads like a thriller and teaches like a course. The cover is Mona's own painting — a work she envisioned before the novel was even finished. Get Water Mamas on ⁠Bookshop.org⁠ [https://bookshop.org/p/books/water-mamas-a-novel-of-climate-spirituality-and-indigenous-human-rights-mona-shomali/d9fa96d3d16e0ea1?ean=9798218838676&next=t] or ⁠Amazon⁠ [https://www.amazon.com/Water-Mamas-Climate-Spirituality-Indigenous/dp/B0FR3LRTFV/]. Also available through the IngramSpark catalog — request it at any independent bookstore near you. Connect with Mona Shomali Website: www.monashomali.com [www.monashomali.com] Substack: monashomali.substack.com [monashomali.substack.com] Instagram: @monashomali_ [https://www.instagram.com/monashomali_] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing: * Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection * wordofmouthcreative.co⁠ [http://wordofmouthcreative.co/] Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend! Credits Edited by Cai Indermaur [https://cai-indermaur.com/] Music by John Michael Rouchell [https://www.hereintheblueroom.com/about]

Mona Shomali on Writing ‘Water Mamas’, Self-Publishing, and Keeping Creative Possibility Alive

Mona Shomali spent years as a professor of International Relations teaching courses on Indigenous human rights, resource conflicts, and environmental governance — and she had a book's worth of material to show for it. The problem was, nobody wanted to read it. In this conversation, Mona shares how she transformed a dense, unreadable nonfiction manuscript into Water Mamas, her debut climate fiction novel. We get into the five-year editorial journey, what it took to survive 180 rejections, and the collaborators who made self-publishing not just possible but excellent. We explore how her background as a visual artist shapes the way she writes — including the painting that became the book's cover. And we dig into what her work with youth has taught her about keeping the dreaming alive before reality shuts it down, and what technology and Western isolation are quietly costing us. About the Guest: Mona Shomali is a visual artist, author, and director of a Berkeley-based youth environmental leadership program. She spent a decade teaching International Relations at three New York universities, where she led courses on Indigenous human rights in the Amazon, resource conflicts in the developing world, and international environmental governance — and took students to live with the Makushi people in Guyana. Her debut novel, Water Mamas: A Novel of Climate, Spirituality, and Indigenous Human Rights, follows a UN environmental scientist navigating a clash between a proposed geoengineering project and the indigenous communities whose land — and spirits — would be affected. It's a book that reads like a thriller and teaches like a course. The cover is Mona's own painting — a work she envisioned before the novel was even finished. Episode Highlights * From art major to Amazon obsession: how an environmental studies class changed everything * The pivot from nonfiction to fiction — merging the academic mind with the creative one * The painting on the cover: Death in the Forest, the Yanomami, and why the trees are bleeding * 180 rejections, one botched yes, and the Reddit thread that pointed toward self-publishing * Building a creative team you love: editor Dana, book designer April, and what great collaboration actually looks like * The IngramSpark strategy that got Water Mamas into Barnes & Noble, the Strand, and indie bookstores nationwide * What Mona can control in a painting that she can't control in prose — and vice versa * Working with young people who haven't reached the place where reality shuts them down — and what that does for her own creativity * What success looks like now: contentment, not benchmarks Connect with Mona Shomali Get Water Mamas at ⁠Bookshop.org⁠ [https://bookshop.org/p/books/water-mamas-a-novel-of-climate-spirituality-and-indigenous-human-rights-mona-shomali/d9fa96d3d16e0ea1?ean=9798218838676&next=t], ⁠Amazon⁠ [https://www.amazon.com/Water-Mamas-Climate-Spirituality-Indigenous/dp/B0FR3LRTFV/], or request it at your local independent bookstore. Website: monashomali.com [https://www.monashomali.com] Substack: monashomali.substack.com [https://monashomali.substack.com] Instagram: @monashomali_ [https://www.instagram.com/monashomali_] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing: * Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection * wordofmouthcreative.co⁠ [http://wordofmouthcreative.co] Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend! Credits: Edited by Cai Indermaur [https://cai-indermaur.com/]. Music by John Michael Rouchell [https://www.hereintheblueroom.com/about]

Highlights: Alicia J. Rose, director of Menopunks documentary and podcast

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features key insights from her conversation with Alicia J. Rose, a Portland-based multi-disciplinary artist whose three-decade career proves that vulnerability and empathy are creative superpowers, not weaknesses. Alicia's candid reflections on rejection sensitivity dysphoria, building creative community, and her upcoming documentary “Menopunks” and new podcast offer essential lessons for any creative professional navigating self-doubt, collaboration, and the intersection of personal health and creative potential. Between each highlight, Sarah shares her own perspective on humanizing the creative process, connecting Alicia's experiences to her approach to building authentic creative work that serves community over ego and transforms challenges into strategic advantages. Featured Highlights: 1. Empathy as Creative Superpower - Why sensitivity and empathy aren't weaknesses to overcome but essential tools for creating meaningful art 2. Documentary Process Flexibility - How Alicia's approach to filmmaking evolved from commercial work to documentary storytelling, and why following the story is more important than controlling it 3. Building Creative Community and Support Systems - The long game of building goodwill in creative communities and why staying in Portland instead of moving to LA or New York was Alicia's most strategic career decision Want more than just these highlights? Check out the full conversation episode! [https://open.spotify.com/episode/6F7mQ4MkdgjF9CNkBJr9Mi?si=762af1c262a04032] Connect with Alicia J. Rose: * Website: ⁠menopunks.com⁠ [https://www.menopunks.com], ⁠aliciajrose.com⁠ [https://www.aliciajrose.com] * Instagram: ⁠@ajrhq⁠ [https://instagram.com/ajrhq], ⁠@menopunks⁠ [https://instagram.com/menopunks], ⁠@party_witch⁠ [https://instagram.com/party_witch], ⁠@girlsintroublemusic⁠ [https://instagram.com/girlsintroublemusic] * Podcast: ⁠Menopunks podcast⁠ [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/menopunks-podcast/id1850818416] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing: * Website: wordofmouthcreative.co [http://wordofmouthcreative.co] * Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. Rate and Review: If this episode resonated with you, please rate the show and share it with another creative who might benefit from Alicia's insights.

Alicia J. Rose on Building Menopunks, Hormonal Optimization, and Revolutionary Art

In this deeply personal conversation with Alicia J. Rose, we explore what it means to transform vulnerability into creative power. Alicia shares her journey through RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria), ADHD, and imposter syndrome—revealing how embracing sensitivity rather than hiding it became her greatest asset. We dig into the genesis of her upcoming documentary "Menopunks," which examines how 23 years of HRT (hormone replacement therapy) misinformation has systematically disempowered Gen X women's creative potential. Alicia explains what hormonal optimization unlocked in her own creative practice, why she believes the medical establishment's treatment of menopause connects to broader political power, and how building goodwill within creative communities creates lasting impact that transcends individual recognition. About the Guest: Alicia J. Rose is a Portland-based filmmaker, photographer, musician, and cultural curator whose three-decade career has shaped the Pacific Northwest music community. From her early days as Miss Murgatroid playing avant-garde accordion to her current work with Party Witch, Alicia has consistently championed collaboration and authentic creative expression. As a booker, she helped define Portland's music scene at legendary venues like the Doug Fir Lounge and Mississippi Studios. She's directed over 35 music videos for artists including Bob Mould, Corin Tucker, and The Decemberists—whose visual aesthetic she helped establish through five to ten years of album photography and creative direction. Her upcoming documentary “Menopunks” and new podcast examines how hormone replacement therapy misinformation has impacted Gen X women's creative potential, featuring conversations with musicians and artists from Sleater-Kinney, Neko Case, The Thermals, and the broader Pacific Northwest creative community. The project has already garnered significant attention, growing from 1,000 to 7,000 Instagram followers in one week following the teaser release. We can’t wait to see it! Episode Highlights: * Alicia's creative journey from childhood show-and-tell to multi-disciplinary artist * Understanding rejection sensitivity dysphoria and how it manifests in creative work * Learning to embrace sensitivity and empathy as creative strengths rather than weaknesses * The power of being a "yenta" and bringing people together through curation * The origin story of "Menopunks" and discovering hormone optimization and the connection between HRT and creative output * The documentary research process and letting the story evolve * Why collaboration and service are more radical than individual achievement Connect with Alicia J. Rose: * Website: menopunks.com [https://www.menopunks.com], aliciajrose.com [https://www.aliciajrose.com] * Instagram: @ajrhq [https://instagram.com/ajrhq], @menopunks [https://instagram.com/menopunks], @party_witch [https://instagram.com/party_witch], @girlsintroublemusic [https://instagram.com/girlsintroublemusic] * Podcast: Menopunks podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/menopunks-podcast/id1850818416] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth: * Website: wordofmouthcreative.co [http://wordofmouthcreative.co] * Services: Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Approach: Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. Rate and Review: If this episode resonated with you, please rate the show and share it with another creative who might benefit from Alicia's insights.