How to Bring Play and Creativity Back Into Your Adult Life with Lara Galante

How to Bring Play and Creativity Back Into Your Adult Life with Lara Galante

Somewhere between childhood and retirement, play gets treated as something you're supposed to grow out of. The decades in the middle are for being productive and serious. Lara Galante doesn't buy that. In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Lara Galante, the founder of Find Your Inner Parakeet, where she runs creative workshops that help grown adults remember how to play. Her events are low pressure and tactile, with paint pens, feathers, and gem stickers on the table, but the real work happening in the room is permission. Permission to make something imperfect and to stop performing competence for a couple of hours. Lara is honest about how she got here. The idea sat in her head for years. She took another nonprofit job she already knew wasn't right because it was familiar. It wasn't until she quit, flew to Bhutan to mountain bike with her best friend, and came home wide awake at midnight that the whole business poured out of her in a single night. We also got into something a lot of people carry: the story someone told you about yourself when you were young. A teacher who said you couldn't sing. A friend who said you weren't creative. Lara and I both got versions of that, and much of this conversation is about deciding that story isn't the one you have to keep. In this episode: * Why play stops being "allowed" in adulthood, and what that costs * How Lara turned an unhappy career detour into Find Your Inner Parakeet * What actually happens in a room full of adults handed paint and permission * Rewriting the labels you picked up as a kid about what you're good at * Why "life is short" stopped being a phrase for Lara and became how she makes decisions Connect with Lara Galante: Website: https://www.findyourinnerparakeet.com/ [https://www.findyourinnerparakeet.com/] LI: linkedin.com/in/lara-galante-416766196/ [http://linkedin.com/in/lara-galante-416766196/] IG: https://www.instagram.com/findyourinnerparakeet [https://www.instagram.com/findyourinnerparakeet] Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ [https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/] LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/] FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman [https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman] Website: https://lesliesilverman.com [https://lesliesilverman.com] Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com [https://hive180.com] Chapters: 00:54 Rediscovering Playfulness in Adulthood 01:49 The Journey of Creativity and Chaos 01:51 Finding Your Inner Parakeet 06:55 The Importance of Playfulness 11:34 Creative Expression and Adulting 16:23 Overcoming Self-Doubt 21:28 The Power of Community and Connection

How to Heal Chronic Symptoms by Regulating Your Nervous System with Grace Secker

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Grace Secker, a somatic trauma therapist and nervous system coach who healed herself from years of chronic pain and fatigue before building the work she does now. We start with the nervous system, the part of you running in the background of every symptom and reaction, often saying no before your mind has caught up. Grace's view is that most chronic symptoms aren't random. They're the nervous system responding to stress it never got to resolve, and the way through isn't another pill or specialist. It's taking ownership of your own healing, which is harder than it sounds. She points out often we hand our health to a professional and wait to be told what's wrong, and that keeps us stuck in the same stress response we're trying to escape. Grace has been an entrepreneur for almost ten years, and she admitted she'd never applied any of this to her business. She talked about being anxiously attached to her company, reactive to its every high and low, and how the tools that healed her body started changing the way she shows up at work. She was diagnosed with depression at twelve, and that label quietly became her identity for a long time. That thread runs under the conversation. You are not your diagnosis. You're the person underneath the part that's afraid. In this episode: * What the nervous system is, and why Grace says almost everything traces back to it * How chronic symptoms can work as signals instead of malfunctions * What it looks like to take ownership of your health not handing it off * The moment Grace realized she was anxiously attached to her business * How a diagnosis at twelve became an identity, and how she stepped out of it * Why this kind of healing often goes better in community than alone Connect with Grace Secker: Heal with Grace podcast: https://healwithgrace.co/podcast/ [https://healwithgrace.co/podcast/] Free Nervous System Masterclass -> The science of why your body breaks down under pressure and the first three things to do about it: https://healwithgrace.co/free-masterclass/ [https://healwithgrace.co/free-masterclass/] IG: https://www.instagram.com/heal.with.grace/ [https://www.instagram.com/heal.with.grace/] Substack: gracesecker.substack.com [http://gracesecker.substack.com] Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ [https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/] LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/] FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman [https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman] Website: https://lesliesilverman.com [https://lesliesilverman.com] Branding Agency: https://hive180.com [https://hive180.com] Chapters: 01:07 Understanding the Mind-Body Connection 01:32 Understanding the Nervous System 11:31 Navigating Growth Edges and Ego 21:32 Mind-Body Healing Method

How to Find the Story Behind a Hard-to-Sell Product with Shawn Teasley

Most marketing advice assumes you already have something exciting to sell. Shawn Teasley is a marketing and social media strategist and the founder of Social Tonic, and some of her most interesting projects are the ones nobody would call flashy. One of her clients sells energy efficient building products, the kind of thing that lives behind the drywall where no one ever sees it. No drone footage, no sexy interior reveal. And that's exactly where the story is. We talked about how she finds it. The owner retrofitted a 1970s house with the same principles he sells, because of his two daughters and what he believes about the energy future. That's not a product feature. That's a reason. What Shawn does well is pull that reason out of people and put it where customers can feel it. That same instinct runs through the rest of the conversation. We got into being witnessed, the idea that people open up when they feel genuinely seen, and how that shapes everything from a single client relationship to a team spread across three countries. We talked about asking better questions, the difference between collecting LinkedIn connections and actually nurturing a relationship, and why bringing your personal self into your work isn't unprofessional. It's the whole point. In this episode: * Why the most unglamorous products often have the best stories * How to find the reason behind what someone sells, not just the features * What it means to make a client feel witnessed, and why it changes the work * The line between collecting LinkedIn connections and building real relationships * How asking better questions surfaces the story that actually sells * Why your personal life belongs in your business more than you think Chapters: 01:16 The Importance of Strategic Marketing for Startups 02:16 Exploring Authenticity in Business 05:14 The Role of AI in Marketing 08:02 Creative Storytelling in Marketing 11:12 Travel and Personal Growth 14:16 Cultural Connections and Team Dynamics 21:04 The Intersection of Personal and Professional Life 29:11 Ideal Clients and Networking Strategies 33:50 Understanding the Mind-Body Connection Connect with Shawn Teasley: Website: https://socialtonic.us/ [https://socialtonic.us/] LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnteasley/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnteasley/] BIZ: https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialtonic/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialtonic/]  Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ [https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/] LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/] FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman [https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman] Website: https://lesliesilverman.com [https://lesliesilverman.com] Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com [https://hive180.com]

How to Plan Events That Help People Show Up as Themselves with Vivian Butler

In this episode I sat down with Vivian Butler, a licensed therapist turned event planner and founder of Vivian Butler Events. We started with how a counselor ends up running an events business, but it kept circling back to something bigger: what it actually takes to build a room where people feel safe enough to be themselves. Vivian's path didn't follow a plan. She moved through restaurants, social work, ropes courses, and experiential psychology before she realized events had been the thread running through all of it. She isn't just handling logistics. She's paying attention to how people feel, and whether they can drop the persona long enough to connect. We got into the loneliness most gatherings quietly produce, where you can be surrounded by people and still feel alone, and what it takes to design against it. We also got honest about the parts of entrepreneurship nobody romanticizes. Pushing past your comfort zone every day. Learning that when you sell a service, you are the product. Trusting that a no is just clearing space for a more aligned yes. Underneath all of it is a simple idea about permission. The way Vivian sees it, her real job is to build a room where people can stop performing and just be themselves. A couple keeping their wedding theirs instead of everyone else's. Coworkers dropping their titles for an afternoon. In this episode: * Why a therapist's lens changes what an event can do for people in the room * The difference between an event that looks polished and one where people feel safe to be themselves * What the loneliness epidemic has to do with how we gather, at work and everywhere else * The daily discomfort of running a solo business, and why Vivian signs up for it anyway * How "you are the product" reframes the way you sell a service Connect with Vivian Butler: LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianabutler/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianabutler/] FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vivianbutlerevents [https://www.facebook.com/Vivianbutlerevents] IG: https://www.instagram.com/vivianbutlerevents/ [https://www.instagram.com/vivianbutlerevents/] Website: https://www.vivianbutlerevents.com/ [https://www.vivianbutlerevents.com/] Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ [https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/] LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/] FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman [https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman] Website: https://lesliesilverman.com [https://lesliesilverman.com] Chapters: 02:45 Transition from Counseling to Event Planning 05:38 Embracing the Solopreneur Journey 08:39 The Importance of Authenticity in Business 11:26 Understanding Your 'Why' 14:08 Creating Meaningful Connections at Events 17:10 The Loneliness Epidemic and Authentic Connection 20:00 Unique Approach to Event Planning 22:59 The Value of Hiring an Event Planner

How to Use Generosity as a Business Mantra with Janne Robinson

I met Janne Robinson years before this podcast existed. Then, back when I joined the first cohort of her year-long program, Your Truth Is Your Medicine, I was rebuilding myself after a codependent marriage, and she was the first person who truly gave me permission to be who I am. Janne is a poet, author, facilitator, and keynote speaker, and she has built a business by refusing to narrow herself down to one thing. Her anchor isn't a niche or a funnel. It's purpose. She treats every offer she makes as a 50-50 conversation between what excites her and what her audience actually wants, and she's at peace when the answer is no. There's a thread Janne keeps coming back to around generosity, what she calls sharing the cow. It started at an archaeological site in Sedona and runs through everything from the scholarships she gives away to a whale trip a CEO gifted her, the one she's now turning into a retreat for other people. We talk about what it actually looks like to run a business that way, and why being public carries a real cost she chooses to pay anyway. In this episode: * Why purpose works as a filter for what to build next * What it looks like to run a business as a multi-passionate person vs forcing yourself into one lane * How Janne handles criticism and the cost of putting your real self in public * Why your own story, not a tidied-up version of it, is the actual work Connect with Janne Robinson: Find Janne's first book This is for the Women Who Don't Give a Fuck here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945796413 [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945796413] Find Janne's second book There's cobwebs on her Vagina here: https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Cobwebs-Her-Vagina-Collection/dp/1734042109 [https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Cobwebs-Her-Vagina-Collection/dp/1734042109] Book a consultation to do purpose work 1-1 with Janne here: https://hello.dubsado.com/public/form/view/646333e19b539e6b47ed9138 [https://hello.dubsado.com/public/form/view/646333e19b539e6b47ed9138] For Organizations (Speaking, Executive Coaching, Culture Repair and Enhancement Work): https://jannerobinson.com/organizations [https://jannerobinson.com/organizations] Swim with the Humpback Whales Retreat (2027): https://janne-robinson.mykajabi.com/2027-retreat [https://janne-robinson.mykajabi.com/2027-retreat] Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ [https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/] LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/] Hive180 Branding Agency: https://hive180.com [https://hive180.com] Chapters: 01:49 Janne's Methodology and Impact 02:42 Personal Life and Creative Endeavors 02:48 Generosity and Boundaries in Community Living 38:53 Cultural Wisdom and the Power of Prayer 42:00 The Healing Power of Whales and Nature 45:50 Reconnecting with Community and Personal Joy 49:27 The Courage to Share Your Truth in Writing 52:46 Coaching and Retreat Opportunities