Creatives Processing

This highlights episode features two moments from the full Creatives Processing conversation with Candace Cui and Carissa Potter , co-creators of the fantasy journaling book The Imaginary Atlas. First, Carissa on why art isn't a privilege—it's medicine—and how fantasy works as a tool to get around your own inner critic. Then Candace on what the writing process actually looks like when you...

Candace Cui and Carissa Potter are the co-creators of The Imaginary Atlas, a fantasy journaling book that invites you to imagine yourself as a character in a fantasy world—as a tool for real-life reflection and change. In this conversation, host Sarah Mulligan Williams and her guests explore how The Imaginary Atlas came together, what it takes to build something across different creative skill set...

Three key moments from the full Creatives Processing conversation with artist, photographer, and director Maegan Gindi, photographer, director, and artist whose career spans portraiture, writing, audio, and fine art. From the self-funded project that launched her career to the "eternal hustle" of running a creative business, this episode explores what it actually means to keep going in an industry...

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 captu...

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. T...

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 fi...

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 upc...

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...

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three insights from her conversation with Joan LeMay, an artist whose creative career spans visual art, music publicity, and collaborative book projects. Joan's unflinchingly honest approach to the business of creativity offers essential lessons for any creative professional navigating market challenges, pricing...

Joan LeMay is a painter, analog illustrator, author, and musician whose creative journey spans fanzines, seventeen years as a music publicist, and a thriving visual art practice and commissions business. In this conversation, she speaks about what it actually takes to sustain a creative life—the financial extremes, pricing disasters, and why making art is vital. We dig into her book collaboration...

In this special episode, host Sarah Mulligan Williams shares recommendations from Creatives Processing’s 2025 guests—books, memoirs, and unexpected pieces of media that have genuinely shaped how these working creative professionals approach their craft. With the holidays approaching, think of this as both a gift guide for the creatives in your life and a way to prepare yourself for creative work i...

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three transformative insights from her conversation with prop and interior stylist turned homewares entrepreneur Kira Corbin, founder of ceramics line Standard Affair. Kira's evolution from commercial styling to launching her own product line offers essential lessons about creative service, adaptive resilien...

Join us for a conversation with prop and interior stylist turned homewares entrepreneur Kira Corbin, founder of ceramics line Standard Affair. After years of perfecting the art of curating and arranging objects to tell stories for clients, magazines, and cookbooks, Kira embarked on a two-year journey to create something entirely her own. This honest conversation explores the evolution from creativ...

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three essential insights from her conversation with creative director, videographer, and photographer Eliana Mendez. Eliana’s approach to storytelling demonstrates how authentic integration of self and work, combined with genuine care for subjects and clients, creates more powerful creative outcomes. Between eac...

Portland-based creative director, photographer, and videographer Eliana Mendez has built their entire practice around a simple but powerful belief: genuine human connection is what makes media truly impactful. Working primarily with nonprofits and community organizations, Eliana has discovered how to turn their natural curiosity and genuine interest in people into their greatest professional stren...

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features three key insights from her conversation with Lee Hedgmon, founder of The Barreled Bee and Portland's “honey alchemist.” Lee's approach to entrepreneurship—building a thriving business by being completely, unapologetically herself—offers lessons for any creative professional who's felt like their pro...

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Lee Hedgmon, founder of The Barreled Bee and Portland's “honey alchemist.” What began with a single taste of honey in a friend's kitchen has evolved into a thriving business built entirely on curiosity, wonder, and the guiding question “I wonder what would happen if…” Lee's entrepreneurial journey challenges conventional business wisdom at every turn. Inst...

In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams features five powerful insights from her conversation with Craig and Jess Winslow, the light artist and creative strategist behind experiential light art studio, Winslow Studio. Craig and Jess’s approach to creative partnership offers lessons for any professional navigating the intersection of creativity, business, and a...

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Craig and Jess Winslow, the creative duo behind Winslow Studio, an experiential light art design studio in Portland, Oregon. After meeting in fall 2019 and weathering the early pandemic together, they transformed their budding relationship into both a creative and romantic partnership that's reshaping experiential art. Craig, a light artist and experientia...

This highlights episode distills three game-changing principles from Grammy-winning producer John Michael Rouchell that separate sustainable creative leaders from those who burn out chasing validation. Discover the Alfred Hitchcock principle that transforms how you approach every project, why constraints actually liberate creativity, and how shifting from ego-driven work to service-oriented collab...

Grammy-winning music producer, film composer, and songwriter John Michael Rouchell transformed his entire creative approach by shifting from seeking validation to serving others. After starting as a guitarist desperate for the right mentor and collaborator, John Michael realized he could become that missing piece for other artists instead. In this in-depth conversation, John Michael, who has worke...

Creatives Processing is the podcast where creatives reveal their process and process what it means to create. It illuminates the human journey behind creative work – where professional creatives share their authentic processes, struggles, and triumphs with a host who champions creative collaboration and kindness. Hosted by Sarah Mulligan Williams, creative director behind Word of Mouth Creative, a...