Creative Confidential with Bryan Tuk

David Cain is a writer based in Winnipeg, Canada and the author of Raptitude.com (http://raptitude.com), which provides readers with a street-level look at the human experience. David transitioned from working in the surveying and engineering field to writing and blogging full time. David's work has been featured in The Huffington Post and Businessinsider.com. David shares his story with us. Pleas...

In this bonus episode, Bryan answers listener questions about the arts, startups and nonprofit law issues. If you want to have YOUR question answered, record your question on your voice memo app, and email it to bryan@creativeconfidential.net. If you enjoy CREATIVE CONFIDENTIAL, please RATE and REVIEW the podcast on iTunes - it really helps our visibility. To support the podcast, please visit http...

Shelley Brown took an indirect route to where she is today, serving as the President and CEO of the State Theatre for the Arts in Easton, PA. The State Theater (http://statetheatre.org) has hosted performers of all kinds for over 90 years and is still going strong. Shelley talks about the challenges she faces as an arts CEO, and her career path that included stops as a parole officer, a flirtation...

Opera Philadelphia (http://www.operaphila.org/) is one of the premier arts organizations in the United States. David B. Devan discusses leadership in the arts world, Opera Philadelphia's 2017 season including the upcoming O17 opera festival, and many other topics in a wide ranging interview. Please remember to RATE and SUBSCRIBE to Creative Confidential on iTunes. You can follow the podcast on: Tw...

Slingshot Dakota is a unique indie rock band comprised of two incredible musicians: Carly Comando (keyboards & vocals) and Tom Patterson (drums). The band has been working hard for over ten years and tours nationally. Their most recent album, Break, was released in March 2016, at which time they performed at SXSW festival. Rolling Stone magazine named the band one of 10 indie bands to watch in 201...

Paula Boggs is a singer-songwriter based in Seattle, Washington. Her band, the Paula Boggs Band, has recorded two CDs and is about to go into the studio to record their third. Paula's story is a complex one. Her path to being a full time musician took some of the most unlikely turns one can imagine: before her musical interests took hold, Paula was the General Counsel and Secretary at Starbucks, r...

Lauren Smith is the owner and founder of eleven. eleven. social., a startup social media and marketing company. Lauren shares her story about her experience in her first two years of being a business owner from the ground up. For more information about Lauren's company, please visit http://www.elevenelevensocial.com

Fred Morrison is the Executive Director of Crossmen Productions, Inc., a large arts nonprofit based in San Antonio, Texas. The flagship program is the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, which is comprised of 150 of the best musical and dance performers in the marching arts world. The Crossmen tour the United States every summer for two months, traveling over 12,000 miles in that time. Fred spent most...

Where the podcast has been so far, and where it's going. In this mini episode, Bryan announces a book & blog project to accompany the podcast. To support the podcast and get access to all the written content, please visit the website and make a contribution (http://www.creativeconfidential.net/?page_id=10).

Growing up, Denny Corby thought he was going to take over the family business – a paper company in Scranton! Sound familiar? “After working there for years”, Denny says, “My life was on final approach to be Jim from the NBC hit, The Office.” Denny came up with a new plan. He stepped out of the office and onto the speaking circuit where he performs for Fortune 500 companies, Schools, Conferences, a...

A survivor of non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, heart failure and ultimately a heart transplant, Derek Fitzgerald has faced his share of challenges. Eight months after transplant, Derek began channeling the perseverance and determination that helped him overcome his health obstacles by entering the field of endurance sports. Less than a year and a half after surgery, he completed his first half Ironman. At...

Lee Rudnicki (http://www.drumlaw80.com/) has followed a very interesting career path that has led him into the world of screenwriting and filmmaking. Starting out as a musician, Lee went to California to follow musical opportunities and ended up attending law school with the mission of working in the entertainment industry. Lee's latest production is a short film entitled "Red Skies at Night" whic...

A young Scott Tixier (http://scott-tixier.com) arrived in New York City from France speaking no English but determined to become a professional musician at the highest level. He quickly received accolades from the best in the business. Grammy Award winning bassist Marcus Miller says that Tixier “is making an international name for himself. I heard him in France and was immediately struck by his in...

The word virtuoso gets thrown around a lot but today's guest is exactly that. Laurence Hobgood (http://laurnecehobgood.com) is a classically trained pianist who started playing jazz in his teen years. A chance meeting with vocalist Kurt Elling led to a 20 year stint at Elling's musical director, during which time Laurence collected multiple GRAMMY nominations and a Grammy award in 2010. Now leadin...

The Lafayette Bar (www.lafayettebarjazz.com/) in Easton is in a word, unique. It's a smoky jazz club in an industrial town on the Delaware River. As one steps inside the Lafayette, you see people from all walks of life standing elbow to elbow, listening to jazz players from New York or from the Valley. In the middle of it all, you find a man who goes by one name..."Tunsie". Tunsie Jabbour's family...

Jeff “Tain” Watts (http://tainish.com) is an acclaimed jazz musician, drummer and composer based in Easton, Pennsylvania. With 5 GRAMMY awards on his resume, Jeff has had a lengthy recording career as a sideman to many prominent jazz artists, including both Wynton and Branford Marsalis. His compositional skills now command equal attention. Jeff initially majored in classical percussion at Pittsbur...

Eve Tannery joined the WFMZ-TV news team in September of 2005. You can catch her anchoring 69 News at Sunrise and 69 News at Noon with Jaciel Cordoba Monday through Friday. Eve shares her story about how she got her start in journalism and what it takes to build and sustain a career in broadcasting. Eve is also heavily involved in charity work in and around the Lehigh Valley, and she is an avid su...

Don Cunningham has a long track record of public service. Don was an enormously popular two term Mayor of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2003, then subsequently served two terms as the Lehigh County Executive, and currently is the President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. Don has led a high profile political career and enjoyed enormous popularity. What is inter...

Like all the guests on the podcast, Chris Malinowski is many things: a guitarist, composer, bandleader yet at the same time he’s also a writer, director and filmmaker. His most recent film, Yes, Your Tide is Cold and Dark Sir (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2354577/) has been making the film festival circuit nationwide to critical acclaim. While Chris wrote, directed and starred in the film, he also...

Lucy Woodward is a London-born, NYC-raised, Los Angeles-based singer and songwriter who's been touring the world frequently for the past 15 years. As her parents were both musicians, she was literally born into making music. She has released major label albums on Atlantic and Verve, and will be releasing her yet-to-be-titled 2016 album through Snarky Puppy's label GroundUp/Universal this summer. O...

Sheila Evans started out as a young musician, but later forged a career in the corporate world. During her corporate career, she began volunteering as a board member of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and was eventually elected President of the Board of Directors. After serving as Board President at LOKC, Sheila later transitioned into the CEO's office at the Allentown Symphony. Sheila shares her...

Ricardo Flores is the President and CEO of The Greater Lehigh Valley Music Association (http://glvma.org/wp), which is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) dedicated to creating and delivering positive experiences through music, with a focus on honoring and developing youth. We were joined in the studio by two GVLMA board members, Erin Monie and Mimi Gloria. We discussed the challenges of being a startup organ...

Kassie Hilgert is the President and CEO of ArtsQuest. ArtsQuest is one of the largest arts non-profits in Pennsylvania both in terms of the scope and diversity of its programming. Kassie was named President and CEO of ArtsQuest in 2015 after joining the organization in 2008 as vice president of development. Kassie discusses her transition from her position working at a global, publicly traded comp...

David Mickenberg has spent over 30 years as an arts administrator, and is currently the CEO of Allentown Art Museum. Prior to taking the helm in Allentown in 2013, David served as CEO of Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virgina for four years, and had also previously been director of university art museums at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Northwestern University in Illinois. David shares...

Whitney Peyton is a songwriter and rapper from the Philadelphia suburbs. Whitney is a self made performer touring the US and Canada, and single handedly built an audience through constant touring, performing, recording and social media outreach. In addition to being a talented performer, Whitney is a very astute business person and offers many lessons on what it takes to be self sufficient as a pe...