Creativity in the Time of Capitalism

Today we are back with part two of my conversation with Marisa Mender, owner of Midtown Bramble & Bloom, a Memphis-based flower farm, floral studio, and retail storefront. Marisa, formerly a teacher, started her business with a post to her local Buy Nothing group asking to grow flowers in other people's yards. She did not anticipate what would happen next: within minutes, the offers came p...

Today I am sitting down with Marisa Mender, owner of Midtown Bramble & Bloom, a Memphis-based flower farm, floral studio, and retail storefront. Marisa, formerly a teacher, started her business with a post to her local Buy Nothing group asking to grow flowers in other people's yards. She did not anticipate what would happen next: within minutes, the offers came pouring in. A year and a hal...

New York Times bestselling author Alex Elle did not plan on any of this, on any of what she's known for today. She was an only child who wrote, as she puts it, cringy novellas and sad poems. She was a college dropout who still wondered where her incisive and inquisitive mind would land. She was a mother at 18 trying to figure out how to make rent, but also how to model a version of personhood...

New York Times bestselling author  Alex Elle  was an only child who began writing with, as she puts it, "cringy novellas and sad poems". She was a college dropout who still wondered where her incisive and inquisitive mind would land. She was a mother at 18 trying to figure out how to make rent, but also, how to model a version of personhood that would break generational cycles.  She was a...

Our first ever "where are they now" with our first podcast guest on Creativity in the Time of Capitalism, Ilana Kohn. It's been a year and a half since we last spoke, and in that time Ilana: closed her namesake brand, filed for bankruptcy, got married, and started a new apparel line called Samet. In our conversation, we pick up right where we left off. Ilana walks us through the final...

Miranda here popping in with several updates in between our next long form interview! A new  Ask an Expert with Dr. Kristie Wood  on People Pleasing is now live! Upcoming interviews with:  Cass Marketos ,  Alex Elle ,  Ilana Kohn , and...Me! I will be sharing my story later this Summer.  We also touch on a new project,  composting my Miranda Bennett Studio deadstock ! Literally, composting.  Also!...

Today we continue our conversation with Amanda Lee McCarty, host of the Clotheshorse Podcast and Clotheshorse Consulting . If you missed part one , please pause and begin there.  ++++++++ In case you missed the launch of the new suite of programming here on Creativity in the Time of Capitalism , I recently aired two special preview episodes from our newsletter, which I consider the home base of th...

++++++++ PROMPT ALERT: Our next hotline prompt is about people pleasing. Do you have a history of people pleasing? If so, when did you realize it? What have you done to remedy it? What does people pleasing bring up for you? There are no wrong answers here. Record a voice memo of your answer and email it to: hi@creativityinthetimeofcapitalism.com and it will be included in our next hotline episode...

This is a special preview of the kind of content that is typically only available to paid subscribers of the Creativity in the Time of Capitalism newsletter. In this episode, listeners from this audience called in to share their own mistakes, how they felt, and what they learned. For around $1 a week for annual subscribers you can receive more conversations like this (and and without ads!). I hope...

This is a special preview of the kind of content that is typically only available to paid subscribers of the Creativity in the Time of Capitalism newsletter. In this episode, we chat with Alyza Brown, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and therapist about how to recover from mistakes.   For around $1 a week for annual subscribers you can receive more conversations like this (and and without...

Welcome back to part two of my interview with Wooden Spoon Herbs founder, Lauren Haynes.  If you missed part one, please pause here and give that a listen first. Today we resume at the cliffhanger Lauren left us with regarding the rollout of her brand’s national launch at Whole Foods.

My next guest has managed to do the impossible: exited her dream job (and before it became a nightmare) while still managing to steward the dream. Meet clinical herbalist Lauren Haynes, the founder and current Chief Herbal Officer of Wooden Spoon Herbs, a wellness company based in the United States that utilizes heritage techniques and regional herbs to offer enduring remedies for the physiologica...

Welcome back to the second installment of my interview with photographer and artist, Zoë Ghertner. If you missed part one, please pause here and give that a listen first. Today we resume just as Zoë was describing how she creates sets that are conducive to her methods of connection storytelling. 

 Presently considered one of the leading voices shaping fashion photography, Zoë Ghertner has shot campaigns for many of the industry’s most venerable brands, including, though not limited to, Chanel, Gucci, Dior, Celine, and Miu Miu. Her distinct timbre contains a study of the feminine as something unfettered and powerful—at times feral and exuberant, at others stoic yet determined. Her subjects...

Welcome to part two of my conversation with Sara Berks, the founder and former CEO of MINNA (2013-2025) who operated from the principle that good design considers far more than aesthetics or even function. Sara and MINNA, her B-Corp certified, artisan produced line of textiles for the home, have been featured in such publications as Vogue, Domino, Dwell, and Martha Stewart. Today we will continue...

Join me in welcoming my next guest, Sara Berks. Sara is the founder, former CEO and creative director of MINNA (2013–2025), an artisan produced universe of ethically made goods for the home that championed and preserved traditional techniques native to Latin America. Her collection was manufactured through reciprocal relationships with over 400 creators across Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay and...

Description: Today I am joined by Liza Belmonte of Every Body Gets Dressed and a guest co-host, multidisciplinary artist Bec Mapes. We often don't see the effort that it takes to fail, nor do we know the sometimes damaging feats undertaken in the name of avoiding it. But when it comes to failure, what can often feel weighty, shameful, or even hard to admit is in fact, if you ask me, more of a...

“You can’t outsource community. You have to build it.” A conversation with the multidisciplinary designer on creating community through networks of resilience.  I’m very excited to introduce you to my next guest,  Christa Clark . She is a multidisciplinary designer with a background in UX (user experience) who stepped away from the corporate sphere to focus on issues that affect her immediate comm...

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Shana Tabor. If you have already listened to part one, you're right where you need to be. If you have not listened to the first part of our conversation, I would definitely recommend pausing here and going back to last week's episode.  This week, we're going to go further into Shana's journey with In God We Trust, including what thos...

My next guest is Shana Tabor, the designer and business owner behind In God We Trust (IGWT)—a string of boutiques in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan that carried its own branded collections from 2005-2021.  IGWT specialized in women's and men's apparel, jewelry and accessories. Walking into any one of those spaces was like walking into another world. Tabor’s storefronts were beautifully and h...

From grassroots community to destination platform, inside the curatorial mind of Noihsaf Bazaar's founder and independent fashion's greatest champion.  Kate Lindello, is the founder of the cult-favorite site Noihsaf Bazaar. Noihsaf (“fashion” spelled backward) Bazaar is a resale site that began in the early days of Instagram and has since migrated to its own platform. With a focus on exclu...

This episode is the second in a two part conversation with Minnesota based artist and designer, Alexis Stiteler, if you missed part one, please pause and start there. Let’s dive back in.

My next guest is artist and apparel designer Alexis Stiteler. Her collection of small batch, organic and botanically dyed apparel has quickly garnered a cult following for its hauntingly beautiful aesthetic that straddles a dual identity, both garment and artifact. 

This episode is the second in a two part conversation with Nigerian based designer, Mukhtara Yusuf, if you missed part one, please pause and start there. In part two, we dive into the context where I first met Mukhtara—fashion. We discussed what it looks like today–it’s deep rootedness in personal storytelling and nostalgia, in cultural violence and erasure, and the very nature of consumerism. Let...

A visual artist, scholar, cultural activist and designer, Mukhtara Yusuf’s work operates in the space of decolonizing design, sustainability, alternative economies and design in the global south. In our conversation, we discuss the seen and unseen aspects of design, including grief, trauma, as well as cultural biases and effacement. I left this conversation with all of my synapses lit up, immersed...