Minnesota Minds: Cultivating Creativity

Rachel and Aleisha explore how artists in Minnesota are responding to the seismic social and political upheaval caused by Operation Metro Surge — the large-scale immigration enforcement campaign that has deployed thousands of federal agents across the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and broader Minnesota. While the ICE agents are using brutal tactics to intimidate the community, we're also seeing co...

Minnesota Minds co-host Rachel Lauer interviews fellow co-host Aleisha Theisen about her wellness and creativity coaching for writers and other professionals. They also discuss what they enjoyed most about Season 2. If you'd like to follow Aleisha's coaching practice, you can check it out at the sites below. To join the 5-day wellness and creativity challenge, email her at aleisha at connectiontow...

We sit down with Ellie Palmer, who wrote the romantic comedy novel she was looking for when she was diagnosed as a BRCA1 gene mutation carrier. As she recovered from a preventative mastectomy, she found herself drawn to romance novels, and she decided to write one with a protagonist who'd faced the same daunting medical situation she had. The result? A sweet, poignant, and funny "Four Wee...

Minnesota jewelry designer Larissa Loden seems to thrive when she has multiple creative endeavors going at once. Her self-titled business has stores in St. Paul and the Mall of America as well as an online shop. She also co-hosts the podcast “The World's Okayest Entrepreneur” and supports other entrepreneurs as a certified business coach. She didn’t always see herself as a business owner, thou...

Minneapolis-based artist Victor Yepez began his career in Quito, Ecuador, where he attended college and quickly found an eager audience for his found-art sculptures, vivid paintings, and community-driven murals. When he moved to Minnesota, he continued his passion for public art and community involvement. His murals brighten many once-dreary walls and corners of the city, and he teaches classes th...

Born in Stillwater, MN, novelist, poet, and professor Patrick Hicks' life and work have taken him across the globe. He has written more than 10 books, including three historical fiction novels centered on the Holocaust. Now, Patrick is turning his eye homeward with "Greater Minnesota," a blend of history and travelogue that crisscrosses the North Star State. Join us as we uncover: Ho...

A proud citizen and lifelong resident of the Grand Portage Anishinaabe Nation in northeast Minnesota, Travis Novitsky has been photographing the woods, waters, and night sky of the north shore of Lake Superior for more than 30 years. His passion for photography and the beauty of mother nature is awe-inspiring and shines through his body of work. Travis also is the photographer for the book "S...

Minnesota native Maddy Siriouthay is using her design and technology skills to spread sex positivity in a world that often pushes back against it. She takes us through her start as a co-founder of Ovee Health, a sexual and reproductive health hub, to her current role as senior content manager for Unbound Babes, a sexual health and wellness brand in NYC. She shares how she uses creativity -- not on...

Welcome to season two of Minnesota Minds: Cultivating Creativity! Our first guest of the season is the hilarious Ben Katzner. Ben shares his story of starting his standup comedy career in St. Cloud, MN, then moving to New York City – only to be met a few years later with the Covid-19 pandemic. This of course upended life as we know it, and it forced stand-up comedians to get extra creative in how...

This season flew by! We're so grateful to our guests and listeners for making this a super fun and rewarding experience. In the season one wrap-up, we discuss what it was like to get to know some of Minnesota's fascinating multidisciplinary creatives and what we plan to carry into the next season. In the meantime, follow us for updates at: https://www.instagram.com/minnesota_minds_podcast/...

Belen Rodriguez has a rich community here in Minnesota, but when she first moved from Argentina to Minnesota, she found herself homesick and missing the long-standing tradition of Sundays spent sharing meals with her family. She began to recreate that tradition for friends and family in the U.S., and her passion for sharing this experience grew. Over the past five years, her rapidly expanding froz...

Minnesota native Anna Segner's art is at once whimsical, intriguing, and thought-provoking. She's a studio artist focused on painting, mixed media, and assemblage. Her work pulls you in with familiar imagery of things like Beanie Babies and rhinos, and it holds your attention as you begin to see the rich layers of meaning. Anna uses critical animal studies and other research to explore the...

From working with wine sellers in Minnesota to vineyards in Napa, certified sommelier Emily Anderson has seen the ins and outs of the wine industry from many angles. She loves sharing her passion and has interesting and creative thoughts on factors the industry will need to address in the coming years, such as approachability, affordability and adapting to a changing climate. She also loves creati...

Through her journal entries and personal essays, Minneapolis writer, editor, and Loft Literary Center educator Marianne Manzler is building a body of work around her experience being diagnosed with cancer in her 20s as well as shining a light on the person behind the illness. In this interview, she tells about experiencing imposter syndrome as a biracial child growing up in a predominantly white s...

If you've been to a major theater production, opera, or ballet in Minneapolis or St. Paul, chances are you've heard string bass and Hammond keyboard player Dave Berg in his element. He's been a big part of the Twin Cities music scene for decades. He shares with us how he built a diverse, sustainable music career, and he tells us about some of the fun surprises along the way, like getti...

Kelly Smith is the founder of Yoga For You and the host of the chart-topping Mindful in Minutes podcast where she provides guided meditations in her soul-soothing voice. She also is the author of the newly released book "Meditation for the Modern Family." She shares her creative process when writing guided meditations -- sometimes also layering in a sound bath -- and how writing and publ...

Heather RJ Fletcher always wanted to be an artist. She found her joy as a marbling artist and now shares her skills at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts as well as her book, Making Marbled Paper: Paint Techniques & Patterns for Classic & Modern Marbleizing on Paper & Silk . Heather tells us how she discovered marbling and how it has connected her with people worldwide. She also explai...

Amy Thielen is a Minnesota cook and a writer. She is the author of  The New Midwestern Table , which won the James Beard Award for American Cooking, as well as a memoir,  Give a Girl a Knife , and a new cookbook  Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others . She also hosted the James Beard-nominated Heartland Table on Food Network. Find her online at  amythielen.com  (you can sign up f...

Emerging Minnesota artist Mariah Greenhoff shares how she developed her distinct style as a printmaker and ceramic sculptor, and how her practice is influenced by both her love of challenging herself and learning new processes as well as the strong art communities she's found a home within in the Twin Cities. She also discusses the thrill of selling her work for the first time at Art-A-Whirl i...

Nicole Kronzer is a Minnesota author and high school English teacher and a former professional actor. She wrote the young adult novels Unscripted (Minnesota Book Award Finalist) and The Roof Over Our Heads . Nicole shares the thrills and challenges of navigating a career in the publishing industry, and some discoveries she's made along the way, like the importance of taking care of the "v...

Monumental and decorative sculptor and art teacher Gerry Kulzer recently took over as Minnesota State Fair butter sculptor after longtime sculptor Linda Christensen retired. In the Dairy Building, you can watch him carve the likenesses of Princess Kay of the Milky Way finalists from 90-pound blocks of salted butter in a refrigerated, glass booth. He tells Rachel and Aleisha how he stays warm and h...