The Curiosity+Courage Podcast

Jeff Carino didn’t choose design—it chose him at age ten, watching his father leverage the manual, smelly inks, erasers, markers and tools of design in their Albuquerque home studio. Those moments, seeing something tactile become billboards, storefronts and objects people used every day, locked in Jeff’s trajectory. [Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube - also embedde...

What if the only way you got to eat was by making art and design people believed in? And from that starting point, imagine becoming arguably one of the most influential humans in global creativity. [Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube - also embedded below. And if you’re enjoying these conversations, please share a link with someone else.] I first met Kevin Swanepoel...

How many of us have heard that inner voice, and ignored it? Or perhaps even more daunting—heard it, and took action? [Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube - also embedded below. And if you’re enjoying these conversations, please share a link with someone else.] I’ve been waiting to reveal this conversation with my friend, and meditation teacher, James Brown ( LinkedIn...

Just imagine if he’d stuck with selling bonds. Very few of us wake up convinced we need to be a creative person, and then stick with it. No, some of us venture off into corporate finance for a bit first. But then creativity comes calling. [Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube . And if you’re enjoying these conversations, please share a link with someone else.] When I...

The stereotypical advertising writer always has a novel on the side, always unfinished. The advertising writer Jane Roper ( website , LinkedIn ) has already published two novels, and her third is underway. [Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube . And if you’re enjoying these conversations, please share a link with someone else.] I first met Jane at the Partners & Simon...

When you’re trying to navigate tumultuous change, it helps to have inquisitive navigators. As I’ve tried to make sense of AI, I’ve found useful explanations and pragmatic advice in the work of Noah Brier. FYI—he’s hosting a Los Angeles version of the BrXnd AI Conference on February 6, 2025. [Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube . And if you’re enjoying these conversat...

[Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube . And if you’re enjoying these conversations, please share a link with someone else.] I first met Paisley in Boston back in the early 2000s when she was a writer on the Volkswagen business at Arnold Worldwide. This was the early Internet, the era of storytelling through banner ads. We were transforming the idea of advertising for...

[Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube .] I think she might be the future of advertising. Ashley Rutstein ( LinkedIn , Website ) showed up in my TikTok algorithm a few years ago with consistent, thoughtful, and wise insights about the business of creativity and practice of advertising. She’s turned StuffAboutAdvertising into a wonderful resource for current campaign re...

[Listen to the interview above, or via Apple , Spotify , or YouTube .] I met Liz Vanzura because of the drums. Long story short, I was playing in a Boston band circa 1997, when I met a guitarist named Lance Jensen. Turns out Lance was, like me, an advertising copywriter. And he was co-creative directing the relatively new VW account at an agency called Arnold. Maybe I could help him write copy for...

Are you, as Brian Eno offers, an architect or a gardener? Do you need ideas meticulously dictated or might you be willing to curate and see where they grow? It’s hard to imagine a better metaphor for my conversation with Rafa Jiménez, founder of the AI creativity and innovation platform Seenapse . This is the second iteration of the Curiosity+Courage interview series, and we cover a lot of territo...

Sometimes you just have to talk it out. Welcome to something new. I want to engage in longer format conversations with creative people within this newsletter—I want to illuminate how artists and idea people think about their process and work, and how they’re navigating AI. But where to begin? Hard to imagine anyone better than a former band and room mate. Peter DuCharme and I met in a Boston recor...