Do what you love and leave the rest

A few years ago, I hired a values-based professional development coach to help me define the kind of client work I wanted to pursue. I needed the accountability and insights of somebody who would be able to help me cut through the static of my brain and the busy-ness of the day-to-day to define ...

• My core values (personally and as it trickles down to and relates to business)
• What excites me most and what I'm most passionate about
• What kind of relationships would feed rather than drain me
• A list of behaviors and beliefs I wouldn't tolerate – not just from colleagues and clients, but in my personal relationships as well. Because, you know, each relates and bleeds into the other

Some might think these answers might seem like they should be obvious to oneself. I thought they were to me as well, but I noticed myself getting pulled in directions I was uncomfortable with and working with folks whose communication felt icky. I wondered why and how I was allowing it. I knew that, with a complicated and economically depressed background like mine, I can be distracted from myself by projects that offer what feels like long-term financial security.

I'm talking about operating from a scarcity mindset. It's something I've been working on and the coaching really helped me identify the thread of that which ran clearly through many of my recent decisions ("recent" in 2020). We did a lot of hard work together, and it led to some pretty dramatic changes in my professional and personal life.

It led to leaving a homophobic company whose model was one of pretty abusive and manipulative exploitation; to ending a relationship with someone I loved but who really didn't "see" me or share my humanitarian values; to moving back to North Carolina from Tennessee so I could re-center and get grounded with family again; to completely quitting my creative practice as I knew it, because I was too focused on commodification to do the deep, meaningful work I was desperate to explore and create.

That was three years ago, but real change takes time. Since then, I have continued to tease and cull and am happy to say that my narrow client list includes only folks whom I deeply respect and whom respect me. My baseline for working with folks today is, "Do I feel good around you?" but I also take a lot of other things into account as well. Things like:

• Is a client doing work that engages my curiosity or relates to a personal interest? (In other words, no more working in hemp, technology, golf, or tobacco, to name a few ... no matter the payoff)
• Does the project at-hand offer personal and creative fulfillment, and does the work relate to the things I already care about and work on in the rest of my life?
• Does it help propel me creatively and/or professionally in some way, specifically in the direction I hope to continue walking in?

Now, the clients I work with include:

Crypton Fabrics - a textile manufacturing company with a mill in North Carolina.

Why? Because they are focused on sustainability, prioritize human health as paramount in their performance technology development, care generally about people, and produce beautiful textiles right in Western North Carolina. Sustainability, creative manufacturing, and textile design are all things that I care and think a lot about. Beyond that, the people are just undeniably super folks.

Todd Reed Jewelry - a heritage jewelry studio located in Boulder, Colorado.

Why? Because Todd is committed to hand-craftsmanship, sustainability, kindness, community, and loving people. In the many years I've worked with Todd, my experience has been that Todd's ethics are beyond reproach. His work is incredible, his team is super talented, and, yes, I feel darn good and totally respected in all the work we do together. You can learn more about Todd in this podcast episode of A Thousand Facets that just launched yesterday!

New Room Studios - a Portland, OR production company

Why? Because accessibility in the arts is something I think about quite a lot. I was honored to be hired as the Access Manager as part of Rebecca Emmert 's team for the production of Lora Grasshopper Kitty Cat that just debuted last weekend. For several weeks, I partnered with Becky, the theater company, and the venue to ensure that the audience experience was as accessible as possible. This included providing a host of affordances, including but not limited to: ASL interpreters, a visual describer, large font scripts, content warnings, and a sensory room among other things.

I am very grateful to be working with folks I enjoy, whose values align with mine, and whose work and products are ones that I really do love. Today, I'm primarily interested in work that involves accessibility, social justice, craft, and sustainability. To learn more about my recent and future projects, send me a note at [email protected]!