Morning Person: Mallika Goel

We have an amazing team of volunteers who help us make CreativeMornings happen every month. We think they’re super cool and you should totally meet them. First up: Meet Mallika!

1. Who are you?

Mallika. One of the first questions anyone who’s remotely Indian will ask is what your name means (if they don’t already know) because in our culture we place a huge importance on this. So if you’re wondering, mine means ‘Empress’ and in South India it’s also a type of flower.   

2.  What do you do at CreativeMornings/Auckland?

I’ve been part of the CMAkl team since it first started, those many moons ago. Aside from helping out front of house and welcoming guests, I write (with my colleague Bree) our morning pre-coffee name-tag riddles. I think some of our best creations have been:

• Your childhood in three words (for Childhood)
• Bread is to Butter as Backwards is to….? (for Backwards)

It’s always a huge pleasure to see the creative replies that people come up with! 

3. What gets you up in the morning?

Well I love my job at Designworks so getting up and heading to work is something I genuinely look forward to. But even more than that I suppose what gets me up is making it to training first thing in the morning – whether it’s rainy or cold or still dark outside, you’ll find me sweating it out at the gym as early as 6am. It helps me start the day in the right mood! 

4. Tell us a surprising fact about yourself?

I’ve grown up pretty much all over the world. I speak four point five languages. My father’s a diplomat and contrary to my accent – I’ve never lived in the States or Canada!

5. What’s your favourite thing about Auckland?

Favourite thing about Auckland – well I have lots – this is incidentally the longest I’ve ever lived in one place so something must be right! – I do love how multicultural the city is and I’ve lived in heaps of cities (even an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean) so trust me when I say that sort of tolerance and diversity is really, really important!

6. Best breakfast you’ve ever had?

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, though I rarely deviate away from some form of cereal/oats/muesli. I’ve had some really good breakfasts and accompanying coffees at Mojo in Newmarket. 

7. Best CreativeMornings/Auckland talk so far?

Hands down Richie Hardcore’s talk on ‘Rebel’ last week. Inspiring and amazing, had lots to process after that! There have been so many other good ones though. 

Philip Fierlinger’s talk on the UX of Money (Feb 2013) gets an honourable mention because that was so interesting. As someone who’s mortally afraid of accounting it was just a beautiful and behaviour changing talk  – the power of design!

8. Favourite CM talks from around the world?

 I’ll pick two:

• Joost Bakker speaking on ‘Reuse’ (one of those blow-you-away talks that makes you re-examine how you’re living your life and where you can make little changes to reduce your footprint. Also made me appreciate places like Scullery on K road a bit more).
• Ji Lee on the importance of personal projects (I do heaps of personal projects – the talk reinforced my love and passion for them and hammered home the point that you should always see your crazy ideas through because you’ll never know what’ll come of it!)

9. Favourite quote?

In January 2014 Illustrator Richard Kuoch a.k.a. Podgy Panda spoke at CreativeMornings/Auckland about the importance of Listening to your inner child and diving in head first.

Part of a series on Childhood you can watch it above, or bookmark it to watch later on creativemornings.com.

March’s Theme is Hidden

Ready or not, March, here we come! There’s no hiding from March’s theme of “Hidden.” The theme was chosen by our Seattle organizer David Conrad and his team, and we were thrilled to have Jesse LeDoux create the charming illustration you see above.

From hidden artistic details to groups hidden from society, interpretations on this month’s theme are all over the map, literally. A few of this month’s speakers include:

• Mitch Joel, author and blogger (Montréal)
• Bob Boilen, All Songs Considered (DC)
• Sinéad Burke, little person (Dublin)
• Matthew Hoffman, You Are Beautiful Project (Chicago)
• Dustin Yellin, contemporary artist (New York)
• Marije Kuiper, Like Knows Like (Utrecht)

As always, free tickets are available starting the Monday before the talk.

What does it mean to Rebel in a modern context? Local legend and real life superhero Richie Hardcore tackled the topic, sharing with the audience the bands and artists that have helped him shape his approach to life.

The morning was hosted by the super cool crew at The Basement Theatre and proudly brought to you by Curative, Little Lot, and AUT with coffee and water generously provided by Coffee Supreme and Antipodes. 

And thanks to Aria Taylor and Kaan Hiini from Curative for taking the photos - Check out the full set here: CreativeMornings /AKL with Richie Hardcore »

Our mates at Studio Magazine, our inaugural CreativeMornings/Auckland speakers, launch their 4th issue tommorow!

The magazine, which profiles interesting work spaces across a range of creative fields, focuses on spaces within one city for this issue – Chicago.

From category-defining architecture to blues music to new tech start-ups, Chicago has long been recognised as a world-leading creative hub. The Chicago Issue features the perfect combo of good looks, more interviews than ever, and a stunning range of world-class studios who all call Chicago home. Read more about Issue Four…

The editors are celebrating the launch with a party at the Semi-Permanent Research Lab in Ponsonby, from 6pm, Friday 28th February. Head along to pick up a copy in person or order one online at studiomagazine.co.nz

This month we’re pretty stoked to have The Basement hosting CreativeMornings. As the home of Auckland’s most adventurous emerging artists, The Basement collaborates with an artistic mixtape of theatre makers, dancers, visual artists, poets, musicians, comedians and everyone in between. It’s an affordable independent venue for local talent and fresh work, and most importantly, a safe place to be experimental, brave and innovative.

The Basement is the place to be entertained, discovered and inspired! As Metro Magazine noted, it’s “The most eclectic, exciting cultural venue in town.”

Right now we’re in the middle of The Basement’s Summer Season 2014, and there’s a few “killer” shows we think are worth getting along to…

Slapdash Assassin
25 Feb-8 Mar, 8pm, $25

A comedy as “black as a pint of Guinness” starring Jeremy Elwood (TV’s 7 Days) that tackles some of the issues facing modern-day Ireland under the guise of a family drama. With writing in the vein of ‘Boondock Saints’ and ‘In Bruges’ - no subject is taboo!

http://www.basementtheatre.co.nz/whats-on/the-slapdash-assassin/

Mo & Jess Kill Susie
25 Feb - 8 Mar, 6.30pm, $22

A volatile, psychological hostage thriller by award-winning playwright Gary Henderson, directed by Matt Baker and starring Jess Sayer, Darlene Mohekey and Sheena Irving. Mo and Jess Kill Susie is compelling, pulse-racing storytelling: Reservoir Dogs meets Waiting for Godot.

http://www.basementtheatre.co.nz/whats-on/mo-and-jess-kill-susie/

Because they’re cool like that The Basement are offering our mates (you guys) a sweet deal for Mo & Jess Kill Susie. Enter ‘CMakl’ when you book online to get tickets for $16 (instead of $22).

Check out the full Summer Season programme here.

Mike Monteiro gave one of the most popular CreativeMornings talk of all time in March 2011, for the San Francisco chapter. We think it fits perfectly with this months Global Theme: Rebel

If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “F*ck you, pay me,” just know that this is where it all started.

Watch it. →

via creativemornings

In November 2013, at the last Auckland event of the year, Deanna Yang, founder of the delicious Moustache Milk & Cookie Bar, told us about her incredible journey to opening up her own business at the age of 21.

Part of a series on Bravery, watch Deanna’s moving and inspiring story above or bookmark it on creativemornings.com

Need a primer for next week’s CreativeMornings/Auckland speaker? Have a read of this article from Tearaway.

creativemornings:

The Rebel’s Manifesto via Designers & Books.