Illustration by Aly Miller @aly_illustrations

It’s safe to say that February’s event was truly special. Our community gathered at Coffee Makes You Black, a neighborhood staple for over 20 years in Milwaukee’s 53206 zip code. The same zip code our speaker, Sinceree Dixon, happened to grow up in, just a few blocks down. 

CMYB is co-owned by Djdade Denson, who took the stage to welcome everyone and share the exciting things their business has in store. Soon, CMYB will serve as a financial and business incubation hub to aid in their mission of economically uplifting the Black community. If you’re interested in learning more or want to get involved, feel free to email Djdade. 

Before we took our seats, we enjoyed chicken & waffles, prepared by CMYB and sponsored by Islands of Brilliance (thank you both!), grooved to our thematic playlist, hugged, and high-fived. 

“Today I am going to discuss my experience as a Native American and Black woman, who is also Native to Milwaukee. I want to help dispel the myths that perpetuate the idea that Native People everywhere are monolithic and the notion that the Black experience is homogenous.My story is not only one of survival, but about reclamation and representation.”

Video by the incredible Jesse & Natalie from Create & Capture.

Sinceree Dixon is a programs coordinator and grant writer at Victory Garden Initiative. She’s also a mother of two, a model, and a phenomenally generous storyteller. 

Sinceree opens her talk by telling us about her mother and father, who are from Ojibwe & Menominee and Black descent respectively. But like all our stories, Sinceree’s begins well before her and her parents: her story begins many generations ago. 

This month’s event was generously filmed by Create & Capture. We invite you to cozy up and watch Sinceree’s talk, Native in Layers. You’re sure to leave feeling inspired to learn more about the stories that make up America and of your own lineage. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll shed the stories people have tacked on to you. As Sinceree demonstrated, maybe you will define yourself. 

Victory Garden Blitz

Victory Garden Initiative builds communities that grow their own food to create a community-led, socially just, environmentally sustainable, and nutritious food system for all. Get involved!

• Volunteer registration form 
• Purchase a raised garden bed
• Sponsor a garden

CreativeMornings is about shining the light on our communities. And one way to do this is via 30 Second Pitches. This is where we invite a few people from our community to come up to the stage and share a pitch with our audience. It could be that they are looking to hire, need collaborators, have an upcoming event they’d like to promote, or who knows? Maybe even looking for a date! Our 30 Second Pitch Nomination Form is always open!

Jeff Ganger is the marketing director at Islands of Brilliance, a learning experience developed specifically for children and young adults on the autism spectrum.

They are currently seeking Summer Mentors! As a Design Mentor, you have the opportunity to work 1:1 with students to help them bring their ideas to life. From the initial stages of sketching and designing through to project completion, Mentors guide students through the process while teaching basic skills in creative software and technologies.

If you…

• Are looking to do something meaningful, impactful, and positive for the community
• Like inspiring others to be creative
• Appreciate differentness and unique perspectives
• Have fun sharing and playing with creative tools
• And are inspired by the student’s creativity and willingness to learn…

Then being an IOB Summer Mentor could be right for you!Design Mentors should have some experience with Adobe Creative Cloud software, such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Procreate and Blender is a plus. 

Any questions? Email Jeff!

Become a Mentor

Dominic Inouye is the internship director at Teens Grow Greens, whose mission is to develop teens through transformative experiences that cultivate belonging, life skills, and connections to opportunities that grow leadership.

Dominic announced their newest paid internship program: Leading the Way | Exploring & Rethinking Milwaukee. Interns will see themselves as knowledgeable Milwaukeeans able to experience and express their city in new ways!

If you know a teen who wants to…

• Discover Milwaukee’s history, both positive and challenging
• Explore on foot, bike, and kayak, through its water, parks, culture, food, and more
• Engage in conversations with residents and business owners
• Recognize community assets throughout the city
• Create your own guide to Milwaukee’s present and future

Encourage them to apply! Applications are due April 19, 2024. 

Explore Teen Internship Opportunities

Event day photos by Holly Schisler. Lots more love captured in our Flickr gallery.

Big thanks to our local partners:

See you next month!

Photo credit: Linda Smallpage

Event Details: 

Date: Friday, February 16th

Time: 8:30 – 10:00am CST

Location: Coffee Makes You Black - 2803 N. Teutonia Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53206

Learn About Sinceree Dixon

Sinceree Dixon, is a native of Milwaukee in a few layers. Born to an Ojibwe mother, her pride is found in reclaiming her roots as an enrolled tribal member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe. Sinceree’s father is a beautiful Black man from Milwaukee’s 53206 neighborhood.As a proud mother of two boys, she can be found on Tuesdays and Thursdays cheering them on at basketball games. Sinceree earned her bachelor’s from UW- Milwaukee, has over 20 years of knowledge with customer service and people management. Her most recent chapter in service has been her call to action to fight food insecurity with the Victory Garden Initiative.

February Venue

Coffee Makes You Black is a mission-led community hub in Milwaukee’s Sherman Height’s neighborhood. Rooted in uplifting and empowering the local Black community, CMYB serves as a social, political, and economic resource center fueled by southern comfort inspired cuisine. 

Parking & Directions

This month our Native event is hosted at Coffee Makes You Black, located in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood at 2803 N. Teutonia Ave; Milwaukee, WI 53206. Street parking is available and is located along several bus lines. 

Accessibility

Closer to the event, we will provide any ADA accessibility related notes. Should you have any questions or concerns, please email milwaukee@creativemornings.com.

Invite a Friend Campaign!

Big thank you to our local partners!

Islands of Brilliance (IOB) is a learning experience developed specifically for children and young adults on the autism spectrum.
Rather than expect students to adapt to the environment, IOB created the ideal environment.

Experience Milwaukee is a podcast for Milwaukee fans who want to deeply experience the city and get to know the amazing people behind the places you love. Follow along on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok!

Coffee Makes You Black (CMYB) is mission-led community hub in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights neighborhood. Rooted in uplifting and empowering the local Black community, CMYB serves as a social, political, and economic resource center fueled by southern comfort inspired cuisine. 

If your organization or company is inspired by CreativeMornings/Milwaukee and wants to ensure that our events can remain free and accessible to the Milwaukee creative community, become a Quarterly or 2024 Annual Partner! Contact our team at milwaukee@creativemornings.com. We’d love to hear from you and collaborate!

February’s Theme is NATIVE.

Our global theme for February is NATIVE. It was chosen by our Honolulu chapter and illustrated by Jack Soren.

Where you are from shapes who you are. Where you call home influences your worldview. Understanding the traditions of your ancestors can help answer the question, “where do I belong?” Your connections to a place and the past should rightfully be a source of great pride. 

The unique customs, art, and languages of native cultures make the tapestry of human civilization more vibrant. Yet many indigenous communities have faced marginalization, land dispossession, and cultural erasure. How much have we lost and what can be preserved? 

By respecting and celebrating the traditions and achievements of native people everywhere, we can discover a deeper sense of connection and unity. What does our history have to teach us? What can we learn from each other? 

This month we’re invited to commune at Coffee Makes You Black, a mission-led community hub in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights neighborhood. Rooted in uplifting and empowering the local Black community, CMYB serves as a social, political, and economic resource center fueled by southern comfort inspired cuisine. 

Set your alarms — registration opens next Monday!

Event Details

Date: Friday, February 16th

Time: 8:30 – 10:00am CST

Location: Coffee Makes You Black - 2803 N. Teutonia Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53206

What better way to get inspired by this month’s NATIVE theme than to listen to music by local Milwaukeans?! This month’s playlist includes bops from the likes of Grace Weber, Buffalo Nichols, Bryan Cherry, Abbey Jeanne, NilexNile, and Violent Femmes.

Is there a local artist you’d like our community to listen to? Email or DM us and we’ll add them to our playlist!

Follow us on Spotify at @milwaukee_cm & listen to this month’s playlist!

Big thanks to our local partners!

Support our local chapter!

If your organization or company is inspired by CreativeMornings/Milwaukee and wants to ensure that our events remain free & accessible to the Milwaukee creative community, become a Quarterly or 2024 Annual Partner! Contact us at milwaukee@creativemornings.com. 

*We are presently looking for breakfast and fiscal partners ;)Run by an engine of generosity.

Behind all the newsletters, social media posts, giveaways, speaker portraits, check-in tables, and flare is a talented team of volunteers. Do you want to write this newsletter? Interested in capturing our events with video? Let us know!

Big thank you to: Alea Cross, Alexa Seybold, Aly Miller, Annie Werner, Carley Knight, Caroline Ferrero, Hannah Rae Birkholz, Holly Schisler, Kaitlyn Johnson, Kelly Gehringer, Linda Smallpage, and Sarah Schauf. 

Illustration by Aly Miller

It was a chilly morning on January 19th but that didn’t keep the CreativeMornings/Milwaukee community from showing out at our inaugural reawakening event. Over one hundred of us reconnected at Hundred Acre, Milwaukee’s largest indoor hydroponic farm. We danced to our RISE playlist, kept warm with Discourse coffee, met new friends, and reconnected with old ones after four long years.

“More people can come and access us than ever before in the world of agriculture. We’re creating jobs and then there’s exposure, education. It’s income and knowledge. That’s the solution to food insecurity.”

Days following the event, Experience Milwaukee podcast invited our keynote speaker and venue host, Chris Corkery, and CreativeMornings lead speaker coach, Alea Cross, into the studio to capture the magic of Corkery’s business, Hundred Acre. Hundred Acre is a unique urban farm providing a rapid response solution to food insecurity in the heart of Milwaukee.

Tune into Experience Milwaukee’s episode on Spotify to learn what inspired Corkery to move to Milwaukee to start this business, how Hundred Acre is impacting the community, what’s next, and how you can get involved.

This month we invited our chapter’s first two annual partners to present a 30-second pitch! If you are interested in joining the fun or are curious to learn more about how partnering with CreativeMornings can uplift your business, let us know.

Ryan Castelaz is a wild dreamer who wears his heart on his sleeve. Having spent the last six years exploring the boundaries the coffee industry with Discourse Coffee, and more recently sharing much of this work with the world via his best-selling book, “The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail,” Ryan has now turned his gaze towards the world of cocktail bars, and specifically, how non-alcoholic bartending can be married with the world of modern mixology. His latest creative endeavor, The Agency, is now open Friday-Sunday, 6pm to late at 1020 N Broadway. Cheers!

Steve Glynn and Adam Derus have been avidly exploring Milwaukee for their entire lives, so it’s a good thing they decided to make a podcast! Together, they share a wide range of hidden gems with their listeners, highlighting the special people and places that make up our incredible city. Always recorded with a sense of humor and occasionally over a few beers, this podcast is sure to keep you hip to all things Milwaukee.
Join the fun and subscribe to Experience Milwaukee wherever you get your podcasts. Visit textmke.com to get the inside scoop with a free, daily text about what’s happening around Cream City.

Event day photos by Holly Schisler. Lots more love captured in our Flickr gallery.

Photo credit: Linda Smallpage

Event Details

• Date: Friday, January 19th
• Time: 8:30 – 10:00am CST
• Location: Hundred Acre - 3945 N. 31st St, Milwaukee, WI 53216

Learn About Chris Corkery

Chris Corkery (he/him) is a chef, urban farmer, marketeer, and farsighted visionary. He is the Founder and CEO of Hundred Acre, Milwaukee’s largest indoor vertical hydroponic farm.

As a former NYC advertising jockey burnt out from the rat race of an ever-changing landscape, he turned his sights to food as a medium for change. 

“There is something both refreshing and inspiring when you look at your basket of ingredients with all the raw potential they possess. From the experience of bringing them together to the impact this can have on those you serve, we find our everyday bond. After all…we all have to eat.” -Corkery.

Transplanting from New York City to the Midwest, Chris aims to bridge the gap between our ailing food system and innovation through a network of local growing spaces.

January Venue

Hundred Acre is a lot of things. They’re Milwaukee’s largest indoor urban farm, growing basil and salad blend as well as co-collaborators of a delicious pesto product; they’re a warm, communal events space within a raw industrial setting; they’re teachers of a hands-on educational curriculum; and they’re a media production company, Grow With Us. Hundred Acre’s mission is to serve as a platform toward supply chain resilience and a healthier local food system. Notable partners include Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Hunger Task Force. You can find their products across Wisconsin’s beloved restaurants (such as Ardent and Bavette La Boucherie), hotels (like Saint Kate The Arts Hotel and Kimpton Journeyman Hotel), stadiums (The Milwaukee Brewers), universities (Marquette University), grocery stores (Outpost Foods, Piggly Wiggly), and Wisconsin public schools. 

Parking & Directions

This month our Rise event is hosted at Hundred Acre, located 3945 N. 31st St, Milwaukee, WI 53216.

Hundred Acre is located in Franklin Heights inside of the Century City Business Park building on the corner of Capitol Drive and N. 31st St. Hundred Acre is easily accessible by car from the Capitol Drive exit on I-43 and I-90, and by transit via bus lines 34, Red, and Purple.

About our Partners!

Experience Milwaukee:

A podcast for Milwaukee fans who want to deeply experience the city and get to know the amazing people behind the places you love. Follow along on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok!

About Discourse:

A motley crew of baristas, bartenders, artists, cooks, scientists, music nerds, and renegades.
We pen liquid stories that celebrate the people, places, and things that occupy our hearts.
We’re driven by a fervent desire to explore the unknown, with a focus on sustainability and seasonality.

If your organization or company is inspired by CreativeMornings/Milwaukee and wants to ensure that our events can remain free and accessible to the Milwaukee creative community, become a Quarterly or 2024 Annual Partner! Contact our team at milwaukee@creativemornings.com. We’d love to hear from you and collaborate!

CreativeMornings/Milwaukee has officially risen!

January’s Theme is RISE.

Our global theme for January is RISE. It was chosen by our Tampa Bay chapter and illustrated by Miss Crit.

The sun must set before it can rise. So, remember, every setback can be overcome. Each new challenge compels us to tap into our reservoirs of hope and determination. To live a fulfilling life, we must not wallow. We must rise.

The phoenix rising from the ashes is such a juicy metaphor. The mystical bird’s fiery demise symbolizes the destruction of old expectations — and how it’s always been done. Every creative act is a transformation. Each new project is a rebirth.

We rise from everything that came before. That’s why “rise up!” is a rally cry for the oppressed. But we should all be shouting, because our personal and collective empowerment are intricately linked. The rise of different voices creates a richer and more vibrant society. The goal is not reaching the top, it’s lifting each other up.

Together, we rise higher.

——————————————————————————

A big thank you to our local partners:

Support our local chapter!

If your organization or company is inspired by CreativeMornings/Milwaukee and wants to ensure that our events remain free & accessible to the Milwaukee creative community, become a Quarterly or 2024 Annual Partner! Contact us at milwaukee@creativemornings.com. 
*We are presently looking for a breakfast partner ;)

——————————————————————————

Thank you to MARN for hosting our volunteer kick-off!
Image credit: Linda Smallpage (photography), Aly Miller (illustration)

Meet our team!

CreativeMornings is run by an engine of generosity. Behind all the newsletters, social media posts, giveaways, speaker portraits, check-in tables, and flare is a team of talented volunteers. Interested in joining our team? Fill out this form!

Big thank you to: Alea Cross, Alexa Seybold, Aly Miller, Annie Werner, Carley Knight, Caroline Ferrero, Hannah Rae Birkholz, Holly Schisler, Kaitlyn Johnson, Kelly Gehringer, Linda Smallpage, and Sarah Schauf. 

Portraits by Rachal Duggan, Milwaukee-based illustrator and author.

Hi! We're Annie & Kelly, your new CreativeMornings Milwaukee hosts. We cannot wait to meet you, drink coffee with you, and celebrate the creative spirit of our sweet Cream City. 

It takes a village. 

Every CreativeMornings event is free and run by a team of trusty volunteers — and we are now reviewing applications for our cohort! If you’re interested in joining as a full-time team lead or volunteering on an as-needed basis, we’d love to hear from you. Some of the volunteer positions include:

• Videographer/photographer
• Graphic designer
• Day-of event coordinator

We are also seeking your community nominations for the following:

• Speakers
• Venues
• Coffee + breakfast partners

>>> Application/Nomination form <<<

Submit your volunteer application and/or community nominations by Wednesday, Aug. 30. We will be in touch with applicants on a rolling basis over the next few weeks. 

In the meantime… 

Forward along the CreativeMornings newsletter (sign-up link!) to your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, dog sitters, etc. who might be interested in joining our vibrant, growing community. That way you and your crew can be the first to find out when we are hosting our first event!

Until then,
Annie & Kelly

Photo: CreativeMornings/Rio de Janeiro

We’re looking for a new host in Milwaukee!

In 2008, Tina Roth Eisenberg, also known as Swissmiss, started CreativeMornings out of a desire for an ongoing, accessible event for New York’s creative community. The concept was simple: breakfast and a short talk one Friday morning a month. Every event would be free of charge and open to anyone.

Today, attendees gather in 200+ cities around the world to enjoy fresh coffee, friendly people, and an international array of breakfast foods. Volunteer hosts and their team members organize local chapters that not only celebrate a city’s creative talent, but also promote an open space to connect with like-minded individuals. We call ourselves an engine of generosity and live by our manifesto. 

CreativeMornings Milwaukee’s previous host has since stepped down so we are now looking for a replacement. Could this be you?

If you are:

- passionate about your local creative community in Milwaukee
- psyched to lead a small volunteer team to put your own spin on CreativeMornings
- excited to be a part of a global network of the nicest, most creative people you’ve ever met
- one to use the words humble, driven, resourceful, generous and connected to describe yourself
- ready to grow as a creative leader in your city

…we’d love to hear from you! If interested, complete our standard New Chapter Application, which consists of a written application and video, and we’ll be in touch.

We will conduct a follow up interview with the top candidates.

We look forward to receiving your application!

CreativeMornings

P.s. Insight into what it’s like to be a host. And more insight. Okay, last one. 

On Friday, January 31st we kick off 2020 at the new Saint Kate Hotel with Nathaniel Stern to talk on this month’s theme: ROOTS.

Read more about Nathaniel here!

We sat down to get to know Nathaniel a little more in our interview below:

What do you usually eat for breakfast?
Coffee. Black.

What do people know you for?
Scanner art, interactive art, internet art (on Twitter and Wikipedia), and entrepreneurship support in Milwaukee.

How is Milwaukee special to you?
Milwaukee makes me smile.

What inspires you creatively?
Creativity rises when I’m running, looking at art, outdoors, and reading.

What will you share during your talk?
I will be talking about the world after us.

On Friday, November 22nd we will return after a couple months off at the amazing UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center with Keller (Kelly) Fitzsimmons to talk on this month’s theme: LOST.

This month is particularly special for us because our chapter had the honor to choose the theme! For this event, we will also have a special performance by Milwaukee-based Soul Pop singer/songwriter, Lex Allen, singer/songwriter, Barbara Stephan, and musical artist, Deonta Griffin!

Read more about Kelly Fitzsimmons, Lex Allen, Barbara Stephan, and Deonta Griffin here.

We sat down to get to know Kelly a little more in our interview below:

What do you usually eat for breakfast?
I’m the queen of the breakfast smoothie. Usually it’s an exotic version of a chocolate shake or a virgin piña colada… with spinach.

What do people know you for?
I’m known as a technology entrepreneur and early industry evangelist in information security, voice interface, and virtual reality. I tend to show up to the party about 7 years too early and then hang awkwardly by the punch bowl. Today, I am becoming better known as an author. My book, Lost in Startuplandia, has become a bestseller, which is still weird to me. Someday, I want to be known for my music. It took me only 40 years to admit that.

How is Milwaukee special to you?
I was born and mostly raised here. I’m a third-generation entrepreneur. As a family, we started several meaningful and successful businesses in the Greater Milwaukee area. My parents, Donald and Donna Baumgartner, are passionate about the arts and ensured that I caught the bug. My husband Jeff and I have focused our energy on Milwaukee Film and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. Currently, I work with the artists selected in 88Nine’s Backline program in a companion program called Vision, which focuses on the artists’ mental wellness and building a support community for them.

What inspires you creatively?
Novelty. Anything sufficiently weird will inspire me. My main artistic mediums are words and sound so I tend to collect ideas on Voice Memos on my phone. One time my daughter, Reiley, discovered my Voice Memos app at a doctor’s office and started playing my sound ideas on maximum volume. I ended up chasing her around the doctor’s office as she played such memorable gems as “Momma Beats 2” and “Parking Lot.”

What will you share during your talk?
Our theme is lost and that pretty much sums up my life. At 29, my second startup failed, leaving me on the hook for $5 million in personally guaranteed debt. Finding my way out of that situation is one of the stories. But more recently, I dealt with a health crisis that turned my world upside down. I ended up questioning whether or not I could be an entrepreneur or even work again. As a kid, I was terrified of being lost. Today I see being lost as a hallowed state. It’s the transition between what’s known and unknown. If we never get lost, how can we figure out where we are going?