Let’s go. Let’s get out there and see what the world has waiting for us. By putting ourselves in a new environment or experience, we gain a different perspective. That sense of discovery sparks fresh inspiration. If your brain feels stuck, try moving your feet.

So, let’s travel somewhere we’ve never been. Either down the street or across a far-off border, there’s so many places to explore.

Scott Doorley & Carissa Carter from Stanford d.school will take us there and share how to design our own and collective futures.

The trick is to embrace the detours and delays. Because there are no shortcuts on a journey of self-discovery or creative expression. Just please remember: you are not traveling alone.

Our world runs on cycles. There’s the frantic buzz of the 24-hour news cycle. The boom and bust of economic cycles. The changing seasons. Every plant, animal, and organism exists in a life cycle of birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Water flows through a cycle of evaporation into vapor to condensation in clouds to precipitation that falls as rain or snow. The menstrual cycle. The circadian rhythm of our sleep cycle.

Cycles are circular and keep things moving. Which cycles are you living in tune with? And which ones are you fighting vainly against?

Jeff Raz brought humor and fantastic storytelling about how artistic traditions cycle through generations.

2024/October – VISION – Natalia Kowaleczko & Tony Mingo

Vision, a word that has become so ubiquitous it is easy to mistake it as a mission or a goal. During our October Creative Mornings connect, Natalia Kowaleczko and Tony Mingo of PACT studios shared their creative process for vision that they’ve used with their clients and in their personal lives to use their heart and their head to design a bigger mission that connects with your individual values and passion.

With case studies of helping a local yogi articulating how calm is essential to activism to blowing up ageism and racism in tech. They shared a framework on how vision is what is nestled between our passion and action and asked us to think about what we wanted to see more of in the world.

We left inspired to not only look at how we communicate our vision to others, but how we are better together when we share and support one another in bringing them to life.

Thank you to the wonderful Pam Dineva for capturing these moments.

2024/September – REFLECTION – Tim Westergren

During his talk Tim Westergren shared some of his (hilarious) stories from struggling musician playing in empty bars, to co-founding and running the very successful music streaming service Pandora. 

His path is full of unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs and obstacles, that left us holding our breath and laugh out loud. He touched on topics like creator burnout, losing ones creative vision and his new adventure, an app for digital creators that’s part assistant, part manager, and part magic. 

If we didn’t cut the Q&A short, we’d still be there discussing and laughing with Tim.

Thank you to the wonderful Pam Dineva for capturing these moments.

Eileen once had a shot of espresso that changed her life. She knew right then what to do: open a shop dedicated to elevating coffee in the Bay Area, in the city where she knew she belonged.

Following her creative intuition was not always easy. The now beloved name, Ritual, was subject to ridicule and scrutiny, even from her close friends. Eileen shared why it’s important to listen to your gut, and that following your dreams isn’t always easy, but always worth it.

A big shout out to Pam Dineva, who captured the magic once more.

2024/July – TRUST – Rukmini Poddar

Rukmini is the author of Draw Your Feelings: A Creative Journal to Help Connect with Your Emotions through Art, and on a mission to teach the world to draw their feelings.

Rukmini found her creative voice in participating in the #100DayProject for over 9 consecutive years and has grown her instagram community to over 100,000 followers. She is best known for her drawings that give life to her emotions.

During our July CreativeMornings she lead a mini workshops and led our creative crowd to put pen on paper.

Behind the camera was our wonderful Pam Dineva.

THANK YOU Nick for bringing 110% of yourself, and sharing takeaways for building VIBRANT projects and lives!!!✨✨✨ We loved hearing your process for uncovering the most interesting stories daily and the power of co-foundership at The Best One Yet Podcast.

Friends, what takeaways stuck with you?? We’d love to hear!

And THANK YOU to everyone who joined and shared your vibrancy.

Shout-out to our generous sponsors Golden Gate University and Adobe who make these cozy, coffee-fueled mornings possible.

Immense gratitude to our growing volunteer team — for holding down check-in, coffee, snacks, video and photos — your commitment is everything! More photos by the positively vibrant Pam Dineva are linked on Flickr.

See you at our next talk, June 21st!

FIELDTRIPS | CHRONICLE BOOKS

Throwback Thursday:
Where Do Your Ideas Come From? The Art of Publishing Books and Gifts.

Back in January, editors and former CM/SF speakers Christina Amini, Bridget Watson Payne, and Dena Rayess gave us a tour through Chronicle Books headquarters and share with us the art of making books. Here’s what you missed:

Chronicle Books is an independent publisher based in San Francisco that has been making things since 1967. Our tour started in on the ground floor – where the gift store is located. Moving up floor by floor, we saw so many aspects of the whole creative chain, from the design team to the marketing department. Books, covers, drawings and sparks of colors followed us along the walk.

On the top floor, Susan O’Malley’s wall is filled with her inspirational art work. Next to it, Chronicle’s newest mural “Seeing things Different” let us do exactly that: see things different.

Though we’ve all seen Christina, Bridget and Dena at CreativeMornings before, it was incredible to hear more about their role at the organization, as well as what it takes to publish Chronicle books and gifts. From ideation and collaboration, to launching it into the market, and serendipitous (or otherwise) hiccups along the way, can all lead to a successful paths to beautifully designed and thoughtfully built product.

Thanks to Christina, Bridget, Dena, and the rest of the Chronicle Books team for hosting and sharing all their wisdom with our community. You can find them in SOMA at 680 Second Street. All photos taken by Sana Maqsood. Check out more photos from the event on Flickr.

APRIL THEME IS PURPOSE

This month’s theme is Purpose – the bright light that can exist in different sizes and dimensions, separately, or even all at once. During this time, we’ve been thinking about our own beliefs and purpose at CreativeMornings/San Francisco. A place where connections are encouraged with one another, where friendship, love, and creativity are at the core. We are a house of experimentation with open doors to amplify your deepest creative projects, a space for you to stand up and share your story. We welcome all of you and believe that there are sparks of creativity in each of us.With that said, we are opening up our CreativeMornings space virtually for you to either teach us a new skill, read some poems you’ve written, or show us that dance routine you’ve perfected. Here is your opportunity to lead a FieldTrip, give a talk, or be featured in our Creative Spotlight – send us a note and let’s collaborate.Your purpose is made up of both the literal and the abstract, and its power is unmistakable. Those moments, memories, ideas, and conversations that you find yourself circling back to, with great fondness, make up the fabric of your purpose. Our Indianapolis chapter chose this month’s exploration of Purpose and Jason Ratliff illustrated the theme.

Throwback Thursday: Discover Fossilization

Back in October, former CM speaker Ziggy Khan introduced CM Field Trips to the Mission Science Workshop and ancient treasures. Here’s what you missed.

Early Friday morning at Mission High School, anxiety is high, whether it’s the flashbacks to your own embarrassing high school experience, or the intimidating stares from cool teens heading to class, whose eyes say “you can’t sit with us”. But around the corner lies a little oasis that both overwhelms and calms the senses. A little space called Mission Science Workshop…

Ziggy Khan, who previously did a CM talk on the Lakota community in South Dakota, is the Associate Director of Mission Science Workshop. What started as a garage home-education project has turned into a hands-on science center for kids of all ages. For 26 years, these neighborhood workshops have provided informal spaces for children, and now CM Field Trips, to participate in experiments, tinkering, and construction programs. Ziggy introduced us to Bart, our paleontologist for the day. (Basically Dr. Alan Grant IRL)

Bart talked to us all about fossils, how they’re formed, and where to find them. One of the most important fossil sites in North America is found at Green River, located in western Colorado, eastern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming. The Green River Formation is best known among paleontologists, the scientific community, and collectors for its perfectly preserved fossils of palm trees, turtles, birds, and an abundance of fish.

In this workshop, we got to handle Green River Formation rocks and use small chisels, hammers, brushes, and dilute (safe) hydrochloric acid to uncover fosils from these ancient treasures.

At the end of the day, everyone got a fossil to take home. I mean, look at this cute little crab. Just call me Dr. Ellie Sattler (Jurassic Park).

Thanks to Ziggy Khan, Bart, and the rest of the Mission Science Workshop team for hosting and teaching this workshop. You can find them around the corner from Mission High School and Mission Dolores Park at 3750 18th Street, through the Church Street entrance. All photos taken by Sana Maqsood. Check out more photos from the event on Flickr.