What happens when the career you were promised doesn't show up as promised — and you have to build one from scratch?

In this episode of The Creative Collective, our art therapy podcast and creativity podcast, we talk with Cheryl Walpole Tiku, a licensed art therapist who started her career in product development at Ralph Lauren before training at Pratt Institute and spending nearly two decades across hospitals and private practice in New York. She's now the editor and co-author of a new book that says something most people in helping professions feel but rarely admit out loud — that following your calling can make life harder, not easier.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What Cheryl noticed inside a fast-moving, image-driven fashion job that eventually pushed her to walk away from it
• The disorienting creative block she hit early in her art therapy training — and how she found her way back
• Why she and a grad-school friend built an entire international art therapy program in Namibia, because the one they wanted didn't exist yet
• Why she believes you don't have to sell — or even finish — what you make for it to count
• The creative groups she's started for women entrepreneurs and founders, and what she's noticed about high achievers and creative access
• How a vintage etiquette book became one of her go-to creative practices, and why "keep your dignity" is the only line she left visible

Resources & Links:

• Cheryl Walpole Tiku — Instagram @the_line_between_studio, thelinebetweenconsulting.com
• The Business of Art Therapy (Routledge) — out now
• Chery's Substack: The Line Between Studio

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If you enjoyed this episode, follow along and share it with someone who could use a little more creativity in their life.

And this is your reminder that you don't have to be an artist to benefit from creativity. You're welcome, as you are, in this creative community.