What if coming back to creativity didn't have to look like a commitment — what if it could look like one small, imperfect thing you did on a Tuesday afternoon and never showed anyone?

In this Creative Check-In episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie get into the real reasons people drift away from creativity — and more importantly, what it actually looks like to find your way back.

Whether you've been away from a creative practice for a few weeks or a few years, or you're considering starting something for the very first time, this one is for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why people stop being creative — and why that's not a character flaw
• The case for starting small and why "tiny" is actually the most sustainable entry point
• Emily's tufting class story: what happens when you try something you've never done before and genuinely have no idea what you're doing
• How changing your environment (a cafe, a museum, a walk around the block) can take the pressure off in a way that staring at a blank page never will
• The art of noticing — and how a color walk can snap your brain out of autopilot
• The creativity menu: a practical tool for getting started when your brain is tired and the options feel overwhelming
• What both hosts currently have on their own creativity menus, organized by five minutes, twenty minutes, and an afternoon

Resources & Links:

• Mermaid Books Lino Cut Workshop in Connecticut hosted by: Rachel
• Tufting Class led by: Tufted Love at the amazing community space Absalon in Copenhagen

Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ or visit our ⁠website⁠ to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply ⁠here.⁠

You can find Allie on ⁠Instagram⁠ or her ⁠website⁠, and you can find Emily on ⁠Instagram⁠ or her ⁠website⁠ to learn more about all they do and stay connected

You can find Austin on ⁠Instagram⁠ for all of your podcasting and musical needs

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.

What if the secret to a creative life isn't waiting until you're ready — it's deciding that ready is overrated?

In this episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie sit down with Gabrielle Siegel — founder of The Aura Creative design agency, writer published in Teen Vogue and beyond, fiddle player, and competitive Irish dancer who walked into her first class in her twenties with zero training and quietly decided she was going to make it to the top anyway. Gabrielle writes a Substack called Everything Hurts about what it actually takes to pursue the things that matter to you, and in this conversation she gets into the decade of creative risk-taking that shaped that philosophy — from a secret goal she told almost no one about, to why she still can't hit "post" without fighting the voice that tells her no one wants to see it.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How tagging along to her younger sister's very first Irish dance class led to a decade-long competitive pursuit she never planned for
• The secret goal she set for herself and kept quiet for years — and what she learned when she didn't reach it
• A childhood memory involving a zip line and a ten-minute standoff with fear that became her go-to method for pushing past creative paralysis
• Why self-promotion feels "cringy" even when the work is something she's proud of, and the mindset shift that gets her to hit post anyway
• The real cost of not pursuing the thing — and why the pain of not trying is so much harder to live with than the pain of trying and falling short
• Why having no end goal for her fiddle playing might be exactly the point

Resources & Links:

• The Aura Creative
• Gabrielle on Instagram
• Everything Hurts — Gabrielle's Substack

Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ or visit our ⁠website⁠ to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply ⁠here.⁠

You can find Allie on ⁠Instagram⁠ or her ⁠website⁠, and you can find Emily on ⁠Instagram⁠ or her ⁠website⁠ to learn more about all they do and stay connected

You can find Austin on ⁠Instagram⁠ for all of your podcasting and musical needs

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.