This week, I’m joined by outdoor boudoir photographer Ren Morrow — someone who’s completely redefining what it means to be seen through the lens.
Ren’s work takes women into wild, natural spaces and creates the kind of photoshoot that’s more like a self-return than a performance. It’s soft, powerful, intimate, and deeply connected to the land — and to the body.
We talk about the moment that shaped her entire approach to photography (a boudoir shoot that left her feeling small and judged), and how that led to the values-driven business she’s built today — one that holds space for real, unfiltered self-expression.
Inside this conversation, we explore:
– What it really means to be seen through the lens
– How to build a brand around your creative values
– Reclaiming vulnerability as part of your process
– And how to keep creating when self-doubt, shame, or burnout show up
If you’re building a creative business that doesn’t fit the mould — this one’s for you.
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In this episode of Maverick Mind, I’m joined by mindful living guide, educator, and boundaries mentor Cindy Brockway for a grounding conversation about burnout, courage, and what it really takes to reconnect with yourself in a world that asks for too much.
Cindy spent more than 30 years working with children who had emotional and learning needs — a career that taught her the real meaning of self-regulation, compassion, and resilience. After her own experience with burnout and medical leave, she rebuilt her life around mindful living, nervous system awareness, and the courage to slow down.
We talk about the patterns that drain creative people, why so many of us push past our limits until something forces us to stop, and how your spark never disappears — it just gets buried under pressure, perfectionism, and doing too much.
Cindy also shares how jewellery-making became an unexpected gateway back to calm and creativity. Working with her hands offered a different kind of stillness: one rooted in presence, craft, and quiet joy rather than productivity.
Inside the episode, we explore:
✨ how to recognise burnout before it’s too late
✨ building boundaries that protect your energy
✨ nervous system regulation you can actually use
✨ neutral thinking as a path to clarity
✨ reclaiming time, focus, and internal space
✨ creativity as a grounding practice — not a performance
✨ returning to your spark after overwhelm
✨ choosing courage over constant productivity
This is a soft, honest, steadying conversation — a reminder that calm isn’t something you wait for. It’s something you learn to cultivate, one boundary, one pause, one breath at a time.
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In this week’s episode of Maverick Mind, I’m joined by spoken word poet, TEDx speaker, and confidence coach Tricia Veldman — a creative whose work explores identity, self-expression, public speaking, and what it really means to live fully alive in the face of uncertainty.
For ten years, Tricia worked as a speech coach helping people overcome fear, build confidence, and find their voice. But her life shifted dramatically when her mother was placed on hospice at 65. Moving back home to care for her reshaped Tricia’s perspective on time, creativity, and self-expression. That experience inspired her 2023 TEDx talk and much of the spoken word poetry she performs today.
We talk about the emotional side of confidence and visibility, how to work through creative fear, and why declaring your identity can feel so vulnerable. Tricia shares how one open mic night led her into spoken word poetry, how daily writing became her grounding practice, and what motivated her to publish her poetry book Create & Receive, Make & Believe.
Inside the episode, we explore:
✨ identity, self-expression, and the courage to be seen
✨ how mortality and grief can fuel creativity and purpose
✨ the truth about confidence (and why it’s not about being fearless)
✨ spoken word poetry as a tool for emotional processing
✨ creative blocks, imposter syndrome, and visibility fears
✨ shifting from public speaking coaching into full-spectrum confidence coaching
✨ the messy, human process of sharing vulnerable work
✨ why waiting until you’re “ready” keeps you stuck
This conversation is grounding, energising, and full of permission — an invitation to say what you need to say while you’re here to say it, and to live a creative life that feels honest, courageous, and fully alive.
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In this week’s episode of Maverick Mind, I sit down with artist and illustrator Jessie James for a deeply honest conversation about what it really looks like to return to creativity after life hands you something you didn’t choose.
Jessie shares how a profound personal loss connected to 9/11 led her to step away from art for years — not out of lack of passion, but because creativity sometimes goes quiet when life becomes too heavy. Her return wasn’t dramatic or strategic. It came through tiny, unglamorous moments: sketching in the car during school pick-ups, drawing at her kids’ practices, slowly reconnecting with a version of herself she thought she’d lost.
Today, Jessie is known for her emotional pet portraits and for illustrating the children’s book Rocco and Ruby, but her journey has been shaped by self-doubt, identity shifts, motherhood, and the courage to begin again later in life.
In this episode, we explore:
✨ what it means when creativity disappears — and how to trust its return
✨ rebuilding an artistic identity after loss, grief, or long pauses
✨ navigating self-doubt and the “mid-piece panic” every creative knows
✨ the emotional weight of memorial pet portraits
✨ learning to value your work (and yourself) after years of unpaid labor
✨ trusting imperfect beginnings and letting art evolve with you
Jessie’s story is tender, relatable, and a powerful reminder that creativity doesn’t vanish — it waits.
And when we come back to it, we come back changed.
This episode is for anyone finding their way back to their craft, their confidence, or their voice.
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Find her website here
What if the real blocks to your creative expression aren’t in your mind — but in your subconscious?
This week on Maverick Mind, I sit down with Stepanka Kurlová, a clinical hypnotherapist, published writer, and coach for creatives, entrepreneurs, artists, and lightworkers. Stepanka specialises in helping people break free from visibility fears, creative blocks, procrastination, self-sabotage, and the deeper insecurities that silently shape how we show up.
With a blend of hypnotherapy, subconscious reprogramming, nervous system regulation, and practical strategy, she guides people toward emotional safety, self-expression, and authentic success — without abandoning their values or burning out.
In this episode, we explore:
✨ How subconscious conditioning shapes creativity, confidence, and momentum
✨ What hypnotherapy actually is (and why it’s not what most people think)
✨ Why visibility feels “unsafe” for many creatives and how to change that
✨ The root of procrastination and the myth of laziness
✨ Emotional regulation as a foundation for creative expansion
✨ Small, sustainable shifts that dismantle self-sabotage
✨ How to stay aligned while pursuing big dreams
✨ Stepanka’s personal story — from the Czech Republic to England, navigating chronic illness, ADHD, and intuitive expression
✨ What it means to break free and actually feel safe being seen
This is a grounded, expansive, and deeply supportive conversation for anyone who feels called to share their gifts — but sometimes gets caught in their own way.
If you’re ready to understand why you block yourself, and how to rewrite those internal patterns, this one is for you.
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What does it mean to take the hardest parts of your story and turn them into art?
This week on Maverick Mind, I sit down with author, ghostwriter, and radio host Kimberly Love: a woman who transformed a traumatic childhood into a life built on creativity, storytelling, and courage.
Kimberly began writing as a way to survive her early years. Journaling became her therapy, then her memoir, and eventually the foundation for a career helping others share their own stories. After ghostwriting over 100 books, she finally stepped into her own voice, claiming space as an author in her own right.
In this conversation, we explore what it really means to alchemise pain into purpose, embrace your creative identity, and stop hiding behind other people’s narratives.
We dive into:
✨ Writing as a tool for healing and emotional liberation✨ The shift from ghostwriter to author — and the fear of being seen✨ How trauma can shape a creative voice without defining it✨ Social media boundaries and showing up authentically online✨ Letting go of perfectionism and trusting your own creative instincts✨ Building confidence as a storyteller, even when your voice shakes
Kimberly’s journey is a reminder that creativity isn’t just an artistic act — it’s a form of reinvention.
If you’ve ever felt afraid to tell your story, or struggled to believe in the value of your own voice, this episode will speak straight to your heart.
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In this episode of Maverick Mind, I’m joined by desire coach and storyteller Milica Grjic for a deeply grounded conversation on returning to your body, your truth, and the wild intelligence of your desires.
We explore what happens when you stop performing, stop packaging, and start listening.
To your signals.
To your softness.
To the truth beneath the noise.
Milica shares her perspective on self-love as an energetic frequency, not a checklist—and how desire, when deeply felt and honored, becomes a compass for creativity, love, and leadership.
This conversation is an invitation to reclaim your expression without needing to explain it. To let what moves you, move through you.
Without apology.
We talk about:
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What does it take to keep creating when the odds — and the world — are stacked against you?
In this episode of Maverick Mind, I sit down with Tom Kwiat, the founder of Live and Amplified , a platform that helps promote and share the stories of independent musicians.
Born with cerebral palsy, Tom has lived many lifetimes in one — from filmmaker to storyteller to creative entrepreneur. Over the past decade, he’s built Live and Amplified from a scrappy idea into a global community supporting artists through storytelling, video, and live experiences.
We talk about:
🎙️ The origin story of Live and Amplified and how it’s grown over 10 years
🧠 Why mindset and resilience are the real foundations of any creative career
💡 How to stay authentic and independent in a world obsessed with algorithms
💬 The power of sharing stories — and why creativity thrives on human connection
⚡ The future of creativity: from AI and burnout to a return to in-person connection
Tom’s story is a masterclass in staying true to your voice, embracing the messy middle, and trusting the long game of creativity. Whether you’re a musician, filmmaker, or creator of any kind, this episode will remind you that you already have everything you need to begin.
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So many creatives spend their lives filtering their truth—polishing, perfecting, and performing—hoping it will make their work land. But the very thing you’re avoiding…the part that feels too messy, too raw, too real…is often the key to the connection, success, and deeper purpose you’ve been craving.
In this solo episode, Ellie explores why your honesty, not your polish, is what makes your work magnetic. She shares a recent realisation from her own journey about doing what you can versus what you’re truly here to do, and why that distinction changes everything.
This isn’t about oversharing or baring your soul online. It’s about choosing honesty over performance, and letting your creative “mess” become your most powerful message.
If you’ve been holding back, this episode is your reminder that your truth isn’t selfish. It’s service. And it’s the missing link to creating the impact you were born to make.
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What if the odds don’t apply to you?
In this soul-led solo episode, I’m exploring what it means to defy the narratives, labels, and statistics that creatives are often handed—and instead, live and create from your own truth.
We’ll talk about:
Why so many visionary creatives unknowingly live from borrowed beliefs
The subtle self-sabotage of trusting logic over instinct
A story about a house sale during lockdown that will shift how you think about timing, “realistic” goals, and self-permission
How to respond to doubt with one quietly powerful question: “But what if?”
Whether you’re a designer, musician, writer, or multidisciplinary artist—if you’ve ever felt the pressure to shrink your vision to fit the current climate, this is your reminder that you are the climate.
This episode will help you return to your rhythm, rewrite the rules, and move forward from the one thing that’s always been yours: your internal knowing.
—
Mentions:
Creative blocks, subconscious belief systems, energetic alignment, artistic identity, nervous system regulation, personal branding for creatives, maverick mindsets, non-linear success, intuition-led creation
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What if the clarity, success, and recognition you’re waiting for—are actually waiting for you?
In this solo episode, Ellie explores the quiet truth behind creative transformation: your desires aren’t random, and your next level isn’t something you chase—it’s something you become. If you’ve been craving momentum, deeper self-belief, or a creative breakthrough, this is your reminder that the things you want from life are often reflections of what life wants from you.
Whether you’re an artist, creative, musician, designer or simply navigating the tension between where you are and where you know you’re meant to be, this episode will leave you feeling grounded, seen, and softly activated.
We’ll explore:
The mirror principle of desire and embodiment
Why your internal world shapes what you receive externally
Letting go of “performing” and returning to self-trust
A personal reflection on navigating self-doubt and belief
A gentle invitation to move from softness, not pressure
Perfect for anyone walking the path of creativity, self-leadership, and soulful success.
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In a world where everyone has an opinion on who you should be, how you should work, and what success should look like—it’s easy to lose the sound of your own voice.
In this solo episode, Ellie explores the real meaning of self-leadership as a creative. Not the polished version we see online
—but the quiet, grounded, often unseen moments where you choose your truth over trends, your rhythm over performance, and your clarity over applause.
You’ll hear:
— The subtle ways creatives abandon their own voice
— What self-leadership actually looks like in real life
— Why it often triggers others—and why that’s okay
— A personal story behind the creation of EMBER
— A gentle invitation to anchor back into your rhythm
This episode is a mirror, a permission slip, and a call to come home to yourself—especially when the world wants you to mold.
🎧 Listen now and let this be your reminder:
Your rhythm isn’t weakness.
It’s the way through.
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Somatic Healing is a tool I use with people in a 1-1 coaching container, in order to help them better understand, process and release both present and past emotions. However, over the past 1-2 years I've developed into an experience aiming to, hopefully, help more of you in the moments you need it.
You'll be taken on a journey through a deep somatic body scan and a visualisation to help process and release feelings of overwhelm.
Designed to help you reconnect with your body’s truth and release the pressure to get it “right,” this class supports emotional spaciousness, nervous system regulation, and self-compassion.
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This isn’t a retrospective.
It’s a real-time glimpse into what it means to create something personal—before the world sees it.
In this episode, I sit down with Apneet Sandhu, the founder of AURRA London—a fragrance line rooted in tradition, designed like art, and released just days before this conversation aired.
We recorded this weeks before launch, when the vision was fully formed but the outcome still lived in the unknown.
What unfolds is a raw, powerful reflection on creativity, identity, and the quiet conviction it takes to follow something meaningful all the way through.
AURRA is more than perfume.
It’s memory. Heritage. Design. Scent as storytelling.
Rooted in centuries-old Indian rituals. Reimagined through Apneet’s modern lens.
We talk about leaving behind corporate certainty.
Honoring your lineage.
And trusting the subtle, sacred pulse that says: “This is what I came here to build.”
If you’re at the edge of your own creative beginning—this is for you.
𓂃
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Website here
In creative industries, gatekeepers are everywhere—curators, labels, mentors, influencers.
We’re taught that to succeed, we need to be chosen. Co-signed. Allowed in.
This episode explores what happens when you hand over your power in the name of access—and what it means to reclaim it.
We’ll talk about:
The myth of being chosen
The spell of proximity
Why chasing influence costs more than it gives
And what it really means to lead from creative self-trust
You are the authority.
You don’t need to be chosen.
You just need to stop abandoning your own voice.
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What if branding wasn’t about picking the right fonts—but about choosing the version of yourself you’re ready to bring forward?
In this episode of Maverick Mind, I sit down with Isabel Bagsik—soulful brand designer and founder of Unconventional Bliss—to explore what it really means to build a brand from the inside out.
We dive into:
– Why burnout is often a branding issue
– Reconnecting with your inner voice before you touch strategy
– How nervous system work can transform visibility
– A powerful intuitive journaling practice you can try today
If you’ve ever felt like what you share looks fine on the outside, but doesn’t feel like you on the inside—this conversation is the shift you didn’t know you needed.
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In this solo episode, Ellie explores what it means to honour your creative self when your energy feels scattered and your voice feels filtered. From navigating life shifts and burnout to reimagining success on your own terms, this is a soulful reminder that your vision isn’t just about your work—it’s about your life. If you’ve been feeling stretched thin but still holding a big dream, this is your invitation to slow down, listen in, and come home to what’s true.
What happens when your creativity gets silenced too early—and what does it take to reclaim it later in life?
In this episode, I speak with Honorata, an artist, creative counsellor, and founder of Artlysing—a therapeutic approach to using creativity as a tool for healing, not just expression. She shares her story of leaving corporate life, rediscovering her creative voice through art journaling, and building a soulful, sustainable practice that blends art, therapy, and empowerment.
We explore:
𓂃 What creative wounding is—and how childhood experiences and societal narratives shape our inner critic
𓂃 How process-based creation can bypass perfectionism and restore creative confidence
𓂃 The myth of the starving artist—and why it’s not only untrue but deeply harmful
𓂃 Burnout, nervous system dysregulation, and how they impact your ability to create (and sell)
𓂃 Why finding your own rhythm—not someone else’s blueprint—is the real path to success
Honorata shares both practical tools and soulful insights on how to detach from outcome, reconnect with joy, and honour your own unique creative energy.
Whether you’re just returning to your art after a long pause or deep in the trenches of building your creative career—this episode is a gentle, grounded reminder:
You are allowed to thrive.
And your creativity is worth everything.
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She walked away from toxic agency life to build a creative studio rooted in purpose—and never looked back.
In this episode, I sit down with Stacey Shaller, founder of Outside Minds Creative, to explore what it really takes to build a brand that drives change. We unpack the myths around sustainable branding, why great design matters more than ever, and how creatives can lead powerful movements without selling their soul.
This is a conversation about redefining success, owning your creative vision, and using your work to spark something bigger.
If you’ve ever questioned whether your values and your visuals can coexist—you’ll want to listen to this one.
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“Be daring, be decisive, be different.” That was the mantra that shaped my creative journey, passed down from my dad—a lifelong artist and visionary. And today, I’m sharing an episode that embodies that message in a way I’ve never done before.
I’m joined by Frank King, a stand-up comedian turned 12-time TEDx speaker on mental health and suicide prevention. With a background in comedy, writing for The Tonight Show, and sharing the stage with legends like Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres, Frank now dedicates his life to breaking the silence around mental health—using humor as his bridge.
In this raw, powerful conversation, we explore:
This is a conversation about legacy, reinvention, and why your story matters more than you think.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in your creative path, struggled with self-doubt, or wondered if it’s time for a bold shift—this episode is for you.
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