With this week’s post from me on entrepreneurship, it seemed like a perfect time to bring you a video that Rory Gordon Photo shot of me two months ago for her documentary project around the idea of making something from nothing. As we got to talking, I started discussing the idea of making something from something. There is a lot of pressure for women entrepreneurs to act like we just stumbled into a business, when in fact, that’s often not the case. I wanted to talk about going to art school, working professionally in theatre, getting business training at an investment bank, and then finding a way to apply those skills to my own business. I didn’t want to pretend that APW was all some sort of glorious accident.
The funny thing about this video is that I use the word “Art.” Art is a word that art school more or less took away from me (because, well, have you been to art school? Yeah…) I think of it as only applying to, well, the kind of high-brow work I don’t make, and usually squinch up my face when I use it. I normally apply the more colloquial “making stuff” to things that I do. But here I am, talking about the intersection of art and commerce, and maybe reclaiming the word for myself (a little).
And finally. If you’re into this sort of thing, I was on CBS Radio earlier this week on a show called Career Coach Caroline, talking about, basically, being desperately confused and sad about my career for years, and then finally finding my way here. About how talent (blessedly? frustratingly?) matters, and we have to do the work to figure out what we’re good at, even if it’s completely not what we planned to be good at. And also, how sometimes really prestigious universities forget to teach us how to use Excel. Whoopsy. You can listen here.
Enjoy.
