Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

  • Ep283: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary with Artist Choreographer Susan Slotnick

    Ep283: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary with Artist Choreographer Susan Slotnick

    We dream of living in the limelight of life, chasing after complex goals and looking for some semblance of a grand purpose for our existence.  Oftentimes we get lost in the process of doing something amazing that we forget the joy of simplistic pursuits. For the visual artist and renowned dancer and choreographer, Susan Slotnick, finding her purpose started with a humble love for dancing, and a passion for healing and reformation.

    “And I can’t remember a time, even as a child when I didn’t have this strong desire to do something; to heal the world.”

    Whether it be her daily walks or eating the same breakfast for the past 50 years, Susan has found sacredness in the most common activities. She makes it a point to appreciate mundane life as there is an art to be found in simple living.

    “Some of the most extraordinary things about the direction our lives take has to do with inherited proclivities…” Susan gleams. “… Most of life is ordinary, most of the way we spend our time is on ordinary activities. And if we don’t find those activities extraordinary, we’re going to feel that our lives are a little bit dull or a little bit boring.”

    Susan has even managed to transpose her simple love for dance and the freedom it provides into something meaningful.

    “Dance is a birthright,” she emphasizes, “it belongs to the world.”

    Today, even at the tender age of 76, she still conducts dance classes at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility and DFY (Division For Youth prison) every Friday and Sunday to bring the joy of modern dance to incarcerated men and boys under the auspices of RTA Rehabilitation through the Arts.

    Through her passion for the arts and her desire to bring healing to the world, she has helped countless men and women live reformed lives with their newfound freedom through dance.

    She claims it as the apex of her long career. She has volunteered for 15 years in boy’s and men’s prisons as well as with AIDS and cancer survivors, the homeless, and the indigenous poor of the Caribbean, All have been the recipient of her love, talent and attention

    “What I’m the most proud of,” reminiscing, she says, “in terms of taking the road less travelled, is the direction that I put all my talents to.”

    In addition to her work in dance, Slotnick continues her career as a painter. For ten years her painting, Compassionate Baby was on display in the Sloan-Kettering Hospital’s Pediatric Oncology Waiting Room. Currently, Susan Slotnick is a member of Roost Art Gallery where she has exhibited in a one-woman show.

     

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  • Ep282: Putting a Price on Your Passion with Marketing Expert Sarah Dann

    Ep282: Putting a Price on Your Passion with Marketing Expert Sarah Dann

    We dream of a career built on passion and profession – making it big while doing something we love. While it’s much easier said than done, Marketing Expert, Sarah Dann, believes that the payoff is worth the effort.

    Sara Dann is an entrepreneur and business consultant who has built a multi-million dollar business dedicated to helping women monetize their brilliance over the past nine years.

    Through her group programs, digital courses, 1:1 coaching, as well as her podcast, You’re Fucking Welcome she has helped thousands of women learn how to combine strategy with soul to create successful businesses.

    Looking back at what she’s been through, she tells us, “I believe in what I do and I’m not sorry and in fact, you’re lucky to be paying me.”

    Honing her expertise for the past nine years, Sarah dedicates herself to helping women realize their business potential by combining strategy and soul to monetize their brilliance.

    “I started my business to help women make money doing what they love, to live that unconventional life and actually enjoy their careers, enjoy their businesses.”

    Supporting a business’ growth almost came as second nature for Sarah, but starting her career, she had learned that being prim-and-proper wasn’t always the right way to go. And with so many people wanting to get into the coaching scene, she makes it a point that growth should come while staying authentic.

    “I think in life and in business, it’s a situation where the more we experience things, and the older we get, the freer we feel to just simply be ourselves and we’re okay with who likes it and who doesn’t.”

    “Transparency and authenticity and people actually caring about what they do feel like the biggest and most important trend there is.”

    From her humble beginnings, deciding to ask for more money for her expertise was a turning point for Sarah as it assured her that she was on the right path to making a conventional living out of her passion.

    “As I got more confident to say no, as I got more confident to own my worth, and you know to ask for more money, it’s just kind of evolved and grown into what I feel is who I was always supposed to be essential in the first place.”

    Overall, Sarah emphasizes how living life while staying true to yourself—and sticking to your original plans—often brings in the best results.

    “It means not settling for the norm, allowing yourself to really honour what you want and go after it.”

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  • Ep281: Death, Doubt and Dedication with Bestselling Author Jack Raymond

    Ep281: Death, Doubt and Dedication with Bestselling Author Jack Raymond

    It is ever so often that life throws us in the most breaking of experiences, for the sake of our own learning. Writer Jack Raymond knows this all so well. In his lowest point, he found relief in art and made beauty out of his own struggles.

    Before he made his Best Sellers, Jack was living a comfortable life selling corporate insurance. Only after the death of his dad did he consider a career in writing.

    “When my father passed away, and morbidly enough, while in the middle of writing his obituary, it dawned on me that this is what I want to do with my life.”

    “Prior to that I was wearing a suit and tie every day, sitting in traffic, and made a bunch of money off that,” Jack said. “I was on top of the world at 25 years old and he passed and it kind of brought me back down to earth”

    It was a humbling experience for Jack, but it was a dark period of grieving. He turned to alcohol and filling up hundreds of notebooks with his writing that he kept to himself. It was only after the recommendation of a friend did he decide to share his work on Instagram. One post every day, up until today. He found a niche of people by the thousands that could relate to his words.

    “I started to just share my work and it kind of took off from there and within six months a publishing company reached out to me and published my first book”

    But despite his quick start to being a published author he still doubted whether his work was good or not, before coming to the conclusion that one can only move forward. In his own words, “There was no artist that I care to even hang around with, or learn from, or associate with, who thinks their shit doesn’t stink like everyone.”

    “Even if they think it’s good… if they look at it too much, they’ll start to hate it so they have to quickly move on to the next one. That was helpful for me, going through these tragedies.”

    However, Jack recognizes that his first works appealed to people for their heavy and melancholic themes. It was hard writing from a happy place of recovery and acceptance, but he reminds us that “It’s okay to be happy.”

    Though most of his sadness has passed, the virtue of staying true to himself has kept his writing great and ever-improving. “I’ve always pride myself on just being authentic, being genuine, being honest, and after my dad passed away and while writing that obituary, it felt like from that day on, that was all that mattered.”

    Empathizing with other writers who are torn between their market and being authentic, he shares with us this mantra, reminding us why we make art. “It’s my art, not theirs. I write it for me. If you relate to it great, no offence but that’s not even the point.”

     

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  • Ep280: Reclaiming Your Peace Through Letters Imbued with the Beauty of Life with Calligrapher Paul Antonio

    Ep280: Reclaiming Your Peace Through Letters Imbued with the Beauty of Life with Calligrapher Paul Antonio

    The hustle and bustle of everyday life can lead us to take many things for granted. But by simply finding the connection between writing and life, professional artist and calligrapher, Paul Antonio had found a beauteous view of the world.

    Raised in Trinidad, Paul found a love for nature and the abundance of life around him. The bond he made with the natural wonder of his surroundings—and his curiosity—Paul found himself walking a swervey path into the realm of Calligraphy.

    “I could hear the music in the writing,” he says, “I knew that there was rhythm there, I just didn’t know how to connect it to the writing.”

    Paul left for London, England in 1998 and went on to study Letter form History at the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication, University of Reading (1998). After being awarded one of the ten Art & Crafts Scholarships from The Commonwealth Foundation, he went to Reigate School of Art and Design to study Calligraphy, Gilding and Heraldic Painting specialising in Historical Materials and Techniques. He got the only Distinction in his year (2000).

    Having always been interested in the history and the development of writing as a whole, Paul went on to study Arabic Calligraphy, English Palaeography and Archaeological Illustration at Birkbeck University (2001).

    This fondness for writing pushed him to pursue arts. During the days of his apprenticeship, he learned how letters were imbued with the very beauty of life which he so desperately admired and has since been drawn towards calligraphy and Heraldic arts.

    In 2003 Paul went to Egypt as the Assistant Archaeological Illustrator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to copy hieroglyphs. This role assisted him in illustrating some of the hieroglyph collections at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. It also allowed him to run a year-long course on ‘An Egyptian Writing System’ for Birkbeck University and some intermittent courses for undergraduates at UCL, the British Museum and the general public.

     “I knew that I was not here to do the writing, I was only here as an instrument. I was here for the writing to happen through me.”

    Paul stresses that like any artist, or writer, the art of Calligraphy also requires emotion. He says that as he writes his pieces, he leaves himself open to his emotions and true to his inner feelings. Though there is a level of focus that must be kept to ensure a steady hand, Paul encourages one to also be free when writing.

    “The writing is more than just pretty shapes on a page. This isn’t about you, giving yourself permission to be at peace. This is about you reclaiming the peace that is already yours.”

    After a 2 year collaboration with the reputable paper brand Rhodia, Paul’s Social Media label PAScribe released the PAScribe Rhodia pads. Three pads on white paper with his unique grid, and black and grey paper with very fine lines to help calligraphers practise with light or metallic ink on dark, in the hopes of getting people to correspond more with each other.

    Even now as Paul pursues other crafts such as heraldry, meditation, and teaching, he still hasn’t lost the dedication and love that he has for calligraphy, passing on his passion to his students and living by the principles he has learned through his years of practising arts.

     

    More from Paul:

  • Ep279: The Strength of Being You with Travel Influencer Christina Galbato

    Ep279: The Strength of Being You with Travel Influencer Christina Galbato

    With social media being a massive platform for interaction, it wouldn’t be surprising for someone to want to be an influencer. But with so many established people in the industry, where do you even start? Online Educator and travel influencer Christina Galbato says that it’s about knowing your niche.

    Christina Galbato is a social media influencer, online educator, and digital marketing expert. After building a successful career as a travel influencer and working with brands like Ritz-Carlton, Mazda, and lululemon, Christina pivoted into online education. She built a 7-figure business helping thousands of women build careers influencers & bloggers. She has been featured in CNN and Forbes and was a speaker at AdWord 2020. She is also the host of the top-rated entrepreneurship podcast Her Life By Design.

    Many would argue that boxing yourself into a single area would limit the things you want to do, but as Christina proposed “it just makes your content easier to reach.” Finding a niche to base your content on helps you establish the influencer you want to be.

    “I always recommend that people get as specific as possible at the beginning of growing your page.”

    She pointed out that planning your niche “overlaps between what you’re passionate and excited about, and what you’re knowledgeable about.” Doing research on what other people post on your targeted niche, being tactical about your content, establishing a connection with your audience, and building your brand from your line of expertise is the first step towards success as an online influencer.

    “As an influencer, they (people) are looking for value; they’re looking for an industry expert to follow.”

    But what if after establishing a brand for yourself, you want to expand your content, and dive into topics outside your niche.

    Christina suggests that moving into new territory really depends on what you feel is best for yourself. She explains that, from experience, transitioning also means a change in your audience, but taking chances is part of the fun of influencing.

    “You know that cheesy quote that’s like ‘people are in your in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.’” She continues, “It’s the same thing with Instagram followers. Your growth is going to come from putting yourself in those uncomfortable situations.”

     

    More from Christina:

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