D'Anna FortunatoPhoto by Susan Wilson My guest today is a highly acclaimed mezzo-soprano who has sung a wide variety of music and operatic roles. She has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall and Tanglewood, with conductors including Leonard Bernstein. I met D'Anna Fortunato when I was a junior at Bucknell, and she joined us to… Continue reading Conservatory vs. College with D’Anna Fortunato
Dr. William Payn Today’s guest has been an important part of my life, and a big influence. A composer of music for choir and handbells, a respected festival conductor, and a former professor of music and director of choral studies at Bucknell University, he’s my college choir director, Dr. William Payn. I spent four years… Continue reading Aiming for Excellence with Dr. William Payn
Vicky Cook As you know, I'm a big fan of following your curiosity, so you can imagine how excited I was to come across someone else who finds it as key as I do. That someone is Vicky Cook, a coach who focuses on helping woman 40-ish and above get through midlife doubts (dare we… Continue reading Chasing Curiosity with Vicky Cook
Amber Petty Amber Petty attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, taught musical improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and starred in an off-Broadway show based on the 50 Shades books. She also discovered that the life she’d imagined and the one she was living weren’t the same, and shifted into writing.… Continue reading Singing a Different Tune with Amber Petty
David Spencer David Spencer is the creative force behind the Mischief Factory, where he seeks to create fun and adventure through art and illustration. He recently illustrated a new children's book, The Epic Adventures of Huggie and Stick, and also draws his own clever characters as well as commissioned and fandom-based art. Dave embodies the… Continue reading Making Mischief with David Spencer
Lela Rohrer Stech Lela Rohrer Stech is an artist based in New York. Lela’s work is playful and fun, and so is she. You’ll hear us talk about one painting I could see in the background, from a distance, and I’ve included a photo of that painting below so you can see it, too.) In… Continue reading Being “Good Enough” with Lela Rohrer Stech
Adam Dietz Adam Dietz grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, went to Westminster Choir College in New Jersey, and then moved to New York to seek his fortune on the Broadway stage. Things didn't go quite the way he'd planned. Adam and I talk about what it's like to audition in New York, how to survive… Continue reading Going Home Again with Adam Dietz
Nina Hart Nina Hart is a writer, dancer, stand-up comedian, and improv artist who is also a fellow Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach. Her first collection of surreal short fictions called Somewhere in a Town You Never Knew Existed Somewhere was selected as a Short Stories (Adult Fiction) category finalist in Foreword Reviews' 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year… Continue reading Transcending Creative Boundaries with Nina Hart
Dawn Kotzer Creativity and curiosity are bigger than just the arts. They're bigger than hobbies. They're vital parts of life, and the quality of our existence. Dawn Kotzer understands how creativity links into the realities of life better than almost anyone I know. She's a coach with multiple backgrounds, including Kaizen-Muse (like me) and Martha… Continue reading The Soul of Creativity with Dawn Kotzer
Robert Smith? We think of creativity as something associated with the arts—dance, music, poetry, etc. That's why I wanted to talk to Robert Smith?, a mathematician who creates models that help improve disease control. He gained some fame a few years back for modeling zombie outbreaks—and that work has proven useful in the real world.… Continue reading Modeling Disease Outbreaks with Robert Smith?