What does it take to transform a passion project into a full-time job that you adore? How does it feel when your magazine catches fire and reaches millions of readers? Is it possible to "fall in love" with yourself - and if so, how?
Katy Cowan, founding editor of Creative Boom joined Second Mountain Comms' Ben Veal as the special guest for episode six of Good Journeys with Second Mountain, the podcast series that explores the lives of inspired people and their inspiring stories.
A highly-respected and internationally-regarded media platform, Creative Boom now reaches over one million people each and every month, and serves as a valued community space for artists and designers around the world to unite and celebrate creative excellence together. Katy, as a trained journalist, is now also putting her natural talent for storytelling and conversation to great use as the host of the Creative Boom Podcast.
Episode six of the Good Journeys with Second Mountain podcast is out now.
Listen/watch:
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eBbJqwxy
Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/ePGCfihS
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/e_GEUkCu
Amazon Music: https://lnkd.in/e4WugmrE
TURNING A HOBBY INTO A VOCATION
"I was always saying: I believe in this..."
The story of Creative Boom, from its very humble beginnings as Katy's brainchild and passion project back in 2009 to the influential and beloved platform that it has become today, is simply remarkable.
Recollecting her experiences on the #GoodJourneysPod, Katy speaks passionately about her love for Creative Boom and the challenges faced along the way to transform a hobby into a viable and fulfilling full-time career: "When you start something like Creative Boom, it's this wonderful passion project that you don't have to overthink and you can do what you want with it ... I always believed that one day, this would be my thing; I'd be running this like a business."
A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY
"Society puts expectations on us"
Katy's journey to where she is today has been one of self-discovery, and of learning who she is and, perhaps more crucially, who she isn't. In this episode, Katy talks about the path taken to find herself in recent years, to understand how she wants to work and live, what makes her happy, and how to shrug off societal expectations.
"We put [expectations] on ourselves, from the kind of voices that we've heard over the years. It's amazing, if you meditate and sit quietly, the voices that will seep in and you'll go: 'Oh, that's interesting ... where is that voice coming from?' ... What's quite sad is that I've realised, for most of my adult life, I have not really known who I am and not allowed myself to fully embrace who I am."
UNFOLLOWING EVERYONE ON TWITTER
"I'm learning to say no to others"
Katy publicly made the bold, and very counter-cultural decision within the media industry, to unfollow everyone on Twitter in 2021, a decision that was driven not only be concerns over data privacy and digital overwhelm during the pandemic, but also out of a deep desire to redefine her relationship with social media on her own terms.
"Unfollowing people on Twitter was part of a wider process of me saying, if people need to get in touch with me, they can email me ... I now follow lists instead and when I click on my home feed, there's nothing there; no falling outs, no politics, no nastiness ... you can just completely switch yourself off from any negativity."
Episode 6 of the Good Journeys with Second Mountain podcast is out now.
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