#31 Milisuthando Bongela

“Everyone is creative. A creative life requires bravery and action, honesty and hard work. We are here to support you, celebrate with you, and encourage you to make the things you love. We believe in the power of community. We believe in giving a damn. We believe in face-to-face connections, in learning from others, in hugs and high-fives. We bring together people who are driven by passion and purpose, confident that they will inspire one another, and inspire change in neighborhoods and cities around the world. Everyone is welcome..” Read the CreativeMornings Manifesto here: creativemornings.com/about Thank you to Adrianna Dufay for reading our manifesto. Produced and hosted by Matt Sucich.

“Love is the thing in life that can cause you the most horrific, terrible pain, but it’s also the only thing on the planet that can heal you.” Philanthropist Maggie Doyne spoke at CreativeMornings/NYC in July 2016 to speak on the global theme of Love. In her moving talk, Maggie takes us from New Jersey to the majestic mountains of Nepal where she saw a problem and couldn’t look away. With a meager savings, a big heart, and the support of her community, she built a home for Nepalese children, and along the way, redefined her understanding of love. Thank you to our Shutterstock, Wix, and MailChimp for supporting the engine of generosity that is CreativeMornings. Read the CreativeMornings Manifesto here: creativemornings.com/about

“We connect human-to-human and heart-to-heart by empowering the entire community… and do nothing but love, love, love.” Alan Graham took the stage at in Austin, Texas to speak on the global theme of Fantasy at the 2016 CreativeMornings Summit. In his inspiring talk, Alan shares how and why he ended up building an RV park dedicated to the chronically homeless, complete with an organic urban farm, market, and 500-seat amphitheater. What mustard seed of an idea do you have? What will you do with it? Made possible by Monotype and Dropmark.

“Each time that we are courageous and brave enough to take a risk we're showing to ourselves that we're worth it.” Sarah Hernholm spoke at CreativeMornings/San Diego on the global theme of Risk in April 2016. In her talk, Sarah invites us to imagine what it might look like if we took risks and got over the “what if” moments. Society conditions us to view rejection as a negative and many of us end up making decisions based on fear of rejection. Sarah enlightens us to view rejection differently and to do whatever it takes to be our best courageous selves. This episode was made possible by SiteGround.

“The creative work life requires faith—faith in our craft, faith in the process, and the most challenging of all, faith in ourselves.” Self-taught designer Bryan Todd took the stage at CreativeMornings/Louisville in September 2016 to speak on the global theme of Magic. Bryan shares his creative journey as a self-taught designer and insight on how to chase the magic despite the various challenges that come along the way. His story encourages us to commit to the processes that awaken our senses and make us pay attention to the world. Thank you to Shutterstock and SiteGround for making this episode possible.

“There is hope. After everything, you are able to survive. Listen to people, ask for help, receive the help. That would be the message… to receive the help. Take it when it’s being offered.” Reeta Kroner took the stage at CreativeMornings/Helsinki in June 2016 to speak on the global theme of Broken. Reeta shares how alcoholism sent her life into a spiral and why she had to break the person she had become. Being honest and facing our pain is the only way to start building a new life. Is there anything broken in your life? Reeta encourages us to ask and receive help to fix it. Made possible by Inward Bound Mindfulness Education and MailChimp.

“There's a larger system that you must learn to address rather than just people and that, I think, is a level of maturity that is very important to reach in learning how to live in the world.” Award-winning writer and blogger, Milisuthando Bongela gracefully took the stage at CreativeMornings/Johannesburg to tackle the global theme of Love. Miss Milli B shares her personal journey of growing through self-love and how it brought it brought her to a place where she learned to love others. She brings us into an intimate conversation on learning how to live in the world. This episode was made possible by our Monotype and Dropmark.

“If you want to have a happy, successful, fulfilling, confident life, you have to commit yourself to take care of the people around you.” Simon Sinek returned to the CreativeMornings stage to speak on the global theme of Transparency at the CreativeMornings/San Diego stage in October 2016. In his talk, Simon shares refreshing insights on millennials, technology, and the importance of empathy in good leadership. We flourish when we're seen, when our work matters, and when we connect with and understand one another. Are you willing to do the hard work of building meaningful relationships? Made possible by our friends at Wix and MailChimp.

“Do anything that you can possibly do in life to figure out the best way for you to become exactly what you want to be.” Speaking on the global theme of Action, Jecorey “1200” Arthur took the stage at CreativeMornings/Louisville in August 2015. Jecorey shared his personal journey of creative discovery and how he built confidence through blending his four passions — education, composition, performance, and curation. Do you have more than one passion that makes you tick? This episode was made possible by Camp Tech and MailChimp.

“The greatest form of humility is to take your talent and put it in the service of other people.” Creative strategist Justin Kingsley delivered a captivating talk on the power of remaining true to one’s values and dreams. He spoke on the global theme of Humility at CreativeMornings/Montréal in April 2015. By reframing humility, Justin encourages us to dream big, aim high, and to use our talents to serve the world with excellence. This episode was made possible by our friends at SiteGround and MailChimp.