What is Creativity Speaks?

As a working musician, you can bet Jessica Malone knows what it means to play nice with other musicians, artists, and creatives. One of her passions is advocating for female artists, and she’s deeply involved within the music industry, including Girls Rock Sacramento, a nonprofit that inspires and empowers youth through music. She also supports organizations such as 916 Ink, Wildwood Performing Arts Foundation and others. She has played at a multitude of festivals including Napa Earth, Davis Music, and BottleRock and opened for the likes of John Paul White, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Craven and The Sometimers. Tune into our last episode as we discuss intersectional feminism, and hear about the magic that happens when you allow yourself and others the creative freedom on a given project. You can find Jessica's upcoming shows here. In this episode, you hear us talk about a website called Book More Women. The inspiration behind #bookmorewomen is the pervasive gender imbalance that currently plagues music festivals. The goal is to provide a visual representation of the problem, start conversations, track progress, and work towards better representation on future lineups.

From the Bay to Sacramento, Nick Jacoy brings with him a diverse background that’s touched various compartments within the design industry, from print production, to web developer, to illustrator, to graphic designer…is there anything Nick hasn’t done?! He’s a self-taught illustrator and product designer with a background in web development and print production. Some of his work includes web development for Blackberry, Samsung, and Apple. Many people are forever learners and we think it’s safe to say Nick is definitely one! In this episode, we’ll be discussing the evolution of Nick’s career path, how he shifted gears to move from web development to UX design, and adjusting to remote collaboration.

Over the course of her career, Megan Van Voorhis has played a leading role in numerous strategic planning, programming, and research committees. She has also facilitated cross-sector partnerships, illustrating the importance of collaboration. She’s provided leadership, guidance, and support for the region’s small business association and destination marketing agency to develop arts and culture initiatives within their respective organizations at various points in their lifespans. She regularly speaks and consults on her work on a national level. She now leads the City of Sacramento’s Office of Arts & Culture where she is responsible for advancing the goals of the Creative Edge cultural plan. In this episode, Megan discusses cross-sector partnerships between different communities and the arts.

Have you ever wondered how people do it? Gain such a massive following that it’s almost unheard of unless, of course, we’re talking about celebrities and famous artists. How exactly does a company attract over 750,000 followers over social media? No matter the type of function you’ve been at, rest assured H.O.F. has been there and done that. In this episode, Robbie and Tony from H.O.F. talk about how they’ve networked and harnessed social media platforms to ultimately drive Sacramento, and its culture, forward.

Choreographer, Company Artist with the Sacramento Ballet, and Co-founder of Capitol Dance Project (CDP), Julia Feldman is a creative who is constantly inspired by the Sacramento arts community and takes pride in her work with the CDP team to provide a unique platform for local artists, musicians, and dancers. Julia has choreographed for the School of the Sacramento Ballet and teaches master classes throughout the Valley. In 2015 she co-founded CDP, a collective group of professional dancers in the Sacramento Valley. Seven seasons later, they've produced a total of 60 world premiere ballets and worked with close to 40 local artists and musicians. In this episode, Julia discusses the importance of teamwork, community, and building mutual respect among artists of different mediums.

Who is Capitol Creative Alliance? We’re a union of four local creative groups - Creativity+, Design Sacramento, Roseville UX and Sac DESCO. Each group has been working separately to build the community we’ve longed to see in the greater Sacramento region. Now we’ve come together to be a hub for our members and to make our programming more accessible; to foster more impactful events and build a rich and supportive community; and to advocate for the creative economy with one voice.  Today's podcast guests are Kimberly Gail Loseñara, founder of DESCO, and Lia Fetterhoff, a Senior User Experience Designer at SkySlope, co-founder of Life Experience Design, and founded Roseville UX.

Capitol Creative Alliance (CCA) is a union of four local creative groups — Creativity+, Design Sacramento, Roseville UX, and Sac DESCO. Each group has been building the community that we longed to see in the greater Sacramento region. Our years spent growing this community gives us a deeper understanding of their needs and the desires of the greater Sacramento region. Our aim at CCA is to champion and inspire creatives from different communities, identities, and experiences to build a thriving creative community in the Sacramento region.

Tara Taylor’s passion for uplifting and motivating women has created a community empowering single mothers and their children through enrichment, encouragement, and educational programs. Inspired by her experience raising her daughter as a successful single mother, and motivated by her conviction that anything can be accomplished with effort and determination, Tara switched gears from her career and found her purpose in Single Mom Strong. The nonprofit has served over 800 families through a variety of community events, workshops, coaching, and programs. Our final guest for this season’s theme of Shift, Tara explores building strength out of adversity, how creativity manifests in her everyday, and believing in yourself when no one else will.

Paul Willis is a Sacramento-based diversity, equity and inclusion consultant whose client list includes top business, nonprofit and government agencies such as MetroEdge and the Sacramento Bee. His 15 year professional career in the arts, education, leadership development and social justice-driven organizations has provided Paul a unique lens to see the world and shape it. He is also the founder of the Hip-Hop Chess club in Sacramento, and a celebrated keynote speaker who has shared the stage with artists including Lupe Fiasco and Common. In this episode, Paul discusses the origins of hip hop in knowledge, centering the margins to allow people to speak and show up for themselves, and how to stop chasing opportunity and start creating your own.

A finalist in the 2017 Sacramento Comedy Competition, Becky Lynn is a stand up comic who covers a large range of topics including death, modern love, and the best way to help out at a kid's birthday party.  She navigates her way through life uniquely and hilariously, and in a way that translates perfectly to the stage.  With the pandemic bringing an abrupt halt to live entertainment, Becky was forced to pivot to a new way of life personally and creatively.  In our fourth episode for this quarter’s theme of Shift, Becky Lynn discusses standing out, balancing the dark and the light, and making magic out of the mundane.