Creative Innovators with Gigi Johnson

I'm joined by the multitalented Mark Brymer, a creative entrepreneur with hands-on expertise in turning musical concepts into spectacular shows.  Mark brings a wealth of experience — from arranging a vast collection (400,000) of choral pieces with Hal Leonard to producing dazzling shows in theme parks. We’ll get a deeper look at his journey from high school passion to creating WOW! Entertainment and its creative team. Alongsid...

Today's guest is a true pioneer in the burgeoning field of virtual reality theater: Deirdre V. Lyons.  She'll share her groundbreaking work in VR at the Ferryman Collective, such as her innovative productions like "Welcome to Respite" and "Gumball Dreams," and discuss the intricacies of producing entertainment ranging from films to webisodes.  Deirdre shares the challenges of onboarding audiences to VR experiences and the...

In this conversation, we are joined by a long-time innovator and entrepreneur in talent management — Harry Abrams. At the venerable age of 88, Harry reflects on a career where passion eclipsed paychecks, taking a step into adventure from lawnmower manufacturing in Indiana and instead taking a gutsy $40/week step into the glitz and competitiveness of Hollywood talent agencies.

After saying no to the storied William Morris Agency and ...

Mike Butera has gone on some intriguing journeys, connecting music performance passions, philosophy and sound studies, and tech in creating new musical instruments for regular people to get into music. He shares his path to launching Artiphon after years in academic circles, ways he learned how to market new devices and thrive with Kickstarter, and how the adventure is going so far as they get ready to release the Chorda in late 2...

Jason Kramer shares his journey to being an EMT during the AIDS Epidemic, LA Riots, and Northridge Earthquake to Fox Sports to KLOS and KCRW. He talks about the magic of Sunday nights, how he created and drove his own luck through persistent work, asking for opportunities, and taking on new challenges. He shares a bit of his experience being present during the inception of Billie Eilish, including being in the opening scene of he...

Dominique Wu is a real leader in bringing together education and VR for regular people. She's created the XReality Pro program. She'll talk about what it's like to be an immigrant in the United States as a creative, a different story than we've had a lot of guests share. And she'll also talk about how an early out-of-body experience in some ways set the table for her to come into the virtual reality space and why she's so pass...

Peter Kiesewalter creates at the divergent edge -- at the intersection of art and science. In this case, he's working at the edge of ecology and biology along with music and location-based entertainment with The Moth Project. It's a live experience in beautiful places with the stories of moths and their lives to music. Over his varied career in music, he has worked to keep evolving . . . from clarinet to klezmer to ABC News music t...

Isaac Saldana leans on two core values: asking the right questions and humility. Along with a good friend, he launched several companies. And several failed -- until he launched SendGrid in 2009. After learning to hire up with strong CEOs, the company went public in 2018. Since then, he has gotten an Executive MBA, launched Joy Labs, and now is a few years into Memo, which launches with its first 200 users soon. He shares his stori...

Guest: Miki Agrawal, Co-founder and former CEO of THINX and founder of TUSHY and WILD

Guest: Mark Harp...

Mike Polis started and ended with animation and graphic novels and cool creative content. In between, he has run marketing for Yo Gabba Gabba, Jim Henson, and other adventures. Mike shares his stories of how he moved from desktop publishing after college to food marketing, to DVDs for Universal Studios, and into adventures with Kermit and other creative projects. He brings ...

We are in post-production on new episodes, so our host, Gigi Johnson, shared a story about "Postcards" and Postcard Moments that has come up in prior episodes and in many recent conversations. She shares how a single postcard created a pivot that changed her direction when a TA offered the suggestion that she apply for USC Film School after a single class. She challenges us to explore "postcards" in our lives -- both given and offe...

Questions: How do we design for extreme conditions and resource challenges?  Is that for Mars or Earth?

Guest: Alfredo Muñoz, Architect; Founder; Onteco; Founder, ABIBOO Studio; Chair for Memberships of the Technical Committee of Space Architecture at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Digital twins?  Space architecture?  Alfredo Munoz combines astrophysics and architecture to let us pilot new ways ...

Question: How can you build a rich creative life based on referrals and going out on a limb?

Guest: Darryl Hurs, Owner/CEO, Indie Week; Managing Director, Downtown Canada; Director, Market Development, Canada, CD Baby; Educator, Harris Institute

In this episode, Darryl Hurs shares his journey from studying music, working in retail at HMV, and being in a band to building a dynamic life in digital arts and music business through the r...

Question: How do you connect independent artists and music business in India as a young woman?

Guest: Ritnika Nayan, Managing Director, Downtown India; Owner: Music Gets Me High

Ritnika Nayan shares stories about her passion: helping indie artists succeed and make money through various avenues that they might have been neglecting.  She does that in her main role: Managing Director for Downtown India.  That passion also conn...

Question: How can you build campfires, mixing music and social activism?

Guest: Arturo O'Farrill, Founder, Artistic Director, Afro Latin Jazz Alliance; Professor, Global Jazz Studies, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion