We recently connected with Angela Kohler and have shared our conversation below.

Angela, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I really think that when you are in a creative industry you need to be surrounded by creativity. And not just the kind that directly relates to your field. If you are a director, go have lunch with a choreographer. An illustrator. Go take a silk screening workshop. Join a writing class. I think that your broader artistic community will give you fresh ideas and support and enrich the ideas that you already have brewing. Once I learned that a large part of my career was going to be coming up with creative ideas on repeat, I began to make a point to find areas that were new to me, and get excited about all of the different ways to be creative.

Angela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Angela Kohler. I am a director and photographer. I picked up a camera in highschool and have loved it ever since. From the first images of my friends in pseudo Calvin Klein ads, that I developed in my home dark room to a BFA in photography, I came to this career from a deep love of image based story telling. Once I got my degree and begun working in advertising I quickly realized that as much as I liked creating a world in a single frame, there was so many tools that a director could use to tell a more robust story. Music! Movement! Dialogue! I fell in love. Now I do both for a varied list of clients from Potato chips to cars, from banks to grocery chains. I specialize in magical thinking. Color worlds and bold imagery. I love incorporating a collage of animation and dance where I can and layering exuberance and connection into each story no matter how small.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing up I understood that you learn and practice and practice and learn and when you are ready you begin to DO. However over the years I have begun to realize that you must do things that you do not quite feel ready for. Now, I am not saying to go in unprepared. But I am telling you that you may never FEEL ready. But the way you feel should not hold you back. Some people call it imposter syndrome. That feeling like at any moment “they” are going to realize that you know nothing, that you do not deserve to be here. So, your feelings, they want to hold you back. They want you to stay safely in spaces that you can’t mess up. They want you to think and think again before you make decisions. But I am here to tell you that often the right thing to choose is the thing that you choose. Read that again. Most decisions that you make are right, because whatever decision you make is the decision. The only decision. The correct decision. And the path that it will lead you down will require thousands more of those decisions and will lead you where you are going. Have led you exactly here. So make your decisions. Make them with authority and trusting an inner part of you that knows that you will go boldy in the direction of your choices. Unlearn the part of your teaching that says that you should feel comfortable, that you will know when you are ready. You are ready when you do the thing. You are not ready before you do the thing. So surround yourself with people you trust and just do the thing.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Anyone that continues down a creative path is resilient. Daily. Hourly. Because every day you have to wake up and decide to make. You have to decide that “today I am not just going to consume other people’s creativity.” I am not going to just marvel at how amazing and clever and smart other creators are and just curl into a ball and look outward. You have to wake up, knowing that you are the most creative person in the room. Even if that room is just you by yourself in your own room. You have to get up and look inside and figure out what thread you are going to pull to unravel yourself into something that no one has ever seen before. It’s astonishing that anyone does it. It’s miraculous. And I do that. Everyday. For years and years. When I am handed no’s more often than yes’s or even worse, not even close enough to the room where they are handing out yes and no’s. But then there are times when you make something you can be really proud of. Or you get the job. Or when you create the personal project that inspires someone else to work with you. When you are making decision after decision boldly with spectacular results. When you collaborate with someone who can build on your ideas and make them better and you both are grateful for the other. Get there. Its magic. Then tell someone about it. It’s lovely to hear.

Contact Info:

• Website: angelakohler.com
• Instagram: @angelakohler
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/angela-kohler
• Twitter: @angelakohler