Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brie Stockwell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brie, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

At this moment in time, I’m a year from turning 50 and about to become a first-time grandma. So, I’ve been doing a good amount of reflecting on how I got to this point and where I’m headed.

After my first year working on my music degree, I met and married my husband at age 19. Eighteen months later I gave birth to our first child, a wonderful daughter, and continued my education while navigating young mom life. I slowly finished my studies through the birth of my second child and then, focused on family life as we added two more children to the mix. I homeschooled my 4 children for various grades and encouraged them to become growth-minded, caring adults. We relied solely on my husband’s income, which, gratefully, was sufficient for our family.

Through it all I yearned to express myself through creative outlets and continue a deeper, personal education. However, at no point have I experienced regret. During those years I learned so much: how to be more patient, how to be resourceful, how to love better and so much more. I don’t believe that there was a “better” path I could have taken since I am so in love with everything I do now. Those years of service to my family was a time of self-discovery and maturation. They created the space I needed to be who I am now.

Now, I still feel young and can focus on my creative work and in the deeper personal growth I’ve been so excited to dive into. All which directly help my clients and community. I can’t imagine a life more amazing than this.

Brie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always been a multi-passionate creative. Even though the focus of my education was in music, I always had photography in the back of my mind. I played with various cameras over the years and then in December 2019 I decided it was time to get serious about this photography thing. So, I decided to spend the next year working on a huge personal goal of creating images for and then hosting a solo exhibition.

I basically put myself through a self-taught master’s program in nature/landscape photography and realized my goal with images I loved at a successful event. Through that year I used a coach to help me work through the ups and downs and help keep me moving toward success, even when it felt hard.

That experience changed me. I learned how to get more of the success I wanted. I knew that my next step would be to become a coach for passionate creatives that struggle with unrealized goals/dreams and can’t seem to achieve the success they desire.

It’s hard to see my creative peers struggling. That’s why I’m crazy proud of the work I’m doing. Helping creatives like artists, designers, photographers, writers,etc create more of what they’re passionate about is an awesome place to be. I do that with 1:1 coaching, retreats and though my podcast, A Creative Affair. I love encouraging and uplifting the creative community.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I don’t know if this is a lesson per se but I’ve definitely had to unlearn my self-concept of being a “hot mess”. I think many creatives are portrayed as disorganized or being unconcerned with structure.

I think someone told me once I was a “hot mess” and it stuck in my head. In a weird way, that thinking kind of gave me permission to be late, disorganized and miss important things like events and meetings. I would get so frustrated with myself and be super self-critical.

None of this is conducive to being in a creative space. So, one day, in my daily journaling (where I coach myself) I discovered that this “hot mess” phrase was powering me in a way I didn’t like. I started re-training myself to unidentify with “hot mess” and see myself through different lens. I leaned into changing things like creating a time-management system that works for me. Now I give myself tons of flexibility to be a creative and be organized. A huge benefit to this work is that I do more of what I want which includes balancing time with my family, my creative work and my business.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Our society is just better when there is more art and creativity. On social media, I see artists share each other’s work all the time. It would amazing to see more individuals in the community sharing art or other that speaks to them and share why it does. Then, send the artist a personal message of support/encouragment.

Personally I’ve been supporting and encouraging artists by attending exhibition openings at local galleries. It’s an awesome time to speak to artists in person but also there is a special energy that comes with sharing a collective moment being surrounded by art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://creativemindscoach.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativemindscoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creativemindscoach
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brie-stockwell/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brie_stockwell
• Other: https://creativemindscoach.com/a-creative-affair-podcast/