We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carin Huebner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Carin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Because of where I grew up and the idea of ‘success’ that I was given, I have to be VERY diligent in watching my thoughts around my career choice. The last time I truly spiraled around my choice to be an artist and a creative as my career was about a month ago when I had COVID for the first time. I spent an entire week searching for what I call, “jobby jobs” online only to have to spend the second week of COVID in the throes of grief and sadness around my own wiring and my own choice to pursue this creative path. This was deeper than my once-a-month spiral around becoming a nurse or going into marketing or advertising: since I was sick, I couldn’t jump into hyper production mode to prove that I’m worthy, to sate the comparison, the what-if monsters. I had to do whatever deep work I could access to, once again, choose to stay the creative path.

I continually have to pump myself up around my work and my lifestyle—always choosing rather than proving that it’s worth it. 



I can say that I truly am happier as a creative. My partner continually reminds me that my choice to do what I love impacts our family and our daughter in ways that me getting a traditional job could never provide. I find so much fulfillment in my work. I live a truly fulfilling life. I have the time and space to wonder, to discover, to experiment and to literally make things all day—whether that’s a fine art project or creating for an audio or video production client. I can sometimes fool myself that the regular income and knowing what to expect at my job every day would be nice, but if I think about it for longer than 2 seconds, I remember how my brain is wired, that I’m a Sagittarius sun and an artist and that I thrive in change and newness. I’ve truly built a world that works for me and my family and I’m really proud of myself for that.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Why are we here? What are we doing about it? And does it matter? I’m a sort of existential investigator in all the work that I do whether that’s media production, art making, or creative coaching, I’m always wondering at what the larger human movement is and wondering why we exist at all.

I’m an artist that has created a sort of third-space business in order to live and thrive. In 2024, I found the ecosystem to hold all of my creative and healing work when I created SPACEBUG creative, a creative media and creative wisdom agency.

When I was a child, folx would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up and I always answered, “Artist!”, but I’ve taken a very winding path toward that goal. I have continually avoided taking a full jump into becoming a career artist because of all the voices in American culture that say it’s impossible. In college, I changed my major and swung the pendulum between studio art and some other more culturally digestible major (photojournalism, art history, etc.) nearly every year. After finally going for art through a move from a university in Colorado to a tiny art school on the east coast, I received my BFA in Fine Art Photography. I swung the pendulum again, however. Along my journey, I picked up from spiritual and religious influences that my predominant work should be to serve and help the collective heal. So I studied Spiritual Direction in my graduate degree program.

I’m still sort of stuck in this dance between offering healing to others through services like spiritual direction (I practiced spiritual direction in my own practice for around 8 years, specializing in religious trauma and spiritual abuse), or reiki healing (I received my advanced reiki training in 2024 and now offer reiki to coaching clients, friends, and family) and trusting that my own art can be or provides portals to healing for those that experience it. I’m trying to continually pursue becoming a career artist and part of that is developing an ecosystem of creative outputs that support me in different ways: the financial support, the life support, and the connection-building support, etc. 



As I’ve walked this winding path, I have found ways to use the technical production skills from my art degree to bring income and connection with other creatives—this brings the financial support I need. In 2016 I entered the podcasting space when I became the host of a podcast. Through this opportunity, I re-learned how to edit audio and began editing and producing shows for individuals, organizations, and small businesses. This became an unexpected opportunity to grow my own podcast production business from home during a pandemic and through the birth of my child. I was able to build a 5 figure business, from home, all online, working part-time hours while I cared for my child. The Creative Media Agency arm of SPACEBUG creative was birthed here.



Part of what keeps me from going all-in on a production role (besides all the tension in me that would come with a jobby job life), is that I’m incredibly skilled in listening, reflecting, and making connections for others. Through my graduate degree and my 8 years as a Spiritual Director, I have become extremely adept at holding space for others to process their experience. Being in the one-on-one space with others is incredibly life-giving for me and helps my clients create massive change in their lives. In 2023, I closed my Spiritual Direction business due to burnout from specializing in religious trauma and spiritual abuse. I pivoted solely to podcast production right on the brink of video taking over the podcast industry. Further, all of my clients fell off in uncertain economic times and I hadn’t set up the marketing strategy or execution to have them easily nor quickly replaced, I had to ask myself some really real questions: did I do this on purpose? Am I now burnt out on listening in this way too?

I learned that I can’t just do one thing. I learned my work is an ecosystem of many things. Hence, SPACEBUG. Through SPACEBUG, I can do the media production work that I love and that helps pay the bills, while I also make the art I want, AND I can help creatives find their own fulfilling lives through creative coaching and the creative wisdom arm of the business.

SPACEBUG Creative is an experimental media house and creative wisdom agency blending the sacred and absurd. We serve artists, authors, activists, and alien weirdos who want their creative work to be a signal, not just noise.

Spiritual inquiry without dogma
Playful rebellion and irreverence
Art as portal and protest
Messy collaboration over sterile professionalism
Human-made, not AI-regurgitated

We’re all about human creativity conservation and in order to conserve human creativity in this day and age, we need to take care of artists and create means for them to make their work and get paid.

We specialize in hand-built, human-made audio and visual experiences including podcast production, photography, video, and storytelling consulting and general content creation. Through the creative wisdom side of the business, we help artists and intuitive re-map their creative ecosystem so they can make again, move again, and live inside their art. We do this through 1:! coaching, creative ecosystem mapping, workshops and creative salons (virtual or in-person), and downloads and rituals.


I’m really proud of myself for sticking with it even through what would be considered by many as “failed” iterations of my own work. I’ve created the most representative iteration yet… and I know it won’t stop.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I was in undergrad — what I call part one, because it took me a couple tries to get it right — I bounced around majors. I went from art, to art history, to photojournalism. I thought maybe photojournalism was the “responsible” choice, because it had that word “job” baked into it. Two years of reporting classes later, I landed in my first upper-level course, and on the very first day the professor said: “One of the cardinal rules of photojournalism is that you never intervene. You only document what’s in front of you.”

And in that moment, something in me broke open. Because all I wanted to do was intervene. To invent. To make up the story.

So I went back to art. I decided I wanted a BFA, the thing that would open the door to grad school, maybe galleries, maybe museums. I worked up the nerve to meet with the head of the photography department and asked if I could pursue the BFA track. He didn’t even hesitate. He just said: “You’ll never be an artist. You’ll never get a BFA from me.”
That sentence knocked the air out of me. I carried it like a verdict. I believed it for weeks — that my future had already been sealed by someone else’s opinion.

But here’s the truth: even as I was grieving, even as I felt crushed, I still had this tiny ember of knowing inside me. A seed that whispered: If not here, then somewhere else. If not with him, then with someone who can see you.

So I transferred. I moved across the country. I started over at a small art school in Washington, DC. I earned that BFA.
Of course, I’d love to say the story ends there — triumphant, clean. But the reality is, that professor’s voice followed me for years. Every time I started a new project, I could hear him saying I’d never make it. Every critique I’d ever received seemed to pile on top. The chorus of doubt was loud.

It’s only through years of therapy, of coaching, of reflection, that those voices have softened. They’re still there, but they don’t drive anymore. They don’t get to decide.

What remains, stronger than all of that, is the seed — that quiet inner knowing that I am an artist. That my work deserves space. That creating is my way through.

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

I’ve taken a lot of twists and turns in my creative life. I’ve worked in galleries, hustling to show other people’s work. I’ve cleaned toilets and made coffee in a creative coworking space so others could chase their artistic dreams. Even now, much of my work is behind the scenes — behind the camera, behind the scenes all up in the DAW, helping therapists, healers, and other creatives bring their voices forward.

Along the way, I’ve packed up and moved across the country more than once chasing the dream of creation. I’ve pursued projects that fell flat, built businesses that didn’t last, and yes — I’ve failed. But what I’ve learned is that resilience is not about avoiding failure; it’s about iterating. The creative process itself teaches me this: every draft, every sketch, every pivot is part of becoming. Life, like art, is a continual series of iterations.

One of my biggest lessons came through a membership I created for my Spiritual Direction practice. On paper, it looked perfect — strong branding, thoughtful design, a clear model that promised sustainability. But in truth, my audience wasn’t ready, and when I got honest with myself, neither was I. After a year of pouring into it, I had to close it down. It was humbling. I had to apologize to my members, face the disappointment of colleagues who had been excited for me, and let go of the idea that this was “the thing.”

To some, that looks like failure or lack of focus. But for me, it’s resilience. I’m the queen of pivots because I refuse to stop iterating. Each so-called failure is just another sketch toward the fuller picture of who I’m becoming. I’m in love with my current iterations — and I also know that someday, it will be time to let them go too.

For me, resilience isn’t about holding on tighter; it’s about staying in motion, staying open, and trusting that the process itself is the point. I am becoming through my art and through my work — that’s the goal, not the product.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://spacebugcreative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carinhuebner/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfMA9B9E36_q8vWSjETct1Q
• Other: Fine Art Website: https://www.carinhuebner.art
  General Website: https://www.carinhuebner.com

Image Credits

Audrey Boyd