We recently connected with Mallory Whitfield and have shared our conversation below.

Mallory, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In 2019 I wrote, produced, and performed a one-person show.

Originally called “Embrace Yr Weird,” it was a huge milestone for me. I was a theater kid growing up, and whether it’s acting, performing drag, or public speaking, there’s something about being on a stage and entertaining people that just lights me up.

Prior to creating my one-person show I’d started pursuing more public speaking opportunities. But as a creative at heart I didn’t feel like traditional, corporate-style public speaking was exactly the right fit for me. I’d been inspired by artist and keynote speaker Erik Wahl, who gives motivational keynote speeches while painting on stage. I also drew inspiration from an actress friend of mine who passed away in 2014: Veronica Russell had taken her own one-woman show “A Different Woman” on a tour through Canada in 2011.

I began developing the concept for my own “theatrical keynote” that felt more like a one-person theater show than a traditional conference keynote speech. I enrolled in an intensive speaker training program at Heroic Public Speaking, where some of the top keynote speakers in the world go to perfect their craft. There I drafted and refined the script for my show. As I was working with them on developing my speech, I realized something: I needed both a deadline and complete creative freedom to create the one-person show I envisioned.

I decided to rent out a theater here in New Orleans for one night so that I could produce and perform my show, my way. I booked the theater for a date 90 days away, giving myself a hard deadline to make it happen. There was no looking back.

I started promoting the upcoming show to friends and family, and sold tickets via Eventbrite. I reached out to a local friend, Megan Eileen Kosmoski, who has extensive experience directing, producing and promoting theater shows. Megan co-produced and directed the show during my final weeks of rehearsal. Thanks to my background in marketing, I was able to score some local press coverage and appeared on the morning show at a local tv station to promote my event. My friend Todd Perley helped film an intro video that played on a screen before I walked on stage. My former colleague and graphic designer Dave Rotman created animated videos that were shown in between the different sections of my script. And my friends Sean Woods and Lady Walker shot video and photographed the full performance when I premiered my one-person show on July 19, 2019. (Who knew a one-person show would take so many people to create?!?)

I challenged myself in a big way by writing, producing and performing a one-person show. It was everything my gut was telling me I needed to do, and because I produced this first solo performance myself, I was able to do it exactly the way I envisioned it.

I later developed what I now call my signature keynote into a book, “We Are The Weird Ones: Embrace Your Weird for a Kinder, More Inclusive World.” This has definitely been my most meaningful creative project to date.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a LOT of things, but maybe the best way to describe me is a “multi-passionate creative weirdo.” And that’s good, because that’s also the type of folks I like to work with!

I’m the founder of Badass Creatives, where I serve up business, marketing & life advice for other high-achieving, multi-passionate creative weirdos.

I started my first handmade business back in 2004, right after college. I sold things like upcycled denim skirts and eco-friendly accessories at craft shows and festivals here in New Orleans for nearly a decade. In 2007, I even won 3rd place in Etsy’s nationwide Upcycling Contest for an outfit I made using FEMA blue tarp leftover from Hurricane Katrina.

In 2014, I shifted my focus and began working professionally in marketing, as well as speaking, teaching and consulting other entrepreneurs on digital marketing topics. I currently still have a full-time day job working in the digital marketing field. But I love taking my knowledge of marketing & branding and translating it to help other creative business owners not make the same mistakes I did.

Through my program the Badass Creatives Marketing Accelerator, I work directly with creative business owners to develop marketing strategies that are aligned with their own business needs and their personal goals and values. I’m a big fan of “evergreen marketing” tools like SEO (search engine optimization), YouTube and Pinterest, which are more aligned with how I want to be spending my time and energy. (Sorry, you won’t see me dancing on TikTok anytime soon!)

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I was just fan-girling with a fellow creative friend of mine, Monique Malcolm, about the life-changing magic of YNAB (You Need A Budget)!

YNAB is an amazing budget software, but it’s really more than that: it’s a mindset shift to money mindfulness. I fully embraced using it towards the end of 2020, when I had more than $30k in debt at the time. Through slowly learning to implement YNAB’s “4 Rules” and bringing more intention to the way I was managing my money, I was able to fully pay off my debt, build a comfortable emergency fund, and contribute more towards retirement.

I love that YNAB lets you create more than one budget within your account. I use it to keep separate personal and business budgets. It’s something I wish I’d had back when I was running my first handmade business and selling at craft shows many years ago.

There’s definitely a bit of a learning curve and a mindset shift when you first start using their system and software, but if you can stick with it, YNAB is truly life-changing.

When I was first getting started, I learned a lot via their own resources, including YNAB’s YouTube channel and their blog. Nick True’s YouTube channel, MappedOutMoney, also has some great videos if you’re interested in getting started with YNAB.

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

It took me a long time to fully accept that being multi-passionate and feeling like a weirdo is NOT a bad thing. It’s actually my superpower.

I’m someone who’s always been interested in LOTS of different creative pursuits. I’m a naturally curious person, always asking “Why?” and trying to understand things. I have a tendency to be interested in things that are often slightly outside of the mainstream. And a lot of stuff that is part of mainstream pop culture just isn’t that interesting to me.

I struggled with this for a long time, especially in my 20s and early 30s, feeling like I needed to pick ONE THING to focus on. But I loved so many creative pursuits, and I’m so energized & excited about so many things. I wanted to DO ALL OF THE THINGS!

As a creative business owner, it can be so easy to fall into the comparison trap. You’ll see someone else who seems like they’re CRUSHING IT, and in those moments, it can be tempting to want to change direction and go after what seems like the easy money and what’s popular or trendy at the time.

But as I’ve grown older, I’ve seen how trends come and go, marketplaces shift, and that there is more to “ROI” than pure financial numbers. (And there’s often more than meets the eye when it comes to the way someone’s “success” looks on social media versus what their real life business looks like behind the scenes.)

I find myself thinking a lot lately about other types of ROI:

What is the CREATIVE return on investment if I pursue a project or idea that’s interesting to me?

Am I personally fulfilled by it?

Does it give me energy or drain my energy?

These days I’m less interested in chasing best practices, going after what people say you “should” do, or trying to fulfill someone else’s expectations of what success looks like. Instead, I’m more interested in deep conversations and exploring what true creativity means, especially in an age where AI has created so much mediocrity at scale.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.badasscreatives.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badasscreatives/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywhitfield/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@badasscreatives
• Other: https://mallorywhitfield.com/

Image Credits
Photos by Katie Sikora @katie.sik Botjoy mural by Gary Hirsch @ghirschart “Embrace Yr Weird” performance photos by Lady Walker @nolaproposalphotographer