We were lucky to catch up with Ben Bradbury recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ben, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Creativity can come in a few forms, in business and in art. The artist side fills up my cup, and I carve out times to get to open mics, freestyle rap or mix tunes. On the business side, a few times a week you’ll find me at my local coffee shop with a journal (no phone) in the morning, chewing on juicy questions for 90 minutes. That block of thinking time often produces the best ideas of the week.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
In the summer of 2023, I wasn’t reading enough in New York. I told my best friend & housemate Tom, and we came up with the idea of a “reading party”, where you read books in a social setting to curated music. We invited 10 friends over to our roof, had a ton of fun, and decided to throw another one. We called the brand “Reading Rhythms” after a Spotify playlist I created over lockdown to read to (read: keep myself sane).
A few months later word got out, and the concept has seen interest from 6 continents. After realizing our grassroots community was much bigger than our roof, we’re now creating belonging through reading with local “chapters” around the world.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Our team were second-time founders, and had experience scaling infrastructure quickly. When our New York Times piece broke we faced a surge of global demand, and were able to scale events to running 6 per week across New York in just 3 months.
2. Music is the only thing (other than food) that anyone in the world can bond over regardless of language. Having a tight view of what music works for our events and what is a no-go allowed us to deliver consistently quality ambience in all our events.
3. A genuine love for what we do. There was no strategy early on, just chasing our enjoyment & doing more of it because it was fun! I encourage other fledgling community builders to tap into that same sense where they can.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Language In Thought and Action — S. I. Hayakawa. My therapist put me onto this when we started working together, and it opened my eyes to the constraints the language we use places on our worlds. Without the right words, or using the words right, we’re just “prisoners of the description”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://readingrhythms.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benbradbury/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbradbury/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/benbradbury_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BenBradbury-xf5ml
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
