We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Beaumont a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sarah, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity is not something that can be manufactured. It doesn’t operate like machinery and it can’t be turned on and off with the flick of a switch. But just because you can’t always find that creative spark when you want to use it, doesn’t mean that it can’t be worked with and fostered.
I’ve always been a very curious person and get engrossed by new ideas and processes often. This natural curiosity has made it somewhat easy for me to keep my creativity alive and thriving but I’m also a person who absolutely has to have my own creative practice aside from my day job. When I find myself in a creative rut, I look to the work of others for inspiration. I love visiting museums and galleries, watching a film from a different era, or reading a novel. As a writer, other people’s words fill my cup and constantly inspire me to write my own.
Another way I combat the monotony of daily life and search for my creativity is by simply getting out of the house. You’re unlikely to find your best creative idea while staring at your computer screen. When I feel stuck, I take a walk, either in silence or I listen to music and let my legs carry me as I think through my latest creative conundrum. The notes app on my iPhone is my best friend, my partner in crime, my second brain. Something I’ve learned is to write EVERYTHING down. If you have even an inkling of an idea, write it down or you WILL forget it.
I personally, have no shortage of ideas. The challenge is actually seeing those ideas through to fruition. I often look to my inner child in order to make creating fun. While I challenge myself to write and create on a regular cadence, sharing my writing work on Substack and my videos on social media, I make sure to ask myself, “Am I doing this because it’s calling to me and excites me or am I doing this to fit in with a certain trend and to get eyes on my work?” If it’s the latter, I might reconsider spending my creative time on something else. If it doesn’t excite you and feel authentic to you, it’s probably not going to feel that way to others either.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In my professional career, I’m a Creative Strategy Director at Tastemade, where I head up creative content strategy for social and also run editorial for our newsletter and cooking app. I’ve spent the past 7 years working for Tastemade and have seen incredible career growth that has allowed me to develop a large range of skills from video production to digital marketing and social strategy.
However, I’ve always been a writer. I began my career by writing editorial content about art, home, and design, which remain great passions of mine and I’ve found called to get back into that realm. Not too long ago, I launched a Substack newsletter called Nostalgia Box, where I write about our society’s collective obsession with the past, oftentimes analyzing cultural moments through the lens of design. I also explore my own past through personal essays and think pieces as well as how nostalgia relates to current events and cultural phenomenons. As a fiction lover, I plan to write some short stories and publish them there this year too, so stay tuned!
My career has largely centered around the world of social content and I love making my own videos. My videos tend to lean a bit silly, avant-garde, and comedic but most recently, I’ve been working on some mixed media pieces combining analog collage and video. I have a degree in Art History and I’ve always loved making collages. The act of reusing and reinterpreting existing imagery feels like the perfect amalgamation of my love for storytelling, art, and film/video.
You can find my work at @sarahbromont on Instagram and TikTok and https://nostalgiabox.substack.com/
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?
Studying Art History in college taught me how to think both critically and analytically. If you’ve ever taken an Art History class, you know that it’s no joke. I really think this major gave me an incredibly well-rounded point of view on history, art, and the way our past seeps into our current culture. After studying art, I knew that I wanted to have a creative career, which is how I fell into the world of digital media.
Keeping an open mind and being curious about new platforms, new formats, and what others are doing in the same landscape has always helped me stay ahead. Sometimes I’ve been given tasks that feel overwhelming or not like they should be a part of my job, but each new thing I’ve learned has been an invaluable skill to add to my resume. I’d advise that when you’re early in your career, be open-minded and say yes often. You never know what you might learn and where that new task or skill could lead you next.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Anyone who practices their own art and also pours themselves into their job knows that it can be a struggle to find the balance. I am always trying to foster better time management skills and more motivation to create as much as I can for myself while working as a Creative Strategy Director.
To overcome this challenge, I’ve started trying to use some of the strategies I employ in my professional career to my artistic practice. I’ve created a framework for publishing content to social and posts on my Substack using a content calendar where I write out my ideas, due dates, and timelines for delivery. Although I don’t always stay true to it, working this into my process has definitely helped me be more productive artistically.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nostalgiabox.substack.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahbromont
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-beaumont-4bb08984/
- Other: https://www.sarahmbeaumont.com/
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