12: Feeding Ghosts with Tessa Hulls

02/15/19 • 68 min

Tessa Hulls is an artist/writer/adventurer whose work spans a multitude of genres and whose travels have taken her across all 7 continents, much of it on bike. She is the daughter of two first generation immigrants and is currently working on a graphic novel about her grandmother titled "Feeding Ghosts".

Tessa describes herself as a compulsive genre hopper who has worked in some capacity as an illustrator, cartoonist, editor, interviewer, writer, performer, chef, muralist, conductor of social experiments, painter, teacher, and researcher. She is fascinated by the concept of home. Outside of working on her graphic novel, Tessa is also focused on public speaking about little known women at the turn of the century and social activism.

In today's episode, we talk about Tessa's current project and its origin, we talk about Calvin and Hobbes and being either totally engaged in or out of work, and we talk about the feelings that come with home and solitude.

Quote

I'm completely convinced that serendipity is a muscle that gets stronger the more you exercise it... I just like to sling myself out in the universe and see what happens.

– Tessa Hulls

Notes

history and start into genre hopping
Feeding Ghosts and origin of Tessa's current project
reading habits
Calvin and Hobbes
a day in the life
combining work and hobbies while avoiding burnout
cooking professionally
lifestyle and trade-offs
concept of home
solitude and what it means
artists residency
coddiewompe: "to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination"
feminism and activism
getting to know America by biking across it

Closing

inspiration
- overwhelming canon of women in the 20th century doing things that they shouldn't have been able to do
surprising fact
- professional cook and how it started with rugby, whisky and pie
principles
- piece by Jim Dodge: "They can do whatever you cannot stop them from doing. You can do whatever you can pull off and still live with yourself"
closing notes:
- lookout for Guided by Ghosts, Tessa's upcoming project to be exhibited in Santa Cruz, which weaves together her current family history with the Chinese history of Santa Cruz

Contact

Feeding Ghosts Notebook

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/12

Quote

I'm completely convinced that serendipity is a muscle that gets stronger the more you exercise it... I just like to sling myself out in the universe and see what happens.

– Tessa Hulls

Notes

history and start into genre hopping
Feeding Ghosts and origin of Tessa's current project
reading habits
Calvin and Hobbes
a day in the life
combining work and hobbies while avoiding burnout
cooking professionally
lifestyle and trade-offs
concept of home
solitude and what it means
artists residency
coddiewompe: "to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination"
feminism and activism
getting to know America by biking across it

Closing

inspiration
- overwhelming canon of women in the 20th century doing things that they shouldn't have been able to do
surprising fact
- professional cook and how it started with rugby, whisky and pie
principles
- piece by Jim Dodge: "They can do whatever you cannot stop them from doing. You can do whatever you can pull off and still live with yourself"
closing notes:
- lookout for Guided by Ghosts, Tessa's upcoming project to be exhibited in Santa Cruz, which weaves together her current family history with the Chinese history of Santa Cruz

Contact

Feeding Ghosts Notebook

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/12

Previous Episode

11: Building a Successful White Label Technology Platform After a Decade of Pivots With Mark Michael and Daniel Rust

Mark Michael (CEO) and Daniel Rust (CTO) are the co-founders of DevHub, a white label technology platform that powers some of the world's most recognizable brands. Companies license DevHub technology to create sites /landing pages pages at scale. Companies also use DevHub as the repository for their experience data.

Mark and Daniel first met in high school and have been working together as business partners ever since. At DevHub, Mark handles business and marketing whereas Daniel defines its technical road-map and vision. According to Mark, Daniel is the closer and the person that comes in to seal the deal.

In today's episode, we talk candidly about Mark and Daniel's history, the early days of DevHub and how the two founders deal with conflict, and DevHub today and where the founders hope to take it.

Notes

mark and daniel's history and doing startups together
story of Devhub, its founding, pivots and the dark nights of the soul
Devhub today and what it does
customer outreach in white label business
mistakes and lessons learned
decision making process between two founders
hiring at Devhub
trends in company branding
Devhub future direction

Closing Questions

inspiration
- mark
  - building a company (devhub)
  - travelling
- daniel
  - acceleration of new technologies
surprising fact
- mark
  - how hard we're actually working almost every sing le day
  - get up every day at 4:30 to work out
  - how often I hang out with my parents (at least 4-5 times a week)
- daniel
  - super focused but at the same time always ready to be interrupted
  - closing abilities
  - parties
principles
- mark: if you know you're right and good looking, go for it (aka just do it)
- daniel: having a basic understanding of things before speaking about them
closing notes
- lookout for Devhub and where it's going

Contacts

DevHub
- Instagram: @devhubcom
- Twitter: @devhub
- LinkedIn
- DevHub Careers
Mark Michael
- Instagram: @gliderceo
- Twitter: @gliderceo
- YouTube
Daniel Rust
- Instagram: @dlrust
- Twitter: @dlrust

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/11

Next Episode

13: Creating Film and Community with Vivian Hua

Vivian Hua is the director of the Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) , a non-profit film and arts center dedicated to public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. Prior to NWFF, Vivian was Communications Manager for ICANNWiki, a collaborative resource dedicated to simplifying the complex issues, policies, and players in the sphere of internet governance. Vivian was also editor in chief of REDEFINE Magazine, a print and web magazine focused on music and the arts.

Vivian got a BA in sociology focused on Law, Society & Justice. Social justice has been a central theme in Vivian's life and is reflected in the work she pursues. In 2017, Vivian released Searching Skies, a narrative short film about a Syrian refugee family. The film was screened in 50 venues across the US and accompanied by a discussion series where people could meet a Muslim person, sometimes for the first time, and ask questions.

In today's episode, we talk about Vivian's vision for the NWFF, Vivian's sudden decision to pursue film upon turning 30, and exploring social justice with film.

Quote

When I turned 30, I had a personal revelation. I spent my entire 20's supporting other peoples art ... So how do I work on my own now and had a calling to do film

– Vivian Hua

Notes

what is NWFF
getting started in film
divination and following signs
typical day
hosting film discussions
searching skies
current projects
routines to recharge
vr and film
community and diversity at NWFF
marketing art

Closing

inspiration
- being inspired by the person that you're with
surprising fact
- used to be a huge raver and gamer
principles
- be authentic to who you are
closing
- anyone who has a cool idea, reach out to Vivian and the NWFF
- open to random emails