5: Love, Math and Design with Janet Galore

10/08/18 • 78 min

My guest today is Janet Galore, Creative Director of Amazon's Retail Experience Concept Lab. The Concept Lab is a department that looks 3-5 years ahead and explores potential retail experiences that could be possible in that time.

Janet is all about working at the intersection of emergent technologies and design and her past gigs include being an executive producer at Zombie VR Studios where they made the first VR exclusive computer game called Locus and as Speech Director of Microsoft's Advanced Strategies and Research where she worked on long term strategy for the company.

In 2015, Janet and her husband bought "The Grocery", a historic building in the Beacon Hill district of Seattle that started its life as a grocery store in 1929. They have turned the space into a creative space where they regularly host events, exhibits and performances (I first met Janet at one of these events).

Today, we talk about Janet's path into technology and design, we talk about the creative process and what it means to evaluate art and we talk about The Grocery and why staying small can be awesome.

Thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org

Notes

history and interest in mathematics
early work in tech
the life of a creative director at Amazon
showing your work in design
notes on managing creatives
learning from mistakes
evaluating art in context
the grocery: past, present and future
managing panic

Contact

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/5

Today, we talk about Janet's path into technology and design, we talk about the creative process and what it means to evaluate art and we talk about The Grocery and why staying small can be awesome.

Thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org

Notes

history and interest in mathematics
early work in tech
the life of a creative director at Amazon
showing your work in design
notes on managing creatives
learning from mistakes
evaluating art in context
the grocery: past, present and future
managing panic

Contact

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/5

Previous Episode

4: Celebrating the Century with Hallie Kupperman

Before introducing today's guest, I like to setup a bit of context. Within the last two years, I wanted to get out of my regular circles and do something that didn't involve technology (for people unfamiliar, my day job is a software engineer at Amazon). I ended up picking up salsa dancing - little did I know that this decision would lead to some of the most significant relationships that I have today.

Most of these encounters took place within the Century Ballroom, an incredible dance studio in the heart of Capitol Hill Seattle.

Hallie Kupperman is the owner of the Century Ballroom and the Tin Table Restaurant adjacent to the ballroom. She's created an incredible community at the Century which is something I and many others here are incredibly grateful for.

Hallie moved to Seattle over two decades ago and learned to swing dance after arrival. She started teaching swing to the LGBT community not soon after which soon expanded into teaching all forms of dances when she signed the lease on the Century Ballroom. Hallie has been managing and teaching at the Century Ballroom for over two decades and has overcome many hurdles in the interim, including a dramatic rent increase after the building was sold to a new developer that drove out all other tenants and a steep dance tax levied by Washington.

With the Century Ballroom, Hallie has created not just a great dance hall but an incredible community, one that comes together in times of hardship. Examples include events such as "Dance Your Pants off for Lorraine", a fundraiser held for fellow dancer Lorraine which raised money for her cancer treatment and another fundraiser held in 2013 that raised over $90,000 to help keep century afloat after the dance tax.

Thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org

Notes

Hallie's swinging start to dancing
origins of century ballroom
perseverance through hard times
mission and community
a day in the life of Hallie
everyone can learn to dance
future plans for century ballroom
Hallie's suits
experiences of being a female lead

Links

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/4

Next Episode

6: Hands on Learning with Sarah Smith

Sometimes I have days when I wake up and think of everything wrong with the world (this is fun - I encourage you to try it sometime). Sometimes, this can feel overwhelming with all the problems going on - climate change, nuclear weapon proliferation, extreme social inequality, etc. Sometimes, it's hard to know where to start. And as a consequence, I do nothing about any of it.

This is why I'm glad that there are people like Sarah Smith out in the world who look at these issues and actually do something about them.

Sarah Smith is the Executive Director at Sawhorse Revolution, a non-profit that teaches carpentry skills to high school students and organizes them to build structures for and around the community. Examples of past projects include a 42-foot-long bridge, tiny houses for the homeless and an 18-foot octagonal platform wrapped around an old Douglas fir 30-feet above ground level (otherwise known as a very big tree house).

Sarah graduated in 2008 with an English degree right into the 2008 financial recession. Due to the difficulties finding a job at that time, Sarah used the time to learn some hands on skills such as sowing, cooking and carpentry. It was through her experiences participating in a carpentry camp in Arlington that eventually turned into the Sawhorse Revolution.

At Sawhorse, Sarah and the organization empower students to fix problems they see in the world through carpentry. While this might not be the solution to homelessness, it helps address the problems in one's own community and serves as a call to action for the rest of us.

In today's episode, we talk about taking the time to discover what you're good at, the mission of the Sawhorse Revolution and the programs that they offer, and doing social good with the means at your disposal.

Finally, a little house keeping - Folk Stories will take a two-week hiatus as I will be in China for two weeks of personal travels. As always, thanks for listening and if you want to leave feedback or nominate folks to the show, please send emails to feedback(at)folkstories.org. If you want to follow the show and get access to extended interviews and updates on guests, you can subscribe to my mailing list here

Notes

how Sarah got started building tiny houses
origins of the Sawhorse Revolution
journey of self exploration after college
building tree houses and other awesome structures
lessons and takeaways from the Sawhorse Revolution
different Sawhorse programs and projects
tiny houses and what they are
day to day operations of a non-profit
future plans for the Sawhorse

Book Recommendations

Sarah kindly offered to use her awesome English prowess to do book recommendations. Email her with topics you're interested in to get a lead on your next book(s) at [email protected]

These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/6