What's our superpower? Our own lives. An encore conversation with Kris Evans

11/23/23 • 44 min

“Don’t ever not be curious.” That’s Kris Evans’ advice for tapping into our creative superpowers. Evans is an awarding winning makeup artist with experience in feature films, television, commercials, music videos, fashion editorial and advertising. She started her career in New York City working with Barbara Walters, Saturday Night Live, feature films and episodic television. Her film career spans more than 35 features and includes working with Bob Costas for every Olympics from 2002-2016.

Transcript:

Hey Dareful tribe—you’re listening to one of your favorite episodes as an encore with artist Kris Evans. It originally posted in 2021 so a few updates: I talked with Kris this week and she says she’s back to work now that the actor’s strike is over. Look for her work in the TV show Big Sky for Disney and Francis Ford Coppola’s new film Megalopolis. She also just finished a book, Naked Shadows...hopefully more on that in a future episode. And now, Kris Evans:

Debra Hotaling (00:04):

Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling and I'm joined today by Kris Evans. Kris has built a thriving career in Hollywood for more than 40 years in every aspect of the arts that you can imagine. Kris, you've done makeup design for film, for tv, for Broadway. You've done it all.

Kris Evans (00:25):

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Gosh, I lived in Paris. I did fashion. It's opera. I mean, I think I love it all. So anything that gave me the opportunity to do whatever, that would be challenging and interesting I took. So I never really said no to anything. I said yes to everything. And then once I said yes, I thought, oh my God. And then I figured it out.

Debra (00:52):

And it sounds like we were talking about the creative process and how really your superpower now is the history that you have not only in the industry, but in the arts in general, and just being a really curious woman for your whole life. And while everyone else is looking at TikTok and trying to come up with something new, you are looking at vogue from the 1960s or things that we all know. Tell me more about your creative process.

Kris (01:22):

Well, I just find that because the internet is so easy to get to by everyone, that everyone goes to the internet. So when you're thinking creatively, everyone goes to Instagram or everyone goes to TikTok or everyone goes to Facebook. I mean, let's not say everyone, but a lot of people do. And I noticed that when I am on a project or something, it's the first thing that people go to is the internet. And so for me, in order to seem fresh and not like I'm copying or not grabbing something from someone else per se, recently, I like to go back in time or in different areas where I don't think people will go. So that what I see will maybe inspire me to think of something I wouldn't have thought of had I been influenced by other people, if that makes sense.

Debra (02:16):

It totally makes sense. And I was thinking about this this morning, getting ready to chat with you that I still have in one of my little girlhood boxes where you keep all your rocks and special shells. I have pages that I tore out of Vogue and Women's Day and Better Homes and Gardens from the 1960s that someone would leave in a spare bedroom. They were so glamorous. They were so lovely. And I still go back and enjoy looking at those images.

Kris (02:47):

Well, it's so funny you say sixties and seventies because now for me, the eighties is period, and then is period for me. So when they say, oh, the eighties, I say, aha. And then I bring in a picture of me in the eighties, blonde, bleached blonde, living in Paris, and they go, wow, who's that? Yeah, that would be me.

Kris (

Transcript:

Debra Hotaling (00:04):

Kris Evans (00:25):

Debra (00:52):

Kris (01:22):

Debra (02:16):

Kris (02:47):

Kris (

Previous Episode

Get Older. Own It. See Stuff. A conversation with Caddis Founder Tim Parr

Remember that scene in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts tries to buy a new dress and no one will take her money? That’s how it feels to be a 50+ consumer.

Then there’s Caddis. CEO and Founder Tim Parr says it’s a mission disguised as an eyewear company: “Get Older. Own It. See Stuff.” And we totally believe it. Who else would have the cajónes to quote Miss Piggy, describe one of their eyeglass styles as a “dab of Harvey Wallbanger” (when was the last time you ordered one of those?) and embrace cranky online reviews in their advertising?

Listen to how Parr and his team are breaking all the rules in a completely awesome way.

Here’s Caddis

And here’s the nonprofit it helps support: Caddis donates a portion of gross revenue to music education programs via Music Farming. Learn more here.

Transcript:

Debra Hotaling: Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. So you know that scene in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts has this handful of money and no one will take it so that she can buy a dress. That's how I feel as a consumer being over 50. Either I am completely invisible or they somehow think that the only thing I want to do is walk down a beach and wear a little soft knitted sweater. But then there's Caddis. Caddis says it's a mission disguised as an eyewear company, and that feels completely true to me. And joining us today is the CEO and Founder Tim Parr, who's going to talk to us about how they are breaking stuff and having way too much fun for a brand and how they got there. Tim, welcome.

Tim Parr: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Debra: So if you don't mind, I would like to start by reading the language that's on the back of the box. Amazing. So this is what it says, folks. It says this is for people who are not in the long process of giving up. It has everything to do with age, but nothing to do with your job, your gender, or whether you live in Orange County or Hazard County. It has to do with being who you are and owning it. Tim, where did that come from?

Tim: That was just a late night. The bottom of this box is all white, and I hate that and I want to put something on the bottom of that.

Debra: Come on. It's more than that though.

Tim: I know. That actually came before we were even on a mission. So prior to that being written, we were just, and we're just an eyewear company looking for money and we hadn't even shipped anything yet because we had no investors. We didn't have anything. So yeah, someone was talking just the night before about how fifties and new forties, sixties and new fifties I, I don't get it. And if this is going to be a lifestyle brand, you have to be authentic in order to be a lifestyle brand. And I don't understand this whole position on age and reading glasses. There's no better product about it to have a conversation about age than reading glasses. But at the time that I wrote that, it was a subconscious thing. And then I had someone read that to me who didn't like it, a potential investor, and she said, you can't do that.

Debra: Wait, talk to me more about that because that feels exactly true how those conversations would go.

Tim: And I asked her, well, why can't I do that? And they said, no one wants to believe that they're the age that they actually are. And everyone wants to think that they're 15 years younger. And that was the end of the meeting. And I had to pack up my things and walk down three, five flights of stairs to the sidewalk. And when I hit the sidewalk, that's when it hit me. Oh my God, we're actually in the age business. We're not in the eyewear business. We're in the age business. And that's when everything shifted.

Debra: And what was the thinking beyond that? Because I know from other entrepreneur friends, when you go back and you tell the origin story, it sounds like, of course that was obvious, but at the time you're like, I am all by myself here and every force is telling me that this is a ridiculous idea.

Tim: Well, we didn't have our why prior to that moment, and every brand needs a why. If you don't have a why, then you're just making stuff. And if you're just making stuff, I don't care. It's not enough to get me out of bed. So it was at that moment that it was, oh my God, now we have a why and it's David and Goliath. It's all these things that we need in order to have to be propelled forward.

Debra: And then what happened after that?

Tim: I was running down the street and I called up, I had at the time probably four co-founders and I was calling 'em each up. And I told them, this is a pivot almost of sorts. This whole idea that people are afraid of their age i...

Next Episode

How to pivot with purpose: a conversation with Chris Preuss

Like many of us, Chris Preuss spent much of his adult life working up the corporate ladder—the nights, the weekends, the career moves—and he rose up the ranks to become a senior exec with a number of companies you would recognize. And then, he made a decision that dramatically changed his life: he left it all behind to lead a Christian ministry. We talk about what led him to rethink his life, what the pivot process feels like and how we change when we embrace a new adventure.

Here's where you can find Chris:

Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference

Transcript:

Debra Hotaling (00:04):

Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. My friend Chris Preuss spent much of his adult life the way most of us have, that's climbing up the corporate ladder. He's really good at what he does, and so he climbed up pretty fast and pretty high. He ended up as a senior exec with one of the world's largest PR marketing advertising firms, and then he made a decision that changed his entire life. I'm going to let Chris take the story from here. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Preuss (00:38):

Debra, that's so good to be with you. It's so good to see you and just all that you're getting done with this wonderful podcast. I'm honored to be here.

Debra (00:46):

Thank you. So give us the groundwork. Where were you at? You were high level, you were cool, you were doing all sorts of important work, and then what happened?

Chris (00:57):

Well, in terms of the transitioning into a different phase of life, I had an amazing 34 year career in PR and at that most in the auto industry as you and I had worked together in that capacity in the past and got to be on the top of some pretty big mountains during that time as head of communication to GM during the bankruptcy, which was quite the thrill and had a good stint as the chief marketing Communications officer for one of the big suppliers. And then ended up, as you mentioned back with Ford and actually evolved into running their agency business on the PR side through one of the big PR advertising conglomerates, WP group. But to be honest, over were probably the last, I would say maybe five to six years, things just started to change the equations of what gave you satisfaction and what professionally you had done. I wouldn't call it an existential crisis per se, but maybe just a slow evolution to wanting to do something different with far fewer years in front of me than I have now behind me, which I think in that period you had that wake up call. And so with that, I decided to drop out of corporate life early and completely repurpose myself. And I'm now heading a nonprofit ministry in Western Michigan, a big conference and retreat center or faith-based entities,

Debra (02:30):

Making the decision sounds lovely and clean, but having been in the middle, it's really messy. Can you share a little bit more about the process?

Chris (02:45):

Yeah. Was like I said, it was more of an evolution than something you woke up with, but if I'm honest, getting into more senior positions, particularly in the corporate set, you have to want that. I mean, you're kind of all in and certainly your skills and your abilities get you to a certain level, but then sometimes it's the intangibles and maybe even odd circumstances that might get you into that most senior role. And for most of my young life, I was just singularly focused on that. I mean, God blessed me with a wonderful wife and two wonderful children, and we got to live all over the world. We lived in Washington DC twice. We lived in Switzerland for a while. I worked at Chrysler, Ford and GM at different times, so it was really wonderful. But I think you get to a poin...