Entry #1: Curiosity
The first principle I’m building this on is duality. Holding space for my strategy brain with the essence of a mercurial shapeshifter. My challenge is I’m constantly coping with the tension from switching between the two. The corporate environment runs at breakneck pace. Every day, on most days, there’s some level of scrambling, adrenaline, pressure. Maybe I do like it. I still fantasize about what I could do over the course of a steady simmer instead.
I come home to my studio which falls on the other side of the spectrum. All-encompassing space to flow, sometimes to the point of nothingness. Opportunities abound here. The mental shift is jarring even. From full blown sprint to the calm, steady pace of gardening. The adrenaline and pressure bring with it the satisfaction of seeing my ideas at scale.
Then today, a note in my planner to mark September:
“Curiosity is the quiet pull toward what you don’t yet understand - the inner knowing that there is something worth discovering if you’re willing to stay open. It doesn’t rush you toward answers. It asks you to pay attention. To follow the thread. To wonder, not for the sake of achievement, but for the sake of becoming…”.
A positive omen for my studio work. Currently sifting through years+ worth of source material reserved for this moment I put the final bow on my strategy for this platform: brand brief, house codes, personas, visual identity, 2026 Theme Sheet.
You have now entered formal research. Physical and digital folders worth of things I saw and saved for later. Seeing where it brings me. “While each side of a woman’s nature represents a separate entity with different functions and discriminate knowledge, they must have a knowing or translation of one another and therefore function as a whole. It is necessary to develop both sides” (Estés 1989). I am curious about what comes through when I simply give myself space to explore.
The plan is to document weekly updates here. A balancing act between working as a strategist and the work that comes out of my studio:
STRATEGIST
The timing of our team offsite brings an opportunity to turn the page on 1H and recalibrate right before Holiday. I’m bracing myself with systems and housekeeping. On the horizon, I’m looking forward to playing a big role in a few digital activations we’re planning to close the year. It’s in an area where I’ve been eager to get more reps in.
Putting my first professional portfolio together
STUDIO
Getting into a good flow synthesizing my research into writing. In the short term that looks like more posts here and on LinkedIn. Learning to concede to the different phases of the research cycle.
Figure drawing coursework
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World-building in the sense of taking the Haitian lakou and transposing it with scenes from New York’s Flatbush to create scenes of what was and what could be. Also love that afro-futurism (Octavia Butler) is part of her praxis.
