Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

Navigating Creative Burnout and Embracing New Beginnings with Ginna Christensen | Emily Blumenthal & Ginna Christensen

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

Share episode

Ginna Christensen, a creative recovery expert, shares her journey in helping individuals reclaim their creative spark amid the pervasive threat of burnout. Burnout doesn’t just slow us down—it erodes our ability to create, innovate, and lead. In this episode, Ginna discusses the early signs of burnout, the social shifts driving its rise, and the challenges of sustaining creativity in an always-on culture.

Takeaway Points
Recognizing Burnout: Learn how burnout has moved from a personal struggle to a widespread crisis, reshaping creative industries.
The Role of Community: Discover how platforms like Substack offer a fresh alternative to social media for connection and long-form expression.
Authentic Leadership: Explore the power of aligning leadership with personal values to foster sustainable success.

Our Guest, Ginna Christensen is a creative strategist and coach dedicated to helping individuals overcome burnout and rediscover their passion. Through her Creative Comeback program, Ginna provides tools to cultivate sustainable creativity, build supportive communities, and navigate career transitions with confidence. Her insights highlight the power of resilience, empathy, and long-form expression in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. 🎧 Don’t miss this inspiring conversation with Ginna Christensen.

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 

Buy Emily’s Books: “Handbag Designer 101” & “Savvy Suzanna’s Amazing Adventures in Handbags”


Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner

TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner

Speaker 1:

What I want to help people do is be able to recognize the signs early, so they can make adjustments, because you're losing so much time, so much efficiency, so much creativity, so much effectiveness, and if you're a leader, just think about how you might be impacting your team.

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all to bad handbags.

Speaker 3:

This is your front row seat to it all. Welcome, jenna Christensen, creative recovery specialist, to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. Welcome and thank you for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. So we found each other on Substack, the latest sexy platform where everybody for now seems to be really nice and positive and supportive. Would you agree? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I've really shied away from other social media platforms. I mean, I am on them, but when I say that I've shied away, I don't feel like I'm active or really engaged, even though I might be posting. I feel like Instagram has just become a place for it to feed me things that I feel like I need to buy and also just sort of a place where I'm wasting a lot of time. A place where I'm wasting a lot of time and Substack just feels more supportive, like the content that's out there, the community that's a part of it, and I always really enjoyed writing. It's always been a part of my life since I was a kid. So you know, just having a long also format opportunity to kind of put ideas out there has been super fulfilling.

Speaker 3:

I think so. I couldn't agree more. I was a reluctant joiner because it just feels like, oh my God, here's another thing I need to do within a span of social responsibilities, and I don't mean that in a give back kind of way. It's like a social media, oh crap. There's one more thing I need to do to keep my footprint, to know that I exist, without doing Google ads or keywords. It's like okay, here's a way for a long form blog post that at least I know more people are going to read, as opposed to having them come to my site. I mean, I strongly recommend it, although it is extra work. But if you have a way to do a behind the scenes view of what inspired you to do what you do and get people to follow and buy into what you're doing, then it's worth it. What exactly Jenna is a creative recovery specialist? I'd love to hear more.

Speaker 1:

I'm so glad you asked. You know it's interesting. I've been working as a business and leadership coach since 2018. And you know, as my work has evolved and the clients that I have attracted have morphed and changed, what I find is, in like essentially a two-year span, I seem to attract clients that are going through similar things. Right, and the past two years have really all been all about burnout.

Speaker 1:

So people have come to saying things like I've been doing this for 15 years. I have a successful business and I want to blow it up, or I need you. I feel like it's time for me to downsize. I want to have a life again, right? Or I'm going through a breakup with my business partner because we could no longer move forward the way we were. We need to figure out how to restructure to make our business sustainable, right, and so for me, since I work mainly with people working in creative fields, when you are burnt out, you have zero creative energy.

Speaker 1:

What I started to really recognize is oh, the first step here is we need to heal the burnout, we need to heal the creative fatigue. Then the next step is find a more resilient and sustainable way of working. So you're not getting to the point, not getting to the point where in another year you're like I want to quit what I'm doing. I've fallen out of love, I've lost my passion, I don't have any creative ideas, I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. It's not what I wanted to do when I first started. You know those kinds of things. So creative recovery specialist is really all about, you know, diving in figuring out what is the cause of the creative fatigue that someone is experiencing, helping them heal that and then help them discover their right way of working that is sustainable and resilient, because it's different for everybody.

Speaker 3:

So, hypothetically, let's just say, because I want to make sure we look after who our core listeners are, people who have a brand. It got to a point. It's not going to the next level. What would the first key things that you would say to do Because I'm sure a lot of what you do is homework based, because you can't do all the work you can say.

Speaker 3:

Here's some things that you need to do so in order for me to work with you, because the designers with whom I've worked so many of them come back and turn it back on you for the fact that they didn't get to the next level and things didn't work. And I've always had to say to them I've given you every suggestion feedback under the sun, we've gone through it. Every suggestion feedback under the sun, we've gone through it. You have chosen not to take all the information that we discussed and apply it and use it and implement it, and for those reasons, you cannot expect change. So how do you deal with all that? What are the first key homework assignments that you give people?

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm so glad that you brought up that point, because I think people sometimes have a misconception of what coaching is because, like to your point, like I'm not doing the work for you, I'm not even telling you really what to do. I mean, yes, as you said, like there are exercises, there are questions, there are prompts, but, like, my whole philosophy is is that there is no one right answer for everybody, right. And so the work is really about helping leading people into you know what is the right answer for them. And so, like, if somebody's coming to me and they are experiencing creative fatigue or burnout, the first thing we need to do is figure out where it started, right. So one of the things that I like to start out doing is talking about like, where are you working out of integrity? Because if you're working out of integrity, right with yourself, it means that you're probably feeling stuck, you're experiencing resistance, a lack of self-confidence, which is a big thing that people don't realize is related to burnout or creative fatigue. You know, that lack of self-confidence, a consistent doubt, not feeling supported or like they are reconnected to their purpose, it's probably because they're out of integrity, you know, and there are five types of integrity. There's physical integrity, you know. Am I actually like monitoring my own physical workforce energy? Am I paying attention? Am I taking rest when I need it, or am I just like pushing through, no matter what it all costs? Right? Am I relying on adrenaline constantly to keep me going? You know that's a rocky road. Resource is another type of energy, you know, or another type of integrity, and it's all about, you know. Am I committing resources that I don't have in order to prove my value or worth to myself or others? So that could be money, that could be time, you know. Am I saying yes, that I really want to be saying no to two Identity?

Speaker 1:

Integrity is another form, which is that feeling that I can't really be who I am and be successful. I need to be somebody else. I need to be like my old mentor, my old boss. I need to do it like that person did. I can't do it the way I would do it because I just won't be successful. By the way, that's probably the biggest false statement that anyone can believe. I think your true path to success is being as true to yourself as you possibly can be. Fourth is moral integrity, and moral integrity is when we feel that we have to violate our own values in order to be successful. And lastly is energetic integrity, and this happens when we're so exhausted and burnout, but we feel like we have to work instead of allowing ourselves to rest. So that's usually where I start is touching on those five points and having my client rate themselves on a scale of one to 10. You know, 10 being I'm in complete integrity.

Speaker 3:

One I don't even know what being integrity would look like yeah, those are really good place to start.

Speaker 3:

That's really really tough. I mean, all of those are probably really hard to digest, but you know, going to see you and speak to you is already is already a big enough step. Or speaking to any coach within that space, because you're acknowledging that you have some sort of challenge that you cannot handle yourself and change needs to happen. How do you approach it within moving forward, that you take this data and you have someone or they have a quasi-successful business, or they have some people buying their product and they don't know what to do next. Are you within that space or that's not what you cover? Or do you have them go back to really discover their product? Or is it going back and reflecting on themselves? How do you handle all this? Just because this is not something I'm familiar with.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know the thing about the way I work. I essentially work in two different ways. One I have a program, you know, I have a six month program. It's called the creative comeback. It starts. The first part is all about healing the creative fatigue and burnout. So it goes deeper into causes, how to recognize it. Because what I find, too, is that burnout is something that sneaks up on us and once it happens, right, once we're completely burnt out, like we don't realize it until we're like we are so burnt out that we literally can't get out of bed for a week you know, and so what I want to help people do is be able to recognize the signs early so they can make adjustments, because you're losing so much time, so much efficiency, so much creativity, so much effectiveness.

Speaker 1:

And if you're a leader, just think about how you might be impacting your team being a burnout leader, right? Typically burnout leaders are very reactive. They're not listening, they're not engaged with their team. Their team is going to feel bad. They may feel micromanaged, you know they're not going to be as effective, you know, and as proactive as you actually want them to be, especially if you're feeling burned out. So we really dive into understanding that what you're experiencing is potentially burnout, you know, and how to fix it. The next stage is really going into understanding how you work best right, and this is a deep dive. And one of the modalities that I've studied throughout my coaching training is a modality called human design, and it is a really valuable tool in helping people understand how to get back to who they are right, because there's so much noise.

Speaker 1:

So, much Right Now more than ever. And so how do we get people to be centered, honor themselves and give them permission to work in a way that they feel is most natural, because that's how they're going to be the most successful? So that's the second part. The third part is all about leadership. How do we simplify leadership? How do we make leadership feel authentic?

Speaker 1:

Because I find that the word leadership, much like money, is very it really can trigger people, just like with money. There are some people that are like oh, money, it comes and goes, it comes easily, I make it whatever. And there are other people that money is a very triggering word. And I find the same thing is true for leadership. Some people grab onto it and have no problem with it, and others are like that's not me. I mean, I have clients who own companies that are like I hate being called the boss, right, so it's all about when you're the owner of a company. Right, you are a leader, whether you want, whether you want like own that or not. So it's all about finding the pathway to leadership that feels authentic to you.

Speaker 1:

Right, because there may have been a picture that was painted of what a leader is that is bossing, micromanaging, loud you know things that they are not you know, because a leader can be nurturing, they can be a support system, they can be a mentor, like it doesn't have to be, you know, yelling and screaming and you did that wrong.

Speaker 1:

So that's what that part of the program is. So that's one of the ways I work with people, and that does require a lot of there's a lot of homework and work done on your own, with that part, just customizing the work based on the client's needs. So if they're like, hey, I have a client that I worked with a few years ago who just came back to me recently because she's decided that she wants to downsize her business and she just wants support in figuring out how do I do it? What does that look like? What's really important to me? You know what's changed, and so so much of that and the exercises I do with people who may be going through some kind of transition is really about, you know, visioning.

Speaker 1:

It's about what are my values Not the values I think I should have, but what are the ones. But I can't get out of bed every day without these. Right, right, right, right. Am I honoring them? Right, they look like an action. What do they look like as policies within my business? You know, because those are the sort of the key, foundational pieces that help build and support a brand.

Speaker 2:

If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer, didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand, broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

Speaker 2:

For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the Handbag Designer Bible, founded the Handbag Awards and created the only Handbag Designer podcast. I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale. Whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction, the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass is just for you. So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it bag. Join me, emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. So be sure to sign up at emilyblumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code PINEC cast to get 10% off your masterclass today.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, I mean, look I, everything you're saying resonates. I had this large scale event for 15 plus years and it was how people identified me. It was how I identified myself, how people identified me. It was how I identified myself. And then COVID hit and it was just not physically possible to host this 500 person, in-person, large-scale, global event, to have everybody and pull budgets from people for handbags. It was absolutely challenging and after that it kind of became and I know I'm not the only one who had to go through this and after that it kind of became and I know I'm not the only one who had to go through this was a personal rebrand relaunch.

Speaker 3:

Who am I? How do people see me? How do I make money? How do I monetize what I'm doing but yet remain authentic to the people who know me and the people who've grown to trust me within my space in that field. So it's definitely something what made you decide, like after day jobbing, that this is where you think you belong. It's definitely something what made you decide, like after day jobbing, that this is where you think you belong. It's interesting, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I love that. It's a great question. So my last job before I went out on my own was really probably started out really as my dream job. I was creative director of rug company that was in Los Angeles, and the owners of the business basically gave me creative freedom. I mean, I did crazy stuff. They were on Melrose Avenue, had floor-to-ceiling windows that were 40 feet high and 40 feet wide, and I was able to do what I wanted with that window space and what I wanted to do.

Speaker 1:

Again, my whole philosophy has always been about how do you differentiate yourself in an authentic way is stand out, and so I just kept following my intuition, which was not always easy to do. It's just like I know this is what I have to do. So I had a lot of really creative freedom, and yet there were ideas I had that I knew were not right for the brand, and so in that creative space, whereas again I was allowed to be really free, I recognized, huh, there might be something else after this, right after this, and it was also a timing thing right place, right time. I met my now husband while I was working in that job, who lived on the East Coast. So I was also thinking about how can I have more freedom for travel? Maybe I go out on my own, and I wound up going out on my own in 2017.

Speaker 1:

And at the time I was strictly creative consulting. So I was going in helping other brands. They'd seen what I had done the rug company I had worked for, you know in really kind of invigorating them with like again like excitement, like people couldn't wait to come in and see what we were doing Right and of course, that had a huge impact on the business. So I started working with a few companies again in the West Hollywood area and things went really well the first year. But in the second year I started to come up against. What I didn't realize at the time was fear, fear from my clients, because, again, my philosophy was all about listen. We got to hone in on your differentiating points, your natural differentiating in the marketplace, really accentuate those. That's going to be the secret to getting you to stand out and attracting the clientele that you're looking for, and it just made people really nervous. So I might get a yes, we're going to do all that stuff right, and in the final hour they'd be like whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know.

Speaker 3:

And in the final hour they'd be like whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know. Yeah, I get that within that space and getting people to really hone in on a paragraph on what's your USP, what's your unique selling point, and then from there it was too much, that was too overwhelming, and then it was what's three sentences Give me some names, what's your brand essence? Just give me adjectives and let's extrapolate and let's go from there, because you can't go into a market and think that you can attract clients, keep clients and have them wanting to come back if you don't have something unique that differentiates you from someone else. Because, as I've told so many designers that who have overpriced their bags have not had anything unique about them, have not done any kind of design or had done something that was too similar to what everybody else was doing.

Speaker 3:

I said you need to know that the sun is going to go up and down without you and people don't need you. Your point is to separate yourself as a want versus a need, and if you can convert yourself to a need, then you really need to show what makes you so special. To have somebody say this is where I want to put my money, my energy, my time, my trust, so I get that. It's a really hard thing to convert people to be willing to put in that work. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, I've seen it too, you know, throughout my career. You know I've, both in the fashion industry and in the interiors industry, people coming to it with this mentality of oh, if I build it, they will come. You know, if I open the store, people are just going to walk in and it just. It's like what you know, and I think the difficulty, the hard part of the work that you and I are talking about for people is it makes people feel really vulnerable. Yeah, it feels personal.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, better I wait for people to come than me try something and fail. For people to know what I did didn't work. So I get it. I get it Like I'll fail, hoping for people to stop by. I get it. I get it Like I'll fail, hoping for people to stop by, but not put myself out there to take that risk that could go wrong. Where then it's a stain? That that's how people would perceive me. Oh, she, he, they are the people that did this as opposed to okay, well, I did it. People might like it. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, I don't know. But that's better than me trying something and failing, but yet you put all this time and money into creating this product that you want to sell. Yeah, and they went and found you and hired you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So you know, it was really that discovery, that understanding, which took me a while, quite frankly, to understand that, oh, this is fear that made me go. Oh, I need to go back to school, because if I'm really going to help people make a difference in their businesses, I need to help them get through this fear piece, because they're never going to make change if they can't get over this. So that's when I went back to school to get my coaching certificate and I've continued to study and work with people and, you know, play with different modalities and techniques. You know, because, again, everyone's different. The same technique may work for one person and not for another. The same kind of asking questions may work for one person and not for another, you know.

Speaker 3:

So it's a very personal kind of experience that I co-create with the client For people who are considering a coach, someone like you, what are some things that they should have prepared before they come to see you? What should they have written down? At what point in their mentality should they feel comfortable to say you know what, it's okay to ask for help. Are there any cues that you can point out?

Speaker 1:

What's coming to mind for me is one. Normally what happens is people come to me because they've been through some kind of disruption, whether it's breaking up with their partner, the business just isn't working for them anymore. I don't know. They turn 60 and they've decided they want to pull back a little bit. Or they just realize, yeah, they're in a serious case of burnout, not sure that they want to do what they do for a living anymore. Right, they need to start coming out of what that disruption is. Right, Because when you're stuck in the middle of the problem, when you're in the eye of the storm, it's really hard to create change. There needs to be a little bit of space.

Speaker 1:

So sometimes I'll have a discovery call with somebody and I'll tell them I'm going to give you some suggestions, things to do to start healing, but you're not ready yet.

Speaker 1:

You're not ready for coaching yet. Like, we could start, but you're not going to get anywhere, right, you need to have a little bit of separation from this, right? So and I think the other piece is that we touched on earlier is for people to really understand what coaching is, and I should say what coaching is like with me, which is like I'm only interested in getting to the root of the problem, because I feel like we're not going to fix anything until we get to the root. So if you don't want to go to the root, if you're not willing to do the work, if you're not willing to be honest with yourself, I'm certainly not the coach for you. Right, and coaching may not be for you, but I know there are coaches out there that have a template and a platform and they'll even give you templates for emails and stuff like that, which is not what I do, because to me that's not coaching. Coaching is about again helping the client discover the answers that already live inside them, Right?

Speaker 3:

Jened, this has been enlightening. Now I feel like I need a coach. It's like you listen to. I mean, my mom always jokes that I'm everybody's favorite customer because if I listen to things long enough, I'm like me too, because I'm everybody's favorite customer Because if I listen to things long enough.

Speaker 1:

I'm like me too.

Speaker 3:

It's how I end up with half the crap I have at my house. I mean, I'm so happy that infomercials really don't exist anymore.

Speaker 1:

But you know what that tells me? Like that shows me you're somebody who has an open mind, yeah, and that you're probably have the potential to be a really good like mediator. Like you were telling me before we got online. You have children, so I'm sure they get into fights, as, like I have siblings we did and I imagine that when you talk to each child individually, that you understand and can fully understand where they're coming from.

Speaker 3:

Yes, I was much nicer before the pandemic, I can say that. And the pandemic, I think, like everybody, stripped all of that ability to have the kind of patience that we all used to, and my threshold is went from this to this. Like I also believe in empowering, I believe in independence, I believe in even with the designers with whom I've worked like I need to know that you're willing, able and want to make these changes and make these adjustments. And if I give you homework, you know that this is something you want to do and put the time in, because if you don't, I can't help you reach those results which I'm sure you 100% agree with.

Speaker 1:

Exactly the same. Exactly the same, I think, with coaching. The thing like obviously we're both extraordinarily motivated individuals I think you have to be if you're an entrepreneur and you know working on your own and I think one of the things that is a human trait is that we all expect other people to be like we are Right, right, and so there can be frustration. Yeah, I mean, I've experienced it with clients before Like why aren't you doing your homework? And the thing that I have learned I mean I learned this early on in coaching, but to really integrate it, you know, take some time is that you have to meet people where they're at.

Speaker 3:

Oh, yes, that's the line Meet you where they are. Oh boy, this is crazy. I Jenna, it has been an absolute delight. How can we find you, follow you, connect with you? How can we reach out and get more information?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so my website is my name jennachristiansencom. As you mentioned, I also have a sub stack that's called the Resiliency Lab and if you want to get a better feel for my coaching style, that's a really great place the Resiliency Lab to go, because I share a lot of exercises, coaching techniques, you know, in that sub stack. So it kind of gives you a window into, like my style and what it might be to work with me. And if you're interested in learning more, if you're like, oh, I've heard this podcast, I really I'd like to speak to her.

Speaker 1:

On my website, on my Work With Me page, there is a prompt to schedule a discovery call, which I offer for free in our session, because I think it's really important that when you're working with a coach, that you have the chemistry that feels comfortable. I mean, it's so important. If you're not a right fit, you're not going to get anything done. So I think that it's really important to give that time to one another because it's just as much, you know, a kind of trial for me. Like do I feel like this client is the right fit for me and vice versa.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, feel free to schedule a discovery call as well, janna and I just want to clear up for everyone listening it's G-I-N-N-A and then Christensen is C-H-R-I-S-T-E-N-S-E-N. Jenna Christensen. So com, jenna, thank you, thank you. Thank you for joining us today. It's been an absolute delight.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, Emily.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Emily Blumenthal

Host