Soulful Speaking

From Director’s Chair to Spotlight: A Comedic Creative’s Speaking Evolution

• Lauri Smith • Season 1 • Episode 14

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In this episode of Soulful Speaking, Lauri welcomes back Emily, a seasoned creative professional with a wealth of experience in video production, marketing, and sketch comedy. 

Emily shares her journey of stepping out of the shadows of her directing role and embracing the challenge of being seen and heard. From navigating imposter syndrome to learning how to trust herself, this episode features valuable insights into what it takes to bring our authentic voices to the forefront. Along the way, Emily reveals how humor and vulnerability can be powerful tools in building connection, from marketing to public speaking. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone feeling that call to step into the spotlight for the sake of their calling. 

TAKEAWAYS

1. Embrace Your Weirdness: Connection in speaking and marketing comes from letting your true self show, quirks and all.

2. Visibility Is a Muscle: Like any skill, being seen and heard takes practice. If it feels uncomfortable, that’s a sure sign you’re strengthening the new muscles. 

3. Trust the Process in speaking (and in life.) 

4. Humor Builds Trust: When it’s a part of your brand that aligns with your values, comedy is a great tool for creating rapport and building trust with your audience.

5. Vulnerability Invites Connection: People are more likely to connect with you when they see your imperfections and honesty.

6. Balance is Key to Creative Preparation. Be prepared, but don’t overthink. Balance your inner director and creator as you weave together preparation with the freedom to flow in the moment.

7. Silence is Powerful: Embrace pauses in speaking to create impact and allow space for deeper connection.


About Emily:
Emily is a seasoned creative with over 20 years of experience in video sketch comedy, marketing, and leading dynamic teams. As the founder of PenguinCat Creative, her copywriting agency, she has crafted hundreds of high-converting marketing funnels and campaigns. Her work has helped bestselling authors, top influencers, eCommerce giants, and industry-leading coaches achieve remarkable success—selling out events, tripling membership signups, and exceeding launch goals.

Previously, Emily served as VP of Production at Comediva, a comedic

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Lauri:

Welcome back listeners and welcome back Emily to the Soulful Speaking podcast. For those of you who don't remember or missed her first episode, Emily is a seasoned creative with over 20 years of experience in video, sketch comedy, marketing and leading dynamic teams. On her last episode, she courageously let me coach her, and today we're going to hear more of her story and also hear a bit about where that went. Welcome back, emily.

Emily:

Thank you so much, so happy to be here.

Lauri:

Yeah, let me ask you where your speaking journey began.

Emily:

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's even begun necessarily. I think my, my fear of speaking started, like when I was a child and I really wanted to be like. I was like, oh, I really want to like act or like do performancey things, and was like told at a pretty young age, like no, no, no, no, no, you shouldn't, you shouldn't do that, and like I couldn't sing and most things for children, you know, like acting and performance are very like song based and so, um, I was kind of dissuaded from that at a young age. So, yeah, I think like it's been more of a journey of like regaining my confidence and regaining like, oh, I could, I could learn these skills, I could, I do have things that are of value to share.

Emily:

Um, and figuring out like that source of confidence for myself has been more of my focus in the last a few years. Um, I was just like, oh, I just don't do that, it's fine, I don't, I don't do that, other people do that, but I don't do that. And now it's, I've been kind of pushed in directions to be like, oh, yeah, no, you, you, you do need to do this and yeah.

Lauri:

Yeah, it sounds like you had a curiosity and an attraction to it as a child and then that got suppressed and went dormant for a while and then got reawakened.

Emily:

Yes, yes, and it's. It's funny Cause even in, like, just going back to middle school was like, oh, I'll do this, I'll do this theater performance thing after school and I'll I'll get to act, we're doing these little plays. And then the teacher assigned me to be the director, which has directed my life since quite a bit, and I found out that I was very good at that, um, but yeah, still wasn't. It was like put in the director's seat then instead of performing.

Lauri:

Instead of performing. Yeah, and when it got reawakened, what happened? That reawakened it?

Emily:

I feel like with most things, when you're being pushed out of your comfort zone, it's just, it's it's more out of necessity. My business was a little slower this year and it's like okay, I do need to start doing visibility. I had been running on referral and repeat clients really consistently. I did not have to do my own marketing, even though I'm a marketing firm. It was wonderful. Clients just showed up in my inbox like magic. It was great. Uh, 20.24 did not function like that. Um, and I'm like okay, I think I'm getting pushed into needing to be more visible, needing to do some crazy, do some marketing for my marketing company.

Emily:

Um and and get in front of the camera. Stages haven't really come up as a necessity yet, but at least getting on camera sharing things being more visible, in that sense being more visible in messaging all of that. So a friend recently was joking about imposter syndrome and how needing to pay your mortgage is the quickest way to get past imposter syndrome.

Lauri:

I love that?

Emily:

Yeah, you're not wrong.

Lauri:

Yeah, there's the um, like when the risk of there's some kind of quote that, like you know, we open when the risk of staying the same becomes more painful than the risk to change. And nothing like a mortgage pain to actually make the pain or the fear of the pain of being seen less than the fear of the pain of paying the mortgage Right.

Emily:

So yes.

Lauri:

Especially in.

Emily:

Los Angeles. That helps too, so yes, Especially in Los Angeles.

Lauri:

That helps too, yeah, and the universe really does always kind of put us in the circumstances to practice what we preach, to embody the transformation and kind of our lifelong journey. So for you, you're preaching or teaching to others, helping others understand marketing. Meanwhile, you're going through one of those phases where it's like having a line out the door at an Apple store.

Lauri:

You don't really need to do anything, and then, all of a sudden, the line dries up and you're invited to do the very things that you are asking others to do, and be visible and use your voice.

Emily:

Yep, somebody said like take your own medicine fairly recently, and I was like, yeah, I'm excited about it, Mostly excited yeah.

Lauri:

What have you been learning so far as you take your own medicine?

Emily:

Yeah, I think it's. It's been hard. Well, it's been interesting. So my husband is a performer. He's been doing it his whole life. It comes very naturally to him. He can like get up on a stage and just like improvise an entire speech and like zero anxiety about it just easy, um, in front of a camera, no problem.

Emily:

So, and we've been filming these sketches together recently and I think the hard part for me has been like just like being in the moment, I guess, and just kind of not putting so much edifice on things, like really being myself, and not like putting on this I don't know this like weird fakeness, I guess.

Emily:

Um, that I have been so, yeah, like, even though it's like I'm playing a character, you still have to be a grounded version of that character, not like this fake, weird version of that yeah, like an, an intimate, real version of that character, rather than a caricature yeah, yeah, and even though we're doing goofy sketches and it's not like serious acting by any means, but still like the same principles all align and it's funny because I direct and so I direct other actors in doing this, but then, oh God, making myself do it has been difficult.

Lauri:

Yeah, how. I would imagine that being in the director seat for so long is potentially contributing to having your own inner critic there instead of you know. It's like you're relearning how to drop in and be present when you're doing these sketches, because you've been the one who's been the critical outside eye for so long?

Emily:

totally and I'm running like the edit in my head so I'm like, oh, I know, my eye line was off so I'm already like doing that technical acting stuff that's quite high level without any of the skill underneath it. So I don't have because I'm like thinking of the technical side of like, oh yes, it should be here. And if I make this?

Emily:

movement. The edit is better and you know, just thinking about that stuff, which are very good actor things if you have, like the baseline emotionality, taking care of verse yeah, yeah, and it feels like you even have to learn how to do those things from the inside so that they become, instead of conscious competence.

Lauri:

I can do it when I'm thinking about it. You know how to do it from the inside out without thinking about it.

Emily:

Right, right, like an act professional actor will just know where their light is and not be consciously thinking of that necessarily and not be consciously thinking of that necessarily, but just will show up there or know that somebody will tell them to move if they are not there. And it's fine to trust that.

Lauri:

Yeah, trusting the person who is actually out there being the director, right, right. What is it like for you to trust yourself and others?

Emily:

Ugh.

Lauri:

Tell me more what else goes with that.

Emily:

Um, yeah, I think it's uncomfortable. I think it's like it's like a similar feeling to like somebody, like like taking care of you or somebody like doing a like I have a hard time, maybe like receiving gifts and compliments and things like that. I think that trust feels similar, that there's a similar kind of discomfort. Um, so that's, I don't know.

Lauri:

There's some link there, I don't know yeah, yeah, it's being the center of attention, being worthy of receiving care and attention oh, yeah, yeah.

Emily:

I mean, we were even doing the grounding exercise before this podcast and I was like, oh, this is, this is really nice, like, oh, she's doing this nice thing to make sure I'm comfortable before this interview and there was, I had that. I even felt like a moment of the like discomfort of receiving yeah that's in service of the whole, obviously show. But you know, there was still like I had like a tinge of that which I noticed.

Lauri:

But yeah, how did you recover and lean into the receiving?

Emily:

uh, I think just more of the like reminding myself like yeah, it's for, it's for the show, and also like you're wanting me to succeed and it's okay to like receive that.

Lauri:

I guess, kind of reminding myself of yeah, yeah, yeah, it's for the show, and what was going on in my head as we were doing it, that was that this is one of those days where I probably needed it more than you just being in all of the chat and it's you know, it's why we do it together, rather than me just being like warm up before you come in Doing vocal exercise yeah.

Lauri:

Yeah, and it's really nice to do it together because then we also get connected and I really had a voice in my head that was like this, one of those days where I could feel myself shifting and grounding in a pretty dramatic way as I was doing the moment for us and for the episode, and was like, well, thank well, thank you for joining me. For that I need Right. Yeah, that's funny, yeah, so how much have you gotten out there to be seen since you felt that push for the mortgage or the call?

Emily:

Right.

Emily:

Um, fortunately it was going to be so perfect. I was supposed to be on two podcasts on Monday, but I was not feeling well. I knew I wasn't going to be in a good place for them, so I had to cancel last minute. Those are scheduled in like a month after the holidays, so I would have had so much to report, but I did prepare for them, which was even that was very helpful.

Emily:

Um, so I'm going through a process of like redoing my director website, um, with a friend who also does branding. Even if you do it yourself, it's very hard to do it for yourself. Um, that's why I have a job, um, and so she's helping me work through and like kind of owning my expertise in a lot of ways, which is filtering through kind of my whole career right now. Um, so it was helpful to like step back and at first I was really intimidated by these podcasts. So they're very high-end marketing. It's like very zero fluff. Like they want things to feel like um master's levels course in marketing, like kind of thing. Um, so I had that intimidation and then talking through all the background that I have and how I can talk about things, just owning that I have something to contribute to spaces like that was honestly really exciting, caused me to make some tweaks to my website and, and, like own, own some of my expertise a little bit more.

Emily:

So that was that exercise in itself was super helpful.

Lauri:

Yeah, I love when that happens. It feels like all of these things are kind of converging from being able to receive, being able to step out and be seen more, working with someone on branding your own website. It's like there's all this information and experience that's coming together. That is building your confidence as you go out there to be seen more.

Emily:

Yeah, and I think the yeah it's like it's converging in like a natural, like how things all come together because everything is connected kind of way. And I've been wanting to fuse these two parts of myself together for a long time the, you know, copywriting, marketing, business side, and then the filmmaking, production, storytelling side. And you know, I've had way more financial success in one side than the other side and I always was like, oh, how do I bring that to this? But it was more, how do I bring both sides together? Because I'm one human being and it's all the same thing, it should all be together.

Lauri:

So yeah, yeah, yeah, and you are both a person who is behind the camera and now someone who is on the camera, right, so it feels like those two parts are coming together again that have been separate since the person said no, you're not an actor, you're a director.

Emily:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, fun work. You say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fun.

Lauri:

I can't wait to see the new website and I could go on a whole tangent. And I want to ask, since you were here last time, what have you noticed about your voice and your speaking since, since your visit to the podcast where you were coached?

Emily:

since, since your visit to the podcast where you were coached. Yeah, I mean, I hope people can tell that I'm a little slower.

Emily:

I've been talking, I've been slowing, trying to slow down a little bit and I've been trying to um, it's, it's funny that coaching also coincided with, like another experience of wanting to take space in a moment um and trying to practice like trusting my gut and you know when you're, you know, in a negotiation or something with someone, and like being able to claim that space and take that pause and be like, well, hold up, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm, I want to stop. Um, so that's like something I've been working on personally, just in one-on-one interactions, but that also ties into the coaching that we did um for for speaking as well.

Lauri:

Yeah, it's like growing comfortable in the silence and not feeling like you need to fill it Right, whether that's a moment in your life where you stop everyone else in order to have the silence, or in a negotiation. You just made me flash on a moment actually in my own life, where I asked for a raise and I was not as confident, not as comfortable with silences as I am now. I was, I'll tell you this now, and I know because this boss said it. At that time I was the best executive assistant he had had in 25 years, the best one ever. I was not trusting in my own worth. It had been a long time since I had been given a raise. So I went in there to ask for a raise and my I was masked up, my um, heady hipster. I had the heady hipster mask on, my heady hipster. I had the heady hipster mask on and my soul suckers were in charge. They totally controlled how I was going to do it and then they kicked into like working harder, and then my deranged mannequin mask kind of came out. So you know, I did a lot of preamble because it's like you feel like you have to justify that you're going to ask for the raise.

Lauri:

And then you ask for the raise and then you do a whole lot of justifying after and I know silence, right, and he's, like you know, trying to follow what I'm saying and I don't look like the person that he knows. So he starts rifling for papers and I'm thinking he wants me to leave his office. At this point he finds the list of salaries. He's got a spreadsheet that says what people's salaries were and when they've had an increase. That is what he was actually looking for.

Lauri:

My mind was telling me like I need to talk faster and justify so that he'll say yes or no, so I can get out of his office. And he said I wish you'd asked me earlier. And he gave me a ten thousand dollar increase in like 2001, right on the spot. Wow, and if I would have asked him earlier I probably would would have had like a 5,000 and then another 5,000. And that's a negotiation where, if I were to go do it again today, I would probably say, john, it's been a while and I'd like to ask you for a salary increase, and then, like, shut up and wait for his answer and if I need to justify or something he might have said, how long has it been since you had one right? Not since I've been hired and that's it yeah yeah totally

Lauri:

yeah, it does feel it feels like we're not even recording. That's what I can say about. Like my experience of you is like it doesn't feel like you have that. I'm on the spot. I'm gonna speed up now. Feeling it feels like we are having an amazing conversation. Truly, this is what I want for the podcast. Like two people sitting in a are having an amazing conversation. Truly this is what I want for the podcast. Like two people sitting in a cafe having an amazing conversation that happens to be recorded that then other people get to hear and get value and nuggets out of. Are you aware of feeling more grounded in your own skin, more fluid breath, anything like that?

Emily:

in your own skin. More fluid breath, anything like that. Yeah, I feel less, um, like choked, choked up in my throat, Um. So yeah, it feels. I definitely feel more me this time around, maybe not like a hundred percent, but like 95, like pretty good.

Lauri:

Yeah, I, and I often say public speaking, whether it's tiktok podcast, ted talk, it is. If you're any good at it, it is not going to feel like you're laying on your couch watching netflix. It's going to feel a bit more like a roller coaster ride. So there's going to be more energy there. Otherwise you're probably not very engaged.

Emily:

If you have Netflix couch energy, probably not a dynamic speaker, yeah.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, and I've had it once, one performance when I was like 25 years old. It was supposed to be a brush up rehearsal, so my body was like I'm going to show up, I'm going to be in street clothes, we're going to bang this out, and then we're all going to go home. And the director was like, well, there were some people who couldn't come to any other performance, so you have like a four-person audience out there, which is just not. I don't like performing in front of four-person audiences. I have done it a lot, so that was, you know, kind of a weird thing. I'm also curious about the preparation for the ones that ended up not happening because you were sick. What felt different to you during the preparation than other times you've been preparing to speak?

Emily:

Yeah, I really I wish I wish they had happened, because I would like to know if it worked. I felt more comfortable. I was happy that I was disappointed that they didn't happen. There wasn't relief, there was actual disappointment and that felt like Rome. And, yeah, it felt like maybe the right balance of prep, because I think in previous times I've like almost scripted things.

Emily:

Um, like there was one time we went in to pitch this. I went in to pitch this feature that I was going to direct on. Um, it didn't end up happening at all, but I was. I was so much, so much better than the other director, I was so much better for this, this position, um, but the feedback that I got from the producers afterwards were like, oh you, they felt like you were too prepared, like you were too scripted, you were too like rigid almost in the presentation of it, even though I had over prepared and done more of the homework. Um, the other director was like more off the cuff and like conversational and like casual about it. Um, I did end up getting the job, but I was like, oh, it was just like such a insight into like, oh, okay, I'm not. There's something about this that I'm not approaching in the right way, or you know I'm doing it like a like a suckers, the ones that scream the loudest, and they can do that.

Lauri:

It's like the kernel of the message is be prepared way over, when, if you're an artist, there's kind of two things going on at the same time there's the craft and the preparation, and then there's also the creative spark and the passion, and you don't want to prepare so much that the creative spark and the passion gets hidden underneath all of that preparation. You want to prepare enough that it allows that to shine through. And it sounds like that's the level of prepared you were, which also is like, of course, when they said, well, when you said I'm sick and it's got to move to January, you're like, oh, because the passion was still there, even for you.

Emily:

Yeah, no, that's true, yeah, and before any pitches in the past or other times, like public speaking kind of things, have fallen through pure relief, 100% relief, no other emotion other than relief. But yeah, it's like that, that weird balance, especially with with with film pitching and stuff they want. They want something more conversational, they want something that feels like it's just coming from within you, even though they know you've practiced the hell out of this thing. They want it to feel like you're just, it's so inside of you and you're so comfortable there and you're just so passionate and cool and cool artists that you can just speak it on the spot.

Lauri:

That's what they're, that's what they're actually looking for yeah, and everybody knows the illusion that's happening and they still we all still would rather have it be that way, a hundred percent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am. I'm getting this urge to have you share some of the marketing stuff that you would have shared on the podcast that you went on for a couple of different reasons. So you get to do it, so we see where you are. Let's go ahead and and have you share some of what you would have shared had you done the two podcasts earlier in the week yeah, cool, um, so yeah.

Emily:

So I mean, one of the one of the main things I was going to talk about on these podcasts was about how to create low budget video campaigns, um, that compete with million dollar campaigns. The other one was about how to, like, train your brain to be a Hollywood writer's room.

Lauri:

They're both so juicy I think I'm, since this is soulful speaking. Yeah, showing up on video is part of what I mean by soulful speaking. Why don't you tell us a bit about how to create videos that compete with big budget videos? Cool, cool.

Emily:

Yeah, we can also talk about like why comedy is the key to marketing Awesome. So, yeah, let's do how to create low budget video ads. So the first, the first part, is really keeping in mind your hook. This can be an audio hook. I think most people think about a hook as just the text that goes over the video. You know, like create, ask a question or create some intrigue. We are seeing people falling into a little bit of hook fatigue. The more clickbaity stuff isn't doing as well because people kind of know the game now. So we're leaning into a little bit more of the conversational hooks that are still intriguing and click worthy, but not as clickbaity.

Emily:

The piece that people forget about a lot is the visual hook and how that interplays with the text. So, like making sure that you have a cohesive visual storytelling frame. For example, I saw a video recently that the audio hook was like what it's like to work from home during the holidays or something, and the visual was in the foreground a woman at her computer and in the background like her dad, like coming through the door, and so that all really created sort of this humorous. You kind of know what the joke is going to be, but it's enough where you want to click and watch because you relate to it and you're seeing this whole visual image. Um, so, aside from just being like let me fill a cup of coffee with the visual hook or the text, like trying to keep all of that context in mind, yeah, first tip yeah I.

Lauri:

I have a question brewing that is related to issues that some of my clients have had. When they're speaking, and they're attempting to speak a first sentence, that is a hook, totally yeah. They often feel really, really awkward about it. Sure, what advice do you have? And, like, when you're the one directing, how do you help draw that out of them so that the awkward version is not the one that gets released?

Emily:

Right. Well, there's a couple of things that you could do. Um, actor props help you not feel as awkward, so you know if awkward, so you know if you bring something in frame, you're creating a visual hook. And if you bring, you know, or you turn around or add some movement, I mean movement can also kind of be a prop. Um, that can help the awkwardness. Um, because it might get you out of your head a little bit and it'll create a more visual striking, like edit point. The other option is write a few lines before your first line, so get the awkwardness out with some preamble and then say your first line, Like that might help as well, and then just edit it. And then just edit it.

Lauri:

I am shocked that that has never occurred to me before, probably because I do videos now. But I come from a world of theater where you can't do that you can't do that.

Lauri:

I mean, you can start imagining what is the world, that my character, that's what you do is you moment before moment, before you do all of that, but you're not speaking yet, whereas on video you can speak and then, like, by the time, you're in flow, I have done a whole take myself and then, just without stopping, started again and then chopped off the first one and I and I did a thing where I wanted everything to be live and recorded live for such a long time. It took me a while to get to that.

Emily:

The editing. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing that you do on set with actors too. If they feel a little in their head and the take seems instead of like cut, reset, and then they have to get all nervous again and pause, just like let's go again, let's just go again right away, and like not stop in and pause, just like let's go again, let's just go again right away and like not stop.

Lauri:

So, yeah, similar, similar, yeah, yeah, I just got this image of you telling yourself that but let's just go again, just go again, like in your own head, let's just go again, right?

Emily:

back to one. Let's just do it. Yeah, totally, totally, um so tell me why comedy.

Emily:

It's like so with marketing. I'm sure everyone knows like the no like trust kind of thing. I believe, mark, comedy is like the ultimate of the no like trust. I mean, think about anytime you meet someone, if they're funny, you automatically or they tell a joke or they reveal something about themselves, like usually that's telling them a little bit more about themselves than you than if they didn't do that. Um, so you automatically know them a little bit more, tend to like people that are funny. It's just natural reaction, um, and we tend to trust them more because it feels comedy feels a little bit more vulnerable than other kinds of communication. So I feel like it's a way to shortcut some of that no like and trust.

Emily:

Um, and there's also there's also a piece that if you're making a joke about a pain point, that you understand that pain point and it's such deeper level than if you're just saying it and people feel really seen and like, oh yeah, you, you get it like. You get it to the point where you can make a joke about it. Um, and it didn't make you feel bad when you heard it. You were able to laugh at your own, your own pain. Um, yeah, then trust, trust the person more in the process.

Lauri:

So those are some big points um, is it important to be funny? In every video, says the person who does not think of herself as traditionally funny yeah, I mean, I think it depends on your brand, right?

Emily:

like, if you don't have, like we have a funny brand, I think it is important for us to pretty much always put out stuff that's at least, at least, at least that we think is funny. Um, but if you're, if that's not your brand, like no, you shouldn't, you shouldn't, and and there's also different kinds of funny, right? Like nobody has to be like I'm on snl level sketch funny, like making a humorous observation, that's like, haha, chuckle funny is also super effective. Um, so I don't think, yeah, no, no pressure to be like I am now going to be like doing stand-up on every saturday night on an open mic, like yeah that would be absurd, um, but still like that's super helpful for me because I I don't think of myself as a traditional kind of funny.

Lauri:

I did improv back in the day and back then I was trying to be funny or I was being the person that was reading what was needed in the scene and most often was the one who gave all of the things that other people could yes and and did the yes anding that was needed in the beginning, and then other people would get all the laughs right, I am funny when I'm not trying, so, like funny is not a part of my brand.

Lauri:

However, seeing our humanity and being authentic and at peace with our humanity is my brand and I'm like embrace the weird within you. So I think what you helped me realize is that, if I'm being me, in my case, there are probably a lot of moments where other people are chuckling like we're I'm laughing at myself and they're laughing at themselves, or we're laughing at ourselves together and that's happening and I don't really realize it when I'm just embracing the weird. And even back in the days when I was in improv, I was like 22 years old at that point I would do something and when I got a, I would like stop and look at the like. I wasn't trying to be funny. How is this happening right now and now that I'm 52, it's been 30 years I know, if I just be me, there will be times people laugh. It happens when I'm in character in a show where there is a part of my brain that's hearing the laugh and kind of going cool, I did it.

Emily:

Yeah, that's awesome when it's so true, like I think I liked what you're saying about, like that communal laughter, like it's not always a performative laughter, it's like an exchange, almost especially like, yeah, in the world of speaking and using your authentic voice, I mean, there's just so much funny, relatable experiences with that kind of work that I'm sure everyone's like, oh my god, yeah, I did that too yeah, yeah, awesome.

Lauri:

I want to ask you what? What do you want people listening to this to know? In particular, I think about being seen and stepping into the spotlight.

Emily:

Yeah, I mean, if I'm talking to clients, a lot of what I do is like pulling people into their weirdness kind of what you were just saying. Um is to to not hold back on that. Like I think people really want to see how, how weird you can get, and again, not like within within your brand and your messaging parameters, but like they, they want to see those like uncomfortable, not polished pieces of you. Um, because that's so relatable. Um, again, I put caveats because not every brand can do things like this. It doesn't make sense for everyone, but um work mostly in the coaches and consultant space. So, um, yeah, seeing like a beautiful morning routine with like a cup of coffee, with like a backlit light, is like I don't, I don't know.

Lauri:

I don't know if I want to see that yeah, whereas the the post of like here's the mess you know, like here's, here's this view, and then like here's the tornado pile of my creativity. I don't actually have it right now. It's relatively clean and I know I've posted at different points, like when I was renaming my company. At one point I took a picture of my house, because when I'm in that kind of a creative state, it's like I lived alone then. Now I live with my husband, which is part of why it's cleaner behind me, although he's out of town right now. So 24 hours from now I might have the tornado the pile. Yeah, hours from now I might have the tornado pile.

Lauri:

Yeah, there were pieces of paper all over my house because I had been grabbing actual paper and keeping things in a spreadsheet and at a certain point I had like different logos and different names and I took a picture and it was like there was just paper all over my house. Um, and when I was teaching theater with like 38 different students and a really big theater, at one point I was like where's, where's my phone? And the people were like your jacket is over there, your water bottle is over there, your phone is over there, because there's just something that happens when it's like well, this must've been a really good day If, like the jacket, the phone, the piece of paper that I never even looked at again, and the water bottle are all in different parts of the room. It must've been a really good class.

Emily:

I relate to that so hard. I would lock my keys inside my car at least once every directing project back. When you could lock your keys in your car Every time.

Lauri:

This will be in the show notes and save verbally for people driving cars and listening. Where can our listeners find you if they've fallen in love with you and they want to get to know you even better and potentially hire you?

Emily:

yes, so you can find me through my website, penguincatcreativecom, also scrappyadsio, if you want to see our video production work. Um, and then we've just just now, in the visibility journey, uh been posting Instagram, which is at penguincatcreative.

Lauri:

Nice, thank you. Thank you All right. Now let's go ahead and go into our Pivo pivot. Do your best to answer each one with one word or a short phrase. Okay, what is your favorite word?

Emily:

Delight. What is your favorite word, delight?

Lauri:

What is your least favorite word?

Emily:

Wet.

Lauri:

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Emily:

Seeing other people exhibit their talents. What turns you off?

Lauri:

Dishonesty. What's your favorite cuss word?

Emily:

Fuck man, what sound or noise do you love? Sound I love. I don't know.

Lauri:

This is so cheesy, my husband's singing so cheesy it's better that that's not the answer to my next question what?

Emily:

sound or noise.

Lauri:

Do you hate my microwave beep? I hate my freaking.

Emily:

That's not the answer to my next question what sound or noise do you hate my microwave beep? I hate my freaking microwave beep. It's the worst beep.

Lauri:

It's so hard.

Emily:

What profession other than yours would be fun to try.

Lauri:

Like there's an alternate history or psychology. What profession would you not like to try?

Emily:

Anything with sports Sports.

Lauri:

And Emily what?

Emily:

do you hope people say about you on your 100th birthday, she was just a blast to be around.

Lauri:

Well, I have had a blast, yay. Thank you so much.

Emily:

Yeah, thank you, this was really fun, really appreciate it.

People on this episode

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Lauri Smith

Host
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Emily McGregor

Guest

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