Gamify Business Tavern Tales- Tiffany Smith - The Blending Curse

Most creatives hear it early. "Be practical." "Pick one thing." "That won't pay the bills." It doesn't arrive as an attack — it settles in quietly, layer by layer, until the parts of you that don't fit the expected lane start feeling like flaws instead of gifts. That's the Blending Curse. And most creative entrepreneurs don't even realize they're carrying it.

Tiffany Smith never quite fit the mold growing up. But instead of trying to fix that, she eventually recognized it for what it was: a signal, not a problem. She wasn't here to blend in. She was here to become.

In this episode of Gamify Business Tavern Tales, Tiffany shares how she built a multi-disciplinary creative career — graphic design, photography, creative direction, marketing — while refusing to let the Blending Curse convince her to shrink. She walks a parallel path: holding a senior creative role while simultaneously developing a short film for Tribeca and building freelance work on the side. She's proof that you don't have to burn the boats to be a real creative.

If you've ever been told to focus, pick a lane, or be more practical — this conversation is for you.

🍺 CONNECT WITH TIFFANY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/creatiffity11/
https://www.creatiffity.me/

🎮 CONNECT WITH GAMIFY BUSINESS:
Website: https://gamifybusiness.com
Take the Quiz: https://gamifybusiness.com/quiz
Book a Call: https://oncehub.com/GamifyBusiness15Min

📚 PAUL'S BOOKS:
The Creative Player's Handbook to Business- https://gamifybusiness.com/handbook
The Creative Player's Workbook- https://gamifybusiness.com/workbook
The Game Master's Guide to Business- https://gamifybusiness.com/game-masters-guide
Quit Selling Your Shit!- https://gamifybusiness.com/quit-selling
The Bard's Guide to Storycraft- https://gamifybusiness.com/storycraft

Business is an adventure. Don't be an NPC.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome, fellow adventurer, to Gamify Business Tavern Tales, a place to discover the roads less traveled on your creative journey. Welcome back to the Tavern, fellow adventurers. I'm Paul Pape, your barkeep and game master. So tonight's guest broke a curse that most creatives don't even realize they carry. It's called the blending curse. It's cast early, sometimes before you even know you're a creative. It whispers things like, fit in or be practical, or you're too different, and that creative stuff won't pay the bills. Over time, the cursed adventurer learns to shrink, to hide the spark, to save their real creative self for someday, a someday that never comes. Tiffany Smith refused the curse. Growing up, she never quite belonged, but instead of seeing it as a weakness, she recognized it as a signal. She wasn't here to blend in, she was here to become. Fueled by alternative music, film, and the courage of artists who didn't wait for permission, Tiffany pursued a path in creative work when the world told her to be practical. She earned degrees in graphic design and photography, and over the past decade she's built a multidisciplinary creative career, working as a designer, photographer, creative director, and marketing leader. But here's what makes her story relevant to every creative listening tonight. Tiffany didn't burn the boats. She walks a parallel path, holding a senior creative role that provides stability while simultaneously building her own vision. Right now she's creating a short film for Tribeca and doing freelance photography. She's proof that you don't have to keep choosing between keeping the lights on and pursuing what calls to you. Her message is simple and powerful. I wasn't here to blend in, I was here to become. So, Tiffany, welcome to the Tavern. When did you first realize that you were carrying this blending curse?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

I guess it started as early as our first memories. So by default, we typically kind of have that the early story kind of childhood. I kind of remember when I was five years old. It's it's the kind of little pieces that we try to remember and maybe have sort of narrated from other people's perspective as well. And something that I remember kind of clear as day and it stayed with me my entire life is being five years old in kindergarten, walking around the playground and creating movies in my head versus socializing with the kids. But then once I got into I think it was around fourth or fifth grade, I started to realize that that might actually start being a bad thing because it was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

To kind of like, I must belong, or if not, I will be cursed until the end of time. Like that's that's a heavy burden for a young age. So like I were you surrounded by people who who gave you the the the space to think this deeply, or was were you just always like an old soul who already had like an old old mind and you were constantly thinking of stuff?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

I was fully internal. I was in my own world 24-7, still am. I just do this in New York now where it's a little bit more accepted, and I can be more extroverted here. Um yeah, I was fully internal. I wasn't telling anybody what I was thinking about.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

They had no idea.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

That's excellent. So you we as you just talked about, so you grew up feeling like you never quite belonged, but eventually you realized that was kind of the point. But before that realization, what did the blending curse feel like to you? What were the voices telling you about who you should be, and how close did you come to actually believing them?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Well, it was there were definitely chapters where I would go through almost a moment of a spark and that kind of intuition where you you almost on like in a literal sense feel uplifted. Like there's this, like you feel it here, and it kind of lifts you, your spirit or whatever you know, terminology people choose to use for that kind of intense, almost like awakening spark, intuitive moment. And I would know what my next step is or was in that, but here you know, your mind will start to kind of chime in, and that you know, our mind tends to lean towards conversations, dialogues, what people have said in the past of what I should be doing versus what I shouldn't be doing, um, not being surrounded by any artists or creative people at all. So there was no model, there was nothing to follow, there was no, I didn't grow up with any successful people around me. No one, there were no adults in my life were on any type of level of success. So I was totally by myself. But when I was attending art school, for example, I would change the assignment. So the professor would assign dot dot dot, and I would get kind of more of a creative vision or a feel about what I wanted to create, and I would say, well, I'm gonna create this instead, and I don't care about grades because grades are stupid. And so the professors were like, you know, some of them were okay with it, some of them, you know, challenged me. But there was a lot of feedback, especially when I started to kind of get into the end of my college time, my college career was like, you're about to graduate, this is actually becoming serious now, like when you were little and you had to confront those social norms, you're now needing to do it in a very different way in terms of you're needing to now support yourself after you graduate this place, and there was a lot of a lot of influence, not really from my peers, but the professors were kind of worried about what my goals were. I had spoken to a few, you know, administrators and professors about pursuing the music industry in a very realistic way, and they just weren't gonna, they weren't having any of it. It was a put down immediately. It was like, well, you know, we're gonna let you know how competitive that is. You know, it was a very it's which is strange because you think about like it's odd that there are adults that are working within the education system and they're allowed to speak to people that way. But that's what happened. So there was definitely some uh some pushback kind of challenge on my end where I I really had to confront that and wonder, here we go again, is this gonna be, you know, or what what is the future with me being the way that I am?

SPEAKER_02 9:24

I think that's brilliant though. I mean, I I had a similar situation in which uh I was the kid who always wanted to do what I wanted to do. I've I've been I was built that way and I've been that way since a toddler, just like you. And I I ran into the same issues. I'm just really pigheaded. It's like I'm just gonna do what I'm gonna do anyways. So thanks for telling me no, but I'm gonna see if I can make it work anyways. And I I do find it interesting that your professors are like, yeah, it's ultra, it is uh a competitive market. All of it, everything is a competitive market. And so to be told stop pursuing your dream, quit dreaming, be practical. I it's it's such a weird thing to say, especially to a creative person or somebody who wants to be creative. And coming from someone who's teaching you this, it's really interesting. One of the things that I specialize in is teaching schools how to take people who have been taught all of the creative skills, but have not been taught any of the business side of it. And it sounds like you were in that situation. It's like, oh, they taught me how to be super creative, but then when I said I want to get into this, they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Uh no, that's really difficult. You don't want to do that. You need to have a completely different personality for that. And that's actually the benefit of this program is that it teaches you that no, you can your creativity is your is your asset. It's not a hindrance. And I think that's awesome that you persevered regardless. So that's awesome. Yeah. So you've talked about finding escape in other mediums, like alternative music film, and artists who didn't wait for permission to be themselves. I love that. So for creative entrepreneurs who feel isolated or maybe they feel weird or like they don't fit the mold, what did those artists give you that the people around you couldn't? How did fictional characters and musicians become your first mentors?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

It was so interesting because I was probably in maybe sixth grade junior high, and I started to notice these bands. And these bands were not only speaking from a place of their own truth and identity, but they were dressing in a way that they just wanted to, they were performing in a way that was right for them. Um I started to look at their background stories and they didn't come from anything. I mean, most of the bands that I had discovered at that age didn't come from money, they didn't come from a family of success or musicians, or you know, they were not fostered in, they were not carried into the industry easily. They really did have to work very, very hard. So it was kind of that, you know, I I resonated with it, I understood it, and at the same time, it gave me permission without having to ask anyone else permission around me to move forward because they did it. And I was witnessing them do it, and it was kind of like, well, we can work together. I'll see you in a few years. You know, it was that kind of feeling.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

So, okay, so my listeners are gonna want to know, give me your top three bands then. If these are the ones that really spoke to you, what were the top three that you were listening to?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

It's so funny because when I was younger, so like junior high, early high school, it was Green Day and Panic at the disco and like Fall Boy was very popular at that time.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

But don't be ashamed, those are good bands, they're fine.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

It's fine, it's fine. You know, but you know, it's it's funny because you know, I got into college and I discovered the 60s and the doors and Pink Floyd and Dylan and uh and then in my 20s post-college, you know, with the cramps and um who else? Oh my god, uh the misfits and uh the clash and like just so many, so many amazing bands, the Ramones, and like huge, huge lists of bands. Like the the list of bands I was listening to just grew and grew and grew and grew. And um in current time, I've started to listen to more classical instrumental music. So I guess I said goodbye to bands at some point, and then oh, classical music or OG alternative music.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Yeah, like they would play stuff that like I don't know, studies have been shown that listening to classical music actually makes your brain work better. And anybody who's a really good musician understands that their style and flow came from classical music. So don't knock that. I love classical music, but I'm also listening to the cramps and the misfits and day and Fallout Boy. You know, it's like you don't you don't let go of those things. There's moments for all of that, but when I'm really like in a zone and I need to like like lock in, classical all the way. There's nothing wrong with that. So absolutely, absolutely. So so your bio says that you're currently in a senior creative role while also making a short film for Tribeca and doing freelance photography. A lot of creatives feel like they have to choose, it's either stability or their creative vision, but you're walking both paths at once. So, one, how do you manage that? And two, what would you say to someone who feels guilty for not going quote unquote all in on their creative dreams?

SPEAKER_00 14:38

So a couple of things. One, I would say if you feel guilty, you that's a whole other like you need to you need to battle some different demons with that. Because feeling guilty about creating something with your own agency and vision, that's that's a totally different battle. But I feel like that kind of guilt comes from maybe that person has a family, maybe that person is, you know, they have other people depending on them. It's so the parameters are totally different. Um otherwise, if you just feel guilty because you're trying to figure it out, just keep trying to figure it out. You're like you're gonna get there. Um, the second thing is when it comes to balancing everything, a lot of it really comes down to the fact that these are things that I genuinely want to do. So nothing is ever forced. For example, the film has never it's not forced, um, photography is not forced, my my regular like leadership, like creative roles, those are not forced. Everything is balanced together, everything is within its own harmony. But I also don't go out a lot in terms of like maybe someone wants a different type of social life than the type that I've had. So that probably affords me a little bit of extra time.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

That was actually my follow-up question. Is everyone wants to know? Because I'm the same way, I'm a 16, 17 hour, because then as an entrepreneur, you have to be. You've got to work to work, and it doesn't matter how many jobs you have, you you know, you're gonna eat up the time that you have that you're awake. So they always say, like, when do you sleep? So my question for you is when do you sleep?

SPEAKER_00 16:30

I totally have normal sleeping hours. I go to bed like probably earlier than most people. And yeah, I actually don't have a problem with that. But it also depends on the type of project I'm working on, too, because you work on a film, you get into the editing process, and you realize I might need to be up until 1 a.m. for a few nights in a row, you know, and depending on a deadline. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

So do you feel like you are constantly because you're you're you're you're walking a tightrope, a tightrope of obligation, which would be your quote unquote real job, versus the play that you have with all of the stuff that you do for fun or your creative outlets. Do you feel like you are working this, or do you feel like you're just you're always in a state of play?

SPEAKER_00 17:22

I'm always in a state of play. I've been I've been in a state of play since I was the five-year-old little kid creating the movies in my head, walking around the playground. Awesome. Always internal play, and then I, you know, figure out how to make it external and then get paid for it.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

So there you go. That's living the dream right there. Yeah. So you also said I wasn't here to blend in, I was here to become. And that word become is interesting because it's a process, not a destination. And after a decade of building a creative career, do you feel like you've arrived, or is becoming something that never actually ends?

SPEAKER_00 18:00

At this point, I definitely am still in the nature of becoming for sure. I have started to let go of destinations. That has been a recent kind of, you know, the spark, if you want to go back to that kind of terminology, um that has kind of surfaced recently as there is no destination, it's always becoming. But your destination and becoming could also morph together into you having more time to relax and plant a garden in a backyard. You know, it could just be a different sense of peace. It could be um, you know, going into purchasing a home and having a different type of environment, and your priorities shift a little bit, and that's still becoming, but it's also somewhat of an arrival at the same time. Um, kind of like how I created this film, the entire film is becoming, but it's also an arrival, you know. So it's kind of, you know, is is the is the actual destination closer to the end of our our uh our physical life journey, like whatever that shapes into, is that more of the the processing the the destination piece, or is it always kind of like we're arriving every day, but we're also becoming?

SPEAKER_02 19:36

So I think it's funny because I I kind of liken these destinations to like mile markers. Yeah, and like I think about the person who climbs Everest, and we always think about the person you know, oh, my destination is the peak of Mount Everest. They still have to come down, yeah. They don't live there. So it's like, no, it's a mile marker. It's like I've gotten to this point, and now I get to come in a different direction, and I'm gonna keep going. It's it's you don't die at the end of everything that you've you know achieved. There's so destination really is it's kind of a tricky word because the only destination you have is death. That's the one that we're all going towards, regardless of whether we want to or not. It's but that's the thing that I think a lot of people get hung up on. They're like, oh, I want to be this in five years, I want to be that, but we don't recognize, we don't think about what's beyond that, you know. Because I've like I've known people who are like, I want a multi-million dollar company, and they get to that, but then they lose it all. And you're like, well, what do you get from there? Like, where's where's the next destiny, destination, that kind of thing. So I think it's very interesting. I love, I love that analogy. I think that that's really beautiful. That it's just constantly, you're you're constantly on a trail, who knows where it goes. And I love that you've let go of that, and you're enjoying the the walk, you're enjoying the path, and you're celebrating the, I assume, the milestones, the destinations when you get there, but then you just keep going because that's life. That's just what we do.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

So it's what do I do next?

SPEAKER_02 20:54

Yeah. Yeah. Yes, exactly. I saw the top. Now I've got to go back down. Okay. So you've worked as a designer, a photographer, creative director, and a marketing leader. For creatives who feel pressured to pick one lane and specialize, what's your perspective? Is being multidisciplinary a strength, a survival strategy, or is it possibly both?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Oh, I love this question. So I'll share a little bit of a quick background with this question. Um, throughout my creative career, and also in addition to being a student in art school, I was told so many times pick a lane. Pick a lane. What you're doing is wrong. You cannot be a multidisciplinary, you cannot practice multiple disciplines in tandem. You can do it, it's not possible. So I've continued to do that, and I still hear this. I st I just heard this the other day from someone. Um, I was speaking to uh a group. Of creatives, and I was talking to talking to them about the fact that I'm multidisciplinary but on a professional level. And it's something that I have practiced as like a balancing act for a very long time, not a discipline I just kind of add in here and there. And there was an immediate pushback, it was challenged immediately, and I was met with pick a lane. And I'll I'm just gonna continue to say no. If anyone else out there is told to pick a lane and you feel like that's not for you, you don't have to.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

I've been told that so many times. I was I hired a coach, and that was the very first thing you said. You know, you gotta focus. I'm like, nah, man, my beam is wide. It's like nope. I'm it's a fisheye lens, man. It's not it's not a it's not a laser beam, uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

So good for you. Yeah, good for you. You're like, my capacity is this. It's okay if we have different capacities.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Correct. Yes, but then they tell you no, because everybody else, and I'm like, I'm not everybody else, I'm me. You're you, and let us do the thing. Yeah, so I hate it when people hold you down. That's like, uh yeah. So if there's a creative who's listening right now who's still under the blending curse, they're hiding their spark, they're shrinking to fit, they're waiting for permission that might never come. What would you tell them? What's the first step to breaking free?

SPEAKER_00 23:29

What I would say is first be you, because the power in being yourself is the exact driving force that you need to move forward in the direction that is meant for you to go. And do not have expectations of anything. When you start to tie in the expectations, here's my path, it's very clear, I feel it here, my brain is agreeing with it, everything's good, my nervous system is on board, you start to get that big spark, that big inspiration, you start moving through your path, which almost always feels unknown. I kind of call it like when you choose uh the path that is not the path of least resistance, when it's your path, it starts to feel like you're walking a tight rope in the dark, blindfolded. You know, you you kind of just have to trust it. And so if you picture yourself kind of going through the journey and trusting yourself and walking that path that is yours and meant for you, but you start to have the expectations of a timeline, or this should have happened by now. Um, I'm getting rejected again. There are more doors closing than I'm always having to chase the doors to push them open, and you gotta get away from that. That's all the noise. Find ways to meditate that out, drink water, get sleep, whatever you have to do, dance it out, play an instrument, paint, anything you have to do to kind of eliminate that noise, trust yourself and keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Awesome advice. Awesome advice. So, Tiffany, if there are listeners who wanted to connect with you or find out more about you, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

I typically respond to any kind of new uh new interests or new friends via Instagram. I'm on a few different platforms and I have a website, but I'm on Instagram every day. And that is uh Creativity22 is my handle.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Excellent, excellent. So, and that, fellow adventurers, is what it sounds like when someone breaks the blending curse. I want to thank Tiffany for pulling up a chair tonight and sharing a truth that doesn't get said enough. You don't have to burn the boats to be a real creative, you don't have to leap without a net, you don't have to choose between stability and your creative soul. The parallel path is valid. Building your vision in the margins, in the early mornings and in the spaces between the work that pays, that's not a compromise. That's strategy, that's survival. And for many of us, that's the only really realistic way to keep the spark alive while we build something bigger. So here's what I want you to take from tonight. The blending curse is absolutely real. And most of us carry it without realizing it. The voice that says, fit in, be practical, stop being so different, that's not wisdom. That's a curse. And the only way to break it is to decide, like Tiffany did, that you're not here to blend in. You're here to become. So if Tiffany's story resonated with you, I'll have her Instagram handle in the show notes. So keep an eye out also for her Tribeca submission with this adventurer who uh next chapter is just beginning. So until next time, remember business is an adventure. Don't be an NPC. Thank you, Tiffany.