Not long ago, I was invited to be a guest on a business podcast to “delve into how yoga philosophy extends beyond the mat and … discuss the intersection of spirituality and entrepreneurship.” The host and I chatted a bit by email and then she asked me to pay a $155 booking fee1. I declined, politely explaining I don’t pay to give interviews.
She responded that these costs cover the production fee, “ensure smooth operations” and that partnering with her would offer me the “unique opportunity to promote your brand to a highly engaged audience.”
There is so very much to unpack there, but as I sat with this, the heaviest baggage that kept coming up is that I AM NOT A $#&%* BRAND.
I am a lot of things—a daughter, sister, partner, mom, friend, aspiring good witch, writer, yogi, runner, skier, hiker, reader, an Aquarius, and a lover of oysters, dogs, and travel. I am an avid city person with a profound love for the mountains. I am a word nerd with a prodigious vocabulary, but a penchant for Roy Kent-ian language. I contain, as Walt Whitman wrote, multitudes. But none of those multitudes are a $#&%* brand.
This long standing push to create and sell ourselves as a personal brand is dehumanizing—a brand is a product made by a company. It is for sale. Personal branding asks us to distill who we are into a shiny, attention-grabbing object and reshapes our inherent value into something transactional.
When we apply this idea to writers, artists, and creators, we define their work by just its financial value. Louisa May Alcott or Tina Turner. Georgia O’Keefe or Dolly Parton. Octavia Butler or Annie Liebowitz. Are they best understood and appreciated for their work or their royalty statements?
The flip side of this is that publications (and apparently podcasts) ask writers, artists, and creators to conceive, produce, and contribute work and expertise in exchange for exposure and visibility. Here, “exposure and visibility” are code for “free.” And after we set aside how difficult it is to measure any return on that exposure and that it is simply impossible to pay rent with visibility, what this says is that writing or illustrating or singing isn’t worth paying for2.
The economics of this is important3, but there is also a larger, cultural problem at play. We need creativity. Whether in formal artistry or not, whether designing a new album, building, business, or home cooked meal, humans need creativity.
Research shows that, consciously or not, we use creativity to manage stress and as a contemplation tool that grounds us in the present, allows us to work through issues, and encourages a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world4. We’re peeling back the layers of our daily existence so we can connect to our true nature, divine energy, the thing that makes me me and you you. To paraphrase Picasso, creativity “washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Creativity without action is imagination. So we also need to let that energy flow through us and out into the world. Think of this energy like Play-Doh: We each get our own neon-bright ball of dough and the opportunity to give it form and shape it into something only we can make.
So when we see ourselves and each other as brands, we’re more focused on promoting than connecting. We reduce ourselves into the piece we think others will find most appealing and detach from our true self. We are left with a warped, fun-house view of ourselves, each other, and the world around us. We are disconnected.
Let’s walk back off that depressing AF ledge a bit, shall we? Here we want to “create a space of promise and possibility so we can cultivate something beautiful.” So, to that end, for the rest of June we’ll be exercising our creative muscles and encouraging deeper understanding, connection, and joy. To begin, I invite you to expand your idea of what creativity is and repeat after me: I AM NOT A $#&%* BRAND.
Lighting that creative spark,
Kelly
This is an increasingly common business model and I believe there needs to be far more transparency with audiences. So, to be transparent, I do not charge or pay sources, guests, or featured experts to appear on The Sunday Stretch. I do offer guests a three-month comped subscription as a thank you for their time.
The majority of The Sunday Stretch is, and will remain, free. And a massive thank you to those who are able to and choose to financially support this newsletter. Finally, in the interest of further transparency, I compensate my Sunday Stretch editor and illustrator.
And ab-so-fucking-lutely infuriating if you're trying to blend your creative and professional lives, which is by no means the only way to be creative.
Being Creative Makes You Happier: The Positive Effect of Creativity on Subjective Well-Being
Creative Arts Interventions for Stress Management and Prevention—A Systematic Review
Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing
Mindfulness and creativity: Implications for thinking and learning
Excellent piece Kelly! Here here for this clarity and owning our own power and importance as artists. And also, creativity requires risk, something I think marketing and branding efforts would be against, somehow :)
Wow!! Just wow. I cannot believe someone asked you to pay to be on their podcast! Thank you for sharing this because...like wow. We should all remain vigilant 👀