EPISODE 1

Reflecting through change and reclaiming creative direction

With hosts Yen Azzaro and Hafsah Mijinyawa

Yen and Hafsah open Season 3 with an honest check-in on career transitions, creative identity, and navigating uncertainty. They unpack AI’s growing role in creative work, personal values, and how to stay grounded while the industry shifts fast.

“Whatever happens, happens. I want to take care of myself, financially, mentally, physically, all the things. …everything that happens after that, it just happens, because I controlled what I could.”
-Yen

A Deep Dive into our Creative Careers
Hafsah & Yen
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Key takeaways from this episode

  • Reflection can be a practical career tool during unstable seasons.

  • Creative work is being reshaped by AI, and both opportunity and risk are real.

  • Policy and economic shifts directly affect creative livelihoods.

  • AI works best as augmentation, not replacement, of human skill and judgment.

  • Season setup: candid conversations about creative labor, leisure, and adaptation.

Show Notes & Resources

Janet Jackson – “Control”

Michigan Arts & Culture Council

Yodit Mesfin Johnson – nonprofit leaders’ rest/wellness work

“Workslop” is destroying productivity