#createlounge: State of the Union
April 11, 2016
I have been waiting months to not only write but share this post with you all. The time has come to tell you all about where #createlounge is growing in our new, exciting season.
Before I unveil the details, let’s back up a bit. For over a year, #createlounge has been an inviting space for intimate conversations with fierce creatives. We’ve done this primarily through hosting regular Twitter chats on Wednesdays at 7 PM CT. We’ve covered everything from Cultivating Your Voice to Redefining Success to Photography Styling to Conquering Self Doubt and beyond.
Once we hit #createlounge’s first birthday last January, I knew it was time for our community to have its own space, its own home. This community is so much bigger than me so I decided a new website was in order. Enter createlounge.com (official launch on May 12!)
Truth is, I never set out for #createlounge to be its own brand, per se. At the time I first hosted these chats, I had already rebranded my blog name two times and happily decided to build my personal brand because my name was future proof. Little did I know that the minute I stopped trying to find my “next big thing”, it found me.
I started the Twitter chat right after I graduated college as an excuse to consistently connect with inspiring creatives and encourage them in their own creative work. I remember being worried five minutes before the chat that no one would come, but I did it anyway. We had a great turn out for the first chat, but what I didn’t expect was how many of those people would come back every single week.
We’ve seen our community members launch their words into the world through new blogs, bravely share and sell their artwork, and launch fulfilling businesses, all while making true friends along the way.
We are keeping our weekly Twitter chats at the center of our community, but we have some new extensions to help continue the motivating conversations and grow our community in an intentional direction.
#createlounge podcast
To all of those who asked for a podcast after I launched The Power of We audio series, thank you for encouraging me to continue pursuing audio content. I finally made the decision to create a podcast with an extra nudge from one of my dreamiest client, Katie of Designer Guidebook. Then it was time to plan.
This podcast is an extra special passion project for me as I have taken on my brother, Zach (but you’ll hear me refer to him as Z from here on out), as our audio producer! He’s been hard at work composing intro and outro music and editing all the episodes.
We will be launching new podcast episodes with special guests from our very own community every Thursday starting on May 12. Then the following Wednesday we will discuss the topic through our Twitter chat with our podcast guests joining in. This is meant to keep the intimacy of these transparent conversations while creating an open discussion in the process.
#createlounge monthly book club
Because our community seems to trade book recommendations in every chat, I’ll be co-hosting a monthly book club with #createlounge regular, Douglas Humphries. We will be announcing more details when the website goes live but as a teaser, our first book in June will be Big Magic, one of our community’s favorites.
#createlounge Instagram challenges
So many of our community members document their creative process on Instagram so we thought this platform would be a great place to grow. We will be starting our first Instagram challenge, #30daysofcreating, TODAY through our new community account, @createloungehq. It will include daily prompts to help us create something new every day, but of course, you can share anything you’re working on. This will lead up to our website launch!
#createlounge dedicated website
I know I teased this throughout the post, but I want to talk more about the people who are helping to bring this to life. Everything about my own website has been done in a DIY-fashion, but I knew I wanted to collaborate with creatives from the community for our new online space.
I’ve been working with Christina Conrad on the visual storytelling aspect of the site through swoon-worthy brand photography. Allison from Painted Summers has been working hard on the beautifully hand-crafted logo for #createlounge since I naturally wanted something handmade for the site. While Alyssa Mopia was in town recently, she shot some photos of me that really capture the essence of my passion for this community. It’s been incredible collaborating with each of these ladies to bring the website to life.
It’s been incredible to see multiple hands on this project, proving that we can create bigger and better things together than we can apart. While I have many dreams for where this community can continue to grow beyond these new extensions, I am rooted in my gratitude for where we are now and where we will grow in this new season.
