The Creative Collective Podcast is an inviting space where we explore how creativity can weave its way into everyday life and help us feel more connected to ourselves and others. Hosted by licensed art therapists Allie Joy and Emily Sharp, it’s rooted in one simple belief: you don’t have to be an artist to benefit from creativity. You just need a little curiosity and a willingness to begin. Each week, we share honest conversations and practical tools to support a creative life that feels sustainable, accessible, and truly yours. Welcome to your creative community.
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Welcome to a little preview of The Creative Collective Podcast!
In this short introduction, we’re sharing a glimpse of what’s ahead and inviting you into the creative community we’re building together. We talk about creativity as something that belongs in everyday life, and the belief that you don’t need to be an artist or “good at art” to benefit from creating, just curiosity and a willingness to begin.
We share what you can expect from the show, from honest conversations with creative humans to shorter, practical episodes rooted in our experiences as art therapists and our shared love of creativity. Across the series, we’ll explore themes like perfectionism, the inner critic, creative blocks, courage, and what it means to build a more connected and sustainable creative life.
If you’ve been craving inspiration, wanting to reconnect with a creative practice, or feeling curious about what creativity could look like in your life, this is for you. And if you’ve ever felt like you aren’t “creative enough,” we hope this helps shift that story.
We’re so happy you’re here, and welcome to your new creative community!
Until then, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
You can find Allie on Instagram or her website, and you can find Emily on Instagram or her website to learn more about all they do and stay connected
You can find Austin on Instagram for all of your podcasting and musical needs
And this is your reminder that you don’t have to be an artist to benefit from creativity. You’re welcome, as you are, in this creative community.
1. Welcome to The Creative Collective!
Episode 1
Monday, May 18, 2026 • Duration 25:54
What if creativity didn’t have to be productive, polished, or even shared to matter?
In this opening episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, hosts and licensed art therapists Emily and Allie invite you into a softer, more expansive way of thinking about creativity. This podcast is rooted in the belief that creativity belongs to everyone — and that it becomes even more meaningful when experienced in community.
Together, they share why they started the show and the gap they hope to fill: moving beyond performance and perfection, and instead centering the power of creating alongside others. Through personal stories and reflections, they explore the common belief of “I’m not creative,” how that idea forms, and how we can begin to shift it.
They also talk about:
Why process matters more than product
How creativity can exist in everyday moments
The quiet magic of community art spaces, where connection and creativity naturally unfold
You’ll hear stories from Connecticut to Copenhagen as this episode captures what it feels like when people come together to make something — and in doing so, find connection, presence, and a sense of belonging.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
You can find Allie onInstagram or her , and you can find Emily on or her to learn more about all they do and stay connected
2. How I Accidentally Made Creativity My Entire Personality with Allie Joy
Episode 2
Monday, May 25, 2026 • Duration 44:23
What happens when creativity isn't just something you do — but something that shaped who you became?
In this episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, co-host Emily turns the mic towards co-host Allie Joy to hear the creative story behind the person. Allie is a licensed art therapist, content creator, and community builder — and while you've already heard her voice on the show, this episode is the first time you're hearing her story.
Allie traces her relationship with creativity from an art-filled childhood shaped by her grandmother and her circle of artist friends, through a shift in college where making things became tied to skill and evaluation, and into the intentional creative practice she's built as an adult — one rooted in accessibility, play, and community over performance.
In this episode, they discuss:
Growing up in an environment where creativity was ambient and always within reach — and how that shaped Allie's belief that anything can be made
The moment in college when making things stopped feeling like play — and the longer journey back to creating without pressure
How Allie's approach to her physical creative space reflects her philosophy: keep supplies visible, keep the barrier low, keep it accessible
What building creative community actually looks like in practice — and why showing up to create alongside others changes the experience
Building her creative community at Mermaid Books in Milford, CT
The creative project that's been 99% finished in her garage for years (no spoilers)
This conversation is an invitation to approach creativity with less pressure and more openness—and to remember that you don’t have to be an artist to begin.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on or visit our to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply
4. The Creative Career That Started by Accident with Emily Sharp
Season 4 · Episode 4
Monday, June 8, 2026 • Duration 36:45
What if the path to your creative life was never supposed to be a straight line?
In this episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Allie interviews co-host Emily Sharp — licensed art therapist, author, retreat host, and someone who has built an entire life and career around making things in unexpected places. You've already heard Emily on the show. This episode is where you find out how she got here.
Her path to art therapy was anything but direct — and that's exactly what makes it worth hearing. From an unexpected creative pivot in high school to a gap year that changed everything, Emily traces the long, winding road that led her to the work she was always meant to do.
In this episode, they discuss:
The high school accident that turned Emily into an artist — and why she's never looked back
What it looked like to design her own education around the materials she loved most
The gap year conversation that changed her career trajectory entirely
How burnout led to a reset, and what it actually took to start over
What portable creative practice looks like in daily life — and why making art while traveling is less about documentation and more about attention
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply
3. The Art Supplies We Never Leave Home Without
Episode 3
Monday, June 1, 2026 • Duration 33:31
What if the only thing standing between you and a more creative life was a bag you haven't packed yet?
In this first Creative Check-In episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie open up their creative bags and share what's inside. They talk through what they each carry, reasons behind those specific supplies, and what it actually means to keep creativity accessible. Not as a productivity strategy, but as a daily permission slip to make things without a plan, a point, or an audience.
This one is for anyone who's ever said I don't have time or I don't have the right materials — because the bag is the answer to both of those excuses.
In this episode, they discuss:
Why having a packed bag removes the biggest barrier to starting — decision fatigue
The three-color rule for anyone who gets overwhelmed by too many choices
How pulling out art supplies in public has a way of inviting unexpected connection
The case for committing to pen over pencil — and why it's actually a confidence practice
What our favorite materials have in common (you can probably guess!)
6. The Best Thing You Can Make Is Bad Art with Meagan Mahaffy
Episode 6
Monday, June 22, 2026 • Duration 55:23
What if the thing standing between you and a creative life isn't talent — it's the belief that you need it?
In this episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie sit down with Meagan Mahaffy, founder of Art Gurl — a global creative wellness community that has reached people in over twenty countries and is built on one foundational belief: that creativity is not a skill reserved for artists. It's a practice that belongs to everyone.
Meagan's path to building Art Gurl is not a straight line (and we think a lot of you creatives out there might relate). What brought her back to her aligned creative path was the pandemic, a pile of yarn, some weird polymer clay figurines — and the realization that making things with her hands was doing something for her anxiety that yoga and meditation weren't.
In this episode, they discuss:
How Meagan went from being told she'd never make it as an artist to building one of the most expansive creative wellness communities in the world
What "making bad art" actually means — and why removing the pressure to produce something good is the thing that makes creativity accessible
The difference between going to a paint and sip class and actually expressing yourself — and why that distinction matters more than it sounds
What Meagan has witnessed happen between strangers in her workshops, and why in-person creative community does something that Zoom never quite can
The five-minute daily doodle — what it is, why it works, and how consistency in creative practice starts to shift your sense of identity over time
How Art Gurl's global community directory is trying to solve the problem of creative isolation — and why more people than you'd think could be hosting their own craft meetups
5. We All Want Creative Community...So Why Is It So Hard to Find?
Episode 5
Monday, June 15, 2026 • Duration 46:13
Are you craving creative community — but not quite sure where to find it, how to build it, or why it feels harder to hold onto as an adult?
In this Creative Check-In episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie get into one of the topics closest to both of their hearts: creative community. What it actually looks like, why so many people are craving it right now, and what gets in the way of (finding or building) the kind of community that actually fits.
They draw on their own experiences hosting creative events, art groups, and community spaces to talk about what happens when people create together, and why it goes so much deeper than just making something in the same room.
In this episode, they discuss:
Why loneliness is part of what's underneath why people show up to creative events, and what one study says about feelings of lonliness
The difference between creative communities built around learning a skill and ones built around connection — and why that distinction changes everything
What it means to not just receive from your community, but to give back to it — and why most people skip that part
How to figure out what you actually want from creative community (not what you think you should want)
What to do when you've drifted from your creative community — and why reaching back out is almost always simpler than your brain tells you it will be
Why you don't need credentials, training, or a polished event to start something — and what it looks like to begin small
7. Move Over Girls' Trips...Creative Retreats Are Here
Episode 7
Monday, June 29, 2026 • Duration 34:24
What if the most restorative thing you can do while traveling isn't simply relaxing, but making something — surrounded by people, in creative community, seeing the world (and yourself) a little differently than when you arrived?
In this Creative Check-In episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie recap their recent trip to Folegandros, Greece — a Creative Club retreat Emily co-hosts, and the first one Allie has attended. Morning swims, linoleum stamp carving, watercolor doodles made with actual ocean water, and a group printmaking poster that everyone got to take a piece of home — this episode is part travelogue, part reflection on why retreats like this are having a real moment right now.
In this episode, they discuss:
What it's like to experience a creative retreat for the first time as a guest instead of a host
Why the loosest, least scheduled parts of the day ended up being the most restorative
The group printmaking project that felt reminiscent of a high school yearbook (mermaid cats included)
Why creative retreats are becoming the new version of the girls' trip — and why phone-free, analog experiences are popping up all over the place
What it means to let yourself be positively creatively influenced by the people around you
A challenge for anyone who can't book a flight to Greece this week, but still wants a piece of what this trip gave them
8. Creative Risks Are Less Scary Than Creative Regret with Gabrielle Siegel
Episode 8
Monday, July 6, 2026 • Duration 51:30
What if the secret to a creative life isn't waiting until you're ready — it's deciding that ready is overrated?
In this episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie sit down with Gabrielle Siegel — founder of The Aura Creative design agency, writer published in Teen Vogue and beyond, fiddle player, and competitive Irish dancer who walked into her first class in her twenties with zero training and quietly decided she was going to make it to the top anyway. Gabrielle writes a Substack called Everything Hurts about what it actually takes to pursue the things that matter to you, and in this conversation she gets into the decade of creative risk-taking that shaped that philosophy — from a secret goal she told almost no one about, to why she still can't hit "post" without fighting the voice that tells her no one wants to see it.
In this episode, they discuss:
How tagging along to her younger sister's very first Irish dance class led to a decade-long competitive pursuit she never planned for
The secret goal she set for herself and kept quiet for years — and what she learned when she didn't reach it
A childhood memory involving a zip line and a ten-minute standoff with fear that became her go-to method for pushing past creative paralysis
Why self-promotion feels "cringy" even when the work is something she's proud of, and the mindset shift that gets her to hit post anyway
The real cost of not pursuing the thing — and why the pain of not trying is so much harder to live with than the pain of trying and falling short
Why having no end goal for her fiddle playing might be exactly the point
What if coming back to creativity didn't have to look like a commitment — what if it could look like one small, imperfect thing you did on a Tuesday afternoon and never showed anyone?
In this Creative Check-In episode of The Creative Collective Podcast, Emily and Allie get into the real reasons people drift away from creativity — and more importantly, what it actually looks like to find your way back.
Whether you've been away from a creative practice for a few weeks or a few years, or you're considering starting something for the very first time, this one is for you.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why people stop being creative — and why that's not a character flaw
The case for starting small and why "tiny" is actually the most sustainable entry point
Emily's tufting class story: what happens when you try something you've never done before and genuinely have no idea what you're doing
How changing your environment (a cafe, a museum, a walk around the block) can take the pressure off in a way that staring at a blank page never will
The art of noticing — and how a color walk can snap your brain out of autopilot
The creativity menu: a practical tool for getting started when your brain is tired and the options feel overwhelming
What both hosts currently have on their own creativity menus, organized by five minutes, twenty minutes, and an afternoon
Resources & Links:
Mermaid Books Lino Cut Workshop in Connecticut hosted by: Rachel
Tufting Class led by: Tufted Love at the amazing community space Absalon in Copenhagen
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Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
Make sure to connect with Meagan on her Instagram or her website, and if you're local to NYC make sure to attend her incredible community events!
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
You can find Austin on Instagram for all of your podcasting and musical needs
If you enjoyed this episode, follow along and share it with someone who could use a little more creativity in their life.
And this is your reminder that you don't have to be an artist to benefit from creativity. You're welcome, as you are, in this creative community.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
You can find Austin on Instagram for all of your podcasting and musical needs
If you enjoyed this episode, follow along and share it with someone who could use a little more creativity in their life.
And this is your reminder that you don't have to be an artist to benefit from creativity. You're welcome, as you are, in this creative community.
Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, follow us on Instagram or visit our website to learn more. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can apply here.
