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.

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 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

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.

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 ⁠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

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.

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

Resources & Links:

• The Guided Art Therapy Card Deck
• Caran d'Ache Neocolor II
• Gelli Arts gel printing plate

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

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 benefi

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!)

Resources & Links:

• Craft Club Half Stitch Kit (for versatile craft projects)
• Beacon Adhesives (glues for mixed media)
• DIY Ink Pads from Ranger (customizable ink pads)
• Sakura Micron Pens (bright, versatile markers)
• Caran d'Ache Classic Neocolor II (playful, layered water-soluble pastels)
• Crayola Crayons (inner child-friendly, accessible art supplies)
• Silk Gel Crayons (playful and the best kind of messy)

• Sakura brush pens (bold color markers)

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

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.

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

Resources & Links:

• Art Gurl
• Art Gurl Community Directory
• Art Gurl on Instagram (@artgurl__)
• Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pastels — Meagan and Emily's shared desert island supply

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!

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

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.

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

Resources & Links:

• American Psychological Association (APA) — Stress in America 2025 survey
• Metalsmith jewelry workshop in Connecticut
• Alma for Therapists
• Jane for Therapists
• Gluten Tag - gluten free treats in Copenhagen

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

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.

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

Resources & Links:

• Jennifer Chiles - Creative Club retreat co-host
• SPINA - Our dream getaway spot in Folegandros, Greece
• Monica McNeeley - Allie's travel buddy and fellow therapist
• Paige Bradford - watercolor meditation and Hooray Art Studio owner
• Sakura Koi travel watercolor set - our favorite for art on the go!
• Speedball linoleum starter kit for printmaking

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

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.

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

Resources & Links:

• The Aura Creative
• Gabrielle on Instagram
• Everything Hurts — Gabrielle's Substack

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

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.