Creativity Found: Finding Creativity Later in Life #podcast host Claire Waite Brown

Creativity Found: Finding Creativity Later in Life.

Claire Waite Brown ... host of Creativity Found is a conversational podcast focused on rediscovering creativity in adulthood.

At its core, the show features real-life stories from people who have found—or re-found their creative side later in life. Claire interviews guests across a wide range of creative fields (art, writing, music, business, and beyond), exploring not just what they create, but how they got there.

A podcast about ordinary people reconnecting with creativity ...and how that changes their lives.

With 145+ episodes in the vault ... there’s genuinely something for everyone.

To connect with Claire ....
https://creativity-found.squarespace.com/
https://www.instagram.com/creativityfoundpodcast/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairewaitebrown/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Well, it's good morning for you, Claire Wait Brown. Welcome to Yellow Shelf. Hello, thank you very much for having me. Oh, my pleasure. You are coming all the way from the UK. I'm here in Australia. Uh, you have a fabulous show, which I was just sharing with you pretty much sums me up. Your show is called Creativity Found. Tell us all about it, Claire.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yeah, thank you. So, Creativity Found on this show. I speak with people who have found or refound their creativity in adulthood. So the vibe is that, um, and it's something you've already said you've experienced, and something I've experienced, that um, you know, when you're younger, you are encouraged, or you know, you're more likely to do creative things, and then for some reason, something in the middle of life, whether it's being told you're not good or that you're academic, so go down that route. It may just be life in general, you don't have time for them. The creative pursuits are often not put at a level of importance, so they go to the bottom of the pile. So I speak with my guests about their whole lives, and then of course, we get to the happy ending, which is okay, why did you want to do something? And that again can be all sorts of reasons. It could be ill health, it could be a chance encounter. You know, there's so many reasons my guests start to either redo something they've done before or try something new. So then we talk about that and their development, and then we talk about how having that in their life benefits everything else around their lives now. So we have this lovely, shiny, happy ending of how lovely it is that they have this in their life now.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

And the episodes take you on that journey of um not in some cases it's a dirty little secret, but creativity, like you said, gets pushed to the ground. It's almost like a hobby, you know, you gotta be in the real world, you know, and then all of a sudden, um, you know, I know for me it was like feeling the need to use the other side of my brain. Um, and I love I love the array of guests. You've got more than a hundred and nearly 50 episodes.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, I'm on 143 this week at the time of recording. 143.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Well done, amazing. Uh, do you want to tell us about the guests? Where do you find these people? Like what how what's that process like for you as a host?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Yeah, I mean, it absolutely fascinates me. So I started this in um November of 2020. Absolute cliche, lockdown baby. I need I wanted something to do. Um, and I had heard these stories from people that I'd met. So I uh before lockdown as a sideline, again, something I wanted to do was I ran drama and singing classes for adults because I wanted to do something. I wanted to escape, and nobody was doing it. So I started organizing it, and we would have guest teachers in, and we would just spend two hours having a lovely time, and then the rest of life went on. So we wouldn't need to learn lines, we wouldn't need to worry about costumes, any of that. It was just our escapism. And through doing that, meeting people in the classes, but also going out and about to promote those classes. I was meeting people who would say, Oh, I used to love painting when I was younger, but then, for example, I became a police officer. I just don't have any time to fit it in. And I heard quite a few stories like that, you know, just in conversation. And then when we went into lockdown, I wanted a way to keep the momentum of open stage arts, that's what the classes were called, the kind of marketing momentum of that going. So I started the podcast to hear these stories, and that was the reason for doing it. It was meant to be promoting something else. It became a far bigger beast. I absolutely love podcasting, I absolutely love this particular show. Who would have believed it? Um, so to begin with, guests were people that I knew that I'd already spoken to and had those stories. Then oh, excuse me. Then thank you. Then I started reaching out in Facebook groups, arts Facebook groups. Um, I am a member of Podmatch now and have been for quite a while. And then more and more the requests started to come to me rather than the other way around, and that is how it works now. I I don't go out looking for guests, they come to me. Um, I am very strict in who I reply to to making sure that they have the creativity fan story because not everybody that approaches me does. Um, and you know that it's it's got the whole circle of the story that I want to get in there. Um, so now I have quite a few guests in my diary lined up. I think my next booking for pre-chats is probably about August 2026. We're in April 2026, and I release every two weeks. I was releasing weekly during uh 2021 when I wasn't doing any of my freelance editing work that was the paid work, so I had lots of time, and then paid work started to come back in, and I realized, oh hey Claire, it's your own show. You don't have to do it every week, you can't fit it in anymore. Which is another of the things about podcasting that I love that I suddenly realized I do it my way. You know, I've got no gatekeepers, I can do it how I want, and that's how it's developed now. So, and the people that come to me, the bit I said earlier, I'm amazed. I am amazed at how many people are having these experiences and the breadth of activities that they're taking part in now, what it, what other stuff it leads to in their lives, because it often involves other stuff that they're now doing, whether it's because they're more confident or it's just open doors, and the the variety of stories, because although it's a formula, that's it's you know, childhood, growing up, working, getting back to the good thing, woohoo, life's lovely. All of the bits in between those questions are different, of course, with every single person. And I just love to share the stories of ordinary, and I don't mean that in a derogatory word way, but you know, yeah, people that you wouldn't normally hear from because they're not on the tell, and that's what I love to tell because they're they've just got such wonderful stories, and I sit here and smile a lot and hear their wonderful stories as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, I I so resonate with you. That's that's wonderful. Are you self-taught in editing, Claire? I'm curious.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah, where and I really love it, and I think it's probably because I'm naturally that way inclined. Having a book editor for very, very, very many years. I think I already had the um lack of fear. Like, I'm not worried to take stuff out, and it's always better. The stuff you take out that nobody reads or hears is what makes the stuff that's left in really good. And it's sad sometimes. I'm like, look at all my wonderful editing work. Nobody will know the work I put into this, but you end up in this creation that doesn't bore somebody, doesn't irritate them in any way. And I've loved learning editing. I know lots of people do not like audio editing, but I really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah, that's that's wonderful. Claire, if we're watching us chat anywhere in the world, we're listening, and we're curious about your show, curious about diving back into the vaults in the episodes. Do you want to point us in the direction of where we go to find out more? Tell us, do you have a website? Are you on socials? Where should we go?

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Thank you. Absolutely. Of course, on every podcast platform, just so Creativity Found. Um, I do have a website, creativityfound.co.uk. So on that, I put up my latest four episodes are on that page to listen to on that page, and then you can explore the others. And there's some other bits and bobs there about creativity found and about my other podcast work. And then on socials, Instagram, Facebook, it's at Creativity Found Podcast, and I am Claire Wait Brown on LinkedIn, and I'm the only Claire Waite Brown. Oh, I'm easy to find.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

You own it. Claire, thank you so much for sharing. Uh, I'm gonna keep listening because it is a really um not only do you have a lovely voice to listen to, you also your guests are um just really interesting humans.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yes, thank you. Oh, thank you very much about my voice. I think as well, I get to have a good relationship with the guests because I have a pre-chat. You know, by the time we're recording, we know each other and it can be a bit easier. So hopefully that comes across as well. But thank you so much for inviting me on this show.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Oh, it's my pleasure. Claire, we may meet each other one day at one of the many podcast festivals around the world. He's hoping. Um, but thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Brilliant, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Cheers.