Creativity Everything Podcast

Amanda Scriver is a freelance journalist, passionate community builder, and award-winning social media strategist best known for being fat, loud, and shouty on the Internet. Throughout her career, Amanda has written for noted publications such as Healthline, Buzzfeed, Leafly, The Washington Post, Allure, FLARE, The Walrus, and Refinery 29 on body image, fat activism, mental health, and cannabis. In 2019, she was selected as one of twenty writers to attend the summer literary arts program at the Banff Centre for the Arts to work her untitled memoir project.

Amanda’s body image advocacy work has been profiled in places like Mashable, CBC Metro Morning, NOW Magazine, VICE, FASHION Magazine, Bustle, and The Toronto Star. She has also moderated and participated in panels for companies like Bumble, Addition Elle, and The Drake Hotel. Plus she has developed workshops for The Toronto Public Library and the University of Toronto, and

participated in readings during The Naked Heart Festival, Without/Pretend's storytelling events, and The Word on the Street Festival. 

Currently, Amanda lives in Toronto, Canada with her partner. She finds joy in reality television, drag shows, bold shades of lipstick and curating a good potato chip buffet. Do not ask what her favourite restaurant is, it’s complicated.

David Gauntlett is Canada Research Chair in Creativity at Ryerson University, Toronto, and founder of the Creativity Everything lab. He is the author of ten books, including Making is Connecting (2011, second edition 2018). Throughout his academic career he has made things, such as an award-winning website and the project A Drawing A Day, and worked with creative organizations including a 14-year collaboration with LEGO and the LEGO Foundation. In this episode we discuss the idea of everyday creativity, and the processes of writing, and of making music.

Tasneem is a Canadian American multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on music, writing, and acting. Their music career started out in NYC  performing at Carnegie Hall & singing back-up and playing guitar for Kelis on Saturday Night Live. Tasneem is currently a music producer mentor at Artscape Daniels Launchpad. Their EP Just Before The World Ends is out now on all streaming platforms. As a writer, they have participated in the CBS Diversity showcase, and are in pre-production for a short film called September 10th about 3 Queer Muslims the night before 9-11, which was workshopped at the John Humphrey Center For Peace and Social Justice in Edmonton. As an actor, they have appeared on Netflix, FX, and AMC. Tasneem counts art as a tool for survival and self-awareness.

Twitter @iamtasneem

FB @iamtasneem

IG @lastmangoinparis

A self-taught multi-disciplinary artist, inspired by identity, duality, the human condition and the spaces in between – Romana experiments with several mediums to express her journey as a woman of colour in Toronto. A true artist, creator and engineer - Romana is a singer/songwriter, painter, installation artist and experience designer. As an expressionist and artist, Romana feels that it is her responsibility to use her art as a platform and voice the issues and ideas that are important to her and the many diverse communities she belongs to.

Jamie Miller is the founder of Biomimicry Frontiers, an award-winning sustainability consultancy that leverages the genius of nature to create bold solutions. He built the company after earning his PhD in engineering, which focused on applying systems-level biomimicry to urban resilience. Since 2004, Jamie has been studying and applying biomimicry with the leaders in the field. He was the director of the only biomimicry University program in Canada, is a two-time TEDx speaker and was named a “New Centurion” by the David Suzuki Foundation.

Alia Youssef is a portrait photographer interested in diversifying the media landscape and highlighting underrepresented stories and histories. Her personal projects have been exhibited in solo and group shows at prominent galleries and festivals across Canada such as The Ryerson Image Centre, Gallery 44, The Parliament of Canada, and Nuit Blanche Toronto. Her commercial projects with global brands have been displayed internationally, including in New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus. Her work has been published in numerous online and print publications including Elle Magazine, VICE, The Globe and Mail, and Oprah Magazine. Alia has done many public artist talks, most notably for the Aga Khan Museum, We Day Toronto, and Instagram.

Jodianne Beckford is the creator and host of the popular podcast The E Project, discussing ‘Epiphany’ moments that lead individuals to do what they love. She also works as a commercial lifestyle photographer and is the creator of Noire Girls Plant, a platform to build community through educating people on the importance of nurturing plants for personal healing.

Naomi Skwarna is a Toronto-based writer and artist, having published in Hazlitt, The Hairpin, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, The Believer, and others. As an actor, she performed in Toronto and New York in Sheila Heti’s All Our Happy Days Are Stupid, and the Slamdance Festival prizewinning feature, Dim the Fluorescents. She currently works as a custom seamstress, and apprentices at Toronto’s Horses Atelier, learning about professional garment production.

Hi there! I’m Camille Favreau. I've always been drawn to other people's creations and have recently decided to experiment with creating things myself. After completing a business degree and working in finance for a few years, I am now working on the Creativity Everything Podcast, amongst other things.

David Gauntlett is Canada Research Chair in Creativity at the Faculty of Communication and Design, Ryerson University, Toronto, where he leads the Creativity Everything lab. He is the author of several books, including Making is Connecting (2018). He has worked with a number of the world’s leading creative organisations, including the BBC, Tate, and LEGO.

For this episode, David Gauntlett and I talk about why we started this podcast. Hope you enjoy it!