Being a Creativity Ambassador

What it is and what it means

For a while, I’ve done my best to be what I call a Creativity Ambassador. People have asked me if that’s related to my career since I’ve worked as a copywriter in advertising, marketing, communications, and public relations for over two decades. Other people have asked me if it’s to do with my writing since I’ve published 22 books. The reality is that it’s based to those two aspects in part, yet I do my best to allow creativity to touch as many areas of my life as possible, because consistently it’s delivered amazing results and a richer experience.

Creativity in my life has to do with how I am, how I conduct myself in a personal, literary, and professional level. When it comes to food and music, I’m super open and constantly curious, looking to expand my horizons. With movies, books, and video games, if something catches my attention, I check it out and dig deeper. When it comes to my writing projects, just look at the variety of genres and it shows I crave a challenge and variety.

Urban fantasy, middle grade fantasy, non-fiction, a variety of poetic forms, themes, and genres, specialty projects, horror, sci-fi and beyond…a blank page is my invitation to dream and every trope and cliché an invitation to flip it on its head.

Even a conversation benefits from creativity and curiosity.

Try asking odd things and remembering them. Put people in a situation to think of things they’ve never thought of before and you’ll have unique and memorable conversations. Also, one thing is to be consistent in your answers and opinions and another is to be scripted. I always work very hard to be in the moment in any context, because people notice and it shows in the results and reactions you get.

Some people scoff at creativity and turn their nose up at it. That’s because they only have a simplistic vision of what it means to be creative. The reality is that EVERY innovation has come about thanks to ingenuity and creativity.

Einstein was creative.

Tesla was creative.

Marie Curie was creative.

Hedy Lamarr was creative.

Galileo was creative, and more.

Engineers, architects, scientists, doctors, and mathematicians are as creative as a painter, they just don’t use oil or acrylic. People who support equality and accessibility are incredibly creative, because they see problems through a different lens and that in itself is creativity. Curiously, many solutions they offer benefit people in general. From ramps, to sidewalks, crosswalks, and safety regulations, all have come about thanks to some amazingly creative people.

In my work, creativity touches every aspect of my deliverable. From what I write, to how I present it, support it, justify it, and sell it. You can be the most brilliant ad creative in the world, but if you can’t sell a script, concept, campaign, or headline, you’re nothing. Harsh truth, but a truth nonetheless, even if it doesn’t mean you’re not creative. It just means you’re crap at selling, which takes creativity as well. A lot of people are trained and conditioned to meet requirements. Those who excel often find new ways of doing things that yield better results. That’s not just being a go-getter, that’s being creative.

In regard to healing, advancements in medicine come from those who see unsolvable problems and make it their life’s mission to solve that problem. From different approaches, to different medications, to new treatments, it’s all creativity, and not recognizing it for what it is just means you want your status to not be soiled by that whimsy word. But creativity has even helped me heal.

I got hurt at 31 and four doctors wanted to do a small operation on my back. One cursory search and you’ll see how big of a risk that is. I went to 2 physical therapists and 2 other doctors. Nothing worked. Then I went to a chiropractor and in two weeks I was surfing at my highest level. That’s how well I recovered. Did this also require discipline, exercise, lifestyle changes, and followthrough? You bet your golden keister it did, but the results I obtained came about from not settling for an answer and pushing to find options that could help me be my best. Regarding mental health, it’s the same. I’ve never limited myself in regard to getting the help I need when I need it. I’ve had counseling, meditation, journaling, and even included some traumas in my work to help in my healing process. And every aspect of my physical, emotional, and mental health has been touched by creativity. I wrote about a breakdown, I’ve written about burnouts, I’ve channeled heartbreak in creative ways, and invited myself to be true to myself and be as creative as I need to be. I’ve also never limited myself in growing. If something calls to me and can benefit me, I go for it.

If you’ve read me for a bit, you can grasp that connecting to others is also important to me…and conversation and friendship benefits so much from creativity. From memorable one liners to things so silly and stupid that you remember those moments decades later.

The amount of ways that people connect to my books is kind of astounding. Sometimes I’ve been on a live panel or convo and that organically leads to people connecting. But people also connect with me because of my silly Visual Typos. Some have connected thanks to my Teactionary posts or the taste tests. More than once people have seen a SkyThought and either the words, the picture, or the combination has invited them to connect (More on this next week). The amount of times people have sent me sock pictures or sock store pictures is epic. I’m still being begged for new 00 Bananas videos, which is me doing silly little videos as a Banana Secret Agent. Yes, that’s actually a thing. I even have people who have connected to me thanks to the posts I do in tribute to mom with a Cheers Mama Estrada.

You might have seen the recent posts of March of the Writers. That’s another way in which creativity continues to help me connect to people. I could copy paste prompts and topics from other years, but that would defeat the purpose. When I do repeat a topic, it’s because enough people have enjoyed it for me to consider it a staple.

Hell, even with my goals I’m creative. Sure, I’d like to win awards. But I’d much rather have enough success to help develop a video game or appear on Hot Ones with Sean Evans, who himself is a testament to endless creativity within a formula.

For me, adding a component of creativity to anything will more often than not offer better results. Sure, sometimes you need to stick to what works. But other times, experimenting can be the best thing that ever happened to you.

And the root of that is creativity.

With Organic Creativity, I’m consistently looking for different areas where we can get creative and invite people to invite themselves to dare, to try something, to challenge themselves, to give themselves permission to be creative. For me, it’s a life mission to inspire others to be more creative, which is why I’ve developed a Creativity Workshop. I’m still finalizing some steps and a workbook with activities after people take the workshop, but it’s one of the next things I’m doing because I’m driven and it’s an idea I need to bring to life, so why not?

And in the end, that is the only reason you need to do anything:

Because why not?

So, if you’re interested in that workshop, feel free to reach out. I’ll be sharing more details for those interested.

And if you’re not, no worries. There’s plenty of other creative things up my sleeve to keep us entertained and connected.

Peace, love, and keep it creative.

-JD