Dec 21, 2018
Welcome my CNFin’ buddy, how are YOU, doing? I’m @BrendanOMeara,
Brendan O’Meara in real life and this is @CNFPod, or The Creative
Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers,
filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true
stories. If you want to get better at the form, you’ve come to the
right place. This is our little corner of the Internet. If you’re
here for the first time, welcome, welcome, crack open a notebook,
pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle in, CNFers. Where to
start, where to start? My guest is Debbie Millman. Yes, you heard
that correctly. Your ears did not deceive you. I didn’t bother
digging too deep into Debbie’s origin story because there are
several podcasts where she dives into that and I wanted to spare
her from repeating herself. Maybe I was too timid in that regard,
but I figured I’d steer the ship toward other things. At this point
in the introduction is usually where I riff …. on what’s going on,
maybe offer some insights into how you can improve your work by
sharing something I find helpful. But...sometimes the most helpful
thing is getting the cuss out of the way. In 17 words Debbie
Millman is a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant,
and host of the podcast Design Matters. But in a single word?
Debbie is an inspiration. She made a name for herself as a graphic
designer and branding guru after years and years of rejections,
failures, and false starts. She’s persistent sometimes, she admits,
to a fault. Her writing is tight and playful. It’s deep,
meaningful, resonant, and beautiful to look at as most of her
essays are illustrated in her whimsical way of inking and
penciling. As for her career in branding, If you’ve seen the Burger
King logo, various Pepsi products, Tropicana, Haagen Daas, and
Twizzlers (totally twisted) then you’ve seen her work. If it makes
the supermarket look prettier, odds are Debbie had a hand in that.
She was the president of Sterling Brands for 20 years, and under
her stewardship grew the company from 15 employees to 150. But
after a decade of being a titan in her field, from 1995 to 2005,
often at the expense of her own creative projects, her writing, her
drawing, her painting, she was granted the opportunity to host an
internet radio program that, I must add, she had to pay to produce,
called Design Matters. This was in 2005. 14 years later and she’s
still doing it and for my money she, along with Joe Donahue of WAMC
Northeast Public Radio, are the best interviews around. I have a
reason for this and I talk about this with Debbie. She has
interviewed Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Anne Lamott, Seth
Godin, Shepard Fairey, and hundreds more. Design Matters is a
testament to her endurance and generosity. It wasn’t until she had
done the show for several years that it really began to gain
traction, win awards, and become the behemoth that it is today. I
could go on and on and I must apologize for my titanic nerves in
this episode. I mean I suffer from them all the time, but this one
was especially bad, for that I’m sorry, but getting the chance to
speak to Debbie for nearly an hour was such an esteemed an honor
that I had trouble keeping my you know what together. You made it
this far so I must say thanks for listening. I do this for you guys
so you know that even the best of the best deal with the same
bullshit we’re all dealing with. If you haven't already, consider
subscribing to the show on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or
Stitcher and subvert the algorithms across the social platforms. If
you liked the show, share it with just one friend. Email them the
link or share it on social media. And tag me @BrendanOMeara and
@CNFPod so I can toast to your awesomeness. Consider leaving an
honest review on iTunes as well. I want to see it hit 100 ratings.
We’re gonna get there in 2019, but it starts with you. If you have
five minutes to spare, please give the show some love. I also have
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the podcast. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it. Thanks to our
sponsors in Goucher College’s MFA in Nonfiction as well as Creative
Nonfiction Magazine.