Starting Artists

Starting Artists

Host Tony Sadowski interviews makers across a variety of media at varying stages of their careers, aimed at inspiring new and aspiring content creators to overcome obstacles in the way of starting their own dream projects. Get insight into their experiences and inspirations, and find out what they've learned along the way!

Episodes

July 20, 2023 11 mins

Your host and podcast pal Tony Sadowski pops up with a between-season life and career update. What's been going on during the show hiatus? And, more importantly, what does "creativity" mean to you?

Does art stop belonging to the creator when it is interpreted by an observer and a new story begins?

We're catching up and getting philosophical in this bonus episode. Season 2 is still very much goi...

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Cassandra M. Bailey is the Founder and CEO of Slice Communications, a marketing and communications company in Philadelphia. She is also founder and current chairwoman of Social Media Day, Inc.

Entrepreneur, author, thought leader, speaker, organizer, volunteer, mom—Cass is a creative force, an attention-getter, and someone Tony greatly admires.

In this season one finale, the two discuss marketing philosophy, leade...

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December 16, 2022 9 mins

Tony gets philosophical on your brand with the challenging question of what it might sound like. Sure, we put a lot of thought into the visual elements of a brand. Brand messaging, from mission to key talking points, are hugely important and far more likely to have been given serious thought. 

But in an increasingly content-focused digital world, the idea of your brand's signature sound is something you may want to ta...

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December 2, 2022 95 mins

Calling James F. Wright a writer, while true, doesn't feel like enough words to describe what he does or the various iterations of James that got him where he is today. 

He has written award-winning comics. He writes video game narratives at Deck Nine Games. He was a producer at NFL Media for 14 years. His path was anything but a straight line! 

As you'll hear, James fought "work guilt" and str...

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November 18, 2022 8 mins

To every* show, there is a season. 

That's definitely the case for Starting Artists. Listen up for an announcement about what to expect for the rest of what will become Season One of this podcast, and what I'll be working on during the hiatus.

Also, some stats on the most-listened and least-listened episodes, reflections on the season to this point, what I DON'T want Starting Artists to become...and...

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Nigerian-Canadian writer of books and video game narratives Louisa Onomé had a few false starts along her career journey. Nothing nightmarish, some of them quite helpful to her now. But she had it in her mind that she need a "real job," because she didn't know if she'd realistically ever become an author.

With two books (Like Home, Twice as Perfect) out on shelves now and more in the works, it's sa...

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October 24, 2022 15 mins

Thinking back to my conversation with Sonya Ballantyne last episode, I'm struck by her hard-earned sense of self and ability to bring all of who she is to storytelling.

Sonya is doing what she wanted to do. She's seems unstoppable, and I can't wait to see what she does next! 

I'm also kind of scratching my head over how and when I lost touch with the cocksure, unflappable, ready-for-anything cr...

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The pop culture references are flying in this conversation with Sonya Ballantyne. From growing up on a reservation, desperately wanting better representation in the media she loved, to writing for a Walking Dead video game and creating pro wrestling-based films that marry her personal life with her undying love for the squared circle...Sonya's story is wonderful and winding.

Touching on themes of the importance of rep...

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September 23, 2022 14 mins

I always want to be honest and vulnerable on this podcast, because that's where the real stuff is. The point of Starting Artists is helping other people who feel stuck, or need to make a next move, and just can’t quite make themselves do it. If I actually intend to be helpful, I have to let you know what I went through, what I worked through, and how far I've come since.

That said, I think this is as close to a p...

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September 9, 2022 74 mins

Paula Rogers, a writer, editor and illustrator whose work in print and radio has been featured by NPR, KQED in San Francisco, the Third Coast International Audio Festival and Salon.

She wrote and edited the infographic guide to life, Show Me How, for which she and her cat also modeled for several illustrations! She’s a copywriter, an award-winning screenwriter, and just so happens to be the lead writer and story editor for the 2019 ...

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August 26, 2022 9 mins

Inspired by his chat with Kim Belair last episode, Tony talks about his (extremely basic) experience in video game design. Crude as the games were, they were very moooooving. It's a medium that combines many creative and technical skills, and it's drawing diverse, new talent from a variety of interesting backgrounds.

Explore themes of self-awareness, creativity in the face of intense frustration, the magic of wei...

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My guest for the episode is Kim Belair, video game narrative writer and CEO of Sweet Baby, Inc., a black- and queer-owned narrative development company based in Montreal, working in both AAA (that's "big-name video games" in non-gamer speak) and independent spaces.

Kim has had a fascinating journey as a writer in the video game world, and you don't need to be a grizzled gamer to take a lot of important...

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Inspired by his conversation with Izzy Searle last episode, Tony talks about a screenplay he wrote in college that won an award. He also goes into why these "monologue" episodes exist, describes the horrific suffering endured by his interns, and plays a bit of a Moxy Früvous song. 

Explore themes of authenticity, confidence, curmudgeonry, how to read a room, using the word "anyway" as a storytelling dev...

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My guest for the episode is Izzy Searle, a writer whose work has been published in multiple magazines and literary journals. Izzy loves writing theater, screenplays, and poetry, and is currently writing a new short play for professional production as part of the Pentabus Young Writers program. 

She’s written others, of course, one of which has been included in a book and an anthology of her poems is in the works!

...

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July 8, 2022 13 mins

Tony talks about some first impressions (and important realizations) from the days he spent producing the digital-first micro-series, OUTNABOUT.  Sometimes, things work beautifully; others, you have to make them work.

Travel to Tony's favorite coffee and ice cream stops...and explore themes of authenticity, surprise and delight, what makes PBS cool, and taking a leap into new career waters because you just need out of...

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Kae Lani Palmisano is the Emmy-winning television host of Check, Please! Philly and the digital series Delishtory, produced by Terry Gross' frequent hangout, WHYY. She has been seen on numerous daytime talk shows nationwide. She’s a food and travel writer whose work has been published in Food & Wine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and USA Today.

Kae Lani opens up about her life, obstacles she faced as a food and trave...

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June 21, 2022 12 mins

Tony takes you on a journey through lessons he learned from a creative writing workshop he was part of in 2021 called Writing Your Solo Show. It focused on autobiographical writing for stage or memoir and was the beginning of a much-needed career renaissance for (at least by default) your favorite host. 

Explore themes of authenticity and self-improvement, and maybe even find out how it all ties into Starting Artists and T...

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Whitney Gardner is the creative force behind the books Chaotic Good, You’re Welcome Universe, Fake Blood, and Long Distance. She illustrated Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s Journey to Justice, and co-hosts the Caper Cast podcast with writer and artist, Stephanie Cooke.

She offers insight into the world of publishing, working with an editor on something as intricate as a graphic novel, navigating criticism, and much mor...

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June 8, 2022 4 mins

What’s your dream project? How do you go from aspiring writer to published author? How do you bring a video game concept to life as an independent developer? What goes into recording - and marketing - your first album? How about your second...or fifth? What changes? 

I’m Tony Sadowski, a marketer, media producer, and voice artist, on a mission inspired by…jealousy.

Creative people fascinate me. Makers - people who get thing...

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