Our theme for September is REFLECTION.

 It was chosen by our Oklahoma City chapter in Oklahoma and illustrated by Aditi Heins.

Just like an echo is a reflection of sound… and how a camera lens focuses reflected light to form a photograph… our subconscious reflects on our experiences to form our beliefs.

Without reflection, there can be no personal growth. Learning from our past yields greater wisdom and happiness. But don’t let self-awareness turn into self-absorption. Take heed of the Greek myth of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own handsome reflection in a pool of water. 

Reflecting on difficult moments can be painful but also healing. When our Oklahoma City chapter selected this theme, they mentioned a reflecting pool at the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that was designed to help people reflect on how they were changed by that tragic event. 

Pondering the world around us and following our curiosity adds depth to our creative work. As William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, the purpose of acting is “to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature.” While George Bernard Shaw said, “you use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” (Although Bertolt Brecht countered, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”)

Reflection turns our traumas and triumphs into lessons. It’s how we can create a vision for a brighter future.

🎤 Join us on June 21st to hear from Matt Barnes!

Matt Barnes is the Owner and Strategic Director of Rogue Creatives (as well as the Owner of Rogue Collective, Rogue Aviation, and as of a few weeks ago, his own custom lightsaber which might be the most impressive thing on that list). Matt went to school for far too long and has advanced degrees in Education and Organizational Leadership.

Rogue Creatives is Matt’s creative agency where he uses those degrees to help organizations define their personality, voice, and values and make sure that their branding represents them incredibly well using his own Strategic StoryTelling Framework. Matt lives in Costa Mesa with his wife and five kids.

🧡 Volunteers needed!

Love to smile and want to create amazing experiences? We’re looking for volunteers to help with day-of support  for @creativemornings_oc events. 

Fill out this Volunteer Form us to join our growing team, especially if you’re interested in social media or photography. 

✨ Our theme for June is PATTERN

This month’s theme is PATTERN. It was chosen by our Chennai chapter and illustrated by Nishant Saldanha.

Our Chennai chapter’s selection of this theme was inspired by the art form kōlam; which features patterns of dots that are encircled or connected by straight and curved lines. These intricate, geometric designs are created on the thresholds and floors of houses, temples and businesses using rice flour. The practice is deeply rooted in South Indian culture to welcome guests into the home and bring good fortune and prosperity.

Which patterns in your relationships, work, and habits are worth repeating? Which ones should be changed? What new pattern do you want to create?

Thank you all for coming to our May Coffee Reunion! Join us in the future as we continue to celebrate the unique voices and ideas that make our mornings brighter! 🌈✨

🎥: Thank you to Casesar for capturing some of the beautiful moments mixed in with conversations at our last coffee meet up! @sheeshur@ube_productions

We’re coming back!

🌞 CM/OC IS COMING BACK IN 2024!

After a few years of hibernation, we are excited to share that as of this upcoming spring our chapter has a brand new host and we are working hard to reboot the chapter! We appreciate all the interest and check-ins over the hibernation years.

We have lots of new ideas and are looking forward to building up momentum again. You’ll be the first to hear when our first event is happening. Watch this space!

👋 HELLO FROM YOUR NEW HOST

Hey! I’m Ivan Ji and I’m excited and honored to step in as the new chapter host for CM/Orange County. From being an early volunteer to being a speaker, and now coming in as a new host — it all feels full circle. 

A big thanks to our former host and good friend Megan Anguiano for all her care and passion over the course of her tenure. I have big shoes to fill!Stay tuned! We have lots coming.

☕️ GETTING INVOLVED

It takes time to build up momentum and get the right team of people together to make this magic happen. We’re looking for passionate new volunteers, partners, venues, and more.If you are excited to be part of rebooting our chapter, please reach out here: orangecounty@creativemornings.comIn the meantime, spread the word and follow us on Instagram!

Not knowing what's coming next is … empowering.

For those of you who didn’t make it out bright and early to our event this past Friday, we had the pleasure of hearing the surreal journey of Daneen Green, a classically trained chef who ‘blends’ all the rules. And quite a story it was …

You see, Daneen isn’t your typical chef, she’s worked a lot of different jobs, everything from a tech at Dell (Computer) to golf course maven, until one day she decided to take a leap of faith and moved to LA to be a chef, without any set plans. As luck would have it, she immediately managed to land a job as a server and loved the energy of the restaurant. Within a short time climbed to Executive Assistant and then to Marketing Manager in charge of creating a cookbook for the Magic Bullet. It’s here that she found her love for creating recipes. But still unsatisfied, and just wanting to create, she dropped everything and just like that went back to school, in this case, culinary school.Shortly after graduating, she started working at the JW Marriott Ritz Carlton, but a cooking accident left her with 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over her face. It was a hard time; sleeping sitting up for 3 months, confined to her house and faced with the threat of never being able to cook again.

But Fate has a strange way of making things right, and a few months after the accident she got a call from a friend of a friend saying someone was looking for a private chef to cook for a family. Unbeknownst to her, that family was, … yeah, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Very surreal… Next on her client list came Russell Brand and then U2. She became more and more comfortable in this space, just like cooking in her own home with her own family. She realized her passion for cooking was tied to feeding and nourishing people so they could be their best and perform at their best. It’s a prideful thing to be in that situation and has that type of encounter.The common thread in Daneen’s story is uncertainty; not knowing what’s coming next, with whom, or what form it will take. Every day is different for her, and embracing this has given her the freedom to do amazing things because she pursues each moment as an adventure. This alone has allowed her to be more accepting of the idea that something is going to come eventually. Her confidence in this freedom has cultivated a life of experiences, experiences greater in wealth than any paycheck could ever be. 

All the pictures from our last event are available on Flickr. Take a look, find yourself, and make sure to share it with your friends on Instagram. (we love attention so we won’t mind if you tag us @cm_orangecounty)

CreativeMornings OC: October Recap

FOMO?! In case you missed it, we got you. On October 26th, our beloved speaker, Cecilia Gorman, filled The Frida Cinema with a full CreativeMornings crowd and explored the topic of HONESTY.She talked about going from a corporate powerhouse and highly lucrative career to an individual, but more honest, path. She also led us through an exercise with hard-hitting questions we can use to pursue our own honest and “most awesome" life.  

Here’s what we took away from Cecilia’s talk:

Check out these snaps for the full recap 

For more information about Cecilia and her company, check out her website and IG