Break Form

Let there be music! In this episode, Annette and Sarah are excited to incorporate Vis Viva, a song by The Singer and The Songwriter, into the podcast. While Sarah celebrates Mother’s Day with her family, Annette dives into a conversation with Rachel Garcia and Thu Tran, the creative couple behind The Singer and The Songwriter.

After years of relegating music to "nights and weekends" (check out the music video below!) while living in Los Angeles, Rachel and Thu decided to pack up their belongings and take to the road as touring musicians. They share how Vis Viva was developed, what it was like to perform at the San Francisco Opera House, and how faith, gratitude, and synchronicity have shaped their artistic journeys.

References:

Wild Heart Music Video (recreated at the SF Opera House performance for the Goldman Environmental Prize)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3482dVwW5e0

The Company Dance Troupe:

• https://www.facebook.com/CompanyFAM/

Nights and Weekends Music Video:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3482dVwW5e0

Onion article on spending nights and weekends on your passion:

• https://www.theonion.com/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionate-about-then-do-it-1819584843

Max Wanger, the Image/Photographer associated with Vis Viva:

• https://maxwanger.com/i.php?/003/450/2K6A6038-2,440.600.80.20.crop.1525813002.jpg

Huffington Post article on Rachel's Voice:

• https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/music-review-directions-dazzling-new-music-from_us_59d75f64e4b0705dc79aa6ed

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On this tenth episode of Break Form, in addition to talking about what's been happening in their respective lives (Sarah gets crafty in anticipation of her son's first birthday, itches to write, and has an (awake) dream involving a bear. Annette remembers what makes legal work stressful as she attempts to balance contract work while building her business and trying to write), Sarah and Annette get soulful by discussing Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul.

Unlike self-help books which tout quick fixes and five-step programs for increasing happiness, Moore, a Catholic monk turned psychotherapist, writes that care of the soul "is not a project of self-improvement, nor a means of being released from the pains of human existence. It is not at all concerned with living properly or with emotional health. Soul is its own purpose and end. We know we are well on the way to soul when we live with attachment to the world and the people around us, and when we live as much from the heart as from the head."

Join us as we discuss how attention to rituals, symbols, dreams, and everyday poetics help deepen a sense of soul.

References:

• Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore: https://www.amazon.com/Care-Soul-Twenty-fifth-Anniversary-Cultivating/dp/0062415670
• The Soul in Depression, On Being with Krista Tippett: https://onbeing.org/programs/the-soul-in-depression-mar2018/
• More Money, More Problems - Dear Sugars: http://www.wbur.org/dearsugar/2017/06/20/dear-sugar-episode-thirteen-rerun
• The Special Challenges of Highly Intelligent and Talented Women Who Are Moms, Belinda, Seiger, PhD, LCSW: http://highability.org/the-special-challenges-of-highly-intelligent-and-talented-women-who-are-moms/

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Sara Rezvanpour Rose (@sararezrose) went from being a closeted creative who “passed” as an attorney to Creative Counsel at Jungalow (@thejungalow), a wild bohemian lifestyle brand focused on interior design and home furnishings. The process taught Sara about worthiness, authenticity, vulnerability, and reaffirmed her belief in the power of manifestation, patience, and hustle.

Today, Sara handles a range of tasks for Jungalow, from copywriting and setting up for photo shoots to negotiating deals and reviewing contracts. Born in Tehran, Iran, and later raised in California, Sara shared her journey from law school (making her immigrant parents proud) to arriving in a job where she merges her attorney skills with her creative abilities.

Sara contrasted the formulaic, paved path that lead her to law school with the intuitive, uncertain path that lead her to Jungalow. Over and over again, she emphasized how her path was full of uncertainty and dark moments. Questions like “If I leave the law, will I still be smart?” and “Is this all a big mistake?” entered her mind.

We hope you enjoy our conversation with Sara. We think the entire conversation is worth a listen, but below are some highlights:

[1:30] Sara charts her path from Tehran to California, where she attended UC Berkeley for college and, years later, Boalt for law school. After graduating, she worked in biglaw for several years before leaving to work for the law firm her brother and his friend had begun.

[18:58] Even while working with her brother, Sara was uncertain whether the practice of law was right for her. She began doing things that simply felt creative, like writing. She began writing down how she wanted to feel in her next job, words like “connected” and “appreciated.”

[27:00] Sara loved designing spaces even as a teenager. She was sensitive to the flow of a space, and she would love to create intentional spaces as a full-time job. Sara began her design career by creating a vignette and sharing it on Instagram, and helping friends design their home spaces.

[33:01] Being in touch with your intuition means, in short, being internally focused as opposed to externally focused. In many professions, there’s a clear formula, a paved path that takes the work out of figuring out how you’re going to pave your own path. That’s external focus.

[49:47] Sara describes how she ended up working seven days a week, juggling two jobs: one as a designer at Restoration Hardware and one as a paid intern for Jungalow.

[1:03:10] Sara describes how she transitioned from paid intern at Jungalow to her current role as Creative Counsel. Her job encompasses everything from copywriting for the Jungalow blog, negotiating deals, reviewing contracts, organizing the studio, and setting up for photo shoots.

[1:09:56] Sara recalls crying in her law office behind closed doors. For anyone feeling lost, she reminds that there are options; they require thinking outside the box. You have to be ok with former classmates and others looking at you funny for a while. Take time to get to know the new you. Be kind, gentle, and positive.

[1:17:11] As an overachiever lawyer, Sara felt constant pressure to be doing, to be getting results. For those taking the leap and leaving, she recommends giving yourself ample time to figure out what you want to do next. Paving your own path takes time. You must be intentional and thoughtful in where you direct yourself.

Resources and References:

• Sara Rezvanpour Rose on Instagram: @sararezrose and @souldwellings

• Jungalow: @thejungalow on Instagram or www.jungalow.com

• Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul is available for purchase here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to us on iTunes and leaving us a review! It helps others discover our podcast, which in turn helps us create more episodes for you. We invite your questions and comments:

Voicemail: 626-790-8334Email: [email protected]: @breakformpodInstagram: @breakformpodcastWebsite: breakformpodcast.com

Our inaugural podcast guest is Tracy Lawrence, CEO and Co-Founder of Chewse. Chewse is an office meal program with a heart: Tracy calls it a "love company"—a company where emotional intelligence is a core tenet. To date, Chewse has handled nearly 2 million meal deliveries and has brought in more than $14 million in revenue, feeding thousands of employees delicious meals every day from local San Francisco and Los Angeles restaurants.

As for Tracy, she was recently named Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2018. She earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, where she was awarded 2011 Student Entrepreneur of the Year. Tracy began Chewse from her college dorm room and has since raised $15M in financing for the company. Aside from being CEO, Tracy indulges in an unhealthy love of farmers markets, pita + hummus, and surfing. She also loves helping and mentoring entrepreneurs.

We first met Tracy at a "Women in Power" panel on leading through workplace patriarchy. We were immediately struck by her passion for advancing gender equity in tech. In this interview, Tracy talks to us about building a love company, the importance of leading with vulnerability, and what it means to live the questions.

References:

• Learn more about Chewse on their website and also on Instagram.
• Tracy was interviewed by Jerry Colonna on the Reboot Podcast (link).
• Read Tracy's writing on her Medium channel (link).
• You can also follow Tracy on Twitter.
• Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" is available for purchase on Amazon here.

If you like this episode, please subscribe to us on iTunes and leave us a review! We'd also love to hear from you. Send us your questions, feedback, and thoughts about breaking form at:

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Having just returned from a silent meditation retreat, Annette shares her experience spending several days in silence in the desert. Her year begins with thoughts about meaning-making and self-compassion. She continues her post-law journey living in “experimental” mode, and observing what energizes her (helping others, yes; working for the pursuit of money, no). She recalls how she moved through much of her early life conforming to a mold of a good student who could get a good job, and hiding those parts of herself that might not have fit that mold. Now she seeks to make those unseen parts more visible and to show up as her whole self in life.

Meanwhile, Sarah finds herself gripped, on and off, with debilitating depression. She considers the possible contributing factors to the depression, including being postpartum, the physical isolation and time constraints stemming from being a stay-at-home mom, and the absence of creative work in her life. She describes the difficulty of creating distance between herself and her illness and how, on many days, simply getting out of bed is challenging. This year, she simply seeks to live her life, with all its contradictions.

Resources and References:

• Joshua Tree Retreat Center: http://jtrcc.org/
• Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl (available for purchase here)
• "Improving Ourselves to Death," Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker
• Mental health is a serious issue. If you or someone you know is experiencing a psychiatric emergency (including contemplating suicide), call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

As always, we want to hear your questions, comments, and stories of how you are breaking form. Leave us a voicemail at 626-790-8334 (tell us if you don’t want your name or recording used on the podcast). Email us at [email protected]. Visit our website at breakformpodcast.com.

We talk about what it means to resist categorical thinking and the often false narratives we construct about our own lives. From Annette’s participation in a bar association panel as a non-lawyer, to Sarah’s grappling with loss of identity, there is a need to rewrite the story we want our lives to tell, which means embracing the uncertainty of the creative process. We discuss how contemplative silence allows us to shed other people's expectations and to dismantle linear narratives all too common in the hyper-rational legal world.

Resources:

• Megan O'Grady's article "Is the Age of the Artistic Recluse Over?" from the NYTimes Magazine can be found here.
• Meghan O'Rourke's article "Lessons in Stillness From One of the Quietest Places on Earth" also from the NYTimes Magazine can be found here.
• More from Elizabeth Gilbert on passion vs. curiosity can be found here.
• On the topic of living creatively, Julia Cameron writes in The Artist's Way that "we are looking not to grand strokes of change - although they may come - but instead to the act of creatively husbanding all that is in the present: this job, this house, this relationship."
• Ruth Chang's Ted Talk on Hard Choices can be found here.
• Tara Brach heart gesture can be found here.

Have questions? Comments? Want to share your story of how you are breaking form? Leave us a voicemail at 626-790-8334! If you don't want your name or recording to be used on the podcast, please let us know. You can also email us at [email protected]. Our website is www.breakformpodcast.com.

So we quit. Now what? Sarah and Annette discuss what they've been up to since leaving the law and their respective paths to creative recovery. Sarah shares how being a new mother has added a sense of urgency to her creative endeavors, and Annette confronts her need to feel productive in the absence of a traditional work schedule. The episode begins with a trip down memory lane, except it's a memory Sarah doesn't recall.

References:

• The Artist's Date is a concept from Julia Cameron's book, "The Artist's Way" (available for purchase here). It is a once-weekly period of "assigned play" to explore something of interest in order to replenish one's creative well.

In this episode, Sarah and Annette talk money matters. The decision to leave our law jobs meant thinking through (and continuing to think through) what money means to us. In this conversation we explore where our values regarding money come from, and why we work. We challenge the view that time = money (as is literally the case in the law) and question whether there might be an alternative approach.

References:

• The New York Times Sketch Guy: link
• The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, is available for purchase here

Lots of transitions! Sarah just gave birth to her first child! Annette just gave her two-weeks’ notice! In this episode, Sarah gives her sleep-deprived thoughts on what it’s like to be a new mother, and Annette shares how it feels to publicly announce her departure from the law to pursue writing and other creative projects. Our apologies for the loud chirping brought to you by Sarah’s rambunctious parrotlets.

Sarah looks back at her bewildering years as a lawyer in Biglaw and talks about how she made the decision to leave.