What Thirty-Nine Years as a Creative Professional Has Taught Me About Creativity, Purpose, and Success

Reflections from decades of creative work and nine years of coaching artists and creatives.

This month I’m celebrating nearly four decades as a creative professional including nine years of coaching other artists and creatives.

My career has taken many turns from the family business to arts organizations to running my own practice. Each chapter has added new layers of learning, purpose and creative expression. I began with a BFA in visual art and design and joined my family’s candle and home décor company, where I spent 17 years shaping products, branding, and business strategy, eventually becoming Senior VP. When the business was sold, I found myself at a crossroads. With the help of a coach, I began reimagining what my creative career could look like and followed my heart into the arts.

Over the years, I helped launch one of Canada’s first art hotels, worked with hundreds of artists on community-engaged projects and led arts and mental health initiatives at a ground-breaking non-profit in Toronto. At 50, I pivoted again. This time to build something of my own. Coaching has allowed me to bring together all my skills in service of others: as a thinking partner, collaborator and champion of creative potential and people. I’ve now coached artists and creatives around the world through professional growth, reinvention and navigating the inner and outer journey of their creative life and career. Looking back, I see how each role was connected by a throughline of creativity, collaboration and deep listening. After 39 years, I’m proud of how far I’ve come and energized by the meaningful work I get to do every day.

As a solo creative practitioner now, I’ve come to deeply value the practice of reflection. Taking time to consider what I’m learning, what holds meaning for me and how my sense of satisfaction and success is evolving. Earlier in my career, I rarely paused in this way. Actually, if I’m honest, only at moments of crisis or big transitions. But, it’s a habit I’ve developed and grown to cherish through building my coaching practice. This reflective work has been essential in my own journey in building my practice, and it’s also at the heart of what I support my clients to do.

So, in that spirit, I want to share a few notes on what I’ve learned (and am still learning) about creativity, purpose, and success.

Creativity

Over time, my definition of creativity has expanded significantly. I now believe that creativity isn’t limited to traditional artistic output. It can show up in every part of our work and lives. Building a practice, designing daily routines, curating our day or week, creating meaningful connections and relationships and even attracting clients are all creative acts in my view. This broader perspective has opened up a way for me to define and look at creativity more holistically and to use it more intentionally and expansively in all areas of my work and life.

What I’ve Learned

Creativity isn’t just about output. A hard but necessary lesson for a recovering Type A personality. I’ve learned that my own creativity is fueled by what I take in: reading widely, participating in professional development opportunities and immersing myself in other people’s creative work and approaches. Sometimes even learning something seemingly unrelated like a business concept, a tech tool, or a cooking podcast can trigger new insights in my coaching practice or inspire unexpected ideas in my writing. Bottom line, creative output requires creative input. These days, I intentionally make space in my weeks, months and throughout the year for creative exploration whether it’s brainstorming, ideation, or simply letting myself follow a thread of curiosity.

One of the most important things I’ve realized is that I am not a machine (as mentioned already I’m a recovering Type A personality) and neither is any other artist or creative. We can’t just flick a switch and expect to produce on demand. I’ve had to learn (and I am still learning) what supports and nourishes my creativity and what drains or derails it and I coach my clients to build this awareness.

Creativity has also become more central to my sense of purpose and identity. What once felt like a natural ability or skill has evolved into a deeply held value. I’m creative through the way I build and run my business. I’m actively leveraging what I create to give it a larger life and expand the ways I show up creatively in my work, with clients and in life. And I am a creative. Interestingly, I wouldn’t have necessarily identified myself that way early in my career. It’s something I’ve grown into. Something I now claim with confidence.

For me, noticing how I am being creative in these ways is a big part of how I now measure success.

Purpose

Earlier in my career, my sense of purpose was rooted in bringing ideas and concepts to life. That began with designing products, then evolved into developing business strategies and later into curating and launching artistic projects and programs. I was driven by the creative spark of creating something tangible and innovative from the ground up.

Today, that purpose has evolved. My work now centers on creating and growing my coaching practice and developing my writing. I work with artists and creative professionals around the world, across every discipline and stage of career. My sense of purpose has shifted toward empowering others and myself to realize our full creative potential, build sustainable careers, and live fulfilling, values-aligned lives as artists and creatives.

What I’ve learned

I’ve learned that just because you’re good at something—or know you can do it—doesn’t mean it’s enough to feel purposeful. For much of my creative career, I focused heavily on the doing, a tendency that comes naturally to my personality (and I’ve noticed this being the default for many of my clients). Doing is tangible. It’s measurable. We track our to-do lists, count completed tasks and often define our worth by how productive we’ve been.

But over time, and through becoming a coach, I’ve come to understand that being is just as important. If not more so. We are human beings, not human doings. It’s a simple phrase, but a powerful reminder. One I return to often in my own life and frequently offer to clients. Purpose isn’t just about action; it’s about alignment. When I stay connected to why I’m doing what I’m doing, it grounds me in my deeper purpose: to live and work creatively in ways that are sustainable to me and to empower others to do the same.

Success

I’ve truly loved the many iterations of my career as a creative professional. I’m grateful for the diverse opportunities I’ve had to grow, take risks and experience moments of real joy and creative magic. Of course, it hasn’t all been fun and games. I’ve navigated plenty of stress, uncertainty and externally imposed definitions of success that I had to measure up to and deliver on. But looking back, I’m proud of the turns I’ve taken and how I’ve grown through each phase. After 39 years as a creative professional, I feel like I have a lot to celebrate and even more to look forward to.

What I’ve Learned