The Beautiful Thinkers Project
Carolyn Hadlock, Founder/President
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Join Carolyn Hadlock, founder and President of The Beautiful Thinkers Project as she interviews creatives, founders, creators, leaders, and visionaries to discover what makes beautiful thinking.
Available episodes
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Nov 22, 2023
Aakash Ranison
*The fourth episode of Season VI “Saturated”: IU Edition welcomes Aakash Ranison, Author, Nomad and Climate Optimist. Aakash shares his personal journey of how traveling (via bicycle) through India opened his eyes to the need for climate change. His optimistic approach calls us to shift our behaviors—starting with daily choices.*
*Discover how he adeptly navigates the challenges of embracing a minimal lifestyle white simultaneously scaling his positive impact on the global environment. *
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Nov 15, 2023
Don McPherson
Don McPherson invented eyewear for color blindness when he was working to develop eyewear for surgeons to use as protection during laser surgery. He would discover this when he lent his glasses to a friend who was color blind during a round of Ultimate Frisbee in Santa Cruz. In 2005 EnChroma was born. In this episode Don talks about the overlap of art + science, the importance of getting a multidisciplinary degree and overcoming pushback he got from the vision science community.
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Nov 7, 2023
Connor Hitchcock
Connor Hitchcock founded Homefield Apparel with his wife Christa in 2018. Today they sell college themed apparel to over 150 universities nationwide. Homefield prides itself on crafting a brand based on thoughtful design, culture and values. In this episode Connor shares the benefits of starting the business in Indiana, focusing on the fans and why staying scrappy is so important.
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Oct 31, 2023
Dr. Edward Hirt
*Our first episode of Season VI "Saturated": IU Edition welcomes Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington. Dr. Hirt discusses his work at the HirtLab where he and students study social identity, mental depletion, replenishment and motivation. In this debut episode, he’ll walk us through how saturation impacts our daily lives through the lens of these topics.*
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Dec 15, 2022
Liz Paquette
Liz Paquette is the Senior Director of Brand for Drizly, a leading beverage alcohol e-commerce shop. Drizly was the first brand to carve out a space in direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, and it continues to revolutionize the act of buying someone a drink via mobile phone with an innovative brand strategy. She talked about the opportunity Drizly found during the pandemic, the rise of ready-to-drink cocktails, and building a brand and a category at the same time.
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Dec 6, 2022
Ryan Lott
Ryan Lott is a musician, composer, and founding member of music collective Son Lux. Ryan and his Son Lux collaborators developed the score for the 2022 film “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” much of which was written in a home Ryan rented out in Indianapolis. He talked about reconciling his classical training with a musical rebellious streak, the relationship between music and movement, and why he chose his bandmates to intentionally not just be a bunch of white men.
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Nov 15, 2022
Candy Tong
Candy Tong is a dancer, model, and entrepreneur based in New York City. Having trained and worked in the world of ballet, Candy has a unique perspective on femininity and body politics, and she uses her platform to push the changing look of ballet further forward. She talked about the importance of her education as a dancer, the pressure of social media on dancers and non-dancers alike, and why she’s proud to be a nontraditional ballerina.
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Oct 25, 2022
Ray Roberts
Ray Roberts is a former NFL player who currently serves as the Director of Unified Champion Schools for Special Olympics North America. A naturally talented leader and speaker, Ray brings the same heart, work ethic, and communication skills to his career in the nonprofit world that he did to the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks. He talked about the realizations that brought him to retiring from football, living his life with the mindset of a lineman, and his ongoing quest to become a better and better dad.
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Aug 18, 2022
Amy Conway-Hatcher
Amy Conway-Hatcher is an attorney, author, advocate, and founding member of Chief (a network built to support and empower women in positions of executive leadership) in Washington DC. Her book “Infinitely More: Choosing Freedom, A Career Mom’s Turning Point” recounts her journey from equity partner at a prestigious law firm to dedicating more of her life and career to making the worlds of business, law, and more into places where women have better opportunities to accomplish their goals and thrive. She talked about assembling a “kitchen cabinet” of female mentors and supporters, creating allyship between working moms, and how talking about salary with her male colleagues helped her advocate for her value.
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Dec 7, 2021
Bryce & Jill Morrison
Bryce and Jill Morrison are the co-founders of Mom Water. All-natural, non-carbonated, and available in flavors like the Julie (passionfruit) and the Karen (lemon-blueberry), Jill and Bryce created Mom Water for their group of parent friends before marketing it to the masses in four US states and counting. The beverage gained popularity through social media sites like TikTok, but also organically through the network of moms they discovered while creating the brand. “I've discovered how moms, when they like something or dislike something, they love to share it with all their friends. It’s this tight-knit community. They want to share that thing that they found with all the other moms, even though they might not have any other common ground.”
By making what they wanted to see on the market, Bryce and Julie created a product and a brand that resonates both universally and with a specific, powerful-yet-untapped group.
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Nov 22, 2021
Martha Hoover
Martha Hoover is the founder of Patachou, Inc. One of the first restaurateurs to emphasize fresh farm-to-table ingredients back in 1989, Martha has transformed Patachou into an enterprise of multiple European-inspired restaurant concepts that have elevated the restaurant scene in Indianapolis and the Midwest as a whole. She talked about how restaurants can shape a city, making the food she wanted to see be made, and why she thinks motherhood is an oppressive word.
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Nov 10, 2021
Kourtney Morgan
Kourtney Morgan is a Senior Designer at Patagonia— and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People In Business in 2020. Kourtney, a nature lover herself, has taken up the company’s mantle to find unique solutions for minimizing waste in Patagonia’s clothing design, from championing the brand’s Worn Wear program for selling gently used out-of-season clothes to designing the ReCrafted collection from used and damaged clothing. According to Kourtney, the brand isn’t looking to just own these sustainable practices, but to pave the way for others: “There's a huge movement, not just within Patagonia, but across a lot of brands to repair and resell their garments. It's not happening fast enough, just like our reaction to climate change isn't happening fast enough.”
Kourtney helps Patagonia execute its vision for a better cared-for planet and set a precedent for other brands to do the same.
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Nov 3, 2021
Susan Holmes McKagan
Susan Holmes McKagan, author, model, and influencer. Susan has defied the expectations of being a model and rock star wife (to Guns N Roses’ Duff McKagan) by taking on a host of other careers, from swimwear designer and businesswoman to journalist and novelist. She talked about stressing the importance of her entertainer kids’ education, co-hosting a Sirius XM show with her husband, and the rejection-filled process of publishing a rock n roll novel.
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Oct 27, 2021
Kevin Lynch
Kevin Lynch. Creative Director at Oatly. World traveler. Story maker. Beautiful thinker. With a background at ad agencies in Chicago, Kevin first traveled the world to work in Shanghai, and later came to help the nondairy milk brand headquartered in Malmo, Sweden make creative messaging to further develop its quirky, highly individual tone. Kevin talked about educating consumers through laughter, being a brand with bravery, and staying in a year’s worth of Shanghai Airbnbs.
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Jun 4, 2021
Chris Davis
Chris Davis, Chief Marketing Officer of New Balance, on forming authentic partnerships, calculated risk-taking, and making dad shoes cool.
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May 25, 2021
Julie Browning Bova
Julie Browning Bova, designer/founder of Julie Bova Design, on story-centered interior design, putting intentional fear into your life and Midwest craftsmanship
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May 18, 2021
David Napolitano
David Napolitano, founder of Breadico, on baking out of a garage, the perks of growing a business in a smaller market, and why we all got so into bread in 2020.
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May 11, 2021
Alessandro Manfredi
Alessandro Manfredi, EVP, Dove at Unilever on why brand purpose is good business, the need for systemic change in the world of beauty, and partnering with Lizzo.
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Apr 27, 2021
Justin Parnell
Justin Parnell, Senior Director of OREO at Mondelez International, on staying playful, building a doomsday vault in Norway, and being an “and” brand.
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Apr 20, 2021
Alex Matisse
Beautiful Thinker: Alex Matisse, founder of East Fork Pottery, on bringing old-school manufacturing back, making community part of brand DNA, and finding success beyond his family’s legacy.
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Apr 13, 2021
Alan Lightman
Alan Lightman, author, physicist, and educator, on living a creative life, challenging science’s view of the unexplainable, and bringing the humanities to MIT.
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Apr 6, 2021
John Merris
John Merris, President and CEO of Solo Stove, on cultivating a solid company culture, radical customer service transparency, and creating your own fire.
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Jan 6, 2021
Giovanni Corazza
Giovanni Corazza, founder of the Marconi Institute for Creativity, on the dangers of expertise, balancing creative ideas with business principles, and how even non-living things can be creative.
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Dec 16, 2020
Emily Granger & Luke Tierney
Beautiful Thinkers: Emily Granger, harpist, and Luke Tierney, founder of Tier 1 Arts, on discovering the harp, the modern playlist movement, and what happens when classical music meets social media.
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Dec 10, 2020
Wes Rozen
Wes Rozen, founder of Camber Studio, on the dynamic meaning of "camber," finding creativity in the spaces between, and building the perfect place to work from home.
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Dec 1, 2020
Marshall "Mr. P" Pollard & Hugh Weber
Beautiful Thinkers: Hugh Weber, Managing Editor and CCO of The Great Discontent, and Marshall “Mr. P” Pollard, Founder of the Creative School, on creating equity through networks, intergenerational education, and an unlikely friendship that began on a bus in Switzerland.
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Nov 24, 2020
Lindsay Adler
Beautiful Thinker: Lindsay Adler, fashion photographer, on starting a business at 15, redefining femininity and the symbolism of the color red.
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Nov 10, 2020
Mark Graham
Beautiful Thinker: Mark Graham, Culinary Director at the Kellogg Company, on the role of ritual in food, global palates, and owning breakfast.
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Nov 4, 2020
Joshua Ramus
Beautiful Thinker: Joshua Ramus, Designer and Founding Principal at REX, on evaluating conventions in architecture, the utility of aesthetic, and COVID's impact on gathering spaces.
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Oct 27, 2020
Adam Lisagor
Beautiful Thinker: Adam Lisagor, founder of Sandwich, on representing digital concepts in physical space, embracing your niche, and making mistakes only you can make.
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Oct 20, 2020
Bill Neff
Beautiful Thinker: Bill Neff, VP Consumer Marketing at YETI, on expanding from hook and bullet, befriending communities, and the invisible work that cements a brand.
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Aug 3, 2020
Katherine Gray
Beautiful Thinkers: A conversation with Katherine Gray, artist and judge on Netflix's Blown Away, on glass blowing's mystical history, elevating domestic glassware, and interpreting the world through the polarities of glass.
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Jul 21, 2020
Rebekah Moses
Beautiful Thinkers: A conversation with Rebekah Moses, Head of Impact Strategy, Impossible Foods on the global becoming local, the pitfalls of guilting consumers, and her cautious optimism on COVID's environmental impact.
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Jun 30, 2020
Pete Johnson
Beautiful Thinker: A conversation with Pete Johnson, Head of Creation at the Lego Group, on living your company values, the universal state of play, and moving from Brooklyn to Denmark.
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Jun 1, 2020
Kat Vellos
Beautiful Thinker: Kat Vellos, author, activist and former UX designer at Slack, on forging meaningful relationships through the intersection of design and empathy.
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May 7, 2020
Tom Herbst
Beautiful Thinker: Tom Herbst, former CMO for The North Face, on cultivating a sense of exploration and curiosity — especially now.
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Apr 17, 2020
Sophie Kelly
Beautiful Thinker: Sophie Kelly, SVP, Whiskies, Diageo North America on redefining status, having purpose at the heart of a brand and shaping the future.
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Feb 25, 2020
Hugh Weber
Hugh Weber, Managing Editor and CCO of The Great Discontent on telling untold stories from the spaces in between and the wider definition of the word creativity.
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Dec 5, 2019
Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio
Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio, founders of Brand New, on the benefits of being married to your partner, creating to survive, and what it’s like to publicly critique your mentor’s work.
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Dec 5, 2019
Paula Scher
Paula Scher, Partner at Pentagram, on fighting the inner and outer critics and doing your best work in mundane moments.
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