A few weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking at the Sempre La Luce PechaKucha event, hosted by the San Francisco Illuminating Engineering Society at the Center for Architecture + Design. I stood in front of a packed room—designers, architects, our lighting community—and delivered a talk structured by the PechaKucha format: 20 slides, 20 seconds each, flipping forward whether you're ready or not. In just six minutes and forty seconds, I tried to braid together some of the mysterious and meaningful forces in my life: the ethereal nature of daylight, the surreal logic of quantum mechanics, and my unlikely journey to becoming a country songwriter in midlife.
Getting to that stage, though, was its own story. I said “yes” because I knew it would stretch me. Fear loses power when you walk straight at it.
I spent weeks circling ideas, sorting through personal truths and technical fascinations. At one point, this talk was about symbolic thresholds. Another version leaned toward physics. And for a few chaotic days, I tried to link the linguistic theories represented in the movie Arrival with the work of Henry Eckhart Tolle, and Heinrich Päs 😂. I edited and re-edited, whittling down a lifetime of questions about the source of creativity into a few clear lines.
I was also sharing the stage with speakers from some of the most prestigious architecture firms in San Francisco, which made me second-guess whether my understanding of the assignment might be a little too far out in left field. In the end, the talk became a pseudo map of creative Source. My business partner Kristin said it felt like “a cross-section of your brain,” and I think she nailed it.
I practiced like hell, coached myself through waves of fear, and stood up there in my whole truth. Two years ago I could barely utter to my husband in a dark bar, “I think I want to write country songs.” That night, I didn’t just share a talk—I shared a part of myself I’ve been working hard to bring forward. If you’re looking for a little creative courage or curious about how light can connect things as disparate as design, time, and twang, click play. 🧡
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