#161 Maria Brito

Hala Taha: Hey Maria. Welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.

Maria Brito: Hey Hala, thank you for having me and hello to all the listeners. I hope you're having a great day.

Hala Taha: Yes, I am so excited to have you on the show. It is such a pleasure. You are an award-winning art advisor, author and curator, and you are a true expert when it comes to creativity for entrepreneurs with years of research and experience in both business and art. And today we're going to cover key concepts from your new book, How Creativity Rules The World.

But before we do that, you have a really, really interesting backstory. And I'd love to share that with our audience. So I found out you were born in Caracas, Venezuela to a conservative Catholic family. You say you often went to studios and museums every Sunday in Caracas. And even though you came from a really artistic family, they insisted that you took a traditional career path. So I'd love to understand what it was like growing up for you and your education and your early career.

Maria Brito: Yes, well, you've said it perfectly. And, uh, when I was little, I wanted to be a singer. And when I was in primary school. The, I was always chosen for the festivals and to be the lead singer and things like that.

And my parents thought it was very cute. And as I grew older, I started to get a little bit more serious. And when I was maybe 18, I got this invitation to audition for a band that was a touring band and I got accepted. And, uh, when I presented this to my parents, they said, absolutely not. If you want to do that, you have to move out and, uh, you know, pick up your things.

Particularly my mom, I think my dad probably could have at some point agreed, but my mom was like, no, that is a job for hookers. And in this house, you're going to be an attorney or a doctor or an engineer or things that she saw were decent, according to her way of thinking. And so I. Well, I was very brokenhearted, but at the same time, when you grew up in Venezuela, you just can't leave your house and say, I'm going to wait tables, and I'm going to make money with tips and move in studio apartment.

You can't do that really. You can't first, very dangerous country. And second, uh, those opportunities really don't exist. It's a very different culture. So I, I studied really hard and I said, I'm going to go to law school because I was very, very good at reading and synthesizing information and writing and nothing else really was good.

I mean, I, wasn't not good at math. I didn't want to see blood. So those were not options for me. So I ended up applying to diverse law schools in the United States because I wanted to leave. That was the other thing. I didn't see myself there in Venezuela for a variety of reasons, but I just wanted to grow.

And I got accepted by Harvard law. And so I moved from little Caracas to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and I graduated in year 2000 and I moved to New York right away to. Practice law and to take the bar exam and all those things. And I did, and I did that for nine years of my life with success, but misery. So how was successful as a corporate attorney, but I was very miserable and I was hiding it to myself for a long time, because you have a lot of shame around the idea that you've spent so much time and money getting a law degree and then you practice and then you sort of like build some sort of reputation and then.

No, this is really absolutely horrendous and I do not belong at all to this space and I'm going to quit and open something for me that I love. And so, you know, it was a very challenging period of my life, but I am thankful that I was able to be truthful to myself and who I am actually. And to take that plunge and here we are, it's been 13 years since that. And so

Hala Taha: Amazing. Amazing. And so let's just rewind here a bet, because you went to Harvard law. People would kill for that opportunity. And I'm sure that had a lot to do with you being a lawyer for so long, because here you were, you were like, well, I graduated from like the most prestigious school you could. I did the hard things.

You know, I invested my time in law school. I took the LSAT. I, you know, I learned all of this. It's so hard to let go of a career that you've invested in. So how did you know that it was completely not for you? Like what were the feelings that you felt in terms of knowing that it was unfulfilling and not for you? And what was that turning point in terms of actually quitting that career?

Maria Brito: Well, there was. It's like a divorce, right? Like it's like, you never, it's not one thing. Right? It's like a million things that happen along the way. Right? Uh, I'm not divorced by the way, I'm married, but I have been through ups and downs in my marriage.

Right. So it's very similar as you start getting some discomfort, you start not liking certain things. You end up questioning. Why do you have to work? You know, 13, 14 hours for somebody else, even though you get paid really, really well. And you are very protected as an attorney in a big law firm in New York city, because they need you.

And because you know, they know that they really work you to the bone, so they have to pay well and they have to give you all this perks and things that you can never use by the way, because honestly you're there and all that time. So that all those perks are I mean, whatever. And. You know, I got pregnant.

And so I started to question if I wanted to show my child unborn child I life, where first of all, I was not going to be very present. And second, you know, kids learn by example and modeling. And so what was I going to teach my child that I was miserable, that I hated what I did being in a bad mood or whatever.

Right. And so the, this thoughts were kind of consuming me and. When I had the baby and I went back to the law firm,, and so I spend the maternity leave the three months and whatever. And so I went back, but I already had this oldest thoughts, you know, circling my mind. And it was just boiling inside of me.

So something had to happen. Like the definitive event was having the baby and having to return to the law firm. And then I went back and this was 2008. It's the whole world is collapsing around the financial crisis, the subprime mortgages, Bernie Madoff, and the whole thing. And our clients at that law firm were big banks.

So. It's just this mess. Right? And I'm in like the middle of all this with an, uh, you know, 12 week old baby at home. And I'm like, what am I doing with my life? I hate this. I absolutely have no desire to come here. I leave the subway every day. When I look at this place, it's frightening. I have like, Everything was like giving you so many signals of negativity around the whole thing.

And I had to just like accept them and say to myself, I'm going to live the rest of my life, a miserable life. And the more I stay here, the harder it'll be. Right. And I'm not saying this to, if anybody has been in a job for 40 years and they just want to quit today. Listen, you can do it. Believe me. But for me it was like, I have to get this done for two reasons.

One the most important one. I hate this. And second, I just really want to show my kid that life is about being whole. And it's about being creative. And it's about using your talents in the best possible way that you can, that's what life is about. It's about fulfillment. It's about finding passions and it's about really profiting from them because at the end of the day, if you are excellent at something and you love it, you're going to figure out how to capitalize on that.

And that is the mantra of my book. Is that any one can actually come up with this incredible ideas and profit from them, if they are honest with themselves..

Hala Taha: I love that. So your story really reminds me of a past guest we had on the show, her name is Gretchen Rubin, and she talks about this concept of drifting.

And basically this concept of drifting is that it's this state of you being because of a decision you did by not deciding it's basically like your state of not deciding. So you're drifting for nine years as a lawyer because you didn't decide that you wanted to do anything but doing law. And it was sort of like your default decision.

And so you did it because you made your parents happy. And so other examples are you go to medical school because you know, your parents are doctors or you take a job because it's the first job you got. And then you just stay in that career forever because it, that decision to change was not made. The other thing that I want to just call out is in the pandemic.

A lot of people have had time to self-reflect and finally they've caused this point where they actually can make a change because they actually have time to stop the hamster wheel and think about what's going on and realize like, Hey, I'm actually unhappy. I shouldn't just keep going with the motions of day to day and just keep drifting throughout life.

So I'd love to understand you being an expert on creativity and business. How can being creative actually help us fuel a career change?

Maria Brito: Well, it's true. Very interesting. What you just said about the pandemic, because as you know, we are still going through the great resignation and not only that, but in 2020 and 2021 Americans filed more than 10 million obligations for new businesses. This is a number that is unprecedented in the whole history of the United States. And it tells you two things. One, people were unhappy to a certain degree with what they were doing before. Two, is that this people are thinking that they can do something better than what they were doing before, or they can turn around their situation by being the masters of their own fate with their own businesses.

Right? So creativity is something that is uniquely human, right? Animals are not creative. They are smart animals have a level of intelligence for sure, but they are not creative. And when creativity and entrepreneurship are, I think it's almost intertwined concepts, because when you start a business or a project or a podcast or a book or whatever it is, you have to differentiate yourself with your best skills.

Right. Because otherwise you're going to look like the next and you're going to look like the other one, or you're just going to drift, like you said, right? Because you can't anchor yourself in what is it that you do that it's different and creativity is all about coming up with ideas that are uniquely yours and that are all value, right?

That's why you are so wonderful. Because Hala Taha has a point of view that is unique and novel and fresh. And when that doesn't work out for you anymore, you're going to be able to pivot again and do something else that, you know, because that is part of our evolution of human beings is the growth that comes with understanding that your creativity is there for you to alert you also, that you need to make a change and that you need to adjust things.

And that the things that actually at some point gave you a lot of pleasure and happiness might not necessarily be the same things to 10 years from now, 20 years from now, right. Or faster. We don't, you know, we're living in an accelerated age where things get old very quickly, right? And so that personal fulfillment and that uniqueness of, of each one of us is really crucial for.
For success in business and people can be successful in business by being miserable too. But it's not something that I can think will lead to a long-term success or something that you can say, well, listen, my life is balanced, right? Like I'm happy I'm doing this job. You know, it's, it's very difficult for people, especially.

Nowadays to be on a miserable job for too long. I think that things actually show much faster than they used to. And also, as we have seen with this influx of new businesses, people are taking chances on themselves.

Hala Taha: Yeah. I've been seeing that as well, too. So I'd love to kind of go back to your story and kind of understand how you went from lawyer to, you know, having this amazing art company that you own right now.

What was the transition? And were you doing art throughout those nine years or dabbling in things like, how did you actually make that switch?

Maria Brito: Well, when you said that I grew up in this artistic family, right? I got, I had that little bug inside of me because I thought it was a fascinating thing that my parents had opened up this doors.

Right? Like they took me to galleries and museums, artists, studios, you know, it was a very important part of my life, but my parents thought that was something that you do to nurture your soul and your spirit and to be a cultivated person. So you can have conversations with people around a table, right.

But not a business, but that things stayed with me for my life. And when I moved to New York, thankfully what New York has is thousand galleries and a thousand museums. And so in my very spare time, as a corporate attorney, I would go to this galleries and the museums. And I had my finger on the polls.

It was a very different world because we didn't have Instagram and we didn't have any of the social media networks at the beginning. And so you would have to go everywhere to experience this things, and you would have to go in person and shake hands with people. And you know, all the things that right now, we don't really do that much.

Right. And so I started paying attention to the art world and I also started attending art fairs, art Basel, when it opened. It wasn't December after nine 11 when our Basel in Miami opened for the first time. And so I went and I noticed that a lot of people who do the kind of job that I do were very stern and boring and transactional.

And I was like, Hmm, maybe I can do this better. Right. I said, at the beginning, I sorta like, was like, oh my God, you didn't really look so fun whether they're doing, but then as I noticed, more was like, they don't seem to be having that much fun. And as I, as the social media came along, which was Facebook first and at least like the ones that became mainstream, let's say, and Twitter.
I realized that there was an opportunity for me there because I could educate people about the mysteries of the art world. I could teach people how to collect. I could talk to artists and interview them and demystify their process, make everything accessible. That was the mantra of the business when it opened.

I mean, basically. So I saw that there was an opportunity for me because nobody was doing social media. Nobody was really kind of like wanting to bring this to the world. And because I was a good writer, I use that as my springboard to write for, as I had like a little, very rustic and not very fancy blog.

And then. For whatever reason people found me there. And then they invited me to contribute articles for the Huffington post or, you know, or for Elle and I was like, well, I must be doing something right. If I'm a complete outsider, who's writing about things with a language that is understandable and people actually get it.

Right. It's like when you try nowadays to explain to people what an NFT is, I just came back from a TEDx talk where I explained to people what an NFT and everybody's like, oh no, we get it right. Like, cause it's really, people try to make things more complicated than they are, and they really are not. Right?

And you can explain the same thing with like a fifth grade language, or try to make the PhD dissertation thesis, which is not at all my style. So this is how the business started. Basically. It was just, I said, I love this area. I obviously cannot be a singer anymore. And this is kind of the closest I'm going to get.

Right. And I think I can be successful because I was recommending artists to my friends and my friends were telling me, wow, what a ahead? You recommended this artist. And like, now the artist is like getting in the museums and you're always have this great eye for discovery and talent. And you're so curious.

And, you know, so I sorta like wanted to do something that I felt passionate about, but I was also paying attention to the feedback around me that had to do with what my friends said. It was a good opportunity for me. And also what I saw was a good opportunity for me.

Hala Taha: I love what you're saying here, because I think the best businesses, and I always say this on my show, the best businesses start from passion.

And from you just being curious and just trying to serve the world, put out information, and then it just seems like you organically evolved into becoming like a seven figure business. And that's what happened to me too. I started my podcast and it turned to a marketing agency. Now it's a network. Like it just like evolves as you realize, and you become more of an expert and know what you're doing.

You start to realize the opportunities and how to monetize what you're doing, but it all starts with that little curiosity and having that passion. So I love your story. I want to talk about Gwyneth Paltrow. Yes. So a year into you starting your blogging or year and a half into it, you got this opportunity to work for Gwyneth Paltrow.

How did that like kind of set off your career? What did you learn from that opportunity?

Maria Brito: Well, you know, Gwyneth gave me my first big break and it was so big, it like literally launched everything for me. And so this was, so I opened the company in 2009, cause I had the baby 2008. I was in the law firm, went back and then I quit.
Right. And so I opened the company in 2009 and of course I'm hustling and, you know, shaking hands with people and going everywhere and writing and this and that. Right? And then a friend tells me I really love what you're doing it is so interesting that you're trying to really glorify the art world for people and showing them how to do things.

And I am going to introduce you to Gwyneth Paltrow, but it was so organic, right. It wasn't like, oh, please introduced me to Gwyneth it was like, she said that right. And she did. And I was like, this is my chance. So I told Gwyneth this is what I do. And I, it was like my elevator pitch. Right. But like I say, everybody should collect art.

I think nobody should be priced out. Everybody can start collecting, you know, if they have a thousand dollars or $500 to spend, you know, I am really good at identifying the next talent. I always get this kind of right. And I love to. And so she's like, oh my goodness, I love this. And so here's what I did. I had written an article for Forbes.com like the month before through our organization, entrepreneur women, I don't really remember.

And that was one of the best articles I have written about because it was about demystifying the art world. And I think Forbes had given me like, it's a thousand words. I don't know. So I printed the article and I put it on, um, it, you know, seriously, it was so bad. Put it into the front of the article. And I put it inside of a folder.

A friend of mine had a, a company where they sold a fine art photography. And so I got a fine art print from them that was inexpensive, but I wanted to show her that it was possible to like collect things that were not expensive, but they were beautiful. So I just got that and I sent her to her apartment and this was let's say June or July.

And I didn't hear anything until September. And then I like so that I have a phone call that I ha I never really pick up my phone. So I see that I missed a call and then I listened to the voicemail and say, Hey, Maria, how are you it is Gwyneth Paltrow. I just got to New York. I have not been in New York for so long.

Thank you for what you sent me is so fantastic. What you do. I want you to please write a story for Goop. And this was 2011, it's one and a half years into my business. And I was like, wow, this is really massive, so I call her back and I said, what do you want, when do you want it for, because at that time, goop was Gwyneth and her assistant editorial assistant.

So it was just the two of them. And the headquarters of Goop was Gwyneth's house in London. That was it. There were two people and it was. I think every Thursday and you had a green background and that was it. So I wrote the story, it was like eight pages. They let me do anything. I wanted. And I saw pictures, iPhone pictures.

They were so bad. Hala, you have no idea how bad this was. And I sent it all and they put it together. And when that thing was sent out, it's like, my life changed because it was a different time. Right. This was a once a week email. It was not a company. They had nothing else, but the information and that's it.

Right? And so mine was like the guide to collecting and demystifying. The art world is like, everything changed for me that day. I got phone calls and emails from art Basel from like all the big, like, you know, art, like amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. And so she gave me that big break and she gave me that trust.

And that push sorta, like I need it. There was nothing at that time that could have helped me that much as she did. And, you know, she continues to be a champion of women and entrepreneurs and she's incredibly generous and an excellent human being. Who's built an incredible business herself and works really, really hard and is everyday involved in the day to day operations of the business.

So she's someone that I look up to because not only is she so smart and beautiful, but also she is generous and a good person. So that's the Gwyneth Paltrow story.

Hala Taha: I love this story because I think the other kind of hidden gem in there was the fact that you weren't scared to just take the opportunity and just go for it.

You didn't do this before. You didn't have guidelines. You weren't a, you were a professional at this, but you didn't like, you just took your past experience. Use them to produce what Gwyneth wanted and then all these opportunities opened up. And had you been scared to do that or late? You know what I mean?

In terms of like the people procrastinate sometimes, especially if they've never done something before and they lose opportunity. So I think that's really special.

Maria Brito: Thank you. I think I was never going to let that go. You know what I mean? It's like they said, that deadline is, you know, in two weeks and I had it done in five days, you know, because I was like, oh,

Hala Taha: Whatever Gwyneth want, Gwenyth gets. Right?

So let's move on to your newest book. How Creativity Rules The World, it's going to be coming out right around when we aired the show. I think March 18th that comes out or March 15th, March 15th, March 15th, that comes out. And so creativity is this word. That's thrown out a lot. And I think people have a hard time understanding exactly the definition of creativity.

So what does creativity in your own words?

Maria Brito: Creativity is your unique ability to come up with ideas of value that are relevant? And the word relevant is very important because it means that they serve a purpose in a marketplace today. Right? I mean it isn't 20 years from now, and it's not 10 years past, creativity's all about being relevant and having those ideas that are uniquely yours.

And that's what I said at the very beginning is that we all have so much to give. And yet we stop because of so many things, like fear is one of them. Another is like, I'm not good enough and I'm not creative enough. And, you know, who am I thinking that I can be to disrupt a market or you know, or who am I to believe that I can make waves in an industry?

Well, I'm here to tell you, you can, cause I did it as an outsider of the art world, which is one of the most difficult and snub industries you will ever imagine. And I am an immigrant Latina with an accent. And I wrote through all that because I had something to say and something to do that nobody else was doing.

So if you do not respect your ideas, they are not going to come because you are going to be discarding them without even wanting to assess them. Which is the most important thing is like, if you're having hunches and you're having images and you're having ideas, respect them, you know, listen to them, write them down, look at them, analyze them.

You know, and also creativity is endless you know, because the more you put it out, like you said, you started in a way that you grew in it, you know, you had a podcast then that grew into an agent is like one thing. And to the other and the other and the other. And that is because the more excellent ideas human beings have, the more excellent ideas you will keep triggering and generating.

And the only way that you can do that is by not only having the ideas, but also executing them, which is when most people fail is that they have the idea, but they don't respect it and they don't execute it because they don't feel they are, they have what it takes or they feel that they need that everything has to be perfect from the get go, or they need, you know, $50 million in funding or the biggest things. And the biggest breakthroughs in life in the world. And inventions in businesses always start marginally very small.

Hala Taha: So it sounds like you're starting to get into some myths related to creativity. And I know your book, you outlined seven different myths related to creativity. So can you talk about some of those and let's debunk them?

Maria Brito: Well, people sometimes think creativity is genetic and this is definitely not, there is no gene that determines if anybody's going to be more, if that were to be the case, then, you know, uh, there would be like Steve jobs and his siblings let's say, right. Like they will all be like, you know, no, that's not the case.

He was adopted and whatever, but it's just an example, our Lenardo DaVinci, right. Or Michelangelo like, you know, or Picasso. Right. Who has sisters? So. No, there is no nothing. And I went and I like read like maybe, you know, 25 studies on genes in creativity that's not, it's not. The other thing is for example, that creativity cannot be learned, which is kind of like the whole backbone of my ideas is that we actually are born extremely creative, but as we get older and we are exposed to formal education and the schools teach us what to think instead of how to think.

And we are, you know, LSATs, a standardized test bar exams, everything is measured through those lessons, which is really stupid. If you think about it because people's creativity that intelligence is can not be circumscribed, do an X or like filling around in an answer sheet. So the more humans are exposed to that.

The more we stifle our creativity, but there is a way to relearn, to think like a child, right. And that's why I have a whole set of exercises and ideas and blueprints on the book on how people can put that together. Right. The other thing is like, well, only a handful of people can be creative, but, well, how so if it's something so human, if we have seen studies that children perform at the highest level of creativity and the same kids, when they are tested at the age of 30, they perform at 2%.

That means that you have already had this inside of you all the time, but you have decided to see the world to put a special type of lenses that takes away everything that is incredible. And the other thing is the left brain and the right brain. So this was debunked by a Nobel prize physician and, and, you know, the brain needs both hemispheres to work perfectly well.

Right? A lot of people in math you would think they are left brained. However, math is one of the fields where like the most creative things can happen. If you think about coding, if you think about formulas, if you think about like algorithms, you know, they all happen in, in math equations, right? So those people are not left-brained and they are not right-brained there is an interconnection and interdependence of both sides.

It is a matter of not physiology, but is how you develop your talents. Right? I mean, they're, I have two kids and they are excellent at math and I'm not, and that's the thing, right? Like they are, they love math, they're sharp, but you know, but they are also super artistic too. And so, I'm like always kind of thinking, well, they can be both things if they want to.

And I hope they develop passions in life and whatever they decide to do when they are older, but for the time being, I can see that both sides are robust. And so it depends on each one of us. If we want to strengthen that connection. And I don't necessarily have to be a math genius because what my, my left brain is logical.

Right. And so I don't do things that are crazy. I am very intuitive using my right side, but I also go with logical things and, you know, I say, well, I'm going to take a calculated risks. It's not that I am just going to go and put all my money in crypto right now. Right. Um, I'm trying to think about like, what do I need to do to balance both sides of my brain constantly?

And those are part of the myths that I write about in the book. And I give every one of them, there is a specific study that I consider was the definitive study. And I give people that data too, because a lot of people are like, well, this can be anecdotical. Where are you getting this Maria? Here it is, is, you know, it's, it's in the studies that psychologists and researchers spend, you know, I don't know how many years tracking people to prove this to you.

Hala Taha: And I was telling you offline, you know, I read like two books a week and your book was so well-written jam packed with so much great research, so many great examples stories plus your own experience. It was really great. So I can't wait to dig into some strategies of how we can actually hone in our creativity.

There's a couple of stats that I just want to list out to my listeners that I think is really interested. So in your book, you say LinkedIn studies showed that the number one in demand skill turns out to be creativity. And during the pandemic, the world economic forum called creativity, the one skill that will future-proof you for the job market.

So I'd love to hear from you why you think creativity is so important in terms of a skill to have in 2022 and beyond.

Maria Brito: Well, you know, um, Hala, a lot of people and this is not new. A lot of people have been substituted by machines,, right? And that's a problem. But if you think about it, where are those people, the ones who were constantly reinventing themselves at their jobs or were those the people who actually just pushed buttons and accepted the status quo as it was.
Right. And the same thing is to be said for people who have businesses because of. You know, you might say, well, but I'm an accountant. That's not creativity. Of course it is creativity. I just read about an accountant who has a very thriving business of tax preparation business because he's a comedian. And so he has a team of comedians and like, everybody wants to work with him too, because he is so funny and so personable.

And so he's not going to be just written off, but because TurboTax does it for a hundred bucks, right. I mean, it's just like, it's how do you. Present your world, your ideas, your business. Why is it that the world economic forum and LinkedIn, and not only that IBM too, that a whole study on creativity through the CEOs of the companies of 1500 companies in that I don't know, 70 different industries and I don't know, 150 countries and they all agreed.

It was creativity, whether we're looking for when they wanted to keep people employed and who they wanted to actually hire. Adobe also did this study. And what Adobe found is that one in four people say I'm not creative enough and I don't have the tools to be creative, but the tools are not things you're going to go to the hardware store to buy.

And they are not things that you're going to find. And like the most advanced computer the tools are within. And they are very simple, but they need work. You know, sometimes people think, well, what kind of work it is, you know, five, 10 minutes a day. Everybody can actually build those creative skills and think outside of what it's been given to them.

Right. I mean, the, the, I hate the word that think outside the box thing is that it's like, it feels so old school to me, but I think that people are familiar with that think outside of the box. Right? And so, you know, we, as, you know, as humans in this very fast paced world need to be constantly adjusting and adopting things and changing the way we see things.

And, you know, uh, there is a famous investor in on Wall Street. His name is Peter Lynch. And what Peter Lynch teaches he's analyst theory is very old now, but what he teaches his analysts and what he does. And he's, this is one of the guys who has that one of the strongest track records in investments in the whole history of Wall Street, what he teaches his analysts besides being paying attention and being great is like go out in the world and do things differently because no incredible breakthrough, no incredible experience.

No incredible investment comes from place of complacency, of being taking business as usual, right? Everything that is amazing in this world comes from curiosity from wanting to explore intersections of two or more different industries. It comes from a desire to do something that nobody else has done.

It comes from, you know, if somebody does one thing one way and continues to do that. It'll at some point it will become best practices. Feel very allergic to this word when you, this term, when you hear it, because best practices means it's been done so much, that it has been codified, right. And that's nothing creative.

And in best practices, I'm not saying go against the manual that they gave you in your office. Right. And like write graffiti on the walls. No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that once you have gotten used to a certain way of doing things, feel a little worried about that. And if you're very comfortable and what you're doing, and you feel like it's a smooth sailing, feel a little worried about that because the discomfort that you feel when you're trying to do something new is a very good indication that you are exploring creative territories.

If everything is very stable all the time, and everything is like easy that. Also a clear signal that you're not growing and you're not getting into a fairly creative spot, right. Everything that is amazing, like writing this book was a challenge, right? I mean, it was in the middle of the pandemic. I have a business, I have two kids and yet I said, I'm going to do this.

And I plow through the whole thing, inventing new parts of my business, like the consulting part of entrepreneurship and, and being in front of CEOs of companies and giving them workshops around, creativity and whatnot was difficult too. And it was uncomfortable, but I loved it. And I, I thought, well, this is something that I want to explore.

I have never said no to urges. If they come. Consistently. I have never said no. I, you know, that doesn't mean I'm going to go and put like a million bucks into a division of a business that might not go anywhere. You know what I mean is like it's calculated risks. Right. But I have done things that I never thought I was going to do.

I, I, you know, I did manufacturing in collaboration with artists. Three years. And I learned a ton, but it was so hard and unsatisfying. I mean, we got the money, we actually made profits, but it was so complicated. I was like, oh my goodness, no wonder manufacturing is on the decline in this country because it's so difficult to do.

But I, you know, I think it's put of that desire of like, not be at Stansteel. That is the, the, the feeling of being stuck is for leaders, for curious people, for fun people is one of the most damaging things for anybody's career. Right? And that's why those studies and the LinkedIn and the world economic forum are telling you.

Be unique, be creative, right? I mean, avoid getting replaced by a machine, right?

Hala Taha: Yeah. When I think of creativity, I think of problem-solvers right. Like, and for me, I, I'm a very naturally creative person now. I think I've become more and more creative as I've gotten older. And I feel like it's like a superpower.

Like I literally never get afraid. Any sort of project in front of me because I just figure out how to be creative, create creative solutions and just do it. You know what I mean? I feel like I always say this, my focus can change the world if I focus on it and you know, I'll just figure it out because I'm creative and I'm open-minded.

So there's two concepts that you bring up in your book that I think you kind of hit on that I want to talk about. The first is autonomy. So I'd love to understand how autonomy is. You did touch on it a little bit, but I'd love to hear it in more depth in terms of how autonomy is related to creativity, and then also the ability to trust your instincts and why that's important.

Maria Brito: Well, autonomy is so important because it is. Your belief in yourself and that your ideas are good and that you're going to explore them and that whatever comes out of them, something good can be implemented. And when you have a herd mentality and grip thing, which is pretty common, and nowadays, if you ask me is obviously not creative and, um, you can have models because nothing is a hundred percent new, right?

I mean, if you think about it, we're building on what has been created before, right. And Steve jobs did not invent the phone and he did not invent the music player. Right. This was like combinations of things that. Previously in the world. And so we have models and we have ideas and we have passions, right?

I mean, and so, but it's how we recombine all this elements in our very own unique way and how we have the autonomy to believe that what we think is going to be the next step is going to be right, or nobody has a hundred percent certainty of anything but autonomy in your convictions and in the way you think, and, uh, why you're going to pursue what you're going to pursue is very important for creativity and for entrepreneurship, for sure.

And so I urge people throughout the book also to. Yes, it's fine to get feedback is very important if you have a team or if you have investors or if you are, you know, and, and let you have a boss, right? Like, I mean, it's very important to have feedback, but it's also very important to be able to speak up when you think something should be taken into consideration, when you think.

You know, has to be new. A lot of businesses would have never existed if the founders with would have gone with the first person who told them no. Right. I mean like Airbnb couldn't get any money until actually they said that they were going to move the focus from people who was going, you know, people who are going to go to conferences on to like a different view, which is the vacation market.

So when, when they moved at the kind of perspective, instead of saying, this is for conference people, they say, no, why don't we make this for people who go on vacation and they don't want to stay into like in hotels, that's when the money started to pour in like crazy. And, but for the longest time, it wasn't happening and all they needed and move was like, you know, like three degrees to like, see the other thing that was happening.

Right. And so. Once you have a great idea. As I said before, respect it and my net, and he might not end up being that, but he might end up being built on that foundation. And that is important. And I'll talk to me. He also goes along with being a person who can analyze and synthesize a lot of. Points of view so that you don't have to go with the majority, the mainstream is already mainstream.

If you know what I'm saying, right. I mean, it's like, you're autonomous. You're not going to go and do what everybody else is doing. That's why the most interesting things are happening in the periphery of, you know, the big businesses and the big things. And that's part of being autonomous.

Hala Taha: Yeah. Okay. So there's a bunch that I want to get to here.

So first of all, I'd love to get some advice, practical advice or, or exercises we can do to start being more independent thinkers. And then my second kind of practical advice that I'd like you to give our listeners is to help us become more hyper aware of what's actually going on. Because like you said, air Airbnb just needed to pivot three degrees.

So how can we be more aware of those little nuances around us?

Maria Brito: All right. Well, so one thing that has been lately exposed a lot is the echo chamber, rather echo chamber, where we're like listening the, our own voices. We only get the algorithm feed that we already have been used to. And we hang out with the people that think like us and, you know, people are having all this political fights and families and whatever, right?
So that is a space where you can be extraordinarily benefited from the idea of mingling yourself with people who think differently. And that. It's very important as someone who really wants to build a creative mindset, right. It doesn't have to, it doesn't mean you're going to agree with the other people, but it means that you are going to be able to get yourself informed by other points of view.

And we don't have that, that often anymore. I think that I have watched a couple of very interesting people being observant and like silent. And those people are usually the ones with the best business ideas, right? Like the ones who are watching everything and not just what they want to watch. Right. And, and not just people who look and speak like them.

And so it's very important to open up space through that. And that, again, that doesn't mean negotiating your convictions. It just means having the willingness to see all their points of view. Right. And, uh, I think that what you said about the Airbnb and people's ideas of what can you do to, to pay more attention to what's happening?

In fact, paying attention is one of the most important things that we can do, and we're not doing it because we are overwhelmed again with technology and news and bad things happening everywhere all the time. And big media is always competing for our attention they wanted, they needed. And I believe that.

People need to spend more time alone in silence with themselves. There is a study that I quoted in the book as well off, uh, students who were offered either to stay for 10 minutes alone, or they could stay those 10 minutes alone. And if they weren't feeling bored, they could give themselves an electrical shock.

Right. And it was quite kind of painful. The majority of the students decided that they wanted to have the electrical shock because they were bored. They could not be, they could not be 10 minutes alone on their own. This is a problem. This is a problem because it is. Where ideas have to marinate, and you need the pockets of silence to have the time and the space to have, you know, those ideas come to the surface and it could be that you don't get the idea until you're in the yoga class.

It could be that you're you get the idea when you're driving home or when you are walking the dog, it doesn't matter. Right? I mean, the point is that without pockets of silence and without moments of being with yourself alone, you're not going to be able to have the flourish, you know, like the ideas to flourish and to germinate the best possible way.

So I encourage people to really spend more time alone and to schedule it and make it a part of like your life. Right? I mean, I have had students who've told me. Yeah. But I spend time alone every morning, but I play music. I said, that's not what I am asking you to do. I mean, it's the same thing as electrical shock, this person needed the music, you know, she's like, what is very Zen and it's very instrumental..

And I said, that's great, but you are stimulating parts of your brain and parts of your ear and part, you know, like your sentences with the music. And what I want you to do is to be alone in silence, 10 minutes, give me five. I said five minutes, right? And so once people start incorporating this things in their lives, they start seeing a lot of things that they missed before, because they give a space to the brain to actually process all their information and to come up with those ideas.

Hala Taha: I think this is really important. So what she's saying is that give yourself silence every single day and not might be hard if you're in like a job that has an open co-working space or you're, you know, you've got a busy family. So what is your advice for people who want to create this creativity incubator as you call it in your book?

I believe, uh, what is your advice? You know, if they feel like they have a really busy life that doesn't really allow for that?

Maria Brito: Well, listen, there is, uh, not a it's not a coincidence that a lot of people get their best ideas when they are taking a shower. It's the truth. And why is that is because it's the only time where people are alone and they have that space to think.
Right. And so I would say if you can be in the bathroom, locked doors five minutes, right? I mean, five minutes before you even take that shower, five minutes put on like the timer, right. Then it use that time to think, you know, I would love to say, take a walk and taking a walk is good because it gets things moving, but you will have to be stimulated by your surroundings because, you know, if you're going to cross the street, you'll have to look, you know, uh, both sides of the road and you have to pay attention to the lights and whatnot.

Right. So. While taking a walk has an important part, you know, is an important thing for everybody because really ideas get moving. It is not the same as spending time alone in one place with nothing else, but you and your thoughts, whatever they are sometimes, you know, I like people like to meditate and that word has so many different connotations and a lot of people think, no, it's going to be so difficult.

And I have to be in a chamber with Buddhists and like, you know, infrared, sauna and incense. No, man is just like, meditate is just trying to breathe and keep your mind as clean as possible. So if people have really a crazy busy life, if you can take those five minutes while you're in the bathroom and nobody's bothering you, I think you're going to see miracles in a week or two.
Like you are going to start seeing a lot more ideas, but you've got to be willing to do it, right. I mean, it's not just listening. It's uh, you gotta practice.

Hala Taha: Yes. All right. So let's move on to some other key concepts. You talk about authenticity as being crucial when it comes to honing your creativity. So why is it that the most creative ideas are always the most personal as well?

Maria Brito: Well, because all of us have had our own set of experiences in this world. We have had our parents our upbringing the schools that we have attended, the places that we have lived, and we recombine all those experiences in our very own specific way. So whatever is uniquely yours. I think it is the most creative, no matter what you want to do, whether it is a restaurant or an accounting business or a podcast, whatever it is, right.

Or an agency, because you bring yourself to the table. And that's what we said before about machines, replacing humans and why, if you're creative, you can never be replaced, right? Because you have all those experiences. And as that could be relative thing, right? Because as you move forward in life, you have already learned so many things that are just yours and you have interpreted things in a way that is uniquely yours.

That's why you have an agency because you saw an opportunity and you, so how to develop things within the agency. And you took all the things that you have learned into what it is right now. And probably as I told you, before, you will accumulate more experiences and you will use those experiences for other things, right?

I mean, I, the things that I knew when I started the business are very different because there were limited in a way I came with all myself. But as the business grew, I learned things that were uniquely mine. And I utilize those very unique experiences to not only create what I have, but also to write the book because a lot of this anecdotes and all of the things that have to do with my life and the solo note, nobody else can write the book.

You know what I mean? Because I saw things in the very same, you know, in a way that I did. And the beauty of that is that the world that interpreters its own way. Right? I mean, many different people like you who have read the book I have very different opinions about it, positive, but different. Right. And it all depends on how you feel or your reality.

Right. And I think it's super important, you know, like if you are, for example, in the business of creating content, if you, you know, like see the enormous amount of movies and, you know, Netflix series and whatnot, the most successful ones are the ones that are really coming from the heart of the showrunner or the producer or the director or the screenwriter.

You know, it's not an idea that has been forced and commissioned, right? Like here, it's like, you know, it's, it's like the things that come from within and the things that people have experienced, what really color all the, you know, all the, the creative parts of what you put out in the world.

Hala Taha: I love that. So in terms of improvisation, once you know the basics, you can break away and become innovative. So I'd love for you to kind of help us understand this concept and how we can use it in business.

Maria Brito: Well, when you're in business, you are supposed to know what, you know, in other words, right? Like you're, you're getting paid to be a certain expert or something and what you do, right.

And you have learned a set of rules, or you have learned to do things in a specific way. And once you have mastered those things is when you can really take certain chances. Right. I mean, and I'm not talking about like the beginning of a startup because yes, you can take chances in the beginning of a startup, but you still don't know what you're doing with a business.
Right. So assuming you've been, you know, two years on the go or in your career in a big company, or medium-sized. And you have learned a lot of rules and you have learned a lot of procedures and you'll have learned how to do things. That is the space where you need to be able to take chances in improvisation.

Right. And so improv in business. I like this technique that was originally patented. If you will, by Del close, who was a, a comedian and an acting coach, and it was, the yes and, technique where you keep the ball rolling. Right? And so if you have a client who calls you and says, I need this today at 5:00 PM and you know is impossible.

You have to, like, you don't say no, because it shuts down the conversation immediately. The client gets upset, whatever you say yes. And let's review the scope of this project to see if we can actually get it done tonight at five. Right. I mean, that is a way of improvising at work by pushing yourself out of the comfort zone of what you would normally do.

Take a chance and seeing what happened and, you know, participating actively of the conversation. But by the same token, you know, some of the most incredible inventions in life have been accidents. Right? I mean, and so, and, and that happened too, because people were willing to improvise with the materials that we're willing to improvise with the order of the steps that they had to get there.

They were willing to, to, you know, experiment and all this things are so intertwined that we can really talk about them all day long because. It's like almost one concept is married to another and it's, you know, best friends of another and is the father or mother, because they are all so important, but they have nuances that differentiate them from.

You know, the other ideas or tools or techniques, and then you mentioned aggregation.

Hala Taha: Well, can I pause? Yes. Cause I, I want to make sure that my listeners really understand this concept. So I think it may be helpful if you explain how improvisation is used in the art world or for artists, because I think that will help them understand how they can then apply it to business.

Maria Brito: Well, For example, Jackson Pollock, right? I mean, who wrote the book off like the modern era and the United States as an abstract expressionism? And I am sure everybody's familiar with his work. He started painting landscapes and, uh, you know, uh, figures and whatnot, like any other, you know, painter, you have to start somewhere.

And he had this big studio and in the Hamptons and he's like, I want to do something different. And remember, this was a time where the United States was flourishing from. It's funny, we talk about this from the second world war, but entering the cold war with Russia. That's what I said is crazy. So it was, it was like in the midst of the cold war and the United States says, I want to be differentiate myself from the Russians.

And I am going to do this through art. And so. This movement of men and women, the abstract expression is they wanted a break with everything that had to do with European style and cubism and impressionism. And so that's when Pollock said, well, I already know everything I need to know. According to him is that I already needed to everything I need to know about painting flowers or landscapes, and I'm going to experiment and nobody else was doing that.

And what he did is like he's stretched a piece of canvas on the floor of his giant studio in the Hamptons. And he took a piece, you know, he took house paint, which is very fluid and it's not like oil paint that is thinking whatever. And instead of using a brush, he found a couple of sticks and knives, and he started just splattering the whole thing and, and moving himself with it.
Right. And so this is improvisation. He just didn't know where he was going to go. It was an experiment. And it turns out that when he finished, he was like, oh, this is very cool and interesting. And I have never seen anything like that before now we take it for granted. Now we say, well, this guy was just splattering, but at the time nobody else was doing it.

And the same thing is jazz. Jazz is all about improvisation. There is a certain amount of notes and compositions that the musicians have to play and they have, but then, you know, the saxophone does one thing and you know, the piano does something else. And, and it's like that. Improvisation, what has made jazz, what it is and people love it.

And it's the same thing with hip hop, because a lot of this lyrics are, you know, off the cuff and it's like improvising, you know, and seeing, you know, so it's just like, the concept is so broad and it can be really applied to so many, the friend, you know, part like when I, the example I gave in my business is a client who asked me for a Banksy painting.

And I was like, how am I going to get to Banksy? I mean, does he even exist? She like the glass set is for my husband's birthday and I, I want to buy it from the studio. I don't want to buy it from, you know, a gallery who is the truth is. Fake Banksy's and things happen. And so I was like, how am I going to do this?

And I told her, of course, I'm going to get you a Banksy.. And I could have said, no, it's impossible, but I improvise my, you know, it was like I said, yes, of course, I'm going to get you a Banksy. And I went like crazy until I found a connection who could have connected me to Banksy's studio and they did.

And then my client called again and said, oh, I thank you, but you know what? I really want to go there and see it in person. I was like, oh my God. Yes, of course you can go. You know? And so it was like me moving the ball forward. And by the way, if you ask Elon Musk, once he is in front of his investors, if he can send people to the moon, if the Tesla is going to work, he's going to say always yes.

And, and then he's going to leave the room and he's going to say how the F I'm going to make this happen. And that is true. And that is, it's both an improvisation and it's also a risk taking move because you're going to figure, and you know, Steve Jobs also did the same, like, you know, like he, like they said, it's impossible.

What you want to do with that phone. It's never going to look the way you want it to look and whatever. And he said, yes, it's going to happen. And I already told everybody that's going to happen and you have to make it happen. You know what I mean? It's so it's a little bit of, um, I don't want to put it in a way that it's wishful thinking because for you to take this risks and this improvisations, you actually have to have enormous knowledge to actually take the chance.

Right? I mean, when I, my client told me to find Banksy is I was not a complete stranger of the art world. Like I was on, day one,, I had already had the business for almost two years. So I said, I don't know, Banksy. I don't even know if Banksy exist, but I am going to talk to the street artist that I know and see if they can connect me.

You know? So I had a foundation that served me well on that time. Right? It's not like somebody asked me tomorrow about an area that I have no clue. I'm not going to improvise there because it's going to sound terrible. Right. But, you know, like I said before, when this guys are promising things to their investors or their board of directors or something, they know that this.
Uh, 60% chance that it can't get done or 65 or whatever. Right. So, and that is very important for creativity because it pushes you to get to the point where you're going to materialize what you thought at some point it was not possible.

Hala Taha: So I have a quote from your book that I think sums us up really nicely.

The paradox of improvisation is that the more prepared and competent you are, the more creative and unpredictable you can be.

Maria Brito: Yes. And that is also, you know, how comedians and stand-up comedy happens. And, you know, that's how once you know your craft, you can really get an explorer, the tangents you can go and think about.

Promises that maybe would have seemed outlandish all the whys. Uh, you can mix, if you're a chef, you can start mixing, you know, flavors that would never come together, but you have to experiment and you have to improvise in the kitchen because that's how you keep the people wanting for more. So I think that this is a concept that is super applicable to every facet of life and it can really also be amazing for decision-making, you know, for when you're you have to decide something fast and improvise.

Hala Taha: Yeah. So let's talk about one last concept and then let's move to closing the interview. So I'd love to understand the concept of deconstruction and aggregation and how that relates to art in both business.

Maria Brito: Well, so the construction is taking the pieces apart, right? And so for example, in art, all the ideas of Picasso and cubism we're isolating pieces, right?

And so it was an arm here and a foot there. And you know, if you look at Guernica, you know, one of the most important pieces of art in the whole world and the history of humanity, it's all about. Pieces of bodies that were dismembered in the war. Right. And so they have so much more impact that way. And in business, you know, deconstructing parts, for example, of like what happened?

I, I give the example of zens, right? Like when they invented the remote control, the remote control used to be a thing that was a panel attached to the TV and had wires and whatnot. And so they were like, how do we make this? How do we profit from this? Because they were making television sets, but they also were like, and if we can invent something separately with this, wouldn't that be cool?

So they separated something that was attached and they invented their remote. They were the inventors of the remote. Right. And look, now we have remotes for everything, right? The ACN apps and you know, the car and whatever. So it's been like an incredible invention that came from deconstructing and separating things.

Twitter is a deconstruction project because when it was founded, it was like, how do we make something that is just this amount of characters, right? And so it is not aggregating. It is deconstructing and same thing with any business. When you think about, maybe you have too many things, maybe one of them has to be deconstructed and separated and, and it's just may not need it anymore.

Right. And so you have to ponder if everything that is in your business right now is worth having, or if it's needed for the whole thing to separate it in pieces. Right. And aggregation is dead. The opposite is Facebook is, you know, an aggregation project because it is, you know, is the picture is the, like, is the, you know, the messenger is the, uh, you know, I mean, all this things actually Twitter added many things after, but remember that for many years, it was just.

Microblogging right. And, but Facebook came with a very different strategy. It was like, how do we make this a community where people hang out for the longest time. Right. And so they kept adding things, the shopping and the games and, uh, you know, the business and the experiences and this and that. So it was like, if we add more things, we're going to keep people on for the longest time.

Right. And so it's not that one is better than the

other or anything. It's just that they are very different ways of seeing. Uh, business concept or an idea. And so how do you feel during them through those two? And I think that I like to give the reader the two opposites so that they think about what they need at any given time in their businesses, in their careers.

And this book is, is, you know, heavily oriented towards people in business, people in positions of entrepreneurship, people who own companies or people who want to become intrapreneurs. And that concept is not that very, it's not that very explored. Usually the idea that you can, if you're a part of an organization, be your own leader and bring all this ideas to whatever it is that you do so that it doesn't happen. What we said before that you don't become obsolete and you don't get replaced by machines.

Hala Taha: I love this concept of deconstruction and aggregation. It's just a new way to like, think about things and come up with creative solutions and come up with ideas that could be the next, you know, $50 billion company like Twitter was.

So I love the Twitter example in particular, because they took blogging, which at the time was so, so popular and was, it's basically, you know, lots of words, many different thoughts, and then they deconstructed it to a single tweet and, and built a whole billion dollar business around that. So just goes to show how powerful this could be.

Maria Brito: Absolutely. And it's just one simple idea, you know, if you think about it, it's just one simple idea. Sometimes complexity is the enemy of execution, you know, and so that's not for everybody. Sometimes people love to have very complex, complex projects at hand and to get into very, you know, ambitious.

Businesses with many moving parts. There's nothing wrong about that. But sometimes a very simple idea can actually. Be, you know, a billion dollar idea or more if it gets to be presented. Right. And I think marketing is also a very important creative skill and ability and, uh, for people in marketing and this book is going to be really relevant and important for them, because I think that they will keep coming back to find, uh, you know, ideas and concepts and, uh, to refresh their memory.

Hala Taha: 100%. So this was so great guys, everybody tuning in, we covered about 10% of her book. There's so much more information. Every single page was just like packed with so much gems and great information. I read a ton of books all the time and a lot of the time it's like sifting through fluff. It was like, Every page had like a gem.

And honestly, I had like 50 questions prepared this for this interview. Cause there was just so much in there. So I highly recommend for everybody to go grab her book, Maria, I know that you have a special offer just for our yap listeners. Can you tell us about that?

Maria Brito: So I am going to give for free my creativity online course and all their bonuses and resources that are worth like $650 for free.

If you pre-order my book or you order it. And so I'm keeping it open until the 18th of March at midnight Eastern time. And all you'll have to do is email your receipt to [email protected]. That's Maria and B R I T as in Tom o.com and say Hala told me that's it Hala told me, cause I'm keeping it open just for you guys.

Hala Taha: Awesome. And the book is called How Creativity Rules, The World. It is out on March 15th. Make sure you guys go get that. So I always close out my interviews with the same last couple of questions and we do some fun stuff at the end of the year with them. So what is one actionable thing our listeners can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?

Maria Brito: I think pay attention to three different media sources that are not from the same place that you'd normally get your information from.

Hala Taha: Hm. And what is your secret to profiting in life?

Maria Brito: My secret to profiting is my creativity. Really? It is my superpower. Like you said, I aligned with that so much because I think that as long as I can come up with ideas, I'm going to keep succeeding and I'm going to keep making money off of them.

There is absolutely nothing that I think about. As I said before that I shy my way from exploring if I believe I can serve. And also I believe I can make it viable and monetize it. So. It's all about being creative and innovative.

Hala Taha: I love that. And where can our listeners go to learn more about you and everything that you do?

Maria Brito: Well, come to my website is Maria brita.com B R I T O. I said that before, and that are all the links to social media, uh, an email form. If you want to, to say hi, come hang out there with me. I have a weekly newsletter on creativity and business it is called the groove. So, and it's free always. And it will always be, it gives me great pleasure to do this things. And so that's. Where I am going to be found for as long as I live.

Hala Taha: Awesome. And we'll stick all those links in the show notes. Thanks again, Maria was such a pleasure.

Maria Brito: Thank you, Taha everybody. Thank you for hanging with us this luck.