Today we’d like to introduce you to Lizzie Larock.
Hi Lizzie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I picked up my first camera when I was a student at Cranbrook Kingswood in the ’80s. I would walk around the campus taking photos of shadows, reflections, and any random detail that caught my eye. It was such a beautiful school, so it certainly wasn’t hard to be inspired there. Art classes were mandatory at Cranbrook, and I completely fell in love with creativity. When I graduated, I did what every adult thinks they’re supposed to do, give up all thing creative, to work, raise families, pay bills. I owned a restaurant for 14 years and I was very stressed out and burned out. But my love for creativity was always tugging at me and when my kids were little, I started taking photography and creative writing classes, again. Something I hadn’t done in over a decade. After we sold our restaurant, I realized how important these creative practices had been as not only an outlet, but also as a stress reliever as a teen, and a new mom, and an overworked business owner, so I decided to create an online program for busy women to get back in touch with their creativity. I based it on these old photowalks that I used to take at Cranbrook, as a teen, with an updated twist, instead of the 35 mm SLR camera, I taught people how to do these walks with an iPhone and how a tool that can just distract us can instead be used as a mindfulness practice or a way to notice our small joys or a way to try something new (outside of our comfort zone) or to be more playful and, of course, to create something that we love. This program is called The Life Feast and it helps women reconnect with themselves, get out of the disease of busyness, recover from stress and give themselves permission to prioritize their own creative fun. It’s been a really successful program and an absolute delight to create and run.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No definitely not smooth, but the fact that it wasn’t smooth is why it’s such an effective program, today. I have literally taken the creative tools that I used to help myself when I was struggling with infertility, struggling with raising twins while also running a restaurant, and taking care of my husband through about 6 surgeries in 7 years. It was a LOT, but I knew I needed to balance out all of my stress, and this business was born from that need. I like to say all of my tools are field-tested in my own life (and they work!).
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What sets my work apart is that it’s this mashup of positive psychology, creativity, and iPhone photography. I not only create my own artwork (for sale), but I teach others, as well. And while the byproduct of The Life Feast is that you will create gorgeous photos, it’s not the point of the program. The point is to learn how to be more mindful, joyful, playful, curious, adventurous, and creative. It’s also a really accessible art form. We all have these incredible cameras literally in the palm of our hand, at all times. You don’t have to bust out paint and an easel on the side of the road to get the benefits of creativity. I have gone on photowalks while waiting for my daughter at dance classes, while in layovers in the airport, even while in the carwash. It helps you see the world in a new way. There’s art everywhere!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I love spending summers in Michigan. The lake is my happy place. I love spending time with my husband and my now teenage identical twin daughters. I love teaching my Life Feast members and leading corporate creativity workshops, podcasting, writing, coming up with workshop ideas, seeing my students stumble upon creativity and fall in love. When I lead corporate workshops, I get to bring joy and humor to others when they might be expecting a more dry PowerPoint. They hire me and get this out-of-the-box experience they had no idea they needed. It’s absolutely the best. My list of happy things is fairly long, it’s definitely why I was so attracted to the field of positive psychology and creativity.
Contact Info:
- Email: lizzie@thelifefeast.com
- Website: https://www.larockstarcreative.com/life-feast
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lizzielarock
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/larockstarcreative
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LizzieLarock/videos
- Other: https://www.larockstarcreative.com/podcast
