Creative Work Hour Podcast – Episode 57: Happy 4th Birthday, CWH!

The CWH crew marks four years and nearly 3,000 sessions of daily co-working camaraderie. In this milestone episode, they swap vehicle metaphors, share one-word “essence” answers, and reflect on how a spontaneous Zoom room became a global creative family. You’ll hear stories from the founders, vibrant analogies (from plasma balls to grandma’s rocker), and the values that make this group a life-giving oasis for creators everywhere. Join the celebration and discover what makes Creative Work Hour more than just a co-working space—it’s belonging, safety, support, love, presence, and life force, all in one quirky package.

Listen at creativeworkhour.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Greg
00:00 - 00:24
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Creative Work Hour Podcast. Today is June the 29th, 2025 and it's Happy Birthday Creative Work Hour. In the room today we have myself, Greg, we have Alessandra, we have Michael J, we have Devon, Melanie, Brizwiz, Gretchen, Shadows and Bobby B. Happy Birthday Creative Work Hour.

Greg
00:24 - 00:37
First of all I should probably say, Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Creative Work Hour! Happy Birthday to you!

Greg
00:37 - 00:44
Copyright Ricky Bobby Inc. No, just kidding. Alessandra, Happy Birthday Creative Work Hour!

Alessandra
00:45 - 01:22
Thank you. Yeah, so we're doing it today, celebrating the birthday, because we always record our podcast episodes at the weekend during creative work hour. We kick off the session, our formula is, we have a few minutes before the session starts just to kind of have our coffees, sit down, have a laugh, And then at the top of the hour, we start the session. We all check in by taking turns of what do we plan to do with that hour now that we're here together in our own co-vibing, co-working space online.

Alessandra
01:22 - 01:54
And then we all kind of go into that heads down, whatever that identified or ideally identified work is. But how this whole thing came about was we met each other either in courses that we were taking or we met each other in communities that we were involved in. Often, most all of us during the pandemic, but probably about 20% of us after that. So we met in places like Twitter or middle school.

Alessandra
01:54 - 02:09
I met Devin in middle school. Yeah, but when we decided to do this, I had no skills. I could barely, like, get into a Zoom room without, you know, technical cursing. And we were on the road even then.

Alessandra
02:09 - 02:25
Like, this group of Creative Work Hour was literally born. on the road. And that has really never stopped. We were on the road from San Francisco and we were looking at moving to wait out COVID in Spokane, Washington.

Alessandra
02:25 - 02:44
So we had just gotten to Spokane, Washington. We checked into the Melrose Hotel and from the lobby of that hotel, I hooked everything together and I wouldn't let Devin even listen to me speak. He was not invited. Even though he was with me, he had to stay in the room and I was in the lobby, you know, shaking like a leaf.

Alessandra
02:45 - 02:54
And people came for the first time. That was the first session on July 1st of 2021. And now here we are. Now here we are.

Alessandra
02:55 - 03:19
We started out as two sessions a week. We let people know that we were around by posting in the circle community of building a second brain. And we'd say, Hey, there's this crazy little group that we're doing, you know, and if, if, if you want to try us and come meet us, we're just, we're going to hang, hang out for an hour and, and work together. It didn't really have a format other than what are you doing?

Alessandra
03:19 - 03:27
Okay, go do it. And then we come back at the end of the hour and go, what did you do? And then, bye. That was it.

Alessandra
03:27 - 03:39
That was it. That was how it was built. But Greg and Brij and I were talking before we went to recording today. And it was like, well, what is creative work hour?

Alessandra
03:40 - 04:04
And I'm not going to take up anybody else's space with how I describe it. But I am going to give you an analogy, if I can. And that analogy is if creative work hour, if it were a vehicle, what kind of vehicle would it be? It's not really a car, but there's a lot of comfort in car and you hope that it has good gas mileage or that it's an EV and that it has really good air conditioning.

Alessandra
04:05 - 04:31
And it's not really a pickup, which is highly functional, but it's not the same thing, right? It's really a crossover, but it's a luxury crossover. So it's built on the chassis of, you know, like a crossover is typically built on a pickup chassis. It's built on the chassis of the love of productivity and expressing things and how do we express things and our common interest in that.

Alessandra
04:32 - 04:43
But that would be one hell of a bumpy ride if that's all it was. We want a soft, cushy ride. We want a ride that loves us back. We want a ride that helps us navigate.

Alessandra
04:43 - 05:01
We want a ride with all the automatic things so that all we have to do is get in the car and drive. That's the vehicle description of how I hope that Creative Work Hour works. But Greg, let me hand it back to you. What do you think of that analogy of a vehicle?

Greg
05:02 - 05:19
I like that analogy a lot. It's almost like it's on the budget of a mini but with the refinement of a Rolls Royce or a Cadillac, but it's definitely not a Tesla. I know it's not a Tesla, right? So, but talking about analogies and describing it, that's a good question, isn't it?

Greg
05:19 - 05:29
Like, how would we describe this to a friend? Michael, Michael, how would you, if you were going to describe Creative WorkHour to a friend, how would you describe Creative WorkHour to someone?

Michael
05:29 - 06:07
I'll come back to what my analogy might be, but for the moment, how I would describe it to a friend is a bunch of zany, wacky, fun, kind, loving souls who come together out of a love for each other, support for each other, and just a commitment to show up No matter what's happening in their life, and they show up every single day, which blows my mind every time I think about it. I kind of come in and out, but the spirit is always, see you when we see you, and we'll be here for you whenever we need you. Well, you need us.

Michael
06:09 - 06:39
So we just, yeah, a bunch of zany, wacky people who show up to do whatever they're up to in that hour and support each other. And I see it somehow when you talked about vehicles, I thought of a school bus, but I thought of one of those, like, hippie vans on the West Coast. My godfather used to take these, like, green tortoise, I think it was. You go on these trips down into the desert and It shows up on time and from the outside it looks a bit sort of like, hey, like what am I getting myself into?

Michael
06:39 - 06:52
But once you're in there, you know, there's your butler comes with your cocktail and he's got your Tito's and your blue cheese martini and like whatever you need is just there for you and you just sit down in your comfy chair and go on your ride together.

Greg
06:52 - 06:56
Thanks, Michael. Devon, how would you describe Creative Work Hour to somebody?

Devin
06:56 - 07:15
I would say we're more like a mid-sized sedan, you know, because we're all in one accord. And that's what keeps me coming back. I genuinely love this group. I think, if I'm being honest, a lot of it's morbid curiosity, because you never know what is going to happen, what's happening with people, what you're going to see, what you're going to learn.

Devin
07:15 - 07:33
I have learned so much from this group. It's just amazing. And I love it that I can just show up and probably walk away with more knowledge than that. Then what I arrived with, but day to day creative work hour gives me a lot of creative structure, or it is my creative structure.

Devin
07:34 - 07:42
I have all the squirrels in my head. I know we all do. And I park them there because I'll say, oh, I should do this. I need to go write that.

Devin
07:42 - 07:51
I need to go read that. I'm like, I can do that at creative work hour. Park it there. Okay, brain, when we get to creative work hour, we will let that squirrel out.

Devin
07:51 - 08:06
And that's when we will address that squirrel. And that's just so helpful at just managing my brain during the day. And that's one of the greatest things about creative work hour is as you said, as Michael said, it's always there. And so you can depend on it as a part of your daily structure.

Devin
08:07 - 08:08
Thanks, Devon. It

Greg
08:08 - 08:17
provides a good alibi as well. Yes, critical for most of us. Melanie, if you had to describe Creative Work Hour to a friend, how would you describe it? Oh

Dr Melonie
08:18 - 08:51
my God, everybody who went before me, I agree with all of them. When I've described it, I say a bunch of people from all over the world who are meeting up. It's sort of Alessandra's capacity to remarkably and sensitively and with a great awareness of people's, other people's concerns kind of is the undercurrent or the full current. But then there's everybody else popping in and out and it's kind of wonderful.

Dr Melonie
08:52 - 09:06
It's sort of like when you're in school and you have friends in school. That's what I was just thinking when you guys were talking. It's not like going to school. Sort of like going to the cafeteria when you're in school or something like that.

Dr Melonie
09:07 - 09:09
I don't know. I really like it.

Greg
09:09 - 09:14
Thanks, Dr. Melanie. Shadows, how would you describe really work out to a friend?

Shadows Pub
09:14 - 09:39
I've heard Alexander call it the best group of people, people that are best friends, but don't talk to each other. That's only partially true, but the difference is that we could say one word or we could say a thousand words, and it's our choice. And that always helps. And personally, I prefer a mid-sized pickup, so that's the vehicle it's going to have to be.

Shadows Pub
09:39 - 09:40
Thank you, Chados.

Greg
09:40 - 09:43
Briz, how about you? How would you describe Creative Work Hour to a friend?

Brijwhiz
09:44 - 10:21
It's a little bit more difficult for me to explain it because I'm not regular at it but at the same time I sympathize a lot I connect a lot with Michael's input that of it being there for us it's like an oasis we know it's there so even wherever you're in the desert when you need that little bit of creative juice when you need that bit of support you know there's a set of group of people and a place to go to So that's one thing for sure. But if I really put it together, as I was discussing earlier, for me, like we have all heard of co-working space. For me, it has been a co-vibing space.

Brijwhiz
10:21 - 11:03
I think it's a place of people who immediately vibe with each other. And I think that vibe is the backbone of this community that I find, which makes me feel like I know all of you just by or the interactions I have here despite me not having almost any details of your lives but I still feel like I understand you and more importantly or selfishly you understand me so for me that is a place like that for me and from a perspective of a vehicle for me it's like a spaceship it can disconnect you from the earth it's your world out there we are in weightlessness we can do what we want to No one is judging us.

Brijwhiz
11:03 - 11:11
They are mildly curious. Sometimes they may join with you in the fun. So for me, Creative Worker is more like a spaceship. It's a great analogy.

Brijwhiz
11:11 - 11:12
Thanks, Prez.

Greg
11:12 - 11:15
Gretchen, how would you describe Creative Worker to a friend?

Gretchen
11:16 - 11:36
First off, I must say, I love the fact that Michael's Vehicle, it's an essential to have a blue cheese martini in it. Seriously? Okay, I'm gonna have to put the ingredients for that in my 25-year-old hippie camper van that I have. that I dig.

Gretchen
11:36 - 12:12
To describe this, gosh, it's like, you know, there's some things in terms of your life you have for security and in some ways, you know, I have my grandmother's rocker that's kind of that. This is like a worldwide grandma's rocker for me of people who are all over that I know it's going to be there. And I may have things that, like Devin said, that need to be done, that I can put into that time and I'll get it done. Or I can just come and decide to do whatever I need to do.

Gretchen
12:12 - 12:31
And there's no judgment around it. And there's no, I don't have to have, like my new motto is, I no longer serve the should. And that's what this group does for me completely. It brought me to that, coming to this, thinking about stuff like that.

Gretchen
12:31 - 12:55
And I finally said, gosh, I can just be there just because, not because I should, and I don't have to do it because I need to do this or that. It's just there for me to support others. It's like a support group that you don't have to tell the dirty secrets in. And you can just say, okay, oh well, let him go and just be.

Gretchen
12:55 - 13:10
And it's fun, it's laughter, it's just a good time. And like I said, it's gotta be my camper van. A Volkswagen camper van that I bought last year that's 30 years old. What the who?

Gretchen
13:10 - 13:18
Let's go. And everybody I open that door and people go, oh, my God, this is the coolest. And I'm like, that's what this is. That's what's created.

Gretchen
13:18 - 13:22
You open the door to this and you go, oh, my God, this is the coolest.

Greg
13:22 - 13:29
I'm scratching. That's awesome. Bobby, if you had to describe creative work out to a friend, how do you describe creative work out to a friend?

Bobby. B
13:30 - 14:05
Well, it's indescribably delicious, but when I envision creative workout, I actually see it as a gelatinous walled plasma ball. And a plasma ball, you know, a good old toy, has a core and there's all this electricity arcing out to the outer walls and then flowing all around. And we can walk in and walk out like you see in some sci-fi movies where people walk through this soft wall and suddenly they're in another space. And what I love about it is it's okay to just walk in and sit there.

Bobby. B
14:06 - 14:28
or take a peek and leave. Or you can feed the energy and you can feed your own energy. It's wherever you want to take it that day. But the amazing group of creative and welcoming people here is what makes you know that you're going to walk in there and there's not going to be any pushback from anywhere.

Bobby. B
14:29 - 14:36
You're just welcomed in, even if it's just to get that drop of energy that you need to start the day with. and slide right out

Greg
14:37 - 14:50
again. Thanks Bobby, that's awesome. So if you had to boil it down to one word, what does creative work hour mean to you? And if you had to distill that into one word, what would that be?

Greg
14:51 - 14:51
Melanie?

Dr Melonie
14:51 - 14:52
Collaborators.

Greg
14:53 - 14:54
You care to elaborate?

Dr Melonie
14:56 - 14:58
Not allowed. It was only one bloody word.

Greg
14:58 - 15:00
But you walked into that. You said elaborated.

Dr Melonie
15:01 - 15:04
No, I said collaborated.

Greg
15:04 - 15:06
Oh, I thought you said elaborator. Oh,

Dr Melonie
15:06 - 15:10
yeah. I'm really in trouble. I'm just naughty, nutsy.

Greg
15:11 - 15:11
Oh, my God.

Dr Melonie
15:11 - 15:12
Collaborators.

Greg
15:12 - 15:16
Collaborators. Oh, my goodness. Michael J. Support.

Greg
15:17 - 15:22
Love. Oh, shit. That was two words. Michael collaborating.

Greg
15:23 - 15:25
Devon. Safe. Shadows.

Shadows Pub
15:25 - 15:28
I'm going to say presence, but it really should be coupled with mutual.

Greg
15:29 - 15:31
Breath. Belonging. Wretched.

Shadows Pub
15:31 - 15:33
I think comfort.

Greg
15:33 - 15:42
Love that. Bobby. Life force. Ah, so I'll come back to me and how would I describe Creative WorkHour to somebody?

Greg
15:42 - 16:03
Oh my gosh. You know, it's for me, Creative WorkHour is family. It's like a family. It's a group of people who are somebodies and nobodies and wannabes and has-beens who all rub shoulders together in the trenches safe secure it's like that comfortable pair of shoes that you always want to put on that pillow that you want to take everywhere with you the teddy

Greg
16:03 - 16:13
bear that you drag along and How would I describe it? Family. I would describe it. Alessandra, that's a happy birthday Creative Work Hour.

Greg
16:13 - 16:14
What do we sing?

Dr Melonie
16:15 - 16:18
Happy birthday to us.

Greg
16:18 - 16:19
Happy

Dr Melonie
16:19 - 16:20
birthday

Alessandra
16:20 - 16:20
to

Greg
16:21 - 16:21
us.

Alessandra
16:23 - 16:25
And your satisfaction or your money back?

Dr Melonie
16:29 - 16:33
He forgot to say it's free. Happy birthday to us.

Alessandra
16:34 - 16:45
Yeah. Yeah. This is what I love about that. And I didn't, I didn't know you were going to craft that question quite so elegantly, Greg, though.

Alessandra
16:45 - 17:21
I'm not surprised cause we've done this together 57 times in these podcast episodes, but to boil it down to one, Pick a word, pick one word to describe. What I was doing, what are the colors in the imagery express who we are as the crew of Creative Work Hour. I did a lot of design work and design thinking work. Part of that is to what is the brand identity and I don't mean like in a corporate way.

Alessandra
17:22 - 17:41
I mean, like, okay, if you okay, you're our first identification with corporate branding is not like, as a consumer, it's as a teenager, as teenagers, we all We were branding. It's like, what kind of a person am I? What is my aesthetic? What music do I listen to?

Alessandra
17:41 - 18:14
What do I want to drive? With whom do I want to hang? That kind of branding identity exercise is what I spent a four-day weekend working on from Spokane, Washington. Devon was like, oh my God, all these papers, but it was, I was looking for those keywords and out of, I had my Kleenex handy, but out of every single keyword, the only one that is not in our brand identity, design paperwork for Creative Work Hour.

Alessandra
18:15 - 18:46
is one I just simply didn't think of, and that was the one that Bobby B brought to us. So the new addition to our brand identity is Lifeforce. So let me just, let me, let me give you, I'll change the order around so that they match the hierarchy of the brand identity word list for Creative Work Hour. Belonging, safety, support, collaboration, love, being present and a non-dysfunctional family.

Alessandra
18:48 - 19:10
And the cherry on top is life force. As a founder, I couldn't be made more happy that how it's lived out over some 3,000 sessions in these four years time is the list that I breathed and prayed would be who we are. So thank you guys so much.

Greg
19:26 - 19:37
Alessandra, thank you for giving me a reason to get out of bed. But it's that time again. You've wasted some perfectly good time listening to Creative Work Hour podcast when you could have been doing something else. But what about you?

Greg
19:37 - 19:49
What does Creative Work Hour mean to you? Let us know. Visit us online at creativeworkhour.com. And if you have a question or subject that you'd like to hear the crew discuss, let us know that as well.

Greg
19:49 - 19:52
Come back next week and we'll be here again.