Laura Bo Creative

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  • Dear Parents,

    Dear Parents,

    Last night at Family Night I watched a little girl be inherently mean to my kid, over and over. My kid is 3. In an effort to let her “handle” the situation on her own, I would check in periodically, I stayed close by.

    She looked so sad and confused. And then I just couldn’t.  I told her when she was ready to leave we could go home and have ice cream (yes I absolutely bribed my kid to leave). We left 10 minutes later. 

     We all have varying degrees of what’s acceptable, but honestly this shit is getting old. I refuse to accept the excuses that “boys will be boys, and that’s just how girls are at that age.”

    WHAT? Nope. Sorry. No thank you.

    Can we stop making excuses for our kids behavior when its shitty? It seems like as parents we often excuse certain things because it is a direct reflection of ourselves, or we become aware of how our words and actions have shaped our own kids consciously or not.

    I believe we can do better. I know for a fact that a 4 year old saying “You make no sense, I am going to ignore you and everything you say” while simultaneously blocking and pushing a younger kid didn’t come from nowhere. Not allowing my kid to try and make friends with any other kid is shitty.

    let’s take a minute and think of how we can be supportive of each other and our children. I implore you to approach life from a place of curiosity and understanding vs. judgement and assumption.

    The displays of judgement and snobbiness that are infecting this neighborhood are ugly. Your kids see you. We all see you.

    To be continued…

  • Word Shit: Humility

    Humility

    [hyoo-mil-i-tee] noun

    the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance, rank, etc.

  • Memory Exercise

    Memory Exercise

    For now I am calling this a memory exercise, and perhaps it should come with some sort of warning, because it may or may not unpack baggage.

    Close your eyes and think back to when you were a kid, perhaps sometime in elementary school. Try to find a memory of an event, a holiday party, a school assembly, county fair, but it would be a place where you would be with your family, your parents or caregivers.

    Pick one. They are deep in conversation with their friends, chit chatting away. You catch a glimpse of your name as you pass by, and it peaks your curiosity. What is being said? How is your parent describing you? What words or tone can you hear, feel, or remember?

    This happened to me recently, trying to think back on how my mother used to speak about me, how she spoke to me publicly, privately, how she spoke about me with one friend, vs. how she spoke about me when she thought no one was listening, when she thought I wasn’t listening or when she thought I was… A series of words came up.

    To be continued…

  • When I was a kid…

    When I was a kid:

    playdates weren’t so formal, and didn’t always require planning.

    i made rainbow pancakes and threw them out the 10th floor window.

    we would slide in the mud after big rains in the neighbor’s driveway.

    i wanted to be everything and do everything.

    i believed anything was possible.

    grown-ups had issues, and i had no desire to get there fast.

    everybody smiled and said hi when passing in the street.

    we would search for stones in the river and cover ourselves in river clay.

    that’s what I thought my childhood was. until i had a kid —

    To be continued….

  • WORD SHIT: Inspire

    Inspire

    [inˈspī(ə)r] verb

    fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

    I believe that true inspiration comes naturally. It cannot be forced. You can’t forcibly inspire someone, there is definitely another word for that — in which I am currently blanking on. Again, definitions from various sources will provide their own perspectives, contexts, and connotations.

    To be continued…

  • WORD SHIT: Willing

    Willing

    [ˈwiliNG] adjective

    ready, eager, or prepared to do something.

    Today, someone said they were “willing to keep trying”, and within the surrounding context, this was immediately received with a negative tone. Upon looking up the definition, it made me wonder how the word willing has become so overused and/or misused that it now often seems more related to a bare minimum, least amount of effort type situation.

    Depending on where you find your version of the definition of willing, it can be read or misread as something viewed negatively, other words that came up were agreeable, and I realize the comparisons and examples used for the word willing came down to doing something of one’s own ‘will’ versus being forced or coerced into something.
    I found this interesting snippet, which is kind of what I am getting at I suppose:

    “Willing means you will do something if it is necessary or if it is asked of you, even if you don’t particularly want to“

    To be continued….

  • WORD SHIT: BOLD

    Bold
    [bōld] adjective

    1.(of a person, action, or idea) showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous.

    2. (of a color or design) having a strong or vivid appearance.

    The definition of BOLD, adjective.

  • WORD SHIT: Abandon

    ABANDON
    [əˈbandən] verb

    1. cease to support or look after (someone); desert.

    2. give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking).

  • WORD SHIT: Desire

    Desire
    [ dəˈzī(ə)r ] noun

    A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.

  • Welcome to my world!

    There is so much shit on the internet, It’s nice to know you can still find me. I am a little bit awkward and a lotta bit awesome.

    Here is the short story of it — My day job is branding & and marketing. My expertise is in strategy and planning. I’ve got 18+ years of experience.

    I’m all about connecting those dots! My background is a crazy mix of music madness with Webster Hall and Insomniac, to styling superheroes with Styled By Marvel and Swag By Fox, to serving up hospitality at hotels and with lifestyle brands across the world. Phew, I know, right? My past gigs were like being a marketing ninja! I took on everything from idea to launch, organizing like a boss and keeping a bunch of plates spinning at once.

    Nowadays, I’m all about keeping my creative juices flowing. the current roster is filling up with brands and products in the worlds of event activations and cannabis. I work my magic from my home studio in Ridgewood, Queens.

    Let’s get this show on the road!

  • WORD SHIT: Curiosity

    Curiosity
    [ kyoor – ee – os – i – tee ] noun

    The desire to learn or know about anything. a rare, or novel thing, a strange, curious, or interesting quality or feature.

  • WORD SHIT: Perspective

    Perspective
    [ per – spek – tiv ] noun

    The aspect in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed;esp: a view of things in their true relationship or relative importance.

  • Crazy Bear Lady, Crazy Bird Lady.

    My Grandma was an artist, she was my father’s mother. Everyone called her eccentric. Her house was covered in plants and paintings, she had cats, and the best climbing tree in her front yard. She fed the birds and the squirrels, and pretty much all of the critters that came to visit. She also liked to “chase bears” out of the neighborhood and back into the forest. They called her the crazy bear lady, and she was the absolute BEST.

    Sometimes I forget how much I adored and admired her. She spent all day painting things and talking to the animals, it sounded like the best life to me as a kid. We lost touch shortly after I cut contact with my dad, and i wish we hadn’t. After she passed, no one told me, so all of her art went who knows where and I was lucky enough to have 3 paintings given to me, one of them was of me, and I have the matching photo.

    I love birds. I always have. As a kid I wanted my superpower to be flight, I wanted to fly. When I moved into my current apartment, I was ecstatic to have such a busy backyard. Mind you, this is Ridgewood, Queens.We had squirrels, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, the little chickadees, Starlings, Catbirds, Woodpeckers, and most recently the Crows have moved into the neighborhood, and a Hawk has made it’s home nearby (like in the trees that border my yard nearby).

    I have a special place in my heart for Cardinals and Crows. I taught my daughter to ‘call’ for the crows by calling. They always come.

    To be continued….

  • Questions on a Friday

    Why do people ask “How are you?” if they don’t truly want to know?

    Why does it always feel like someone is offended by the difference of opinion?

    When did the general public get so fucking lazy?

    Who makes all the rules?

    How does advice become cliche quotes/ sayings?

    Why were we told not to burn our bridges down?

  • I don’t tiptoe, I STOMP.

    Everybody is weird these days, maybe awkward is a better way to describe it. But the more I am aware of it, the more I notice people tiptoeing around or dancing around conversations, questions, initiatives, actions, etc. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help but wonder WHY — How did we get here? Is it because of COVID and all of the isolation? Is it corporate america taking over? Is it the internet? Is it the apps? Is it helicopter parents? At this point I can only imagine it is some combination of things, and see it from my own perspective, so here’s what i know.

    Why are conversations so hard? Small talk fucking sucks.

    To be continued…

  • A Name Is A Name Is A Name.

    What’s in a name? That famous quote by Shakespeare. I googled ‘famous quotes about names’ and a few stuck out — not sure if I qualify them as famous persay.

    “Names are powerful things. They act as an identity marker and a kind of map, locating you in time and geography. More than that, they can be a compass”  – Bookroo

    “There’s power in naming yourself, in proclaiming to the world that this is who you are” – Brainyquote [i question this source, but will save that for another time.

    “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” –Aristotle.

    A cliche one for good measure “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken” – Oscar Wilde.

    There is a common saying that feels ingrained in my head from my younger years “Make a name for yourself” it always felt so intimidating and permanent — until it didn’t. Sure it is still intimidating, but it did not take long for me to realize that a name is not permanent, neither is a reputation. I have changed my name legally 3 times. I just straight up made up a new name when I was 12 and told people at camp that my name was Fiona — I carried that name with me through my high school years at boarding school. I went back to Laura in college, but again, we were in a new place, so I made up my own nickname “Bo” and Laura Bo has stuck with me ever since.

    To be continued…

  • 42 – Full Moon

    I love the moon. I love when it’s a full moon. I love seeing the moon when it’s a “supermoon”. I sing my daughter to sleep every night to the tune of Moon River.

    Last night was the Hunter’s Full Moon. It was beautiful. I remembered reading something in an email about using the light of the full moon to see your shadows and then making a choice. The wonderful wisdom shared by Christie Inge. Last night’s full moon was also in Gate 42 (an aspect of Human Design).

    The answer to everything is 42.

    I go in and out of my need to lean on Human Design, astrology, psychology, etc for understanding, self-awareness, reflection, justification and/or validation.

    A part of me didn’t want to let go of the idea that “one day I’d get my shit together enough to finish everything I started.” – Christie Inge

  • Identity Crisis as a Cycle

    Let’s start at context matters. Uh, and words I’ve been really on words and wanting to use the right words and on this whole like healing reflection. If you will, I’ve come to figure out that as part of my ADHD and autism and all my masking and blah blah blah.

    I have cyclically — however, I don’t like saying that so — I have continuously been on some type of cycle as far as the evolution of one’s self-identity. Where I have latched on or identified with a word or an image or some type of “theme” and then somehow it becomes my entire identity… perhaps we should call it a persona though, and it can last for a month, a year, even a couple of years in some cases.

    Um, But, As I’ve been trying to go back through and like, figure out who I am now. Um, and what I Keep around or evolve or Throw away or Call. Barry say goodbye to, I don’t know. Have a funeral for if you will. Um, I’ve been figuring out that I always simultaneously have a Internal battle with myself about who I want to be, who I want the world to see me as and Who.

    I think the world sees me as um and those are like three very different things and I need to figure out some type of visual Support element to help me describe that. So, at this point, we know, I’m a mom. I’m a parent. I’m a partner, I’m a wife which I’m still grasping, like I’m still working through that.

    Um, Because I have a lot of feelings towards that one. But my big ones are I want? I’m a maker, I’m a creative. And I am a DOT connector and I have to figure out how to Make that make sense. Two people, um, or maybe I don’t and people can interpret it how they want and it’ll either connect with them or it won’t.

    Uh, canva AI. They’re I guess it’s like their free write or their magic. Right? Has been super helpful in getting some of my stuff. Better worded if you will. Or reminding me. Of words that make perfect sense for exactly what I’m trying to say. At that moment without me getting frustrated, trying to remember what the fucking word is.

    But I’m also drowning in like a million other words. And Trying to not get stuck on words that I don’t want to be because I it’s so much easier to go to the negative or go to the. I know I don’t want this. So for now, we’re going to go with dot connector maker.

    And there’s a part of me that wants to kind of come out and say ha I’m autistic if you know me then this makes sense because XYZ and do a whole series. With that. Um, I just have to work through all the funny examples that I’ve been pulling out.

    And honestly, some of the biggest help has been from this one Instagram account, uh, the Manifesto community and it’s just this lady Holly herbig You could call her a genius. But really, it’s just the first time that I’ve had a person that has a brain similar to mine. Uh, say things that in words that make sense to me.

    In in ways that resonate with me. Um, But there was something that you posted two days ago, That said, remember repelling and magnetizing happens unconsciously as a function of your aura. We can break down all those things, uh, some other time. Um, and then she goes on to say, you aren’t choosing to magnetize or repel anyone, but you can certainly feel the Winds of Change long before, others, do and know it’s time for you to leave a community or Social Circle.

    I needed to know that 15 years ago because I did know it, but I didn’t know how to just say. Oh, okay, cool. And then move on. I thought there was something wrong with me so I kept trying to fight it and try and stick around and it would make me miserable because I fucking hated wherever I was, um, and I realized that like I can’t be in jobs.

    For longer than two years. Three years Max and that’s only if there’s like some big thing that happens after the second year, um and maybe that would be different if I felt Uh, to like Blow with my stuff at work. Um, But it’s always like no not right now or not this and blah blah and then by the time they’re ready to do it.

    I’m over it. So I realized that the biggest thing that I need to get over. Is this whole Community aspect? I keep trying to find my people and I just need to fucking be myself. And be in the world again. Um, so let’s do this.

  • Marketing Lifecycle Metaphor – The Amoeba BB


    Customer amoeba baby – marketing lifecycle metaphor

    Marketing is not a funnel and it’s not a flywheel. It’s like a wave. It’s like a fluid amoeba. Blobby wave, I have to draw it I guess, but And it moves because people come in and out. I may have been. A customer of parenting stuff and then My baby’s not a baby.

    And then i move out of it — I’m not the target now. But maybe if there’s a baby in my life: friends, family, or whatever baby shower, I will suggest it or I will get it for them, you know. I don’t think that always gets accounted for. It’s not really a secondary target group as far as I’m concerned.

    Funnels and flywheels don’t work because you can’t control the path of the target, you can guide it, you can block it, you can try to trap it, but there are all of these “other factors” that you don’t know and/or have no control over because in the end control is an illusion.

    **

  • Thriving on the thrill – WIP

    Finding a new way to streamline a process or coming up with an innovative product idea, I thrive on the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of making things better.

    My approach may be unconventional, but thinking outside the box is essential for growth and progress.

    It’s about looking at challenges from different angles/perspectives and not being afraid to try something new. After all, every expert was once a beginner, and every groundbreaking idea started as a simple thought.