What's Brewing - June'25
Quiet Momentum
What’s Brewing is a monthly reflection that pulls back the curtain on my creative process, sharing current projects, personal challenges, and breakthrough moments that shaped my path.
✍️ Current setting
📍 Writing from: Detroit, Shinola Hotel
☕️ Drinking: Oat Capuccino
🎵 Listening to: Queen
🌟 Month in a Nutshell:
🙋♀️ Hey friends—hope you’re staying cool and hydrated wherever you are!
June was packed with travel, art, and a surprising amount of in-person creative energy. It was also a month of leaning into rejection—applying to host a CreativeMornings club, interviewing business owners, and choosing to solve problems instead of saying “not my lane.”
Some days, it still feels like I’m stuck in a plateau like nothing’s shifting. But writing these monthly reflections has become a way to trace the quiet progress I might otherwise miss. Through the trial and error, I can see it now: I am evolving!
🍳 What's Cooking
1. Picture Book Project: The Drawing Phase
The first draft of my script is done (!) as well as dummy book. The story is inspired by one of my mom’s childhood memories of visiting her grandparents far from Seoul. I reimagined it through the lens of emotional and physical freedom I’ve experienced while living abroad.
The real challenge has begun: drawing. I'm finally putting pencil to paper, creating lots of bad drawings (so many bad ones), but I needed this phase. Learning to draw humans and various poses by analyzing skeletons rather than relying on tracing. It's brutally difficult.
Reading Van Gogh's letters keep me grounded and motivated though. They make me feel like I can't complain unless I put in effort and practice like he did. His words offer both discipline and encouragement.
2. Redefining My Optimal Environment
After some careful thought, I decided to let go of my Fabrik Founding membership. While Fabrik is an interesting third space for community builders with a strong mission, I realized my direction is shifting. What I need right now is flexibility—not a dedicated workspace or a set community hub. I don’t love commuting, and more often than not, I found myself drawn to events elsewhere that sparked my curiosity in different ways.
I’m learning it’s okay to release things that no longer align, even if they look great on paper. These days, a neighborhood coffee shop gives me just enough of a change in scenery to feel inspired—without the pressure or guilt of not showing up “enough.”
3. NYC SBS Small Business Finance Coaching
This program continues to be surprisingly rewarding—and it’s now extended through the end of the year! The sessions often go beyond just financial literacy; people come with all kinds of challenges, and whether I’m very familiar with the issue or not, I try my best to help within the time we have.
One client told me, “A lot of people just say it’s not their expertise, so they can’t help—but I appreciated that you kept digging for solutions with grit!” That mindset comes from my finance background: do whatever you can to solve the problem. Building that grit wasn’t easy. It was stressful and uncomfortable at the time, but looking back, I can see how worthwhile it was.
If you’re a small business owner, there are still free 1:1 finance coaching sessions available—feel free to check it out!
4. London Trip: Creative Well Refilled
My quick London trip turned into a four-day artist date with myself, and it filled my creative well in all the right ways. This time, I resisted the urge to overschedule. I gave myself permission to wander—taking in long walks, quiet museum moments, and a welcome break from my usual to-do lists. It wasn’t “restful” in the traditional sense, but I returned feeling lighter and more grounded.
One highlight was meeting Jennifer again from the Inkygoodness community. We visited the Jenny Saville exhibit together, and what started as a shared art experience turned into one of those long, meaningful life conversations—the kind that stays with you.
5. Finding my Tribe
Lately, I’ve been pushing myself to host—not just attend. After enjoying CreativeMornings chapter event and Shelby’s Make Time Club, I applied to host a CreativeMornings club of my own: Sharedlines. It’s scary (what if no one shows up?), but I’m doing it because I want to—not because I should.
When I mentioned the idea at Writeshop, CreativeMornings founder Tina said, “Just host when and where it’s most convenient for you.” I used to think it had to be a polished event in a fancy space—but that reminder gave me permission to start small. So I’m hosting a small gathering at a cozy neighborhood cafe.
I’m also learning to go to events out of genuine curiosity, not obligation. That familiar “should I go or bail?” spiral can hijack an entire day. Letting go of that mindset has been a quiet, but powerful shift.
🫣 Real Talk: The Struggles
The Productivity Trap Returns: I fell back into over-structuring my days, trying to make every minute count. But after two weeks, I realized—some things, like learning perspective drawing, aren’t 30-minute tasks. They’re slow, nonlinear, and often frustrating. I had to admit: I’m not a morning person. It takes time for me to get into flow. So I’m adjusting—deep work in the afternoon, admin in the morning, and focusing on weekly project goals instead of micromanaging daily hours. I’ve also been slacking on morning pages, which I know always help me tune back into myself. Time to return.
Web Design : After soft-launching a landing page for web design service with my friend, I’ve been rethinking how I approach this offering. Most projects I’ve done came through personal connections—not because someone found me online. Through conversations with small business owners and service providers, I realized their pain points are quite different from what I had assumed. A few early patterns I noticed are —coaches and therapists, for example, tend to rely more on referrals than their websites, so design updates aren’t a top priority. In contrast, small business owners seem more open to investing in branding or design—especially when they’re growing or need something more professional than Canva.
These are still early observations, but they’re helping me ask better questions:Under what conditions do businesses move from Canva/templates to custom branding/web design?
What characteristics define clients who value brand identity and user experience?
How can I create immersive, story-driven websites that are both emotionally engaging and operationally sustainable as a company of one?
What small experiments can I run to validate my approach?
🤗 Wanders & Wonders
Experience
Art Exhibit: Saatchi Museum ; FLOWERS
Creative Workshop: Happy Medium — Figure Drawing
Immersive Theatre : Viola’s Room (NY) & War of the Worlds (London)
Museum: Morgan Library, Charles Dickens Museum
Music: Fort Green Orchestra
Tools
Kortex : second brain AI — still testing
🔮 Manifesting Next Month
I am going to keep building slowly and intentionally as a company of one. I am going to follow my curiosity, not what looks impressive from the outside. I am going to show up more—through conversations, communities, and small experiments—and trust that meaningful growth can come from the quiet, consistent work. I am going to stop waiting for perfect timing and start with what I have. And most of all, I am going to keep reminding myself that my pace is enough 💚
Catch you next month with more creative musings,
Lira