“What’s Your Creativity Story?” Interview with Marta Ockuly

An Interview with Marta Ockuly: Her Conference session is entitled: What’s Your Creativity Story?
Find out more about about Marta Davidovich Ockuly.

Q: What inspired you to pursue a career as a creativity professional?

A: My flair for styling hair landed me a position as fashion coordinator for a chain of wig stores at age 17!
I wrote and acted in TV commercials. That led to my interest in earning a degree related to advertising.

Q: Where did you study creativity and how did your career develop?

I earned my first degree in Radio/TV/and Continuity Writing at Ohio University. My portfolio led me to my first position as a copywriter at a major department store and then to a similar position at an advertising agency. From there I moved into the corporate realm. After 15 years in that field I launched my own ad agency, consulting business, and center for creative change. In 2003 I returned to college to earn a BA in Human Development and Counseling to inform my work as a creativity coach and felt inspired to earn a graduate degree to be able to teach for creativity in higher education. In 2011 I earned my Master of Science in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State. In August of that year I began my doctoral studies at Saybrook University.

I also was hired to teach a course I developed called “Creative Process: Awakening Creative Potential for Personal and Professional Growth” in the Program for Experienced Learners at Eckerd College from 2011 – 2017. From 2013-2015 I also participated in (and completed) Dr. Natalie Rogers’ Person-Centered Expressive Arts Certification Program. I conducted my dissertation research at Saybrook from 2013 through February 2019. I will defend my dissertation in mid-March. My passion is teaching for creativity in higher education as well as awakening adult and educator creative potential and creative confidence with joy. My research resulted in proposing the first imagination-informed, dynamic, and phenomenon-based definition of personal creativity and a lexicon of terms associated with the lived experience of human creativity.

Q: What are job opportunities with people with formal creativity training/degrees?

Creativity is a wide open – and non-traditional – career path. It is widely associated with leadership and thinking skills and necessary for innovation and imagining new solutions to challenges facing humanity. That said – most ‘job listings’ do not list creativity as a ‘field’ or ‘title’. This means a creativity professional needs to take creative approaches to locating positions within corporations, organizations, or education.

Many people with creativity credentials and a track record of success launch consulting businesses, offer workshops, or become authors and/or entrepreneurs. Creativity is about re-inventing. The ‘work world’ is changing. Creatives have skills that are very much needed in these times. People need ways to put ideas and visionary thinking into action. The possibilities are limitless.

Q: Who might hire a creativity consultant, educator, coach or facilitator?

Business, Human Resource departments, individuals, entrepreneurs, non-profits, communities. You need to spot a need and show how you can fill it.

Q: Are there ‘salary standards’ in the creativity field?

A: Not in my experience. There is no ‘cap’ or ‘minimum.’ You must determine your own value and then work to exceed expectations to do well.

Q: Do you find American approaches to creativity skill development offer from those in other countries/cultures?

A: I believe every culture has norms/differences/influences; that said, I have worked side-by-side both teaching/creating/and learning with adults from Mexico, England, Russia, Korea, Japan, Austria, Germany, Africa, India, Italy, and Israel and have found personal creativity to be universal. As humans – we long for (yet often fear/resist/suppress/judge) self-expression, movement, sounding, making and creating. Honoring our unique individual perspectives and preferences is key in all creativity settings. I have found communicating guidelines for creating a safe space for taking risks, pushing self-imposed boundaries and engaging in ‘beginner’ experiences is vital.

#WhatsYourCreativityStory #CreativityLeader

Example of Bio #1: Marcia Berkey

Marcia after many years of teaching at traditional universities and corporate training, now teaches full time online in the IT department for South University. She has a wonderful time living and learning and applying the many concepts learned from everywhere. She has presented a variety of e-Creativity sessions for both education and business. Marcia also consults on Word, PowerPoint, Access databases, and Excel spreadsheets.

Example of Bio #2: Jane Goldwasser

Jane Goldwasser is President of New Directions Consulting, Inc. a qualitative research company specializing in new product development. In her spare time, she is on the Board of Directors of a newly re-aligned Girl Scout Council and chairs both their Fund Development and Board Development committees. She is a CPSI alum who, having completed the Integrating Creative Leadership program, has put it to work in leading both PACE sessions and in working with CPSI Youthwise™.

Example of Bio #3: Art Emrich

Art is certified as a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and Hypnosis by the 4 major hypnosis organizations in the US. His practice includes (a) medical referral clients who experience distress not relieved by traditional treatment, (b) the mental game of sports success (such as tennis, golf, and baseball), (c) academic excellence for peak performance in study and testing, and (d) enabling creative solutions for the challenges of life. Art is the HEAD Coach and Founder of U-Solutions LLC in Sarasota (the “U” stands for unconscious, where the most creative solutions reside).

Example of Workshop Description #1: Christine Alexander

Join Chris for a day of exploration through improvisation and theater games…no acting experience required! In this safe, small group setting, you will have opportunities to be both on the stage and in the audience. Through the experiences, discussion, and your reflections, you will find new insights into communication, relationships, and yourself. This is a wonderful opportunity to allow your inner voices to speak to you and to discover the possibilities that come from living in the NOW.

Example of Workshop Description #2: Jane Goldwasser

This is a workshop for people who have dreamed of starting a business, solving one of society’s great problems, or pursuing any dream that has remained elusive for years. Often the biggest challenge to undertaking an audacious, wonderful goal is leaving the security of the known to go out into uncharted territory. If you have such a dream, join Jane Goldwasser for a day-long opportunity to translate this wish into a detailed plan for action. Use Jane’s D.A.R.E. model – D. (Decide), A. (Analyze), R. (Reality Check), E. (Execute).

Example of Workshop Description #3: Ann Bracken

Do you find yourself saying you don’t have enough time? You can’t squeeze in enough space for fun or creativity? What if you could make time expand or contract at will? In this workshop, based on the book Creating Time by Marney Makridakis, you will use journaling to kick-start your ideas and create an art-inspired time-tool to help you flip your day so that you and time can become partners in your creative work.