Reinventing Your Craft: Navigating the Career Jungle Gym, Silencing Imposter Syndrome, and Building Identity from the Inside Out (ft. Christian Hurst)

How do you rebuild your entire sense of self when the structures you grew up with completely fall away? As a creative, how do you stop white-knuckling your way through life to meet other people’s expectations, and instead learn to construct your identity from the inside out?In this episode of Let’s Talk Media, host Vedant Akhauri sits down with Christian Hurst, the Executive Creative Director at AARP, brand strategist behind major initiatives for companies like Marriott International, and the author of the acclaimed young adult space opera saga, the Lily Starling series.In a deeply moving and vulnerable conversation, Christian shares his personal journey of leaving the Latter-Day Saints church (Disclaimer: To find his own identity rather than due to the religion itself), navigating the volatile millennial jungle gym design career during the 2008 financial crisis, and finding his true artistic voice.In this episode, we discuss:The Harrisburg Web Design Summer Internship: Christian reflects on growing up poor in Harrisburg, PA, and credits his parents - his creative educator mother and writer/journalist father - for actively supporting his early artistic curiosities. He shares how they secured drawing lessons for him and set up a life-changing summer internship with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, giving him his first hands-on experience with professional design software.The Gift of the Outsider Mindset: Christian shares how growing up as the "weird kid" and feeling like an outsider trained him to observe human behavior from the outside looking in, a perspective he considers an invaluable gift for any storyteller or artist.Constructing Identity: Inside-Out vs. Outside-In: A brilliant breakdown of how people build their self-worth on external structures and societal expectations with those who actively build their sense of self from the inside out.The Millennial "Jungle Gym" Career & The 2008 Recession: Why the linear "career ladder" is a thing of the past for modern creatives. Christian recounts entering the workforce during the 2008 financial crash.Conquering Imposter Syndrome in an Uber: Christian describes the moment he realized he was finally "legit" and stopped worrying about where his next creative idea would come from.The 10-Second Art Teacher Lesson:  Christian shares a game-changing lesson from an old art teacher who had students draw 10-second gestural drawings. He explains why over-erasing and redrawing ultimately warps the entire perspective of a piece, and why creators must learn to get the idea on the page, trust their instincts, and move on.The Science Fiction of Lily Starling: The origin of Christian’s YA space opera series.Reconciling the Mask & Releasing Bitter Resentment: Christian's powerful reflections on "masking" to please others, the healing power of letting go of past resentment, and why you should only compare your current self to who you were last year.You can find Christian's book series at lilystarlingbook.com and connect with him on Instagram @seahurstpublishing.If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating to be notified of future episodes! You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the podcast on Instagram ⁠@letstalkmediava.