Healing a Disconnected World Through Creativity with Rachel Friedman

This week, we’re joined by Rachel Friedman, the founder and CEO of TENFOLD: a cultural, strategy, and creative firm aiming to build brands from the inside out by leveraging what makes them special. Their award-winning solutions connect people to place in a meaningful way and they will soon be launching TENSPACE, a sister brand dedicated to creating physical showcases for brands and their stories.

Rachel was aware of a sense of “not-enoughness” from a young age and harnessed it to live an intentional life. She identified the creative spark within her after discovering her passion for Interior Design classes at school. That energy combined with her longing for more to meld a high-achieving creative who’s gone on to forge an extremely impressive career. She’s now a three-time recipient of the Business First C-Suite Award for Most Admired CEO.  

Rachel points to the strong women in her life growing up as a huge inspiration for her. Not least: her incredibly supportive mother who gave her the space and freedom to pursue her artistically minded passions as a career. When people share their stories, magic happens, and that’s more evident than ever when it comes to Rachel Friedman.

As well as exploring the steps in her life that led to where she is today, we get into all things creation, starting with recognizing the creative drive within us and knowing how to act on it. We also explore what qualifies as creation, the ways creativity can be utilized to help others, and our creative processes. 

Then, we explore the more philosophical side of things such as the relationships we choose to maintain, how to give them our best, and the very nature of following our passions and drives. 

What Brett asks:

• [02:10] Tell us a bit about your early life.
• [04:06] How did the early version of you form in childhood?
• [08:10] What was it like having two very different parents?
• [13:45] At what point did you recognize the desire for more instilled in you from a young age?
• [18:30] Tell us how you started to emerge as a creative within your career?
• [24:30] Do you agree that all forms of creation are valid?
• [28:00] How much of the hunger to become more than just a designer came from your childhood want for more?
• [34:00] What is your creative process?
• [38:00] What’s it like being a CEO as a woman?

Lessons for intentional living:

• Rachel points to the support system she had growing up as a huge reason she was able to build such a successful and fulfilling life for herself. It just goes to show the importance of being there for other people when they need help and for giving them the freedom to explore what they’re driven to do.
• Rachel was driven by a sense of “not-enoughness” to build her career. This is something we all experience at some point in our lives and it’s something we can all harness to push ourselves to make something or make a difference.
• Creation is a powerful, inspiring thing. And it takes an almost infinite number of forms. You may be a passionate painter or musician, but you may also feel like you have no artistic talent or drive whatsoever. That shouldn’t stop you from creating. Creativity can be almost anything, from cooking a meal to a household DIY task to building a business from the ground up. Find the means of creation that speak to you and don’t hold back.

Resources:

• TENFOLD’s website
• TENFOLD on LinkedIn
• TENFOLD on Twitter
• TENFOLD on Instagram