In Episode 20, Jessica Ann talks with fashion photographer and podcast host Michael Donovan. 

Michael Donovan’s images navigate an exploration into consumer culture, advertising and the emotions separating art and fashion photography. According to HungerTV: 

“Combining the beautiful with the bizarre, the controlled with the chaotic, Donovan´s photography attempts to destabilise the highly polished images expected of today´s consumer culture through the use of the psychedelic, androgyny, comedy, eroticism, surrealism, fantasy, Pop Art, cinema, fetishism and historical nuance.”

{Warning: Explicit language!}

In this interview, Michael and Jessica Ann discuss: 

1. His background as a photographer and the paradox of being an artist. 
2. How advertising is the old way of being propaganda and "product is perfect" is dead. It still works because not everyone has woken up. This old world still works but we're moving away from it. So there's this exciting new corridor.
3. The irrelevance of having a title: "I'm more than a photographer. I'm a spiritual being who happens to be plopped out of this body." 
4. Ram Dass's exploration as to why we’re here on earth, using TV channels as metaphors to get to the root of our existence and to understand the different planes of consciousness. Available to listen to here. 
5. How to balance the duality between the lower Channels 1, 2, and 3 and 4, 5, 6. 
6. Do we still need to have titles and "personas" when we live in an enlightened society? 
7. Most people want freedom, happiness, and peace. And most people want to give others freedom, happiness, and peace. 
8. If we don't recognize that each of us are consciousness, what's the point? Everything is pointing us towards togetherness. 
9. Technology is another animal like we're another animal. 
10. The importance of leaders talking about intuition and the need to create a shortcut//access point to make people understand the relationship between brands, businesses, and channel 6. 

Welcome to Episode 19 of The Art of Humanity, where we explore creativity + consciousness to allow you and your business to evolve. In Episode 19, Jessica Ann talks with Ted Rubin.

{Like what you hear? Leave a review on iTunes!}

Many people in the social media world know Ted for his enthusiastic, energetic and undeniably personal connection to people. Ted is the most followed CMO on Twitter, according to Social Media Marketing Magazine; one of the most interesting CMOs on Twitter, according to Say Media, #13 on Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers, and number #2 on the Leadtail list of Top 25 People Most Mentioned by digital marketers. ROR is the basis of his philosophy...it's all about relationships! His book, Return on Relationship, was released in 2013, and How to Look People in the Eye Digitally in 2015. 

In this interview, Jessica Ann and Ted Rubin talk about: 

1. His background with Seth Godin, starting back in 1997 (He sent Seth Godin a resume!) And the critical error that he made at the beginning of his career. 
2. His work with E.L.F. cosmetics in 2008 at the early stage of social and how he built a brand using ingenuity without a marketing budget.
3. (6:00) I speak my mind. I say what I think. I tell people that they have to get back to something that is near and dear to your heart: their humanity. It's about building relationships and being good to people. It's about how connecting with people in a real way will benefit your business. 
4. (9:15) I got to listen and learn from Seth Godin. A lot of what I got from Return on Relationship came from Seth's Permission Marketing...about bypassing the agencies whenever you can and talking directly to the people you want to do business with.  Agencies provide a great function but Seth's point was: instead
5. (10:45) A network gives you reach but communities give you power...Networks allow you to connect with various people but communities care. 
6. (11:33) This evolution to me has been like a God-send. Not only am I a community builder but now I have all of these platforms to build communities that enable and empower me. But I also love to interact and meet with people. I'm obsessed with interacting with people. If you're going to make responsive part of your personal brand, be prepared for when your following grows and you have to be responsive for what you care about. And for me, the beauty or the difficulty of it is not something I built into my brand...it's a part of who I am. 
7. (13:00) His definition of community in today's digital age. 
8. (17:46) It's not about the platform it's about the people. 
9. (22:00) This is how you separate yourself, and that you do care about humanity. When you pass people in the street, smile at them! A brand is what a business or a person does...a reputation is what people remember and share. 
10. It's less of a problem than an opportunity. If you're with someone, put the phone down and look at someone. This isn't so much about humanity (although that has a lot to do with it). It's about showing people how important they are to you. 
11. (26:30) He tells a true story that not a lot of people know. 
12. You will feel better if you treat people better. You will feel better if you default to happy. You will feel better if you stop before you go off on someone. Take a breath and smile :) 
13. (32:18) I'm not a big persona guy. And what I've learned is that it's very hard to maintain a persona. In other words, if I didn't really believe in what I do, it would be hard to keep it up. It would be hard to fight the naysayers. 
14. (33:30) The hilarious study that was done on Millennials about the reason that the consumption of cereal is going down is because Millennials are too lazy to clean the dishes from eating cereal. Here is the study in The Washington Post.

Like what you hear? Leave a review in iTunes! 

In Episode 18, Jessica Ann talks with a former criminal defense lawyer, psychotherapist, author Jeff Brown. The interview starts off talking about his background, then goes into spirituality, the media, the "New Cage" movement, and the importance of clearing our emotional material. 

Jessica Ann took some time away to release her new book, Humanize Your Brand: How to Create Content that Connects with Your Customers, published to rave reviews in February 2016. It's available on Amazon as a paperback and ebook, and an audiobook version will be released soon. 

Thanks for your patience as the show took a bit of a break.

In the Art of Humanity, we explore creativity + consciousness to allow you and your business to evolve.

In Episode 17, Jessica Ann talks with one of the world's greatest thinkers: media theorist and futurist Douglass Rushkoff.

Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He is the author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now as well as a dozen other bestselling books on media, technology, and culture, including Program or Be Programmed, Media Virus, Life Inc and the novel Ecstasy Club.

His latest book is called Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity, available for pre-order on Amazon.

He is Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY/Queens. He wrote the graphic novels Testament and A.D.D., and made the television documentaries Generation Like, Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders, and Digital Nation. He lives in New York, and lectures about media, society, and economics around the world.

The interview starts off talking about his background, then goes into technology, humanity, and maybe a little bit about...Donald Trump.