gm, world! ☀️

There’s a saying that time flies when you’re having fun! We think time really flies when you’re creating or trying hard to meet a deadline. But it’s the end of the week — and hopefully, none of us got any deadlines to chase. 🏃🏻‍♀️

So, take a moment to go through our weekly round-up of happenings in the creator economy.

In today’s Going Solo:

• Carol S. Dweck on hard work
• Discover a creator: India In Motion
• Instagram launches a Creator Marketplace
• This sculptor pivoted into eco-friendly designs & architecture

Carol S. Dweck on Hard Work

Carol Dweck is an American psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, but you might easily recognise her with her book Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential. This book is a nod in the right direction for those seeking motivation in life. A mandatory read for all creators out there, this book has nuggets of wisdom and truth bombs that you can expect only from someone like Carol, who avidly studies human motivation. 🔥

Simple lines from the book that make so much sense! 👇🏼

Read this to grab some insights from her book.

Discover a Creator: India In Motion

Life in the mountains isn’t easy! But some travellers and bloggers go beyond the trodden paths to document life, weather, and the beauty of the mountains.

Saravana Kumar’s India In Motion is one such YouTube channel! 🗻

Whether it’s documenting local festivals and lost traditions or camping in snowstorms and suffering from frostbite, this YouTuber isn’t faint-hearted, but his videos are great documentaries loaded with information and beauty.

If you haven’t watched his videos, and want to get started right away, here’s one. 👇🏼

Surely, these videos will become your lunch hour companions, just like mine.

Instagram Drops a Creator Marketplace for Brands to Discover Influencers

This is huge! 😱

And, let’s be honest — no other social media platform may beat this rn..except err, TikTok. Well, here’s a gist of what’s up: Instagram has dropped a creator marketplace, where brands can discover, reach out, and collaborate with creators of their choice.

In its official blog post, Instagram has said, “Brands can use the desktop experience within Meta Business Suite to filter creators by gender, age, number of followers and interests. They’ll also be able to filter for creators based on the demographics of their engaged audience, using filters including gender, age, interests, country and city; see creators who have expressed interest in working with them, have tagged them or follow them; see similar creators to those they’ve already found through the filters; and add creators to saved lists.”

What makes this a better experience is that brands can also generate campaigns from the marketplace and share guidelines and deliverables with the creators directly. This discovery platform will surely streamline communications and campaign; that said, its launch is still limited to invite-only brands in the US, and it’ll be a while before it spreads across the globe.

Grab more deets here.

Why a Sculptor Pivoted from Gallery Installations to Big-box Stores Design

James Wines is an iconic sculptor and architect who transitioned into a visual artist and architect endorsing sustainability. While his works have found home in Canada, Spain, Japan, Korea, Dubai, and other parts of the world, he paused everything he was doing to pivot and create what would endure for years.

Bringing elements like aesthetics, creativity, durability, and timeless and environmental designs into play — James and his team architected buildings and spaces that invoke conversations. In this piece by Aeon, you’ll know how they put art where you least expect it. A great learning for me, because it made me realise sustainability doesn’t have to be less creative or conversational.

Check it out here (psst. it’s got a video too.) 👇🏼

Why a Sculptor Pivoted from Gallery Installations to Big-box Stores Design