Michelle Fanzo
Executive Director
Best way to overcome a creative block: Get out of your head. Stop trying to make your brain do something and instead move your body. Yoga, cross-country skiing or kayaking tend to work for me. Another way is to cut myself off from all distractions and let my thinking be less cluttered and more expansive for a number of hours – like when walking in the woods or on a long-haul flight.
Most significant lesson learned: a. Be ready for what comes up. b. Work with it. c. Be ready to let it go.
Favorite food: Oysters (followed by ice cream)
Summer reading list: Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain (fascinating), Why Nations Fail by Acemoglu and Robinson, United by Corey Booker, The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.
Mantra? “Less is more!”
Jessica Pfauth
Manager, Operations & Development
Best way to overcome a creative block: I have often found that a block needs its space. Walking away for even a few minutes, shifting attention and focus, can help let your mind see different avenues that might have been obscured by too much direct focus on the problem.
Favorite food: If it involves cheese or potatoes, I’m a fan.
Favorite drink: Good quality black teas or a craft gin-and-tonic.
Favorite Pittsburgh Space: The Gilded Age lobby of the William Penn Hotel.
Mantra: Start from where you are now.
Brigid Moser
Membership + Communications Associate
Best way to overcome a creative block: Read, listen to music, watch a movie – consume the art that inspires you, then sleep.
Favorite Pittsburgh space: The Mattress Factory.
Favorite food: French fries (and berries in the summer).
Summer reading list: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong, The Call of the Wild by Jack London.
Mantra: Say yes to things that challenge you.