Choose954 Podcast Episode #80 With Jordan Guzman

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97EwOWK7OXw&list=PLOQvdw7d0cd9RZZkd2lZy2hmrnJv-cfLI&index=19

Evan Snow: And we are back here on the Choose 954 podcast, episode 80, with Broward County-based artist, human being, and cat lover Jordan Guzman, from her Pompano Beach home and art studio. If you didn’t know about Choose954, myself, Evan Snow, and my business partner, Mr. Andrew Martino, started a social movement to cultivate culture and community here in Broward County, where I’m very proud to be born and raised. Our effort is to keep people informed about all the great things that are going on, primarily within the arts and culture, to make this a better place to live and not just a better place to vacation. The point of the podcast is to connect you, the listener, with interesting people like Jordan, who do amazing things in the world, and we’re hoping to blow your mind a little bit today with some things that maybe you didn’t know existed or didn’t know the impact of, that you might be able to integrate into your life to have a little bit more Zen, a little bit more balance, and a little bit more peace.

But for those who are not familiar with Jordan Guzman, who has been on the podcast previously but under a different moniker and initiative, why don’t you tell us a little bit about Jordan Guzman and your evolution as an artist and a human being down here in Broward County?

Jordan Guzman: I like that you kind of prefaced that by saying “artist/human,” and I would definitely lead with the human part because the more I get deeper into my life experience, following my natural impulses and instincts, and wherever that path goes, it just always takes me back to that point of being a human being on this planet, who I believe came with a mission. I know what that is, and I’m just trying to be faithful to that. A lot of it has started not just with my growth as an artist and using that title but going way outside of that. When I’m passionate about expressing that humanity and seeing our mutual humanity in each other, art has just become the vessel and the medium through which I can do that and express that.

So, I think that thought process has been a long time coming, or maybe it’s one of those things that you just always kind of know is buried underneath a lot of conditioning and other voices. My evolution has been chipping away at my conditioning, societal expectations, and cultural expectations of who we need to be as individuals in order to be valued and validated. This whole process for me has been about doing away with that, not looking outside of myself for validation, and just bringing it back to me. The arts have been a way for me to document that process. I don’t really think of myself as becoming an artist or living an artist’s life because, when I used to say that when I was 17, what I was really after was this imagination and ideal that I had in my head of what I thought being an artist would be like. And what that really was, was freedom.

I thought artists live these free lives—like the Bohemian kind of ideal—and I’m like, “Oh, this is how artists are. They don’t follow the rules.” And that is very true. But then I saw, in growing or just building myself professionally as an artist—having a solo exhibition last summer at the Bailey Contemporary Art and spending 10 years cultivating this visual language—I felt like there was more that I wanted to say than just creating paintings that don’t have words. I was really after expressing the deeper meaning of existence that I’ve always been interested in, and I knew that paintings just couldn’t fully capture it. So, I’ve been in this insular experience where I’ve pulled back a little bit and dug deep into what it is that I want to say. And that’s where my direction is going now.

So, I feel like I spent a lot of time cultivating a visual arts title, and now I’m like, “Oh, forget that. We’re just human.”

Evan Snow: Well, you’re so much more than that, and you’ve done a lot of work on that, which we’re going to get to later on in the podcast. But I really liked how you framed that you came with a mission, and you’ve been being faithful to that. Things really start to shift when you live life with intention, when you do things with intention. If you go to a yoga class, the instructor will generally say at the beginning of class, “Take a moment to set your intention and seal your intention for this class.” For myself, for yourself, for all the yogis in the world, it definitely makes a big shift when you live life with intention. I’m excited for you to share some of those practices and some of that growth and progress that you’ve made in a little bit.

But before we get there, for those that are not familiar with your work, and as you alluded to, you have been painting for a few years and reached a pretty good level of establishment for an artist, having a solo show in a major Cultural Arts Center, being an exhibiting artist at Art Fort Lauderdale for multiple years. Could you walk us through how your work has evolved and the work that you’re currently producing now for those who are not familiar?

Jordan Guzman: Let me paint a picture. I have to remember too, Evan, that we’ve had so many conversations on our own and on a different level, and I have to remember that people are getting to know me in that way. I have a Fine Arts degree and specialized in painting. I want to backtrack a little bit because, for a lot of artists’ journeys—creatives, not just artists but creative people, or if you have a different kind of vision for what your life is looking like or feeling like it needs to go somewhere else—I knew I was creative growing up. I liked poetry. I got into little contests and things like that. I wrote a lot too. I had a diary that I was really attached to. But the thing is, Evan, I can’t talk about my art journey without talking about my spiritual journey because they’re so intertwined.

I grew up in Orlando with my dad’s side of the family. My dad came from Ecuador to New York in the 80s, met my mom, and then came down to Florida. All of his siblings followed suit, and we all grew up really close-knit. My upbringing has a lot to do with my spiritual journey and my art because I feel like, at the end of the day, that’s really what I’m sorting out. When I was 17, one of my cousins who came with my aunt later than the others passed away when he was 10 years old. He was the youngest of us, and it was really traumatic for our family. It was the first death in our family, and he was our baby. That event in my life was a full-blown awakening about existence. It was one of those things where nothing was the same after that. I thought about my place in life, woke up, and realized that I didn’t fit into a traditional educational model, and it didn’t work for me.

That really set me on a track to care about my life and consider that I had a purpose. I took my first real art class in the last semester of high school and decided to dedicate my life to it. I graduated from college in 2015 from UCF, moved to Plantation, and taught at a Montessori Reggio school for six years. In 2021, I decided to move on from that, and since then, I feel like I’ve taken a big leap, putting a lot of trust in myself and the universe. I’ve followed my dreams and instincts, which have led me exactly where I needed to go. All these life experiences have been awakenings that push me forward. I feel very strong in knowing that I don’t know any other way to do it or to be. I’m always trying to find the box I’ve put myself in so I can break out of it. My spiritual life and what I’ve been able to accomplish here on Earth are so intertwined, and to separate the two would be impossible. They all lend to each other.

Evan Snow: We’re doing this on an audio format, so they can’t necessarily see your work. But for those unfamiliar with your work, could you try to paint a visual picture of it?

Jordan Guzman: I’ll try. I create acrylic paintings on canvas, usually monochromatic with very minimal images. I love texture, balance, and color, and how they all come together to create a sense of calm and peace. My paintings and visual artwork are created to soothe me, so I try to create pictures that, when I see them, I want to hang back, look at, and meditate on. My solo exhibition, "The Edge of Seventeen," at the Bailey Contemporary Art was a retrospective on different parts of me. Some of the artwork in there was small drawings and paintings, snapshots and visions of dreams that I’ve had, and intense emotional experiences that I had to paint. I also use dried flowers, multimedia artworks, and monochromatic acrylic paintings in warm tones. I like to create pictures that remind me of being in nature and being calm. Is that better? Did you get that?

Evan Snow: I feel like I’m in nature here, listening to you describe your work. It’s super cool. We were super fortunate to have supported Jordan’s practice and development by exhibiting her work at Art Fort Lauderdale and participating in the Choose 954 Local Artist Discovery Series at YOLO, which I know was very outside your comfort zone at the time. It’s just another testament to your growth process and development. On this path and journey, I commend you for being called to want to help others and share your experiences, your knowledge, and your teachings, not just with the little ones at Montessori school, but now with AIM and Arden Speeding. For those not familiar with AIM, we did do a podcast previously with Jordan’s partner on this venture, but could you tell us a little bit more about AIM?

Jordan Guzman: Our AIM is a non-profit organization, and our mission is to create spaces where people are encouraged to freely express their innate creativity. My partner, Melissa Lynette Danielson, and I created this organization to host events and create an environment for people to come and share, be vulnerable, and have a positive sounding board to encourage them and validate their unique vision. Melissa graduated from UF in Gainesville and specialized in ceramics. We both have a similar formal training background, and we met at the school where we were teaching. We built a natural rapport with each other and became close friends, co-creating and sharing a vision for what we wanted to create in the community.

We started with artist meetups, and our vision was to create spaces where people are encouraged to express their creativity. We wanted to invite artists to bring their artwork and talk about it. We got the name "Art and Its Meaning" from a book I have called "Dreams and Their Meanings." Art is subjective; the artist has a personal relationship with the symbols and visual language they use to create a picture, and we wanted to treat it like a dream, extracting meaning from the symbols. We wanted to create a space where it wasn’t just heady or intellectual because art is so primal and necessary for survival. It’s about being around beautiful things. We didn’t want it to be an over-intellectualization of art, which isn’t interesting to me anymore.

Our spaces allow people to come and be encouraged, refreshed, and inspired. We’ve been fortunate to provide that for the community because, after leaving art school, you don’t have that.

Evan Snow: You really have built a community with these meetups. It’s still blowing my mind that this has happened. You had an idea, and you did things to make the idea into reality. It’s such a simple concept, but it’s a beautiful expression of creativity.

Jordan Guzman: I lost my train of thought.

Evan Snow: One thing you mentioned is that it’s not like other art critique meetups that are generally more intellectual or heavy. Unfortunately, we don’t have too many of those here in Broward. In Miami, there are some, but I commend you for having it open, inclusive, and free. You’ve been hosting them periodically, occasionally at our Zero Empty Spaces location in Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, and it’s had a profound impact on artists’ lives. Being able to get that feedback from your contemporaries and peers is a powerful thing.

You do have your next one coming up, so for those who would like to be a part of it, could you give us the details about your next two events?

Jordan Guzman: Yep, yep, yep.So, on Saturday, September 17th, from 4 to 6 PM, we are being hosted by Andrea Dent, an artist at Zero Empty Spaces at Gulfstream Park. It’s number 11, right?

Evan Snow: Correct, at Zero Empty Spaces.

Jordan Guzman: So, we’ll be there. Melissa and I started this just for the artist meetups, and then we expanded. We’re going to continue to expand, but we expanded what we wanted to offer the community to include children. We actually kicked it off this summer in June, with our first free Open Studio Art Experience for children. We’ve called it AIM Petite Apprenticeship Program. Our last one of the season is on Saturday, September 17th, on the same day as the artist meetup, but from 10 to 11 AM at Holland Park in Hollywood, Florida. This one, in particular, is open to preschool-aged children, so two to four years old.

Evan Snow: And if they want to get more information?

Jordan Guzman: Yes, follow us on AIM South Florida on Instagram. There we post the flyers and information. It’s a mixed bag for these events; we’re seeing how people learn about it and how they come to it. Most of it has been word of mouth. Every single time, Evan, we’ve tried to do a formal thing where we get everyone who’s coming, everyone who says they’re going to come on paper, they don’t show up. But a whole new set of different people come that we would have never imagined.

Evan Snow: It sounds like you’re keeping an open mind and letting things happen organically.

Jordan Guzman: Exactly. We’ve been very open to that. This is where our spiritual beliefs and what we believe about how we can run this organization in a way that’s different from what we thought we had to do comes into play. We decided to just do it, show up, and whoever comes is who needs to come. It’s been delightful and surprising every step of the way. We’ve taken that approach to the artist meetups too. When we first started, we did our first meeting at Moksha House, which has since closed down, and we were renting it, paying for it. Only two artists showed up, but we were so happy because it wasn’t just me and Melissa. Even if it had been, we would have sat there and talked about our own art.

Evan Snow: That’s a great mentality to have, building it and knowing that people will come, and staying true to your vision and values.

Jordan Guzman: Exactly. We’re keepers of this organization, and it’ll morph into what it needs to be. Taking a note from my podcasting experience, we’ll put the links in the show notes so that you can find out for yourself. I really commend you guys for creating this space and container, offering something valuable to artists that’s been missing, especially here in Broward County. It’s a valuable thing you’re doing, and I encourage artists of any level—emerging, mid-career, or established—to attend. Even Blue Chip artists could benefit from some critique and feedback from their contemporaries and peers.

Evan Snow: Now, to the really interesting part of the podcast that we were looking forward to sharing with you, and the reason why I even know how to use terms like “container,” is something Jordan and I, and many others, share that’s had a profound impact on our lives and the world: our spiritual practices and routines. Jordan, why don’t you tell us a little bit about your spiritual practices and routines and how they’ve impacted your life?

Jordan Guzman: I wrote down some things that just popped into my mind initially, but I also think there’s a bigger picture for how I see my life that helps me move through life easily. The things that I wrote down are brain dumps, and I write those in my notes. I used to journal a lot and write a lot, but for whatever reason—probably because of my hand—I just can’t bring myself to physically write as much as I used to, like pages and pages. So now I’ve turned to opening up notes on my phone and creating a heading, then typing whatever is on my mind. I think part of it is because I have dyslexia, and when my thoughts are like Spitfire, it becomes almost a burden to physically write. I feel like I’m stumbling and tripping over a lot of letters, and then I can’t even read it when I look back. So, typing and doing brain dumps that way have really helped me open up my mindfulness practice and have a daily meditation practice and do simple, easy breathwork exercises. Just being intentional with your breath goes back to what we were kind of saying at the beginning of the podcast about living with intention and having it in everything that you do. How the yoga teacher asks you to sit and seal your intention at the beginning of the practice and how powerful and impactful that can be. Since I've decided to live my life with this intention, it has had profound, tremendous impacts for me personally and professionally. Just in terms of having more energy, more clarity, and better peace of mind, my value system has completely shifted. We've always been doing this work, myself and Andrew, very altruistically for the betterment of the community. But now, I really do value those small wins. Similarly to you, I would host an event, see however many RSVPs on the list, and not see those RSVPs show up. It's easy to get frustrated as an event producer, as an event organizer, but when you are aligned with your values, when you are aligned with your mission, and when you don't sweat the small stuff and celebrate the small wins, it really does shift your perspective. For me, now that I've changed my path and started becoming more of a yoga and mindfulness advocate and practitioner, it's truly impacted the work that I do in the community. We now integrate a guided meditation or breathwork exercise before Creative Zen to help everybody get into a more relaxed and elevated state to receive the talk that they're about to listen to. We're here to help if you ever have any questions. You can reach out to Jordan or myself for tips, tricks, practices, and breathwork exercises.

Evan Snow: It's really interesting how we've kind of, and you really actually helped key me into a lot of this, how the evolution of what we refer to as these "woo-woo" practices have evolved. What they were previously considered "woo-woo" or "out there" before, but now they're becoming kind of more modern and mainstream. How have you noticed the evolution of these spiritual practices, this path, evolved in society in 2022?

Jordan Guzman: In my late teens to early 20s, I had a very interesting religious upbringing—non-traditional. But when I was in my late teens and early 20s, I took myself to Evangelical Christianity and Evangelical Church. Then I left it, and I left being like, "I'm an atheist," like the complete opposite—like I don't believe in God at all. It was just a 180 because it wasn't just a concept of something else bigger than me that I was defining. I was also battling my experience of traditional Evangelical Christianity, and I couldn't separate the culture of Evangelical Christianity from the idea of connecting to something deeper. So when I left, I was like, "I don't want any of it at all." But I've always been intrigued. I had a friend who was Christian who talked about astrology, and I was really intrigued by it. So when I left, I was like, "Everything's game." Everything I'd ever wanted to research that was completely not okay to research in Christianity, I went for it. I learned about all religions and was drawn to everything. I was soaking everything up, and I really did get into astrology at that time when I was 22 it's like, around 2009, I was going into college or something. But around that time, that was not in the mainstream—people talking about astrology like they do now on social media. Just being like, "Yeah, the full moon is impressive; everybody get your whatever." And then there's this whole broad culture about it. Even bringing yoga and meditation to the West and convincing people that it's good—you know, in Christianity, if you did yoga and meditation, you were dancing with the devil. That's how it was seen.

Evan Snow: I think now it's evolved in Christian culture, probably to integrate these practices, where you meditate on God. That was already a thing in Christianity where you pick a Bible verse, meditate on it, and think about it. So it's not that far off. There are a lot of spiritual people in the Bible who put themselves in trance states to connect with God.

Jordan Guzman: Through my own life experience, I had to completely detach and say, "No, I don't want any of this," and then slowly rebuild my idea and belief system that works for me. It has to work for me. I cannot buy into a concept of spirit, God, or the universe that is criticizing me, judging me, like a mean parent. I want a supportive team—not even just one, but a spirit team, like a team of people.

Evan Snow: Being grounded in my root chakra and building that internal trust—that internal trust that I am being guided, that I am being faithful to where I need to go, and that wherever I land my feet is where I need to be. I just walk in faith, knowing that I will be okay—not just on this Earth, but in the next life or whatever comes after. I'll be okay.

Jordan Guzman: I already have that as my end goal. I already know the end from the beginning, in a sense, where I'm like, "Okay, well, I already know I'm going to die, so I'm safe and I'm okay." I think these practices and spirituality—not traditional religion—being in the mainstream is so helpful for a lot of people because then you can connect. You can DIY your spiritual belief system.

Evan Snow: I don't believe that any one group has the one answer, but I do know that people all want the same thing: internal peace. You can find that in a variety of ways. I'm very happy and excited that whether you're doing astrology, yoga, Kabbalah, or whatever it is—a little bit of all of it, like an à la carte thing—people have a lot more freedom to express themselves in ways that weren't okay before.

Jordan Guzman: I'm really excited about that—not only spirituality, but also how people relate to their issues, like traumas, is in the Zeitgeist too. There's a lot of people on the internet who talk about it, and it can be easy to get lost. In my own experience, you have to have a discerning spirit to see what is really for you and what's not for you. If you're someone who just buys into anything, you could kind of get lost in the inundation of material that's online very easily.

Evan Snow: Yes, like lost in the sauce of the internet and what people say about what you need to know about your personal healing and all that stuff. I have an internal guide that's kind of like, "That might be for me, but maybe not right now," or "I'm really focused and more interested in this right now, and I need to see where that goes before I can jump to something else." It's all about following my instincts, following my interest, and really listening to myself.

Jordan Guzman: Amen, and what catches my eye, ear, heart, and soul at the moment, and letting that guide me.

Evan Snow: And what feels true and authentic to you. There's a lot of noise—there are a lot of options, a lot of things out there to explore. Some of them might be more aligned, and some of them might not be aligned. They could all be beneficial things. I'm going to throw a couple of terms out there: astral projection, the Akashic records, somatic breathing, Reiki, Kundalini Yoga. These are all things that I have not actually dabbled much in. I've tried Kundalini once, I tried Reiki once, but these were not things that I’ve elected to dive deep into, though they're out there. They're accessible on the internet; they're accessible in person in the community as well. But they work for some, and maybe they work better for others. Some people may simply just be in nature, simply listening to music, which can be therapeutic and have healing or growth or benefits that one seeks, if they know it or not.

Jordan Guzman: Life is an investigative process, and it’s always continuing to unfold and develop. You find the things that work for you, that you feel comfortable with. One thing that people find interesting, and my cousin keeps asking me about, is my morning routine and how it’s impacted me. I think this has probably evolved from when we did your podcast last year, the Breakdown to Build Up Podcast. But it's definitely evolved. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is have a simple, brief moment of gratitude where I smile and recognize the fact that I'm alive. That’s the best way to start the day—easiest, simplest thing you can do. As I roll over and grab my phone, I don’t start scrolling; I immediately put on affirmations, generally "I am" affirmations. If you're not familiar, it’s about subconsciously programming your brain by hearing these positive, reinforcing statements over and over again, which subconsciously help you embrace and ultimately believe and embody these things: "I am beautiful," "I am healthy," "I am whole," "I am alive," "I am loved," whatever they may be. I generally try to rotate the affirmations instead of listening to the same one daily. There are a ton of them available on YouTube. As I begin to play the "I am" affirmations, I do a brief five-minute mobility, basically light stretching in bed—knees to chest, supine twists, just a couple of stretches. Then I get out of bed and do a couple of stretches along the edge of the bed. Then I go about my morning: go to the bathroom, drink some water. After about 10 or 15 minutes of affirmations, I switch to positive motivational videos on YouTube, listening to them—just the audio. Generally nowadays, these guys are phenomenal who come up with these videos. They’ll sprinkle in not just—you know, I love David Goggins, Eric Thomas, and Gary Vee—but they’ll even sprinkle in TD Jakes and Joel Osteen, and Les Brown, and some of these guys who, yes, were a little more religious, but they’re generally integrating more of the spiritual side. That’s actually one of the easiest, key parts of my morning routine that I could share with anybody. Whether you have some experience or background in a spiritual or mindful practice or not, these can relate to anybody. You don’t have to be woo-woo to get the motivation.

Evan Snow: I eat my breakfast, I’m taking my vitamins and supplements—which I could put in the show notes as well. There are phenomenal amounts of things that I take that help me get ready for my day. Then I meditate. After that, I brush my teeth in between there, do a 10-minute guided meditation most days. There’s one channel on YouTube that I listen to and subscribe to religiously called Great Meditation. The woman has a phenomenal voice, really good presence. Some days it's five minutes; I generally just try to do the new one that they put out every day or the last one they put out. Sometimes they mix it up, and I'll do a Wim Hof breathing exercise—maybe that's 11 or 12 minutes. Then I get on the yoga mat. If I'm not doing a morning class—which I really only do now on the weekends—a hot power Vinyasa class at my local Ben and Bree studio in Hollywood, I'll do a 10-minute flow in my apartment, in my living room. Just a light stretch sequence—some cat-cows, child's pose, wrist stretches, some sun salutations, some downward dogs, end with the yogi squat and some twists. Generally takes me about 10 minutes. And I know this sounds like a lot, and I'm going to try to put it in context, but if I'm not working out that day, I go to the steam room, which fortunately we have in the building here in Hollywood If I do work out that day, then I, you know, will do cardio maybe three days a week, and then lift, you know, one or two days a week right now at this point in my life. And then I would do the steam room and then come back, take a shower. I've recently started integrating cold showers in the morning after. Bro, game changer. Absolute game changer. If you aren't familiar with Wim Hof, he's known as The Iceman. He really highlights the benefits of cold plunges, and he has some really popular and successful breathing exercises. The cold certainly helps set the tone, so now I am truly ready for my day.

So that might have sounded like a lot. You might have to wake up at 6:00 AM to get all of these things done by 9:00 AM or whenever you have to get ready to go to work. And as I travel, I adapt it. I back it up by the amount of time that I need. I'll wake up accordingly, but I really realize these practices are fundamentally absolutely essential for me to make the most out of your day. If you could feel your best, you could do your best, you could be your best. And then also, just to round that up, sleep is really a fundamental element. Many people, you know, undervalue it, but if people sleep well, it can make a huge difference.

Jordan Guzman: Yes, we sleep on sleep. But Andrew Huberman, one of the leading neuroscientists, one of the top podcasters in the world from Stanford University, has really spoken to me through his very easy-to-understand messaging about the importance of not just getting ideally eight hours of sleep, but what you do in that hour before you go to sleep, like putting on blue light glasses and minimizing light. And then what you do as soon as you wake up by trying to integrate sunlight within, you know, an hour or 30 minutes of waking up.

Evan Snow: Yeah, these things—I'll try to put them in the show notes. I know it seems like a lot, but when you get in the routine of doing them, they come second nature. And these are all things—if you didn't hear the initial podcast, one of the initial podcasts Jordan and I did on her show, the Break Down the Build Up Podcast, which is resuming season two later this year—I was fortunate enough to have a coach, my Guru from yoga, my friend, my teacher, Chloe Ravel, AKA The Gemini Rising, who helped me develop these morning practices and routines. And if it's a friend of yours, if it's a spouse, a parent, a coach, a guru, a YouTube channel, there are resources available to help you develop these routines. And I hope, if nothing else, one of these things could resonate with you and hopefully help have an impact on your life, which is something that would bring a lot of value and happiness to Jordan and my life if we're able to do that. Would you agree?

Jordan Guzman: Yes, and one thing I want to add to that, because I want to know—something that I've just noticed in talking to women—is that not enough women track their monthly cycle in order to know what each phase of the month is and how it's affecting them, and what they need during that month in order to support themselves. Our society is not set up around a woman's monthly cycle. It's really kind of set up for a lot of Yang energy, which is a lot of doing and a lot of producing and a lot of action. And I think in order to balance that out—and for me, I have gotten the most out of myself by following my being in tune with my monthly cycle and just knowing what my rhythms are and what's happening in my body.

Evan Snow: Yeah, and obviously, for you, it's different because you don't have that monthly cycle. You know, I think men might have to look into this more, but men might have like a sun cycle or something, or I know they have hormonal shifts, but I'm not even that familiar with it, and I don't think that's something that I've, you know, I don't know that much about. But women's cycles are so nuanced, like it's broken up into four different parts, and it's supposed to go with the cycle of the moon, and each one of those four phases of the menstrual cycle brings something different both spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Jordan Guzman: And that is not in the conversation around productivity and around efficiency and around getting things done and producing and actualizing enough because there's a lot of women that don't—like they're, you know, a week before they get their periods, and they're going more insular and probably experiencing PMS symptoms. And I feel like it's a big joke in society, like, "Oh, we're all just crabby and emotional," and it's like, no, it's a serious thing that's happening in your body in response to something that didn't happen—getting pregnant. And for me, those times—like this is why I feel like it's so important to be in tune with—when I say in tune with my natural rhythm, that's what I mean, like in tune with what is happening in my body on a day-to-day basis and how it's speaking to me.

Evan Snow: So I do it kind of from that way instead of reverse ordering it where I just beat my body into submission of how I think it should behave and be, where I'm like, "Let me listen to what's happening today when I wake up." So when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I just kind of look around like I woke up, I look around the room, and if I—I guess I could call it a meditation, but I will just be quiet and listen to what's coming up for the day. And sometimes I won't even—like I'll stay there, but I don't have anywhere to be, but I'll stay there until something calls to me.

Jordan Guzman: And I have to do it because I'm so like—I don't want to be busy just to be busy. And I've allotted these two days for me to be in flow and see what happens and just be open to the unknown of the day. I know this is not everybody's day-to-day life or something, but this is kind of like—because I work three days a week, I've created my life to fit this model where I have time to have this kind of space and time and luxury to do this, but I just let myself be until something inside of me—like even if it's just like "go and get coffee" or "go sit in front of my books and open something up," like it's so organic and I listen to myself. But again, it depends on where I am during my monthly cycle and listening to that.

Evan Snow: I'm hearing you say that, and I'm like, "Oh yeah, my process is super different from that," because I have struggled so much. I've struggled so much thinking that something was wrong with me because I couldn't make my body submit to having a more strict daily routine like that. And then I feel like I surrendered that and was like, "Oh, I'm just gonna listen to myself and what I need for the day." And for me personally, that has made me a lot more at peace because I feel like I'm going with my flow. And I have learned to try to embrace that, you know, embrace that, because if not, I end up being like, "I can't do it," and then I feel like it's like with dieting and diet culture, like, "Why can't I lose weight? Why can't I do this? Why can't I?" And it's like, well, maybe that's not for you. Maybe there's a different way that fits your natural way of being that will make you feel more in line with who you are instead of feeling so bad that these other models don't work for you, you know? Or maybe not now, or maybe not ever.

Jordan Guzman: And I feel like I get so—like, Iwasn't gonna do this thing until it calls to me, and I'm just really not gonna do it until— And I got a lot of those things from Abraham Hicks and from Esther Hicks and yes, to be driven for what feels good. That has relinquished so much pressure, and I feel so much more at ease because I know that there are times throughout the month where I'm in my Yang energy, and I'm doing, and I'm going, and all I need is a mission for the next two weeks, and then I have all the energy in the world to do it. But then, at a different point in my cycle, I'm just writing, thinking, daydreaming more, expressing more, having more meaningful conversations with my friends, connecting. And then the week or so before I menstruate, my energy levels are going down, and whatever self-care practices I have, they have to adjust to where I'm at.

I don't even do hardcore exercises, but just a variety of exercises. If it's yoga, you can do a more relaxed form. I'm not even versed in a lot of different kinds of yoga, but maybe at one part you're doing Pilates or something when you have more energy, or a lot of heavy cardio and heavy lifting. But for women, doing all of that a couple of days before you get your period is not recommended. It's probably better to do Yin yoga or Yin meditations, being slow, staying in one spot for a long time—those kinds of things. So it's an organic flow, and that is very hard for women to do in our culture. It is not set up for that, and I think a lot of women get the short end of the stick when it comes to things because your body is literally doing something else, and society is like "produce, produce, produce" all the time, all month long. That is very hard to keep up with, you know?

I've had conversations with women where they're like, "Oh, I don't know where I'm at in my cycle," or, "Oh, that makes sense, I was really feeling isolated," or whatever. It's like, yeah, absolutely, because your body is going through this internal process. It doesn't mean anything about your ability to achieve. It's something that's happening that is natural, and we try to stop it. We don't want that, and we don't want to stop it because we want to compete and be on the same playing field and stuff.

So part of my process and my routines takes a monthly approach, where week by week there's a different thing going on in my body that I try to take into account. Whatever it is that I want to go for and whatever it is that I want to achieve, I have those things in mind so I can have a lot of grace and patience with myself, which is another great reason to journal. You can keep track of these processes and progress so you can be more mindful and aware. My favorite line from one of my favorite yoga practices is, "Listen to your body and be cognizant of it."

Evan Snow: I'm going to actually ask Chloe after this if that's something that she integrates into her coaching practice with other women, because it's really powerful stuff. As a man, obviously, I was not really fully cognizant and aware of not just that actual week, but how the week before that, and the week after that, and the cycles of the moon, and how all those things truly do factor into a woman's life. So you definitely just opened my eyes up to something, and I'll be that much more considerate with the women around me in my life. But don't do one of those things where they hold you accountable and then you're like, "Are you going to get your period?" Don't pull one of those. That's not what's happening here, but it's just like, yeah, because I feel like even saying that is like, "Oh yeah, you're crabby or whatever, so you must be on your period, and I'm not going to take you seriously because you're just PMSing at this point in the month." But sometimes, those things make sense where I know if an event is coming up or something, I'm like, "Where am I at in my cycle, and how am I going to need to prepare my body and make space for myself so that I can get the best out of myself?" But not by making my body do what it's not wanting to do, but to support it.

Jordan Guzman: Yeah, so I feel like with your approaches and everything you have, if a woman were to do that, if I were to do that, I would have to consider where I'm at in my cycle and then adjust accordingly to integrate a natural flow with a more strict regimen, if that makes sense, like a balance.

Evan Snow: That makes all the sense in the world to me. And related—separate but related—there's something you posted on your Instagram story that I actually have seen a lot of people post about, and I would ask you in the course of this conversation because it is related. It's come up—what does "Full Moon in Pisces" mean?

Jordan Guzman: I'm low-key, I'm low-key high-key nerdy about astrology—not that low-key—but okay, I feel like I'm coming more out of the closet, like, "I like astrology!" But I do, I like anything and everything that helps you get to know yourself better so that you can be less worried in life and just be more okay—more self-acceptance, more okayness, more peace. So okay, well, there's a full moon, and it's in the constellation of Pisces. The zodiac constellations—each one of the zodiac signs—is connected with a planet, and each one of those planets and zodiacs has these archetypes or mythologies built around them.

Astrology is like the point in the stars where you were born, a visual map of the sky, constellations, and planets when you were born and where you were born. So depending on your birth time and your birthplace, you can put it in a calculator and get this visual map of where the stars were when you were born. By reading those different placements and reading those different aspects, you can get a full picture of who you are and a broader perspective of your personality. In Western astrology, we kind of really just go with your sun sign, or like we say, "I'm a Pisces" or "I'm a Cancer," but what we really mean to say is that when you were born, the sun was in the sign of Cancer when you were born.

But there are also, if you punch in all your information in a birth chart, it'll tell you where Venus was when you were born, in what constellation. It'll tell you where Mars was, in what constellation, when you were born. Each one of those planets, and each one of those constellations, has archetypes, has their own personalities, I would say, and mythologies, and that affects you in different ways. That makes sense for a lot of people when they're like, "Oh, I'm an Aries, but I kind of don't always relate to that." Then you plug in your information, and you see your birth chart, and you see that the moon was in a different sign and constellation when you were born, and that helps you understand yourself on a deeper level. Or you see that Venus was in—Venus kind of rules how you love—I'm still getting to know all this stuff—but how you love and how you experience beauty and a lot of romantic relationships. That could have been in the constellation of Sagittarius or whatever, so it kind of makes sense because you're like, "Oh, well, Sagittarius, you might relate with more Sagittarian energy when it comes to your love relationships, but in other ways, you relate to Aries energy."

Yeah, I'm totally nerding out on this, and thankfully the resources I have—I just Google and research on my own, and I follow that little obsession where it leads, and then I talk out loud. I'm like, "Oh, I've been like, no, no, but you don't know." There is some science too, obviously there's science to it, and there are some practical applications in the real world to it. It is becoming—as we were previously discussing—the quote-unquote "woo-woo" is now becoming, maybe not mainstream just yet, but more socially acceptable. And once again, talking about practices that you can integrate into your life to give you more clarity, more balance, more mindfulness.

So if you find solace in human design, or—

Evan Snow: Oh, I love human design!

Jordan Guzman: Yes! Or following your chart or any of these things, it doesn't make you a witch. [Laughter]

Evan Snow: Thankfully, Jordan and I have avoided witches fairly well up to this point, dodged the bullets there!

Jordan Guzman: But the thing is, I have such a big well of inspirations and sources that I don't want to say like, "I'm this or that," or whatever, because I think a lot of those things just really lead to the same basic human need for love, to be loved. So it's kind of like, wherever it comes from, it needs to come from. But yeah, I will get really into astrology and human design, like any kind of psycho-spiritual, metaphysical thing that has practical applications. I'm into that. I love it when somebody's like, "Hey, have you tried this thing?" And I'm like, "What is it?" And I love to plug it in to find a deeper level of who I am and understand myself better, and like, "Oh yeah, that makes sense why I'm like that."

So yeah, it just helps to get to know myself and be easier on myself, to be like, "Oh shoot, that's why I don't do X, Y, and Z, and I just need to accept that."

Evan Snow: And the last topic, to your point, you just made, that people maybe aren't conscious or cognizant that they're doing or that they should do that's becoming more and more prevalent in modern society as well, is unlearning. We're societally taught to do X, Y, and Z, and don't follow ABC. The book says to do this—well, you know, those books, I think we're ready to throw a lot of them out the windows. I'm not talking about the ones in the school system, but you know, you once again find what works well for you, dabble, experiment, try meditating, try breath work, try journaling, try taking a walk out in nature or a hike, or doing something that's not gonna push you so far out of your comfort zone that you feel truly uncomfortable having an anxiety attack. But you know, there's a lot of value to be found in the unknown and in a lot of these practices that we outlined.

So if somebody wants to connect with you, Jordan, or maybe ask a follow-up question, or maybe have you, who knows, host a meetup for their business or at their office or beyond, what are some ways to get in touch with you?

Jordan Guzman: Absolutely. So for AIM, you can email artanditsmeaning@gmail.com. You can email me at jordanguzman1@yahoo.com. And different ways to support us as well—we are trying right now to get 501c3 status so that we can receive grants and apply for grants and get funding to bring our classes locally, regionally, and internationally. And in order to do that, we need to raise the money to get that paperwork filled out and get it ready to go because we are bursting at the seams and working behind the scenes to envision, daydream, and put it all into making it happen. And in order to do that too, we need support—we need financial support and we've been receiving bits and pieces here, and we're so grateful because anything and everything counts. Part of that spiritual practice and how we integrate it is being open to receive and being seen as doing good work here. Like you said, Evan, wanting to be altruistic, and our intention is simply to fulfill our calling. We want to be open to people in our community supporting us. So that email is artanditsmeaning@gmail.com. You can also email me personally again at jordanguzman1@yahoo.com.

We are also looking for other ways you can support, like through art supplies because we're trying to get a specific art supply set for our children's classes. So if you have any art supplies that you're not using anymore and want to get rid of that are in good condition, email us. Like Evan said, we are also looking for different venues to host us, like different Zero Empty Space locations. We've built a great relationship with the artists at Gulf Stream Park, and I'm so thankful for Andrea Dent, Pablo, and Sandy for helping us out and hosting us. They've been so kind and generous this whole way, and the artists have been extremely receptive to what we have to offer. We've seen a lot of our artists come who don't have spaces there but are checking it out and who've heard of it. So we're looking for other artists to host us because we like to travel around and see what else is going on in the community and really expand our reach.

I also want to plug Melissa's art as well, so you can find her at MelissaLynetteArt on Instagram. Mine is JordanGuzmanArt on Instagram. I'm more active there than on any other social media platform, so you can always DM me. Aim South Florida is our Instagram handle, and you can also DM us, and either one of us will respond.

Evan Snow: We did a podcast previously with both Jordan and Melissa, with video and visuals where you can see them. They're both lovely young ladies in their own regard, and I strongly encourage you to support them through our Zero Empty Spaces initiative, which is a cousin of Choose954 under our agency, The Unitus Group. We’re glad to support you, glad that you've been able to make beautiful connections, inspiration, and critique happen out of the space. We encourage any artist of any level to join if you are an artist looking for more connection, feedback, and community.

We're also very excited to announce the hosting of our next Choose954 Artist Potluck Dinner. This one’s going to be at a new venue for us, potentially a really good venue for AIM. We’re going to host our next dinner at the Gasper Arts Center in Dania Beach off Federal Highway. Laura, who used to be with the El Mercado Gallery Studios in downtown Hollywood, is there now. Unfortunately, they had to close, but she found a bigger and more powerful space because she can have more kilns and studio space there.

The Artist Potluck is a free, open event. You bring a dish for maybe five or six people because not everybody eats everything. It’s a really cool thing; we go around the table, introduce ourselves, talk a little bit about our work, and get some feedback. Some beautiful friendships, collaborations, and various other things have come out of that. That’s going to be on Sunday, September 25th, at 5:30 PM. You can find out more about the Choose954 Artist Potluck on Facebook, Eventbrite, all that good stuff.

Two other cool events coming up this week—The Return of the Female Brew Fest, the fifth annual celebration of women in the craft beer industry, either brewery owners or brewmasters. It’s going to take place at the Kimpton Goodland Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach, behind all the big hotels. It’s one of those older, mid-century modern-style hotels. It’s a really cool venue; we held the event there last year. It’s an event that my business partner’s wife, Frances Martino, pioneered and has been very well received. She has over 40 breweries. It’s a great day, a great celebration of women, and we would encourage you to come out and attend. It’s part of Greater Fort Lauderdale Beer Week, which is another initiative of our agency, The Unitus Group, where we work to create platforms to highlight and showcase prospective creatives in their fields. Andrew and Frances are big fans of craft beer, so they wanted to pilot and showcase the talented brewers and breweries in our community, which has its own Ale Trail and so many great venues that are now finally starting to get the notoriety and support they deserve.

There’ll be a week-long celebration of events starting this week. You can find out more at GFLBW (Greater Fort Lauderdale Beer Week) and Female Brew Fest. FEMA Brew Fest is Saturday, September 17th, in the afternoon. Later that evening, we'll continue hosting tours of the Downtown Hollywood Art Walk, which is another free event we host, with free tours at 7 PM and 9 PM, led by myself, Evan, of the Gallery Studios and the Art Walk in general. At 6 PM, my dear friend Jill Weisberg, who’s the project manager and curator of the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project, leads a free tour just about the murals, which are always changing, always evolving. We just had a brand new one added by Marcus Borges, AKA Funky Paint Grabster, a legendary Broward County-based muralist. You can find all this on the social medias at Choose954 on Eventbrite, and where you could also find AIM as well.

We did want to wrap up with one question, or really two questions, but one question that we’d like to ask all of our guests on the Choose954 podcast here, Jordan, and that is: Why do you choose the 954?

Jordan Guzman: 954 chose me!

Evan Snow: Good answer.

Jordan Guzman: I really do think that because just how each step, each impulse, and each instinct that I’ve listened to has led me to this area. The connections I’ve made here, the ways that when I left this traditional model of church that I put myself in for a little bit—I loved the community aspect of it. I loved being into the performing arts. I was mostly involved in performing arts during that time, not much visual, but ever since I left that, I’ve always been craving that. Again, going to college and having that community that was so inundated with the arts and thinking about it—people thinking about the arts all day, every day—and then leaving that community, in search for community as an adult is very hard. If you go into the community and don’t always find those spaces with people who can relate, who you relate with, who you really just connect with on a very natural level, it takes a lot of trial and error to find that. Sometimes you just have to create it.

For whatever reason, this has been an area where I can create the community of people who I want to see and talk to and be with, and do life with. Not just about the arts, but in general. I’m just trying to call my soul tribe and my soul family to me, and I think by having this area to create in and create these spaces, I feel like it’s a really nice give and take with the area—being able to give back and also receive from it too. That’s why I choose to stay here. I moved here for everything else, but I choose to stay here too because I want to create this. I couldn’t create it in Orlando; the timing wasn’t right. I didn’t want to create it there. I didn’t see it there. I know this whole area has so much to offer, and there are so many people—there’s no scarcity of connection and creativity. Sometimes you’ve got to be the one to create it and be the beacon, or just create it so that other people can come. If you’re just waiting around for people to come to you, or waiting around, being complacent like, "Oh, I don’t know anybody," or "Nobody thinks like this," and "I see that people are like this, blah, blah, blah," it’s like, okay, well just do your thing, and then you connect with people. It’s been a lot of trial and error, but the fruits of that labor, of just being intentional about building community and expressing myself here, have been invaluable.

Evan Snow: I love that you mentioned the reciprocity.

Jordan Guzman: Reciprocity, yes. That is...and I just tried to experience the art scene in Orlando and noticed it is kind of few and far between as well, so I’m glad that we have you not only choosing the 954 but choosing to remain in the 954. It’s something that we strive for.

I mentioned and alluded to previously the return of your podcast. Could you tell us a little bit about what viewers and listeners can look forward to with season two of the Breakdown to Build Up Podcast?

Jordan Guzman: Yeah, it’ll be season three. My podcast is called Breakdown to Build Up. It’s a podcast on existential living with me as the host. What I talk about there is essentially existentialism—thinking about life. I started that in October, or end of September last year, and then I did a series—the first season—a series, it was probably like one every week or one every Sunday. Then I paused, lived life, and then I did another short burst in 2022, and then I’ve taken an even longer pause because I felt like I had a lot more life to live. I’ve been reworking it, and I wanted to give the podcast the time and space to breathe. So I’m getting back into the game again.

Somewhere between now and January, maybe—I don’t want to put a time on it because I know that when I do it, the time will be really right, and I really trust that. I want to have more dialogues with people, because before it was like I had the one with you, and then I wanted to express myself in a different way. But I feel like I’m ready for it to kind of take a new life, and I need to fall in love with it again. I do the same things with my paintings. I’ll paint something and then put it away for a little while, work on other stuff, and then when it’s ready to come out again, it’s ready to come out. I don’t want to put that pressure on myself. I want to let it be enjoyable, and that’s how I’ve wanted to keep it enjoyable. So yeah, end of this year, early next year—be on the lookout. I’m hoping to have more conversations and have other people on, like everyday people. I want to have my cousin come on and talk about childhood—those kinds of things. Very day-to-day conversations that are relatable to me, because I love deep things in mundane life and deep things in everyday life. You don’t always have to go to some super spiritual retreat all the time or be in the throes of spiritual ecstasy to get enlightenment and downloads and all that stuff. It can happen in the most simple ways. So yeah, I want to connect with other people on there.

Evan Snow: Amen. Well, we’ll definitely be glad to continue sharing through Choose954 Social, your podcast, and helping extend the reach.

Jordan Guzman: Yeah, thank you so much.

Evan Snow: Oh, my pleasure. And one last thing to close on that I know is very important to your life, that became even more important to your life this week—can you share about your relationship and the importance of cats in your life?

Jordan Guzman: [Laughter] And the podcast takes a wild turn. Oh my god.

Evan Snow: What happened?

Jordan Guzman: No, no, I’m just saying, I just let out a big "Oh my God," like, thank you, cats! I have loved cats ever since I was a kid. I wanted to be a cat. Cats, horses, and cheetahs—and then elephants later—but cats, horses, and cheetahs are like my totem animals. Cats in particular because of their tie to spiritual psychic abilities and their history with witches and stuff like that, but even before that, how they were sacred in ancient Egyptian culture. I like to think of them as these protectors and guardians of the psychic realm. Especially when I’m sleeping too, that’s just a connection I have with my cat now, where I feel like she guards the energy of the space or something like that.

One of my earliest memories of wanting to really connect with my cat is buying those little pamphlets at the grocery store when you’re getting ready to make your purchase. You know, they have the Archie comics there, and then like a Weight Watcher or a weight loss little tiny magazine. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Evan Snow: I do know, they have them.

Jordan Guzman: Yeah, so those things that you stare at every single day when you go to the grocery store and they just become so ubiquitous. But I got this little magazine that was like "How to Read Your Cat’s Mind" or "How to Talk to Your Cat." My dad got stray animals off of the street—just like any old stray animal that he’d find, he’d rescue it. We’d have to pick the fleas off of it and clean it up, nurture it back to health or something like that. My dad got a cat, I don’t know what year this was or how old I was, but I remember tracking the cat’s habits and then reading the book and doing—it was like "How to read your cat’s tail movements," and "What does this meow mean or that meow mean?" So I would write in my journal, like at 9 AM, "Baby blinks at me," or whatever, and I would try to send her telepathic messages and be like, "If you can hear me, blink twice" or something like that.

It was like a two-fold connection because it got me really in tune with trying to get really intuitive, really being open to my intuition at a young age, and at the same time, seeing these spiritual qualities, the embodiment of spiritual themes, inside of an animal and what they could teach me. I’ve always had a natural connection to cats. Living on my own and having my own apartment for about two years, I knew that I wanted to get one, not having been able to have one before, and having my own cat. I rescued Marty from King’s Orphan Kitties—you can follow them on Instagram. I got her when she was like three or four months, and she was rescued from the soccer stadium in Miami. They named her Marta after Marta Silva, the soccer player. I don’t even keep up with soccer like that, but I kept the name because I liked what it meant.

So yeah, I’ve had her for like two years now—no wait, 2021—so in May, what’s the math on that? Oh my God, I’ve had her—yeah, it feels like just yesterday. The other day, I came home, and it’s not uncommon to leave cats alone, but I came home, and usually, she greets me at the door, crying at me, wondering where I’ve been and telling me all about everything that’s happened in the house, being really chatty. Then we meet on the carpet in my apartment on her favorite rug, we have a little moment, she calms down, and then I get back to whatever I was doing. That didn’t happen that morning, and I kind of knew something was wrong. I went to my closet, screaming out her name, and I hear a muffled meow. I tore up my whole closet trying to find her, and she was trapped in between the water heater in my closet against the wall. There was a little nice wedge, and she fell in there somehow and couldn’t get out. She was head first, and I had to pull her out by her tail. She was incapacitated, and it was horrific for me. It was like, "My one cat that I had as an adult, and she’s going to die right now." It felt very tragic in the moment. She’s A-okay; she’s like a thousand percent back to normal. It didn’t even take that much time to bounce back, and I completely forgot how resilient cats are. I’ve had a bajillion cats in my childhood, and they’ve suffered through crazy dramas, and then they’re fine. But she’s my little baby and my first little cat, so of course it’s like having a first child or something, being really overprotective of her.

After that, it sparked the whole—I started painting again because I was just thinking about my connection to her. I had this intention because I ended up taking her to the ER and the hospital, and then she was all jacked up, and I was like, "I’m going to take her home, and I’m going to nurse her to health. I’m going to caretake for her, feed her, and all this stuff." Then I started seeing that she really didn’t need me to do any of that stuff at all for her, and that she could completely take care of herself and nurse herself back to health. I feel like that was a big lesson for me, that she has her own instincts and her own way of doing things. She knows her own body and when she’s ready to eat and when she’s ready to drink. All I had to do was just back off and let her do her thing. I feel like that’s me too. I see myself in that way because I’m like, "Wow, I really thought that I needed"—or that I have the inner resources—that we all have the inner resources to really care for ourselves and to really go with our own rhythm and our own flow. We’re stronger than we think, and I feel like I didn’t give her that benefit of the doubt, that she would know how to nurse herself back. I feel like that’s a big metaphor for how I see myself.

She took on a whole other level of importance and meaning for me.

Evan Snow: Well, now I’m going out and getting a cat, so there we go.

Jordan Guzman: Okay, I mean people can say the same thing about their dogs, but I just don’t have that strong of a connection, you know? But animals in general, they just have something to teach you, you know?

Evan Snow: Except my dog didn’t have nine lives, but it’s okay. What life is your cat on?

Jordan Guzman: She’s on her eighth. She’s so good; she just lost her first life last week. It’s been a very good run.

Evan Snow: I really appreciate you sharing that. I appreciate you taking the time. We just broke our record for the longest Choose954 podcast. If you made it this far, we sincerely appreciate you tuning in. We’d love to hear any feedback, thoughts. We’d love to hear why you choose 954. If you know somebody doing something good in the community and impactful, similar to Jordan and myself, and would like to have them share their story, by all means.

We also still have AAF Creative Zen, our monthly breakfast lecture series, our mini Ted Talk that’s free every second Friday morning of the month. We had a great event yesterday with Pablo Malco, legendary dancer, choreographer, non-profit leader in Broward. And I have a dear friend of mine, Ernesto Mendowski, sharing, who’s a process improvement wizard, systems optimization expert, and is really passionate about helping businesses, business owners, and startups optimize their processes using tools that he swears by. He’s already helped me tremendously just with being my accountability partner, writing by, for a spoken by memoir. That’s also going to be at Gasper Arts Center the second Friday morning in October, trying to give them some love and bring some new folks in the community out there to check out that space.

You can find this and all the good stuff that’s going on on the Choose954 social. You can feel free to reach out to me at evan@choose954.com or choose954@unitusgroup.com. Feel free to follow us on social media, ask us any questions—I’m an open book. We look forward to seeing you at the next AIM Meetup, at the next Choose954 Artist Potluck, at the FEMA Brew Fest, at Creative Zen, at Fort Lauderdale Art and Design Week in January, and all the good stuff that’s coming up. Appreciate your support, appreciate you caring, appreciate you being alive, appreciate you being a human being, and appreciate your interest. We hope you found this to be enlightening.