Strands of Genius: Life Lessons, Living Your Principles, Dolly Parton is My Kindred Spirit

Plus: Happy Birthday Rosie!

May 30, 2023

WORKING ON |

LOOKING AHEAD

May 5- June 9 | Seattle, WA
June 9-14 | Portland, OR
June 14-19 | Lake Tahoe, NV
June 19-26 | a destination clouded in secrecy
June 26-June 30 | Nashville, TN
June 30-July 2 | Beersheba Springs, TN for a family reunion & 100 YEAR CELEBRATION of the family house!
July 2-8 | TBD
July 9 | Nashville, TN
July 10-26(ish) | Worcester Park, UK

:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::

By the time this arrives in your inbox, it will be Rosie’s birthday!

I know it seems like this just happened last week but that’s because Faris’ birthday is exactly one week before Rosie’s. This is very helpful for Faris since he always has at least a week to think of something. He has a few things planned that shall remain surprises for now but rest assured we are spending the day celebrating Rosie (even more than usual!). After ten years on the road together you really, really get to know someone and Rosie still impresses Faris everyday. (Hi, it’s me, Faris, I love you Rosie!)

Also it’s always worth rewatching this every birthday. Faris graduated in 1999, the class referred to at the beginning of the song (although it was originally published in 1997 and not written by Kurt Vonnegut as many people thought, but by Mary Schmidt for the Chicago Tribune and adapted by Baz Luhrman) and it’s worth checking back in to see how annoyingly, beautifully true this seems, especially as we get older, which was always do.

“Don't waste your time on jealousy;
Sometimes you're ahead,
Sometimes You're behind.
The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults;
If you Succeed in doing this, tell me how.”

This week, we’re especially thankful for:

Grace and Riley, an excellent Omakase, an experimental speakeasy, Alex&Em (&Crinkles) our lovely Airbnb hosts, the continued warm but also sometimes pleasantly cool weather in Seattle, The Museum of Popular Culture, cuddles with our niece, family dinners, the new season of Queer Eye, more non-alcoholic beer from Athletic mostly, Seward Park, Discovery Park hiking, Ashley, BevMo, more birthday celebrations, ROSIE & YOU.

:: THE LINKS ::

LIFE LESSONS FROM LIVING NOMADICALLY

Is one of my favorite pieces Rosie has written about life, the nomad thing, and everything, starting with:
“Don’t be a prisoner of your preferences. Interrogate your own opinions. Try new foods, open yourself to new ideas. Remind yourself (your ego) that it’s OK to be wrong. You can only ever make decisions with the best information you have at the time.
Binaries are naive and foolish. It’s rarely this or that, and often more than both. Explore the grey areas.
Talk to strangers. And not just about the weather. Ask personal questions and listen to the answers. Be vulnerable with others.” (Medium)

DOLLY PARTON IS MY KINDRED SPIRIT

Joe Cox is a friend and inspiration to us with his incredible spirit, knowledge and love of pop culture and he hosted Rosie on his excellent podcast and as Joe wrote “Rosie is kind, inspiring & chock-full of stories and ideas that I think we could all use right now.” (Podcast)

LIVING YOUR PRINCIPLES

Mark Pollard is a friend and inspiration to us as well! and he had Rosie on his excellent Sweathead podcast talking about “goals of working 20 hours per week, of not having an exit strategy, how to work on a project with very little time, the importance of creating space for yourself, and the value of patience.” (Podcast)

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:: AND NOW…ROSIE:

ALWAYS ON TARGET. TO KNOW HER IS TO LOVE HER. STRATEGIC, CREATIVE AND INCREDIBLY DETAIL ORIENTED - A ONE WOMEN AGENCY, FORCE OF NATURE. ORGANIZER OF COMMUNITY. THE BIGGEST HEART. INDEFATIGABLY AWESOME. MORE PATIENCE THAN A DOCTOR. FULL OF JOY, ESPECIALLY FOR OTHER PEOPLE.

AND FINALLY

During the Pando, Rosie masterminded and remotely produced this film for Nashville with some excellent collaborators she curated and sourced, which we got Dolly Parton (her spirit animal!) to record a voice over for!

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius