Dare to let ideas have a home - Melissa Castan
Mel Castan is a Mexico City-born, Barcelona-based animator, illustrator, and community builder whose creative journey has taken her from advertising school to motion graphics to founding two community projects for creatives. ~
She talks with Radim about growing up in a military family with a spiritual streak, discovering illustration as a meditative practice, and building spaces where creatives can process burnout, imposter syndrome, and identity beyond the usual networking event.
Takeaways
- Mel is a Mexico City-born, Barcelona-based animator, illustrator, and producer who's spent nine years building a career across advertising, motion design, and community-building
- Growing up in a military family — her grandfather a retired army general who turned to spirituality after retiring — shaped her comfort holding contradictions together
- She describes creativity as a lifelong practice tied to her ADHD, and drawing as a meditative practice since childhood
- A mapping show by Amon Tobin reshaped her sense of what creative work could be and pulled her toward studying motion graphics in Barcelona
- She spent her first days in Barcelona intentionally getting lost in the Gothic Quarter, without a phone or map, as her way of learning the city
- She co-founded Frames by Friends, a five-year community for Barcelona's animators and motion designers that grew from an expected 20 people to 75 at its first event
- Her current project, Side Project, builds spaces — Honest Conversations and Work in Progress — for creatives to process burnout, imposter syndrome, and identity beyond networking
- She describes "vicarious learning" — the idea that sharing our struggles with others makes them feel lighter and less isolating
- Her guiding philosophy is that ideas have home, and her role is to be that home for others
- She's letting Side Project's future shape itself without attachment to a fixed outcome, trusting that showing up consistently will reveal the next step
Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
Book bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.uk
Lux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)
November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)
More description
Mel Castan is a Mexico City-born, Barcelona-based animator, illustrator, and community builder whose creative journey has taken her from advertising school to motion graphics to founding two community projects for creatives. ~
She talks with Radim about growing up in a military family with a spiritual streak, discovering illustration as a meditative practice, and building spaces where creatives can process burnout, imposter syndrome, and identity beyond the usual networking event.
Takeaways
- Mel is a Mexico City-born, Barcelona-based animator, illustrator, and producer who's spent nine years building a career across advertising, motion design, and community-building
- Growing up in a military family — her grandfather a retired army general who turned to spirituality after retiring — shaped her comfort holding contradictions together
- She describes creativity as a lifelong practice tied to her ADHD, and drawing as a meditative practice since childhood
- A mapping show by Amon Tobin reshaped her sense of what creative work could be and pulled her toward studying motion graphics in Barcelona
- She spent her first days in Barcelona intentionally getting lost in the Gothic Quarter, without a phone or map, as her way of learning the city
- She co-founded Frames by Friends, a five-year community for Barcelona's animators and motion designers that grew from an expected 20 people to 75 at its first event
- Her current project, Side Project, builds spaces — Honest Conversations and Work in Progress — for creatives to process burnout, imposter syndrome, and identity beyond networking
- She describes "vicarious learning" — the idea that sharing our struggles with others makes them feel lighter and less isolating
- Her guiding philosophy is that ideas have home, and her role is to be that home for others
- She's letting Side Project's future shape itself without attachment to a fixed outcome, trusting that showing up consistently will reveal the next step
Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
Book bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.uk
Lux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)
November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)
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