La capsula Informativa: frankly… Episode 81: Creativity Builds More Than Brands
The transcript below is AI-generated and may contain minor inaccuracies. Tune in to the episode audio to hear the full conversation!
Transcript
Dan
Hello, welcome to frankly.
Rachel
Hello.
Dan
So today we have Taylor Mae is joining us, who is a founder, advisor, event host, event planner, so many different things. I think a few of the main things that we talk about with her are her work with the Permission Group, which she founded, and that’s her kind of their portfolio, which includes Creative Mornings Detroit, as well as a kind of new brand that she’s working to launch this month called Creatively Detroit that will be more focused on Lifestyle brand in general, yeah. So Taylor talks through kind of the importance of building community, kind of different kind of best practices for planning and hosting events that she works with, really covers a lot of different ground across all those areas.
Rachel
Yeah, she talks about her client, Michigan Central, which is a building you’ve probably heard of. and her event work on the kind of venue side of things. She talks too about just her journey into entrepreneurship and how she kind of got to where she is today and her experience coming out of college. So a lot of good stuff. She is, she just has such a great energy and she’s like, I don’t want to get too woo woo. But if you’re into that, you’ll like Taylor. Like she’s got a really good energy around her. So with that, enjoy. Hi, Taylor. Welcome to Frankly.
Taylor
Hi there. How are you guys?
Dan
Great. Thanks for coming on.
Taylor
Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me.
Rachel
Absolutely. All right. You have an interesting kind of career path. You’ve got a lot coming up, but you’ve also done a lot. So just take us through kind of how you got to where you are right now. As an entrepreneur, a founder, an event planner. Give us the whole, all the details.
Taylor
Yeah. I like to say that my story began in my childhood garage actually.
Rachel
Love that.
Taylor
So as a child, I grew up as a dancer. That was a big part of my story, of my family’s life, of my life. But I was that kid that would not only put on performances for the neighborhood, I would choreograph, I would cast, I would direct, I would star, obviously. And then I would sell tickets and go door to door to neighbors in the neighborhood to bring them in to come see the show that we created that day. And that’s essentially what I’m still doing.
Rachel
I love that so much. You really did something. We all did that, but you took that into adulthood and did something with it.
Taylor
There’s something spiritual to the show that has been a through line of my career so far. So I say it started there, but it really has been that same thing in a lot of ways. I definitely own it as a generalist, as a human. So I think I’m 28 as of this podcast right now. So I’ve been, when do you start your career? 22, 21? had the 20s era of the career.
Rachel
Sure.
Taylor
And I’ve learned, I think, what I’m good at and what I’m not good at. And I’ve seen those like things, repeat over and over again. But it all comes down to like that childhood garage of like selling, marketing, sales, producing, like putting a team together. And so throughout, you know, my journey so far, that’s pretty much been helping other people grow their businesses through those skills and then, you know, starting to apply them to my own. So it’s a high-level way of answering the question, but that’s how it’s kind of been.
Rachel
I love that.
Dan
So talk a little bit about what you are doing now then. So you’ve got Creative Mornings Detroit, you’ve got… some consulting work that you’re doing. Talk a little bit about kind of all the different pots that you have stirring right now.
Rachel
The puzzle pieces.
Taylor
Yes, the puzzle pieces. I’ll share this as we were getting started before. I was like, I want to lean into my future self a little bit. And so I’ll explain the infographic of how I package everything. And so I’m coming out or I have a holding company called Permission Group. And that comes from my life quote. Marianne Williamson said, when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. And so obviously variety is a value of mine. And so I’m kind of packaging it as this holding company is where I’m kind of putting those things in. And so in that is the consultancy arm, excuse me, that I am calling the Advisory by Permission Group. And in that is where I get to help other people grow their things. And so that’s really what I’ve been doing in my career so far. But Now it has a name. It’s a company. It’s not just like little old me, like, I’m here to help. And so I’m kind of putting a little brand to it, if you will. And so through that right now, it’s my, you know, the biggest piece of my work right now is supporting Michigan Central and building out their private events business. And it’s the most rewarding, amazing, crazy experience.
Rachel
An incredible opportunity.
Dan
For such an iconic building brand, everything.
Taylor
I don’t even know how I got this. Sometimes I’ll be in there. I’m like, how did this even happen? Like, It’s so crazy, but it’s been such a joy and a ride to continue to do that work. And then, continuing to work with other local and national brands on growing their things. And so that’s that space. And then also then in those companies I’m beginning to form, there’s Creative Mornings Detroit, which really is an initiative at the end of the day. And if you have not been, you should totally go. The next one is November 21st. It’s at the Detroit Design District. And that is a new development development new project in the Milwaukee Junction area. And they’ve been so gracious to be an amazing partner with us in 2025. And they’re going to continue in 2026. And the concept is really simple. It’s just bringing people together once a month for free. I get like 200, 300 people coming out for these things.
Rachel
Good for you. That’s awesome.
Taylor
Like musicians coming out. We have artists. And last month it was hospitality focused. So we had some of the best restaurant tours and chefs speaking. So it’s just like exciting. And my the whole heartbeat behind that is literally creating a space for people to gather and that’s it. Like I’m not trying to create new programming, new trend. We just need to come together. And so my dream is for people like you and corporate and these artists and creatives and nonprofits, where’s one time a month that we can cross paths and hey, what’s up? And then after that, go get coffee with each other to keep creating cool things. So there’s that. Yeah.
Dan
And it’s cool that it’s not, you know, you’re not just looking at creative in terms of like art and design. You’re like, it’s like Like you said, it’s hospitality and food and all of these different ways that you can be creative. And there is such a huge community of that in Detroit.
Taylor
Yeah.
Dan
Talk a little bit about, so you, we talked just for a second before we got on here about, you came out of college kind of right around the time of COVID. So, obviously a lot less opportunities to have events to build community around that.
Rachel
To get people together.
Taylor
Yeah.
Rachel
Which is something you’re passionate about.
Dan
Kind of like shape what you eventually got into now in all of these different ways?
Taylor
Yeah, I love that question because I don’t honestly think I’ve pondered that relationship of like being so apart to bring people together. But at the time of COVID, I was just starting my career. I was at a company downtown driving from Clarkston, which is where I grew up back and forth.
Rachel
Oof.
Taylor
Exactly. So that didn’t last. long. And I already was working with some clients of my own, not knowing anything, literally fully making it, as we all are all the time anyways, but really fully making it up. And so in hindsight, it’s hilarious. But then at that time, it moved all virtual. And so it moved to like virtual conferences and still meet. So I’m like, how did I do? I don’t even know like how I was doing that, but I was just like, remember waking up early and calling people and still.
Rachel
It was also just your norm. Like that was, you came out and were like, this is just what I’m doing, right? Like I feel like you probably didn’t think much of it at the time.
Taylor
Of how, it wasn’t like a drastic shift like it was for most people because I was in such that awkward age. If you was like, okay, sounds good. Like, we’ll just do what we gotta do type thing. But that being said, connected to your question, I think I’ve always had that desire to bring people together and to engage people in real life. And so I think there, It also really, I think, comes from a response to people’s hunger right now to be together. So as much as it’s about me wanting to bring that passion out, I think it’s also me observing and feeling in the culture that we, people want to be together right now. And it’s so much better. Like even for this podcast, it’s like we can be virtual or in person. I was like, oh, if I can be in person, I’d rather be you. Like it’s so much different. And so I think it really is a lot of that. And that’s how I view most of my things in businesses is always through the the lens of resonance of what is going to resonate with people. And so I think getting people together is what’s resonating with that.
Rachel
I think we see that a lot too in agencies and communication with even pitching businesses or new clients. For so long before COVID, we would do that in person. And there’s so much more of just understanding who someone is personally. And in a business like all of us, You work with the people. So you want to know and understand the people. And doing that online is very difficult. You can conduct business online, no problem.
Taylor
Sure.
Rachel
But there is something we would always say like, in the minutes between the meeting, like the five minutes before as you’re sitting down, or the 10 minutes afterwards as you’re leaving the room, there’s just so much packed into that you don’t get online. And something that, you didn’t say struck me that I really like is when you talked about Creative Mornings, you never said the word network. And I really like that. And I know there’s kind of a trend. There’s some like un-networking events in the city that are taking place. And it’s really this more idea of the connection and not always trying to build business with each other. I think there’s an importance in building business and a place for it. But having a way to gather people that doesn’t feel so forced and having to talk about even like work or networking is really cool because that’s what we don’t have a lot of, I think. So bringing that is really, really great.
Taylor
Yeah. I am so relationship, relationship, relationship. I want to work with my friends. Like, of course, it’s like we have to put our professional hats on sometimes and our personal hats sometimes. But I think if you’re self-aware to a certain extent, you know what those are. But it’s like at the end of the day, I always use the example of like people, you know, that I admire, like, you know, in Hollywood, like people making films. It’s like, do you know how those things get mixed? It’s like their friend, they invited them over for breakfast to like hang out and have a conversation.
Dan
Yes.
Taylor
Now they like go and like they’re building the Barbie movie. Like that’s how quote unquote big things happen. So for us that maybe aren’t doing that big of things, but still big things in our own lives. It’s like, that’s how it happens. So why do we have to like put on a facade and like instead just like genuinely connect with each other and help each other?
Rachel
Yeah.
Taylor
In business, I think can be led through a lens of generosity. And I think doing business is you need help with something. I have something that can help you. Okay, great. Let’s go. And that exchange is going to be money. Okay, awesome.
Dan
That naturally kind of follows when you build the community, the business kind of follows that, like without having it to feel like a sales pitch or a, you know, networking event. It’s just kind of the natural flow of things.
Rachel
It’s 100%.
Taylor
Yeah.
Rachel
It’s also just. You know how many founding stories I’ve heard that it’s like, we were at a bar, we wrote on a napkin, but then they followed through. I mean, you hear that so often and that’s when you’re like, wow, like those grow into multi-million dollar businesses sometimes, right? So I think that’s really important because like you said, it’s bringing people together and then it’s like, let’s get coffee, let’s grab a drink and maybe a beautiful business partnership or business itself is born. And that’s the idea of bringing creatives together. So there’s beauty in that.
Taylor
Yes.
Rachel
Talk a little bit about working with companies to get their event business going. what kind of, from your consulting side, what kind of event work are you doing? How are you helping people? What’s your philosophy of events? Just talk about that a little bit.
Taylor
I mean, I can really speak from the venue end. I mean, I wear obviously both hats of producer end in my Creative Mornings world, venue end from a Michigan Central. I think both it’s commonality of having infrastructure and systems in place that become rinse and repeat so that you can create the customer experience to be next level. And I’m rereading over and over again right now, Unreasonable Hospitality. If you haven’t read that, I really suggest that.
Rachel
Okay.
Taylor
And that’s more about like in the food space, but it’s really applicable to all business. And so how, like, how can we get the logistics, the boring stuff, if you will, the necessary stuff as clean and rinse repeatable as possible so that we can create those magic moments of surprise and delight because that is what brings people coming back at at the end of the day and helps you form, again, that genuine relationship with either, on the producer end, your guests coming through, or, from a venue end, your client and their guests coming through. And so, I mean, It’s not perfect, it’s never going to be perfect, but if you can build those systems in place, I’m such a systems thinker, how can you do that so you really can lean into creating that magic?
Dan
It lets you focus on the things that are really important. Like we’ve talked about this with technology also, like using technology to simplify the kind of baseline things and then focusing your human brain on what is actually going to make a difference to somebody’s experience.
Taylor
100%. And you can be more tailored to them than two of like, who is this person? It doesn’t become just transactional, like, okay, get them in, get them out. It becomes like, what would make them really happy? And what can we do? What gift can we give? What, you know, what questions can I ask them about their family, about their life to, again, build that genuine relationship? Because if they’re looking at lots of places to go, they’re going to go back to the place where their friends are. Let’s be honest, you know, so.
Rachel
Well, and I think it’s cool that from the venue side, you get to hear people come in that want to put on all these different events and it’s all the same space. So if you think, you have to think creatively around how can we make each of these things work here. If you start at the guest experience that’s going to lead how you start to plan that, you get to be very creative and like strategic in figuring that out. And then those processes can follow once you get there. But that’s kind of like a fun challenge of when people come to you and say, I want to host this. I’m maybe not an events person. What do I need to do here? What are my options?
Taylor
Yeah, I always say to our clients at Michigan Central, I always say, I want you to think of this place as a coloring book. We are the outline, but it is you and your planner, because at that point, I’m not in planner producer mode. I wish I could for everyone, but in that role, I am not, to fill in and create your vision and color it in with your biggest dream, and we’ll be there to help you along the way. And so, yeah, so it’s definitely fun to see I sometimes I don’t even fully know because I’m at this point really earlier on the sales side in the process. And so I’ll like walk in and be like, whoa, this is amazing. Or see the pictures afterwards. So it’s really magical.
Dan
So outside of events, you had talked about some other things that you have kind of brewing for the next couple of months, maybe a month or so. Talk a little bit about that. What’s in the future for you right now?
Taylor
Yeah, I would say the most notable one is out of Creative Mornings Detroit. Me and a team are building out a lifestyle brand simply called Creatively Detroit. Cute, like apparel, awesome activations, just continuing on different phrases of Detroit and really leaning into, everyone keeps saying, my gosh, there’s this energy, there’s this spirit. I call it this frequency. And so that’s the tagline of the company is wear the frequency, build the future. And so it’s really, again, to create that space of belonging where sometimes we wear things because it means something to us. That’s the power of brand. And so this is just a way, really, it’s just a fun way to build off the energy and the movement of not only Creative Mornings, but of the frequency of this era of this, you know, this city and this community that we all And so I’m very excited. We finally have pieces. I have my sample pieces sitting in a box in my living room right now. We have our shoot coming up. And then by late November, we should be rocking and should be online. So I’ll be sure to send you guys some stuff.
Rachel
Are you partnering with local artisans? Kind of how did this come together? How are you involving the city in that frequency?
Taylor
Yeah, so we have a, right now, here’s the real founder talk. It’s been about, we just got to get this thing out there.
Rachel
Absolutely.
Taylor
So we have a lot of dreams. of partnering with different artists and different collaborations coming up. That’s a huge part of what we’re planning to do. So right now, it’s just I formed an advisory board of people to help build this. It’s not just little old me being like, we should do this. And so having the input of a community built, it’s like literally born from a community, then built by a community for community. And so that’s really right now how that is, the voices of people who are doing the work in the city to help create this and help create ideas. to put it out there. So I’m excited for, I have so many ideas with it. So it’s just like, okay, get the dang thing out and then we’ll go.
Rachel
I think sometimes that’s the hardest part is like you want something to be perfect, but then it’ll never launch.
Taylor
Yes, I’ve had to have those conversations with myself around this thing. There’s been a lot of like back end infrastructure stuff that’s been harder. There’s been some good lessons in building this one for me. that I won’t go fully into, but it’s just like, you just have to create it, do it. And there’s always so much pressure on a launch. I’ve been talking to my other creative friends on that, like, you have to launch and it has to blow up. And it’s like, it really doesn’t. Like the slow roll.
Dan
That goes back to what you were talking about with events, too, of getting all of this boring infrastructure stuff at this first level, and then you can build on it from there and continue to grow.
Taylor
Yes, and that’s what I keep saying to this advisory board, but I’ve had to like push out the shoot three times, or we didn’t have the actual product yet. I had to be like, okay, we’re building the foundation, like we’re in that so that we don’t have to do it again in the future, and now we just get to have fun. And I think out of that energy of fun and creativity is actually how it’s going to grow. And so I look forward. That’s awesome.
Rachel
Talk a little bit about, I like what you said about there’s so much pressure on a launch and I feel, and you might feel differently, but I feel as though social media and celebrity and influencer brands have made us feel that way because they will launch something, they already have this huge platform, it’ll sell out in two seconds, which I actually don’t like that business model because people that really want to get their hands on it can’t and you have to do all of this as PR people. We’re in crisis mode already. Exactly. But I feel like social media has really put the pressure on things like that, when in reality, blowing up right away actually kind of shows all those cracks. And if you can slow roll it, allows you to innovate and create a better product so that when it does blow up, you have your best thing out there. Talk maybe a little bit about how social media has played into anything you’ve done in your career or how you look at it and use it as a business owner.
Taylor
Yeah, I love social media. As a, I’m not a creator, I’m not an influencer at all, but I get the thesis of all the things. It’s a relationship building tool for me. I love seeing what’s going on in people’s lives. I love getting inspired by people that I don’t know. I call them expanders. of people that you see yourself in, just even a tiny bit. And it’s like, oh, how can I, almost see I can feel jealous of them, but use that as actually evidence of like, oh, that means I want that. And I’m capable of that. And so I love social media for that way too. But back to the relationship piece, it’s just been such a great tool. Like I’m in my DMs, like chatting with people. And if I was fully offline, I wouldn’t have that opportunity. And so that’s, I think, been the most beneficial use for social media for me, and how I wanna continue to use it and really build those intentional connections that I otherwise wouldn’t get to.
Rachel
Yeah, I think it’s another connection point, like you said, yeah, especially in what you do, yeah.
Dan
Sensing a theme there, so… Maybe you should have asked this at the outset, but how did you kind of center in on the world of creative or the creative community as kind of like the center point for these different brands? Like what led you into that? Was it a previous role or how did you come into that group?
Taylor
I don’t think it was a conscious decision. I think back to the garage, like I think at the end of the day, and I am not an artist or designer in any formal way, but in back to dancing, like that being such a huge part of my life, I think that’s why.
Rachel
That is artistry, just so you know.
Taylor
I think that’s who I just personally identify with myself. So, you know, I think naturally, you know, that’s the mirror and the community I’m going to lean to. And I think everything is creative, like not to be cheesy, but I think if you, and that’s Creatively Detroit, that’s not just for artists and designers, that’s for people with their spreadsheet, that’s for engineers, that’s for mathematicians, you know, like we’re, that means if we’re creating something, because in my just point of view, it’s just, I think, being human, like that means we’re inherently creative, because I think what drives all of us is that process of idea to creating it into a reality, and that I think that’s what creativity is, and that’s what, when I’m talking, when I say creativity, that’s what I’m talking about.
Rachel
I do think that’s an important point because I don’t know if it’s our generation or what, but I think we’re redefining creative. I do for a long time think people, it was like, oh, you’re going to go to art school, you’re going to get an art degree or a theater degree, like you’re creative and you’re never, that’s not going to make you any money. Like that feels like our parents saying that to us versus in this new kind of world of content creators online, right? Like people understanding you can create more and creative just means, like you said, having an idea and following through on it. Business owners, founders are creatives. They had to have an idea that innovated on something or was brand new and they had to figure out the steps to get there. That’s hard to do. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it and we’re not. So I think there’s, I love this new era of how we’re defining creatives. And, you know, I would always say like, oh, I’m not creative. But at the end of the day, we’re sitting in brainstorms and coming up with new ideas for clients.
Dan
Yeah, it could be writing, it could be strategy, it could be any number of things that all kind of adds up to that.
Rachel
We are. And then our designers, who you have been to a lot of creative mornings, right? Like they’re creatives in the graphic design sense and the visual sense. Like there really is more to it. And I love your explanation of that because I really do think that’s something new to the world. That’s how we grew up.
Taylor
Yeah, with that paradigm. And it’s so funny because I think It’s like almost a returning more than a becoming in that because not to get like woo-woo, but it’s like just as a flower. Like this is like you plant the seed and that is what its intention is, and what it’s meant for is to grow. It’s like that is what I think a human is. It’s to be, to create, and to put things into the world. And so that, you know, tying it all together of back to that quote that’s really driving all of my work of when you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. I think that is my hope is helping create spaces to show people like you can shine. And by shine, I mean expand into the fullest expression of yourself, which means creating those things that you’re like, is that for me to like do? Like, it’s like those secret things that like keep us up at night.
Rachel
Yes.
Taylor
I’m like, is that like business or like that, you know, idea? Like, you know, those things like, no, like listen to that and watch what happens. And like, I think I’ve for myself have now have the built-in experience Of listening to those whispers and being like, Oh, **** it works. Yeah, like now, of course, I always also talk about the difference between challenging and hard. Like I talked about for creative leaders, right? Those are challenges. Hard is like, it feels yucky. It feels like things out of our control. It feels like I’m out of alignment and doing something I’m not supposed to do. Challenges, that’s kind of the fun part is working through, you know, the challenges. But it’s… you’re in alignment in the progress. Like I just, I want more people to live in that space and that’s what really drives me.
Dan
Yeah, I love that. And that actually, kind of ties into more. more of like a fun closing question that we like to ask is it’s just that, you talked about this lived experience. What are some of the things or what is one thing that you wish you would have known coming out of college into your first role as you’re kind of like building your career looking back at that time?
Taylor
Yeah, good question.
Rachel
On those long drives from Clarkston to Detroit, what advice would you be giving yourself?
Taylor
I would tell her to trust herself, to trust herself, because when you do, that’s when things will click and the magic will start to happen and not let the voices of other people, of their expectations be the thing to drive you. Like listen and honor, but also honor your own voice too, I would say.
Rachel
I love that. I think that is the permission that you’ve been talking about. Like if you’re putting that out and you’re allowing others around you to do that, it’s gonna fall into place, right? That’s the trust that you put into yourself, that if you just are yourself and you give others around you, beautiful things will happen.
Taylor
Exactly.
Rachel
It’s incredible. Well, thank you, Taylor.
Taylor
Thank you both.
Dan
Thank you so much.
Rachel
Appreciate all of the insights. Dan and I will have to get out to an event. Like I said, I know our design team has been out, but.
Dan
Yeah, we’ll get one on the calendar.
Rachel
Yeah, where would that be? You said November 21st.
Taylor
Yep, November 21st.
Rachel
Is there a link we can link to in the description?
Taylor
Yes. Yep, I will link it and send you, I’ll send you all the links.
Rachel
Okay, perfect. So it’ll all be linked below. Check it out, attend a couple events, and we’ll also link, if you have a LinkedIn, we’ll put your LinkedIn on there as well. Awesome. Great. Thanks so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Another big thank you to Taylor for joining us today. Love just like her. She’s just inspiring.
Dan
Yeah, she really is.
Rachel
When she says like, I don’t know, I just got people to like pay me to do stuff. I’m like, it’s just her energy. I feel like she. You could talk and people would be like, I’ll give you money. What can you do for me? Right? So as we mentioned, we’ll link everything in the description below. If you can make it out to the next Creative Mornings Detroit, do so.
Dan
Yeah, check it out.
Rachel
Check it out. Maybe meet your next business partner. Who knows?
Dan
Could be.
Rachel
But with that, thanks for joining us. We’ll see you next time.
Dan
Thanks.
