Unmistakable Classics: Elle Luna | A Journey to the Crossroads of Should and Must
The Unmistakable Creative Podcast
Srinivas Rao
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2021
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In one of our best interviews ever, Elle Luna told us the story of how she found her true passion. Elle was rejected from every law school she applied to. After that, she stood at a crossroads between “should” and “must.” But thanks to a recurring dream that led to a life-changing painting, she was able to find her calling. Take a listen to her story of overcoming adversity, trusting in her community, and how following her “must” changed her life!
Elle Luna is a designer, painter and writer. She also runs a textile venture, the Bulan Project., a collaboration with master batik artists in Bali, and has previously worked at international design firm IDEO and with teams to build Mailbox's iPhone App, redesign Uber's iPhone App and scale the storytelling platform Medium. You can follow her on twitter @elleluna.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I remember on launch day, it was February of 2013, I was sitting at my desk, we launched |
| 0:05.1 | mailbox, we had a waiting list of almost a million people waiting for our app. |
| 0:10.1 | And I there and then saw this what I now call the crossroads of should and must. |
| 0:17.4 | It was this moment where I could see my entire design career and the startup career I'd |
| 0:22.9 | worked on the Uber app. |
| 0:25.6 | I'm sure most people are familiar with Uber. |
| 0:28.6 | And worked at all these amazing startups. |
| 0:31.4 | And I done all this stuff that all had led me to this amazing point of launching this |
| 0:35.6 | product. |
| 0:36.6 | But I had no idea what any of that had to do with my dream of painting in a white room. |
| 0:43.3 | And I think that's really the gist of where I am in my journey. |
| 0:46.8 | And the story that I'm sharing is that this crossroads of should and must arrives in |
| 0:50.7 | all of our lives over and over again all the time and big and small ways. |
| 0:55.9 | And I mean, let's look at that day, peak of a startup. |
| 1:00.8 | And also this kind of fledgling, bizarre expression of wanting to paint. |
| 1:06.7 | Those worlds were both equally appealing, but they were totally different. |
| 1:10.6 | And standing right there between those two paths, I had to choose. |
| 1:14.6 | I couldn't keep it up. |
| 1:15.6 | I couldn't do both. |
| 1:16.6 | And I looked at my finances. |
| 1:18.3 | I saw that I could buy myself some time to give it a go. |
| 1:21.8 | And I just, I went in, all in, two feet into painting and that's what's led me here |
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