In this monthly newsletter: What’s changing and what’s staying the same as I start a full-time job at Google, plus tons of upcoming creative events!

What started as a conversation about referrals for a role on Google’s Brand Studio team has led to me starting a full-time job as Senior Talent Lead this Monday, February 2nd. I’ll essentially be overseeing the end-to-end experience for their expansive roster of creative temps, vendors and contractors. It’s a role I wish all creative teams had and I’m excited to take it on!

What’s staying the same for Kate Sullivan Creative? The core of why I started this venture: creativity. I will still be doing:

• Creativity Sundays

• Passion project workshop cohorts

• Limited 1:1 passion project clients

• This newsletter & compiling/creating resources

• One-off talks, retreats, events & workshops

What’s changing? I’m stopping team consulting and career-focused advising/coaching 1:1s.

I’ve truly enjoyed the team and career work I’ve been doing and know I will miss the freedom over my schedule and getting to work with an array of amazing clients. I’m sure many of you can relate to these kind of career decisions.

I’m simultaneously thrilled for this new chapter with Google and that Kate Sullivan Creative will continue as my passion project. I’ve revamped my website to reflect this evolution too. Check it out!

February 8th Creative Sunday with Featured Artist Nina Madjid

Our next Creative Sunday is Sunday, February 8th @ 2:00-4:30pm! Reserve your spot here.

It’s $15 or $110 for a 2026 membership which includes: access to every event, a guest pass, and reserving your favorite table in advance. If you aspire to come to more than SEVEN Creative Sundays this year, the membership will save you money.

New this month! We will have seating available in Moonglow for those who want a quieter experience.

February’s Creative Sunday featured artist is artScamp’s Nina Madjid bringing all the supplies for blackout poetry!

Blackout poetry is an incredibly easy, fun and inspiring reductive art form focused on removing text from an existing piece of writing (in our case: pages from books) with an array of supplies (markers, collage, and more) to create something new. 

Nina’s life-long romance with hand craft and art led her to create artScamp in 2009, a place for IRL creative arts workshops, classes and community gatherings where the focus is on individuals’ creativity and process rather than the final product, and invitation rather than instruction. Expanding on her arts and community practice, Nina earned a degree in Leadership and Facilitation of Restorative Justice from the University of San Diego in 2023 and currently holds women’s circles, community healing, and parent support circles in Los Angeles, and uses restorative practices in her art workshops and classes at artScamp. Nina has also worked as a graphic designer for 30+ years. Originally from Boston Proper (IYKYK), Nina lives in Los Angeles, with her husband, son, two cats and a pitbull, making art and dreaming of a creekside cabin in the forest.

As usual, come make blackout poetry or just do your own thing. Either way, ignore the Super Bowl and see what you create! Creative Sunday will end just in time to catch Bad Bunny on the big screen at Gold Palm too.

Future Featured Artists:

• March 8th: Miniatures with Erica Meade - learn more below!

• April 12th: Memoir Writing with Walter Thompson

• May 10th: Poetry Adventure with Tara Lockhart

• June 14th: Mokuhanga Printmaking with Nichol Markowitz

• July 12th: Portfolio Review with Eiko Nishida

Gold Palm bar is open throughout the event & kitchen opens at 4pm

More February Events

Thursday, February 5th @ 5:00-7:30pm @ Moonglow (1900 Telegraph Ave, Oakland 94612

Join us for a casual happy hour at Moonglow bringing together designers, producers, project managers, copywriters, photographers, videographers, and other professionals from the creative industry across brands, disciplines, and industries for conversation, community, and cocktails. Sip on the $10 martini special while sharing inspiration and good vibes with fellow creatives. This is a space built for genuine conversation and connection.

Thursday, February 19th @ 6:00-7:30pm @ Berkeley Buddhist Temple (2121 Channing Way, Berkeley 94704)

I’m honored to be the guest in conversation with artist and social practitioner, Eiko Nishida, for the very first Creative Exchange in Berkeley! I met Eiko at December’s Creative Sunday, we got together again at her studio at Kala, and here we are experimenting with a new series.

Creative Exchange is a cross-industry mix-and-mingle with purpose: people learn from each other, trade tips, spark new ideas, and sometimes walk away with a collaboration lead, or even a new friend. It’s casual, it’s curious, and organically productive—the kind of space where inspiration feels natural and networking doesn’t feel like work.

It’s free! Just show up! Our conversation will start at 6:30pm.

A Peek at March

March 8th Creative Sunday featured artist is Erica Meade, Berkeley-based artist and miniaturist behind Mini House on the Line @minihouseontheline.

I find Erica’s work so impressive and incredibly relaxing. I think it’s my ASMR?

Erica discovered her passion for making miniatures when she made a dollhouse for a friend’s daughter in 2023. She found that minis – so tactile, creative, challenging, and satisfying – were the perfect antidote to Zoom burnout. And the process of recreating something in a small scale lets her explore a breadth of craft techniques including woodworking, textile arts, sculpting, electrical wiring, bookbinding, tiny tiling, etc. 

“With each project I get to try something new + push myself to solve (tiny) problems.”  

Erica is also the co-founder of Practice, a new platform that helps people discover and nurture creative hobbies, and is a Product & Design Leadership Consultant for tech companies. 

Join us on March 8th to hear a [mini] artist talk on miniatures and a chance to see some of her tiny things in person.

I’ll be hosting a Passion Project Show & Tell & Happy Hour at Local Economy on Saturday, March 14 @ 5-7pm! Stay tuned for RSVP details.

In the meantime, email me if you want to volunteer to share your creative passion projects in a casual, low key, fun, easy, facilitated way. You can also just come watch and get inspired.

Local Economy is a super cool community events space and coffee shop in Rockridge. I highly recommend checking out their other events and supporting by being a member. Members get early access to many of the event tickets, which tend to sell out.

A Little Gallery

Checkout the latest additions to my and David’s collection of art created by friends and family from two Creative Sunday regulars!

We have December Featured Artist, Savio Alphonso’s, botanical drawing and two prints in the dining room, and two drawings and a painting by Andrew Clark’s mom, Barbara Clark, in the living room. This was part of his project to giveaway his mom’s art, with the one rule being that it gets framed and hung.

That’s it for this monthly newsletter. Follow me on Instagram and/or LinkedIn for more news and inspiration that doesn’t always make it in here. I don’t overdo it, promise.

Kate