"the devotion to return to a creative practice, again and again"

badass creativity facilitator Catherine LaSota on the power of limiting your assumptions, approaching your creative practice as a relationship, and being your own daddy💥🌱

Dec 03, 2025

This is a Beginner’s Mind interview, a series that explores the intersection of mindfulness and creative practice. Zen master Shunryū Suzuki Roshi said, “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind, there are few.” This series shines a light on the practices that sustain people in their daily lives and open the path to new possibilities. Subscribe below to make sure you don’t miss any future interviews. ✨

Today, I’m very excited to share an interview with Catherine LaSota. My friend and co-conspirator, Erinn Batykefer, introduced me to Catherine’s work this past summer and her new podcast, Feed the Art. I listened to it for the first time while crawling along the 405 freeway, and her voice shifted me swiftly out of frustration and into another space. I was so absorbed, in fact, that I almost missed my exit. Catherine’s approach fuses a sense of authority with an openness to possibility that I find rare and powerful.

Since then, Catherine’s work has become very important to me, and Feed the Art has introduced me to other creatives and teachers whose work has also inspired and changed my creative life. Catherine truly lives out her expansive definition of creative practice, and she asks the BEST questions. Whether you’re new to Catherine’s work or have been following her for awhile, you’re in for a treat. Read on, and channel some of Catherine’s potent creative energy for yourself. 💥🌱

Catherine being her badass self in a pigeon shirt by artist Caryn Cast

What are your writing/creative practices? Do you have any rituals or habits that help you?

I have a pretty broad definition of creative practice, in that I think anything can be considered a creative practice if it’s done intentionally. Writing is a creative practice. Parenting is a creative practice. Building a business is a creative practice. Gardening is a creative practice. Et cetera. In this current season of my life, my creative practices include hosting and performing in events, facilitating workshops, being in conversation with other creative people (which takes a variety of forms), and nurturing my relationships with my children and partner. I do write daily, and that also can look many different ways, including journaling, drafting newsletters, and (at the moment) editing an anthology.

Honestly, one of my most important and consistent rituals is making my daily latte. It’s the first thing I do each day when I have a moment to be quiet and focus on just doing one thing by myself (this time of day changes throughout the week, as I have two young children). This practice started during pandemic lockdown, when making my latte was one way to measure time, to make a thing that I’d enjoy, during a moment when so much was unknown. I’ve upgraded my espresso machine since then (best ever gift from my husband – thanks, Karl!), and I’ve added to the ritual by taking a photo of my finished latte in front of the same plant in my window each day. Sometimes I post this photo to my Instagram stories as a way of closing the circle of my ritual.

What are your mindfulness practices? Do you have your own definition or way of thinking about mindfulness? Can you describe your practices and what they bring into your life?

It’s funny to me that the word is mindfulness, because what I actually do are activities that get me in touch with my body and not so stuck in the loops of my mind – which in turn does help me to think more clearly, actually.

One of my favorite things to do, especially when I’m super busy and verging on overwhelmed, is to stop what I’m doing and sit with closed eyes while I breathe in and out very slowly and completely a couple of times. This doesn’t take long to do, but it can be such a powerful reset, and at the very least it counteracts a tendency I have (and that I know I share with others) to breathe shallowly (or even hold my breath altogether!) when I’m caught up in focusing on something.

Another practice I have is a reminder to self, and it’s also about nourishing my body. That reminder is: “When was the last time you drank a glass of water?”

Do you have a mantra or motto related to your creative/mindfulness practices/life?

I do have a personal mantra that I realized only in the past year is something that has been a guiding light for me for a long time, and that is the directive to my Self to “be your own daddy.” I took off to New York City when I was 20 years old with little-to-no support (certainly not from my actual father, who chastised me for my horrible decision), in order to “be an artist” – and guess what? I’m 47 now, and I’m still here, doing it, making my way. So much of my own journey through my artistic life (including studies in fine arts, music, and writing – I have two MFAs, one in sculpture, and one in creative nonfiction, as well as guitar/voice/French horn lessons under my belt) has been about learning how to trust my own creative direction, to know the goals that are important to me, and to act on them.

“Be your own daddy” is a good pushback against imposter syndrome, which is all about comparison anyway (a silly thing, since everyone is unique and with their own resources/capacities/interests/perspective!) and it’s a reminder that I’m the one who is most in charge of my own life. I’ve started bringing this mantra into my one-on-one work with clients and my podcast Feed the Art, too, and I even offer workshops called Be Your Own Daddy now.

What does the phrase “beginner’s mind” mean to you? Does it connect to your creative/or mindfulness practices? How?

To me, the phrase “beginner’s mind” means approaching life without assumptions. To be audacious enough to live your life as an artist, you need to limit your assumptions (about what you can do, about what you should do, about what a certain essay or sculpture or song is going to become), because doing so opens up possibilities.

We are always beginning again, every day, all the time. This is related to returning again, which I believe is one the most sacred acts of the artist: having the devotion to return to a creative practice, again and again. Returning again gives us permission to pause, as long as somehow, someday, we return again.

Catherine with her daughter in 2023 (📸 Jesse Winter)

How do you see your creative/mindfulness practices connected to/shaped by other practices or work in your life?

My creative practice is absolutely shaped by other experiences and realities of my life, and I think it’s a powerful and necessary thing to own how much our selves as artists are connected to and in relationship with all of the parts of our lives (a recent podcast episode of mine is called Everything Is Your Creative Practice). I’ve also had the pleasure of hosting both of them on my own podcast!

Some things that have shaped my own creative practice include: living in a city; growing up in an American suburb just outside Washington, D.C.; being a middle child; parenting; giving birth to my daughter at home on my bed; directing cross-disciplinary initiatives and programs at universities; several cross-country road trips; travel to five of the seven continents; SCUBA diving; living in a fifth-floor walkup apartment; bartending for years; working in retail; supporting other artists; mothering a beloved cat for a decade; marrying a man after knowing him for only nine months, and treating our secret marriage ceremony like an art project. The list goes on. It’s my entire life.

Catherine singing PJ Harvey in 2025 at a 1994 music show she hosted

Are there any books / writers / teachers / approaches that have been transformative for you that you would recommend to readers?

I’m a big podcast listener, and a couple of my favorites include Moonbeaming with Sarah Faith Gottesdiener and Common Shapes with Cody Cook-Parrott. I’ve also been in several workshops and learning containers with Sarah and Cody. I’ve learned a lot from Sarah about tarot and about lunar magic, and Cody has offered so many helpful ways to think about creative practice in their books and weekly newsletter. I admire both of them as artists and as creative business owners who aren’t afraid to pivot according to their desires, who understand the value of showing up for yourself consistently, and who are generous in their support of other creative weirdos.

What advice would you give someone who is trying to start or restart a creative or mindfulness practice?

Approach your creative practice as a relationship. How would you describe your current relationship with your writing or art? Do you spend time with it, are its needs being met? Are your needs being met? If it’s been a while since you’ve been “on a date” with your writing or art, or if you are establishing a completely new relationship here, what would be a fun way to get to know one another? Start there.

A Prompt from Catherine 💥🌱

So much of my coaching and workshop facilitation practice is built around journal prompts that I offer to my clients. I love journaling so much, and I think it can be such a powerful tool – but I know that the blank page can be intimidating, so sometimes I like to get into it from an unexpected angle to help get the flow going.

I run an event series called My So-Called Literary Life, where I show brief clips from the short-lived but utterly amazing 1994-95 television series My So-Called Life. After each clip, I provide a writing prompt based on the themes in that clip, and everyone writes the first thing that comes to mind in their journals for a few minutes.

If you have a television series that you especially love, you can apply the same formula: watch one scene from a favorite episode, and pay close attention to major themes or interesting art direction or powerful dialogue. What prompt can you give yourself from this material? For example: in one scene of My So-Called Life, Angela Chase’s parents are having a conversation where it sounds like they are trying to agree with one another, but their enthusiasm is strained. We can tell that their marriage is on the rocks. My prompt after this scene was, “Write about a relationship that is slowly falling apart.”

You can write about an object in a scene (a cool mug that reminds you of drinking coffee; a car interior where a difficult conversation takes place) and riff from there. You can even steal a piece of dialogue and put it into the mouth of a character you are developing for your novel. What happens next?

Catherine in her studio ready for the cold

Catherine LaSota is a badass creativity facilitator, and she is here to help you build and sustain a creative practice that works for you, taking into account your resources, capacity, deep desires, and unique vision. She parents two young children in Queens, NYC, and in addition to her MFAs in Sculpture (Parsons) and Creative Nonfiction (Queens College, CUNY), Catherine has Association for Coaching-certified training, is a certified advanced SCUBA diver, and identifies as a person of assorted musical talent/education (classical, pop, punk) and performance experience. She founded/hosted the LIC Reading Series (2015-2020) and the Resort writing community and has hosted several podcasts (currently Feed the Art and Part of the Practice). She also brings a couple decades of experience working in higher ed into her practice and currently serves as Associate Director of Social Practice CUNY. Catherine offers 1-on-1 coaching for writers and anyone building a creative practice; online workshops; in-person writing parties; and occasional retreats. She likes being in conversation and listening deeply.

Be Where You Are

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