October 12, 2022

Cookie Rockstar

October 12, 2022/ Isa Adney

“A mob is coming,” said a Disney Springs security team member to Steve Lewis. It was December 2020, and the second Gideon’s Bakehouse location was about to open at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida. Traffic was backed up for miles, and those who did park ran into Disney Springs before it was open.

By the time it opened at 9:00AM, the line stretched through the entirety of Disney Springs property.

By 10:30AM, there was an eight-hour wait.

By 11:30AM, the wait was 12 hours. For a cookie.

But not just any cookie. A half-pound chocolate chip cookie that Steve, the founder of Gideon’s Bakehouse, spent 15 years creating.

June 01, 2018

Childhood is Better than Awards

June 01, 2018/ Isa Adney

Oscar-winning songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez on finding their dreams and what’s even better than winning an Oscar.

Today I saw the movie CoCo for the first time (spoiler alert: I cried 17 times).

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez wrote the Golden-Globe and Oscar-nominated title song, “Remember Me,” for the Disney Pixar film, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the Golden Globes recently and caught a glimpse of them sitting in their finest at a round table with other artists I love (like the director and writer of Frozen, Jennifer Lee). A few months ago I sat at a square table on my porch in San Diego, California, phone in hand, about to call Kristen and Bobby.

April 11, 2018

Making a Living as an Artist

April 11, 2018/ Isa Adney

Disney artist Antonio Pelayo on the importance of practice and how to make a living as an artist.

It was one of those Instagram posts that make you scroll back up and stare.

It was more real than real.

And it wasn't done with a camera.

But with a pencil.

A pencil?!

March 06, 2017

7 lessons from the artist who gave me permission to dream

March 06, 2017/ Isa Adney

What did you like to do when you were a kid?

I've been thinking about that question a lot lately.

I put snails in a jar.

I wrote plays.

I acted in my own plays and one-woman shows. (Thank goodness YouTube did not exist then).

I memorized and performed scenes from The Little Mermaid.

October 03, 2016

maybe being embarrassed by your creative work isn't always a bad thing

October 03, 2016/ Isa Adney

Doing creative work can be embarrassing: putting yourself out there for all to see, waiting to see if anyone responds, all the while unsure which scenario you fear more - someone actually seeing it and responding or no one seeing it. Both sound terrible in the beginning.

I'm sure there are things I probably never published because I felt embarrassed, or maybe things I never said. I'm sure there are projects and ideas I've never shared because I was embarrassed. Somehow I came to think that embarrassment about something before sharing it was a sure sign that the thing would indeed be embarrassing (i.e. a total failure).