Adrianna Bevilaqua on Leading Creativity, Culture, and Innovation

Justin Levinson (00:10)‍

Hey everybody, welcome to the Agency Side podcast. I'm your host, Justin Levinson. Today I'm here with Adriana Bevilacqua. She is the chief creative officer at Mbooth. A.G. has spent the last decade helping some of the world's biggest brands show up authentically in culture, leading work for Proctor & Gamble, Samsung, and celebrity cruises along the way. She has also recognized thought leader on trends and creativity and the force behind the widely cited shades of otherhood research. Let's jump in. Thank you so much for being on here, A.G.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (00:39)

It's great to see you, Justin. Thanks for having me. Congrats on the podcast. I've listened to several episodes and it's awesome. So excited to have a conversation.

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Justin Levinson (00:47)

Yeah, definitely. So the first thing I like to start with here is just kind of getting your of like your backstory and how you got into this particular space.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (00:58)

into this crazy wild world that we work in? Sure. So I actually celebrated 11 years at M-Booth this week, is crazy. And I started working in 2002 right out of college. Funny enough, started college, went to Wake Forest University undergrad. started pre-med and then there was of course a bit of a plot twist and I wound up really falling in love with art history. So that was my major. And then I...

kind of double majoring in art history and communication and really thinking about how art is really the, was essentially the original mass communication. If you think about it before printing presses, we use art to really sort of communicate, you know, in a very mass way. So sort of did my honors thesis on that and really thinking about how do we use visuals? How do we use words to communicate to one another? How do we tell stories artfully? And so I thought I may want to work at a museum and write about exhibits, maybe advertising.

And then I found my way to Ketchum, which is where I had my first job. I laugh because I think during my interview, I asked them what PR was. And because I didn't really quite understand, you know, I understood advertising. It was very clear to me, but I was like, well, what exactly is PR? How is it different? You know, and I always say that like 20 plus years later, I'm still figuring out exactly what we do because it's of course always evolving and changing. And I actually started out at Ketchum on the account side in fashion.

I'm doing fashion publicity and it was a lot of fun. And as time went on, I sort of kind of became the person, cause people often ask me, how did you go from being an account person like to a creative and then a creative leader? ⁓ And I always say it's, you know, it's better to versus following your passion, like follow what you're good at. And when I was sort of more junior at Ketchum, I would do a lot of brainstorming and a lot of writing and would naturally get pulled into like other assignments.

One of my friends worked on FedEx and he was like, you have to come to a presentation on millennials. Like, could you imagine when millennials were the shiny object? Yeah. Antique millennial. How can we market to millennials differently? Like, I like your insights, come present about this or AG, you write like daily candy, like the editor's there. How do I bring that cool tone to my client? Can you help us rewrite this work and stuff? So I sort of got pulled into a lot of creative work streams at the agency. And it's funny because

Sometimes we don't see our path for ourselves. I think that you need people around you to kind of reflect back to you, you know, what they're, what they're saying. And, um, had an awesome boss who's still a good friend named Abby Hodes, um, and another kind of mentor, John Paul Blackmire, who I still work with. And they were both sort of like, do you think maybe you should work on the creative team? And I was like, no, like I love my account role, you know, at that part. I was working on Pronova Card and kind of leading that business. they're like, but.

this is what you're really good at is the creative stuff. Like this is how you should spend your time and you you could have more impact. And so it really took, I think them seeing it in me for me to realize that, maybe it's time to sort of change paths in my career. So then I wound up being welcomed onto the creative team ⁓ at Ketchum and kind of worked my way up there. And then after that went to IPG to a fantastic agency called The Vries Global and I headed creative and strategy at that agency.

And then I reconnected with our CEO, Gail Bornstein, who's also a former Ketchum. And she actually ran the office when I was very much a junior creative and we had been on some pitches together, but, you know, fast forward 15 years and she and I talked and she kind of recruited me over to this role. And so that was 11 years ago and it's been an incredible 11 years here, but, um, I didn't set out with the intention necessarily of this career. sort of unfolded.

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Justin Levinson (04:34)

Do

you feel like it, I mean, it happened all organically? I mean, obviously like you had a mentor that saw the creative side of you and nurtured that. But did you, were you kind of like the person that like wanted to their hands on everything and was hustling and that was that part of the success you think?

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (04:50)

Yeah,

I think, listen, I think at the moment, like the common narrative and the narrative that people want to hear is like anti-hustle culture and that we need to find all of this sort of balance in our lives. And I like don't disagree as a human, but the truth is to get to where I did in my career was a ton of work. It was weekend work. It was traveling all over the place. It was raising my hand for projects that the agency had never done before.

taking some risks to go do a trends presentation to FedEx on millennials. you know, we hadn't done that before or bringing these sort of like very much ideas that were not part of annual plans to clients. But how do you bring like cultural intercepts? How do we say park the plan we had? There's something so much more interesting happening out in culture, right? So there was, I think, a decent amount of risk taking a lot of hard work.

There were long hours, you know, there were days when I was early on in my career that I was stuffing press kits. We used to have to wear like heels as women to events when I started, if you could even imagine, traipsing around New York City ⁓ in heels, going to events, making it all, making it all happen, pitching media, brainstorming, pitching ideas to clients last minute, making them happen. And so as much as I, I want a more peaceful work world for all of us, I do think on your path, there are moments and

stretches where you really need to grind to accelerate. And it's not something anybody wants to hear, but I really do think it's true. And I look to my peers in the industry and people that I admire, and I think I see the same in them. There are, that doesn't mean you can't rest and take moments of reflection, but there is a lot of hard work behind these careers. There are hours, there's time, you know, spend dedication, passion, all the things, right, that, it takes to get there. doesn't just sort of glide into place.

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Justin Levinson (06:38)

Yeah. Well, let's fast forward a little bit to, to, to, and booth. guess that would be good to just for the viewers to know, um, who might not be familiar. What, what you guys are doing over there.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (06:48)

Sure. So, Mbooth is really kind of a creative marketing comms agency is how I would describe us. We're based here in New York. We're about 300 people. When I came 11 years ago, we were like, I was employee 98. So, it's been incredible to be part of the growth with our team here. We were founded, I think the agency is like 42 years old. So, the agency itself is also an antique millennial, I guess. Our founder, Margie Booth, I'm in her office right now.

love her energy and she is still involved in the organization and she really kind of founded us with the principle of being culture first and really taking care of people, which is pretty incredible. Like now that's in style, but like then it wasn't. Like I remember she always tells a really cool story of creating M-booth and she had a lot of young parents. And at the time she was like, tell everybody we're going to start at like 9.30, 9.15 or 9.30. Cause people should drop their kids off at school and have that experience.

They shouldn't miss that. And so it's a small story, but I think a great demonstration of her foresight into what employees would need to succeed. And then, you know, the agency about 12 years ago, as Margie took on a role at Next15, our parent company, she brought in Dale Borenstein to be our CEO, who's a huge mentor of mine and somebody I really look up to. And she's an incredible leader. And I think she really had the vision here of helping our agency go from

a very agile, smart, earned agency to having like a broader, more integrated vision. And so we've all worked together to really build up creativity, influencer, sports, entertainment, intense analytics, research. we're like truly an integrated firm now. And it's interesting because I always say when we're working in the integrated agency and marketing mix, like I will say like 80 % of the time that earned agencies have better ideas.

their instincts are better. Their instincts are better when it comes to concepts that people are going to spark to what influencers will organically want to talk about, what the news and press will be interested in and like woken up by. But often PR agencies lack the capability to bring that idea to life and the sophistication. So my dream was always to work at and to really build an environment where you can sort of have some of those culturally led, earned ideas.

at the center of marketing. And that's really kind of what the agency does. ⁓ And it's cool because I think Margie founded us with such ⁓ amazing DNA around like our internal culture and preserving that. And so it's also kind of extended to like, care about our internal culture, but it also makes us really curious about other cultures, like our client culture and externally culture at large. And that's sort of the intersection of my career as well.

Part of my kind of creative process and inspiration has always come from bringing the outside in and being immersed in all things culture and figuring out how do we use those sparks and how do we kind of connect dots and create insights that better coize our clients to exist in that world. What are the things that people inherently care about? What are kind of sort of like the different movements and culture that we need to be connected to, that we need to be aware of before we go out there and tell our own stories, right? And I think that's something that

typically the earned discipline. That's where we, think, especially in this environment can really flex. So now I always think about M-Booth as a place that we really get culture inside our walls, but also outside of our walls and really helping our clients navigate. And we're in sort of a complex culture right now. I think we could probably all agree. There's a lot of complexity. So we look to sort of, I don't want to say simplify, but I'll say clarify what's happening in cultural ether and sort of using that to help our clients navigate today as they.

launch products, tell stories, want to connect with new generations, right? How do you create the right architecture for a brand today that lives in culture? So that's where I have a lot of passion. do a lot of work as our chief creative officer, obviously building a creative team and all of those capabilities, but also a lot of sort of trend spotting and looking out into the corners of culture to figure out where, where can our clients find their lane?

Right. It's not just about chasing the day as trends. Sometimes it's about setting a trend. Sometimes it's about sort of shaping an idea. Sometimes it's about partnering with different communities, but really helping those clients find the right space and culture to me is really the key to getting the creative right. Right. You sort of need to have that strategy. What's your role in culture? And then from there, I think, I don't want to say easy, but you can brainstorm, ideate and create with so much more confidence when you know that strategically you're in the right place. And I think so many brands struggle.

with how to show up in culture today. And there are so many ways that it can happen, but it's really important for us and for me personally that our clients have that sort strategic understanding of where that lane can be to unlock.

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Justin Levinson (11:35)

I think I had read something that you had posted that trends are moving like 4.4 times faster than before, guess. How do you personally keep track of all these trends and things? I feel like I can't keep track of anything. Thanks for tuning in, folks. This episode is brought to you by Coming Up Creative, a relationship first boutique creative recruitment agency.

We disrupt the creative ecosystem by running sophisticated multi-channel campaigns with custom video and voice outreach that actually gets responses. We actively market the agencies and brands we represent to help them stand out to today's industry's top talent, all backed by real human connection and AI-powered targeting. If you're ready for a modern recruitment approach, visit www.comingupllc.com and get started today.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (12:25)

I

know it's wild. is. I was like laughing like the past 18 months, there was such like a rise of like every different core and aesthetic. And it's like, is it Gothic core? Is it rage core? Is it cottage core? And all of these driving aesthetics moving quickly within our algorithms. But I think that, you know, it's important when we sort of look at the trends, landscape and culture at large to understand that there's a little bit of like a trends or

ecosystem that's like existing in culture. So something that I always pay strong attention to and sort of a framework I use for our clients and that we use at the agency is thinking about what are like the macro trends. Those are sort of like the big movements. Those are like the chapters in our shared cultural history. Things like, you know, equal rights for women, right? But that's a macro movement, but it has had many, many chapters to it. And every generation sort of interprets that differently, right? And so

You may see this macro movement change and shape shift via different trends, like over time. And then you have underneath those things, like then what I would call like the trending expressions or like the micro trends that are sort of under, right? Those different, you have your macro movements, the trends that live under them and like maybe a good example of a macro movement.

might be this idea that like health is the new wealth and that health is like so much more important to people, you now than it used to be. And then you might look at trends and there could be sort of a forever young trend where you see people that are just aesthetically trying to look younger and younger and younger. Then you see young people with like a looks maxing trend, which looks maxing is all about how they really believe that the better looking you can get your face and body.

is gonna be like directly proportional to your happiness and the opportunities that get, you know, unlocked for you. And you can also see like different trends in whether it is things like yoga, breath work, right? Like there are many trends within that larger trend of health is in your wealth. And then in any given day, you may see on TikTok, you might see on Instagram stories, what I call like trending expressions or like these little micro movements like.

the gallon water challenge, right? Like everyone is trying to do this quick thing or there's like a rise in hydration apps, right? Because everyone's trying to hydrate or people are starting to do like goat yoga because they're trying to integrate, you know, a little bit more of fun and friendly and coziness, you know, into the practice and even make it in some ways a little bit more lighthearted, right? So like the macro trend isn't goat yoga, right? The macro trend is like this larger quest for wellness. Then within that, there are all sorts of different trends and aesthetics and movements and how we become.

more well-feeling and then within each of those, are these, you know, these micro trends. And I think for clients, one thing that we really try to do is when we're planning for the year, we're trying to come up with big ideas. You're not doing it around these micro trends. These are fleeting, right? These are just kind of popping up in the algorithm right now. What's really important to look at are sort of more of the macro trends and what are some of those arcs. And then also importantly for every macro trend, there's going to be like a counter trend or a counter movement. Like I always say for every.

For every wellness girly, there's somebody who'd rather be in bed rotting, right? For every person who's signing up for SoulCycle, which is experiencing resurgence, you'll see young people are smoking again, unfortunately, right? And you're still a lot of pop culture signals of people smoking. So a trend will never be for all people. I always say culture is sort of like the ocean. It's never one thing. There are many currents and tides and temperatures. And what's really important is to sort of figure out

Where does your client need to or want to swim? But I think a lot of the power also happens when you sort of see these macro trends, ⁓ when you see these macro trends bubble up and then you sort of can even look out further and see what's the counter trend that's coming. And I think one that I continue to see is, especially as I look into this year is that all we have heard about is like sort of this narrative about Gen Z and being online, Gen Z and spending time online, they're connected.

They're on TikTok. That's where they're getting all their recommendations. But, you know, I would argue this year we're seeing consumers and Gen Z become chronically offline and people actually seeking refuge from digital and social media. That doesn't mean it's going to go away completely, right? But there's a counter movement that we can't ignore that's sort of happening with young people seeking more IRL experiences, being more time outside of nature, know, rejecting the idea that...

You know, they can only date, you know, via social media, really kind of wanting to get out there with meet-cutes again and kind of meet people. And so it's an interesting reckoning. There's a, you know, a really, I think, telling article in the New York Times before the holiday that was talking about, you know, some of the most interesting clubs like are now banning cell phones because they're realizing the impact of being watched, what that does to the dance floor. Like the dance floors aren't as fun when everybody has their phone because people aren't in the moment. And then also people become self-conscious because they're tired of being watched.

all the time. is like this fatigue happening. So it's really important, know, long-winded way of saying, you know, to keep up with the trends, I think it's important in our own brains to understand that there is a, they're not random. Everything is sort of like connected in an ecosystem. And the best way to sort of, if you see kind of a micro trend and you're like, does that matter to my client? Or it's not about that micro trend. It's about what is it signaling? And then like, what is a larger movement?

that it's linked to and does that larger sort of movement and energy kind of make sense for a client or not? Because you can get very sucked into the micro trends and the daily aesthetics and the daily slang and this really funny meme. And that might be great for social content, right? But that isn't something that a brand or a client will ultimately want to hang their hat on. So it's important to give the whole system of culture a little bit of a structure and understand the interconnectivity. Otherwise it's like getting lost in the sauce or

you know, of floating out to the ocean without the context. But I think, yeah, important. And then I think the other piece, you you asked in terms of keeping track that I think is increasingly important is to just have a really robust media diet.

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Justin Levinson (18:27)

Yeah. So you're constantly doing research or constantly up to date on all the trends. Is this sort of like the first piece when the client comes to you is you're, prepared with all this before launching creative and campaign and all this stuff. This has to be the most important part that sets you up for success.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (18:42)

So, mean, you know, one of my favorite definitions of strategy or my favorite ways to think about strategy actually comes sort of has like origins in the military, which is like military strategy is about what? Studying your opponents and terrain, literally understanding where mountains, where valleys, where our streams, what's the temperature, right? Because if you don't have an understanding of terrain, how can you, how can you navigate it? Right. And so strategically something that we focus a lot.

lot on here at M-Booth and I spent a lot of time doing is helping our clients understand cultural terrain as we enter a year, as we enter a moment and how does that mesh with, do you best sort of navigate your storytelling and what you stand for in a way that makes sense, you know, given that terrain. So absolutely your instincts are right. It's really part of how we think of strategy.

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Justin Levinson (19:33)

clients pretty open to like the ideas and the research that you get or does it sometimes take a little bit of massaging.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (19:41)

I mean, always, I mean, think, um, you know, the best work's done, that's done is always kind of a bit of a client co-creation too. You know, I think early in, you know, my career, I think a lot of what we did was more art. And now I think it's like art and science and the two kind of have to come together. There's absolutely like strategic intuition that you can bring to an assignment, but you just can't ignore the amount of data that exists to look at even like, you know, just secondary data.

that any of us can access. And, but I think if you start with data, honestly, you're boiling the ocean. So you need to start with like a strategic hypothesis or what are the pockets we want to look at? Or we think this and hey, sometimes we're wrong, but you sort of need that starting point. So I always tell kind of like my teams on the creative side, just be constantly immersed because by the time we get a brief, if we have to go sort of figure out where to start for an insight, we're already behind.

We should be like 60 to 70 % of the way there in terms of based on our understanding of a client, the cultural milieu work we do for other clients. We should be like 60 % of the way toward an insight once we get that brief. And then it's like the next 40 % is critical, but we better have some hypothesis. We better have some ideas and sparks. We can't be a blank page because the work just moves too fast. You'll never get there.

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Justin Levinson (21:02)

What's your favorite part of the job? What do you enjoy the most?

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (21:05)

I love, I'm here for all the cultural rabbit holes. I read a lot of different things, listen to a lot of different podcasts and thinkers, futurists, sub stacks. I'm like a big reader in general. watch obscure things and I'm into interesting like subcultures. So that's part of like who I am anyway. So it's really fun to bring that into work and actually find an application for it. So that I love, but honestly, like the people piece is amazing to me.

our industry, the importance of relationships. I know there's so much discussion around AI and technology, and obviously that's part of our journey. But the relationships we have and the relationships we can continue to sort of grow and invest in are very important to me. And I think that a little bit in kind of our hybrid world, in the world where people come into the office a bit less, I do think that relationships can suffer. And so if you can continue to nurture your relationships.

I think it is a superpower in business and in general. So to be able to have the time and to be in the role where I get to work with so many people and build those relationships in and out of the organization is super rewarding for me at this point in my career.

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Justin Levinson (22:17)

Yeah, what kind of things do you look for in, because culture is obviously so important to you guys at MBooth when you're bringing new people into your ecosystem, what sort of qualities do you look for?

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (22:26)

I look for, mean, beyond the obvious in terms of like creativity and their book and that kind of stuff, but we definitely look for people on the creative team with like a high EQ. You know, somebody who I think is a good listener or someone who can help read clients, somebody who can kind of read teams and has like a low enough ego to say like, I was wrong on this or can you help me with this? Right? Like.

We try to say like our work is high impact and we try to maintain low egos on the creative team too, because I ego and creative can kind of be a blind spot for people ⁓ when they get a bit of the Don Draper sense. So, you know, being open to collaboration and, you know, co-creation. ⁓ We work on the creative team. It's not a hierarchical kind of thing. It's pretty big. We're like 52 people actually at Mbooth on creative, including our incredible PMs that kind of make it all work.

They're like our superheroes, but we work in a very collaborative way. I just worked on a pitch with one of our VP ACDs, Steve. He's awesome. And he's been with us since he was like 22. He came out of a writer's room on SNL and made his way into our world and just like the best human. him and I worked together almost like as a creative team on a pitch. It doesn't matter that I'm like the CCO. It's just like in the weeds together. Because I also think

A mistake people may make in our industry is getting too far away from the work. And I think to be senior and effective, our work's changing too quickly. You can't rest on what you knew two years ago. You need to see the work changing in real time to be able to impact it and also to help set teams up for success. Most importantly, like if you don't know what clients need, if you're not seeing it firsthand, it's hard to staff correctly, bring in the right resources for your team. So, you know, a big part of my role as Chief Creative Officer is also to create.

the culture in which people can be creative and do great work. ⁓ And I think that if you're just constantly hearing it like secondhand versus having your own lived experience in the work, I think it's hard to get it right. So I try to stay close to the work and close to the teams, because I also want to keep learning and I also want to keep being part of the evolution. And I think it's important, especially in this moment of real change in our industry, that senior people don't lean out too much.

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Justin Levinson (24:47)

Yeah. Yeah. That's cool that you're kind of like in the weeds and you're doing the work and not just overseeing it. is, it seems unique. ⁓ you know, with the conversations I've had with other leaders are not so hands on.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (24:58)

Yeah, I'm a, you know, more on the writing and strategy, you know, side versus like, you know, design. So someone's on Mat leave on our team, like I'll sub in as like the writer. I'll tell the creative directors, like, let's talk about the concept. All right. can write this out for you. Like, I'm happy to, sub in. think, I think it's also important, like, to also show your team that you can do it. Yeah. Right. I think many of us have had leaders in other places or have seen leaders where you're like, but how good are you at this? You know? And so I think it's important to keep.

yourself immersed in your craft and to also like prove to your team, you know, that you can be a resource from them and that you can have that you can have, you know, a really positive impact and evolve the work too. So versus just telling, telling, telling, I think there's a big part of showing and creativity.

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Justin Levinson (25:42)

Yeah. There's two more topics I'm interested in doing here. One is technology and how that is evolved and changed. I'd be curious to kind of see what like your tech stack is, how you guys are able to work collaboratively in sort of a remote environment. Be interested in kind of learning a little bit about that.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (26:00)

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think what's probably in creative, what's most exciting right now is in AI are the things that like, everyone's having the conversation around, is it going to cannibalize production or is it going to cannibalize writing? I'm like, we're kind of asking or like looking in the wrong area. To me, what's so exciting about generative AI and creativity, whether it is the writing piece.

or image and video generation, whatever's next after that, is the things that it allows us to do that we can't do today. if I have ex-client and this is like a bad example, we're doing a, pretend we're doing a cultural intercept of like White Lotus and we want to create the White Lotus Hotel in product. We're never going to do it. We would never be able to do that. Right? That's not.

something that would ever be possible. So with generative AI, sure, there's platforms where you could do really quick turn fun content with transparency to your audience. We're not looking to cannibalize and take away necessarily the creative work we're doing with AI. We're sort of have a AI studios model that's coming out this year that shows like now what's possible with AI, the type of content and the type of ideas.

we never would have had budgets for for production or we never would have been able to shoot in time if it's like culturally responsive. So having kind of the ability of like this new, it's like a whole new suite of tools. The toolbox has just keeps getting bigger in our industry. I think the downside of that is like as it's getting wider, it's also getting deeper, meaning it's more layered and more nuances needed and also like the water is deeper.

And people could, the mess-ups are deeper, right too. So, and I think we've seen that obviously from some brands in the landscape. We saw McDonald's have a bit of a faux pas with some of the AI work that they've done recently. And these things can be, sometimes when they're coming from an ad agency, it has different weight than when it's coming from like an earned, like an agency that started in earned. Cause part of what we continue to do is build reputation, build cultural salience, right? That's like our currency. So if you create a piece of content.

I think it's like a further rung to fall from if you're an agent that's building reputation and cultural currency and you get that wrong. So the water's getting deeper, even though we have more to play, more to play with, but it's important to also remember that it comes with an assigned responsibility to it, of ethics, of understanding, because we recognize that there's a whole creative community that we're attached to that does voiceover work that we hire, Productions, studios, musicians, right? When we like, you know,

when we use ⁓ fresh music for the content work that we're doing, creators. So for us, we're also part of a larger creative community as well. So kind of preserving relationships and integrity there is important. But I think on the creative side, when you ask about the technology we're using, it's really thinking about, I think, the generative piece and what that is going to and continues to enable us to do now that we couldn't have done last year.

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Justin Levinson (29:08)

I love that. lastly, I guess the thing I'd like to just learn is what you like to do just yourself personally, what things that you enjoy ⁓ outside of M-booth.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (29:18)

my God, all the things. I live in New York City with my family. have a nine year old and an almost seven year old who are the loves of our life, for me and my husband. And we chose to stay in the city with them. We lived here with them through COVID, all the things. We're definitely a family that enjoys all things cultural, kind of in the city, museums, events, taking the kids to see music, enjoying Central Park, seeing shows when we can with them and kind of giving them like a real window into culture early on.

Like I'm joking that like I was an art history major as a total nerd growing up. grew up in Jersey and I'm like, I didn't make it to the Met until like my junior year in high school. Like these kids today, like they have such awesome experiences. They're just trying to ensure my kiddos have that and we kind of enjoy a lot of that stuff together. And so spending my time there, as mentioned, I'll read anything. I watch all sorts of interesting small films, foreign films.

I like to find like the next generation of voices, you know, in different categories, whether it's like, again, a new author and someone who's podcasting that has really interesting things to say. Somebody who I really love listening to right now is Martha Beck. She's like one of my favorites. If you haven't, do you know of her? She's like Oprah's life coach for a long time. She like grew up Morgan. She's a queer woman. She lives in a, she's in a throuple with two other women. They have a family. She has a really.

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Justin Levinson (30:29)

Not familiar.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (30:42)

like a theological background. So she's like very spiritual, but she's like a true intellect. She loves nature and humanity and just the ideas from her are the kinds of things that I love to just think about. So she talks and reflects a lot about the times we're living in, what it means to kind of, you know, keep yourself fueled creatively. And how to, ⁓ how, she has like a really interesting thing she wrote right

before the holidays around how like we all need to just like weave ourselves a sanity quilt right now. And it is like starting with one thing that you love and just like what's the next thing and weaving that onto it. So you create a life that's a quilt of all the things that you want and like a really intentional way and kind of can zero out on some of the noise. So just following like real thought leaders, like cultural thought leaders is important to me and kind of acknowledging and thinking about those voices. And then the other thing I'll say, just like becoming a parent for me has also made

I think me better at work. It's made me more optimistic, I think, in a lot of ways because, you know, I'm not coming down on any generation, but I think, God bless my parents, but like they can be very negative sometimes about the world and I can't believe we're seeing this. And I'm like, the world is okay and it has to be okay because Harper and Charlie are in it and all the great kids that I know, my nieces, my nephews, they're friends, my colleagues, kids, like it's gotta be okay for them. So we have to maintain like some level.

of decency, normalcy, of positivity, because this isn't like, this is our world to give away. And we have a responsibility to give it in the best shape possible. So I think that has impacted me creatively, you know, thinking about things outside of work that have probably had the most profound impact on me. And I think for me, it's probably motherhood and sort of that mindset shift. can't be a trash fire, right? The world, it's just, it's so much more complicated than that. can't...

just say it's awful out there, right? You have to think more deeply and think about the silver linings and the things we can do to create positive change. So that's been, I think, an important factor on my career as well.

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Justin Levinson (32:44)

Yeah, I love that. I like the metaphor of the quilt. think that's something I make for myself. That's pretty cool.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (32:47)

Yeah, check.

We're Sanity Quilt right now and it's really cold so maybe we need to to cover up.

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Justin Levinson (32:54)

Totally. And I also can relate, I know we'd mentioned before that we were meeting here in Vermont, but I actually grew up in New Jersey as well. And I don't think I ever went into New York City. lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey. We never did anything. We never left. So I can relate to that.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (33:09)

Isn't it wild? I grew up in, um, Geo Sussex County, out in the sticks. So that's like where I grew up. My husband's from like the Caldwell area and we have family now sort of like in Montclair and that area, which is, I mean, there's so much there. It's amazing part. mean, New Jersey's great. There's so much there. Um, but I know right where you are. Yeah, but it's like our generation. I'm like, you guys shouldn't deprive me of all of these things was like 27 miles away, but yeah. Um, but I think I read like a really interesting stat. And again, I'm not trying to, um,

be negative around like my parents' generation, but like that working moms and working parents today spend more time with their children than like working parents or non-working parents did like 50 years ago. Yeah. Which I think is true. think millennials and like the younger Gen Xers have really invested in like emotional relationships with their children. And I think they sort of see their kids as part of their identity and extension and are like.

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Justin Levinson (33:53)

Yep.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (34:06)

bringing them different experiences. And I think it's great thing.

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Justin Levinson (34:11)

I got two little ones that are more light as well. little girls. have a three-year-old and a seven-year-old, two girls. ⁓ They're really sweet, they're in, you know, three, three is hard. Three is harder than two, I think. So we have one that's a little bit crazy. We actually had a funny thing happen. It wasn't very funny, but so she had an ear infection. So she had amoxicillin for the first time and she like really liked it. And so she was savvy enough to, after she got over the ear infection to fake having

still having it to get me to get back to the doctor so she could get herself more amoxicillin because she liked the flavor of the bubble gum so much. So I was totally hoodwinked and, uh, but she was totally fine and she didn't get the amoxicillin. She was upset. She's like, want the medicine. It's like, Oh man.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (34:55)

The bubblegummy goodness. That's funny. Our kids are, as I mentioned, almost seven and Harper and Charlie. Harpie just turned nine, so they're like first and third grade. We're trying to hold on so tightly because we're in the gold. I call this the golden years of parenting. It's like everybody can wipe their bum and get themselves ready.

and could actually get up and get themselves cereal now. There is real kind of independence happening in our house, but they still want to cuddle with us and call us their best friends and want to be with us all the time. So we're like, we got to bottle this up because I'm sure it's only matter of time where parents are embarrassing. actually had, I was walking Harper to school and we were singing a little Taylor Swift, vibing out early in the morning in the cold and she's like, oh, I see what's ahead.

But you can see, I think with the girls, it might even happen a little earlier than with the boys in terms of like...

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Justin Levinson (35:53)

Yeah, I remember walking like 30 steps in front of my parents in the mall and like being agitated by the way my mom ate. Just be like, oh God, it's like, mom. Like I was real. I was.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (36:04)

I

said to Harper, I was like, I am cool just for the record. was like, my parents used to like yell at each other, like in the car driving me to the Rockaway Mall, if you knew where that was, like literally fighting. was just like, oh my God, how cool me and dad are. Like it is weird. I was like, there's nothing embarrassing about us. Let me just tell you. I was like, you kids have no clue what it is to be embarrassed by parents. Look at like your girls have a dad with like 11 guitars in the background.

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Justin Levinson (36:33)

And yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm a nerdy guy, but there is some flavor of coolness, I guess, in the background. But AJ, I really do appreciate you hopping on today and having this conversation and offering some value to the community and telling us about your successes. And I love all the metaphors and describing culture as the ocean. It's all really cool stuff and I'm glad to share it with everybody. And I really do appreciate your time today.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (36:54)

Awesome. Well, stay warm up in Vermont. was a pleasure to chat with you and good luck with the pod. I'm loving it so far. So I will continue to tune in.

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Justin Levinson (37:03)

Awesome, thanks. Have a good rest of your day. I appreciate it.

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Adrianna G. Bevilaqua (37:05)

Bye, Justin. Bye.