Watch the talk here and check out more quotes!
CreativeMornings is a free, monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types.
For the latest on upcoming events, head over to creativemornings.com or follow us @creativemorning.
CreativeMornings was born out of a simple desire for an ongoing, accessible, free event for New York’s creative community. What started as a meet-up in Tina’s studio, has since grown to a sixty chapter global organization with chapters ranging from Ottawa to Oslo. Now at five years, we want to take a moment and thank all of you for being a part of this.
Here in New York, we’re celebrating by throwing a super special birthday bash and inviting back some past speakers to offer up the advice they wish they received when they first graduated. The night’s lineup features Liz Danzico, Maria Popova, Allan Chochinov, Jessi Arrington, Jason Santa Maria, Kelli Anderson, and a few other surprises! Watch for recorded shorts from these speakers on CreativeMornings.com and celebrations in cities near you.
What does the future hold? We want to hear from you! Reply to this post to let us know what you think we should do next.
What do the next five years look like for CreativeMornings?

Jason Santa Maria, Designer, Founder of Mighty, and previously Creative Director for Typekit
speaking at CreativeMornings/NewYork(*watch the talk)
Frank Chimero,
quotes by Jason Santa Maria
Jason Santa Maria, Designer, Founder of Mighty
speaking at CreativeMornings/NewYork(*watch the talk)
Jason Santa Maria, Designer, Founder of Mighty, and previously Creative Director for Typekit
speaking at CreativeMornings/NewYork(*watch the talk)
Jason Santa Maria, Designer, Founder of Mighty, and previously Creative Director for Typekit
speaking at CreativeMornings/NewYork(*watch the talk)
During his CreativeMornings/NewYork Benefit talk, Jason Santa Maria gave the audience permission to say “No.” He also walked the crowd through of the most common pitfalls he sees when approaching a project with a client. These “red flags” are Jason’s indicators he should probably just say NO.
First impressions
If someone come off weird or a little goofy, trust your gut. Follow that fight or flight instinct.
Crazy long emails from crazy people
I’m sure you get these, too, – emails that are just book-length, rambling messes and they’re telling you their life story, their problems, what they need on their website, and they’re just filling up your inbox and dumping it on you.
Equally as bad are shorter emails
Emails where they don’t really say anything. Don’t text-speak email me. Speak like a person.
These tell me: “I don’t respect your time and I’m a bad communicator.”
Hello,
This is amazing. I get an email, it just says hello, and launches right into the crazy. If you can’t find my name by going through my website, this tells me that you probably sent it to 20 other designers and are just spamming their inbox as well. Equally as bad, this tells me that you don’t care about details, and this probably won’t be a good relationship.
Hey do you do..?
Cold fusion? No. If you can’t see on my website what I do before emailing, this probably isn’t a good sign.
Can you start tomorrow?
This eclipses everything because all of a sudden your emergency is my emergency.
What it really comes down to is respect. This is an equal partnership. We should be equals in this.
Last Tuesday marked the date of the Benefit CreativeMornings/NewYork, featuring speakers Simon Collison and Jason Santa Maria – just in time for Brooklyn Beta! From mimosas to a photobooth, the event was *extra* special and the talks were no exception. The morning was hosted and sponsored by Virb. Photos by Katherine Miles Jones.
Check out the rest in their Flickr Album.
The NewYork chapter of CreativeMornings is organized by Tina Roth Eisenberg. Follow along with them at @NewYork_CM!