Unapologetically You! 2x TEDx Speaker Steph Fonteyn on Story, Art & Owning Your Voice!

Hey Adventurers,

In this soul-stirring episode of The Adventure Reignition Podcast, I sit down with Steph Fonteyn, British-Swiss artist, two-time TEDx speaker, and creator of Collaborative Art, a team-building experience that unites people through creativity and shared vision. 

Steph is also writing her upcoming book, Unapologetically You, a guide to navigating transformation with curiosity, compassion, and courage.

This conversation is a masterclass in self-expression, aligned action, and finding the gold in your own story. Steph doesn’t just paint, she builds intersections: between art and HR, play and performance, structure and flow. And in doing so, she invites us to stop forcing life…and start following joy.

We dive deep into:

• Down the Rabbit Hole: What it really feels like to question “Is this it?” and why there’s no final “other side,” only ongoing discovery.
• Forced vs. Aligned Action: How to tell the difference (and why your results change when your soul and schedule finally dance together).
• From Hobby to Business: The birth of Collaborative Art and how creative process becomes a team’s mirror for trust, values, and performance.
• Intersections Thinking: A practical way to connect your many passions and turn them into a unique, valuable path.
• Story as Strategy: How to find your “My Story” narrative and deliver it so people actually remember.

✨ Favorite Quotes

“When you pause long enough to listen, you can feel the whisper: ‘Is this it?’ That’s not failure, it’s an invitation.”“Get your heart and the ‘have-to’s’ to collaborate. That’s the sweet spot.”

💡 What You’ll Learn

• How to shift from performance-based identity to values-led creation.
• A simple timeline journaling exercise to uncover your story (even if you’re multi-passionate).
• How to spot when you’re forcing momentum vs. moving with alignment.
• Why co-creating visuals helps teams internalize values (instead of just memorizing them).
• A playful method to make your talks unforgettable: merge unlikely worlds to create sticky metaphors.

🔥 This Episode Is For You If…

• You’ve done “everything right” and still feel a quiet emptiness.
• You’re a creator, entrepreneur, or leader craving authenticity over approval.
• You want a practical path to tell your story online without shame or perfectionism.
• You’re ready to turn your mix of passions into a coherent, magnetic identity.

Where to find Steph

• Website
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

🤝 Want to Go Deeper?

If you’re a multi-passionate creator or adventurer who’s been ghosting your voice and you want help building a magnetic, values-aligned personal brand, I’m opening spots for 1:1 coaching.

 DM me “POD” on Instagram to get started.

🙌 Subscribe & Review

If this episode moved you, follow the show and leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more creators and adventurers find conversati

Where to find your host online :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blaisedepallens/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blaisedepallens/
Website: blaisedepallens.com

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:19:08
Inconnu
You can feel that something is unsettled in you. No matter what you believe in, whether you believe in spirituality, if you have a soul but you can feel something inside of the thing. Is this it? Is this it? Right? And and it goes at you. And you try to push it down like. Like on paper. Everything is great.

00:00:19:11 - 00:00:29:06
Inconnu
I have this relationship. I have this job. I have these friends. I live in a beautiful country. We both live in Switzerland. We're very fortunate with that. But it doesn't mean something doesn't feel.

00:00:36:24 - 00:01:07:16
Inconnu
Welcome back to the Adventure Recognition Podcast. Today I'm joined by Stef Fontaine. She's a British Swiss artist, two time Trek speaker, and founder of Collaborative Arts, a team building process that brings people together through creativity and shared vision. She is currently writing an upcoming book that will be titled Annapolis Unapologetically You to help you self-reflect, navigate transformation with curiosity, compassion, and courage.

00:01:07:18 - 00:01:35:01
Inconnu
But what I love most about Stef is how she uses art and storytelling not just to express herself, but to invite others to reclaim their voice and step fully into who they are. Stef, welcome to the show. Thanks. It's a pleasure, ladies. Thanks for the invitation. I'm really excited for this interview because we have a lot of lot of things in common like self-expression, introspection, and also creativity because you are an artist, your painter.

00:01:35:03 - 00:02:02:24
Inconnu
I'm more in videography and photography space, but we definitely relate as, creators. But my first question is now just to understand a bit where you are in your current chapter. Life is what would be that personal headline that you would write, for the chapter of your life, your rights in right now. Curiosity. Courage. Creativity. Kat?

00:02:03:00 - 00:02:33:18
Inconnu
Jenna, on the other side of the rabbit hole. What would be the rabbit hole you're describing? Tell me more about how the rabbit hole looked like for you. And now how it feels to be on the other side of it. Rabbit hole analogy comes from the the childhood, story storyteller with Alice in Wonderland. And obviously, when you've watched that as a child or read it as a child, you you take away one meaning.

00:02:33:18 - 00:03:14:13
Inconnu
But I think, like all the good classics, there are layers of meaning. And for me, the rabbit hole is is about self-discovery, self-exploration, and there will be different events in your life that suddenly shift your perspective in how you see things, and that send you down another rabbit hole. If you like all exploration. And so I'm surfacing from one that's been going on for the last three years or so, and it doesn't mean I'm constantly in a hole on that journey, but it's as we were talking just a moment ago.

00:03:14:13 - 00:03:37:09
Inconnu
It's it's a never ending journey, discovering ourselves, our talents and and how we can bring them to the world and to link it to what interests us and to follow the joy and the rabbit hole. Maybe sounds more negative than it really is, but it it requires letting go. And when you do let go, things really start to shift and get interesting.

00:03:37:09 - 00:04:05:03
Inconnu
And and so that's why I suggest that my current headline is down the rabbit hole and what's on the other side. And I guess you never really get to the other side is it's a constant journey. That's. Yeah, that's a question I ask myself all the time. Like is there is there a finish line for this? But I think I had that my moment, my personal moment where after traveling for a year alone, I really had the big introspection.

00:04:05:05 - 00:04:34:09
Inconnu
But I also think now, looking back, that I also built a bit of ego. And I thought I understood everything about myself and of course, I got caught back into the rabbit hole you describe because it's a never ending journey. But I'm curious to know what is like the the lessons. Or maybe one of the biggest lessons you uncovered in that season?

00:04:34:11 - 00:05:07:03
Inconnu
In that rabbit hole you just described? Wow. A big one. I'm on now is integrating the difference between forced action and aligned action. But it's not the only one I've touched on and integrated or still integrating in those last three years. A major one was about becoming, unapologetically me. So three years ago, you know, before then, I didn't even realize I wasn't.

00:05:07:09 - 00:05:39:05
Inconnu
I was kind of autopilot, following the routine duties. Responsibilities to the point you don't even realize you've kind of become a zombie to some extent in life. But there is a deep if you listen, if you pause to listen, you can feel it. You can feel that something is unsettled in you. No matter what you believe in, whether you believe in spirituality, if you have a soul but you can feel something inside of the thing is this it is it.

00:05:39:07 - 00:06:10:14
Inconnu
Is this it? Right? And and it goes at you and you try to push it down like like on paper. Everything's great. I have this relationship. I have this job. I have these friends. I live in the beautiful country. We both live in Switzerland. We're very fortunate with that. But it doesn't mean something doesn't feel off. And so when I got to that stage around three years ago, I realized I was doing certain things, certain ways in my life because I thought I had to.

00:06:10:20 - 00:06:39:11
Inconnu
And I think your upbringing, society, culture, schools, it it shows us one way of how life can be, which is like the convenient, let's call it the mainstream that that feeds a certain system, which makes it function well as per the way that system works. But that's not the only way. And this this is not just career.

00:06:39:11 - 00:07:04:09
Inconnu
It's, relationship, lifestyle. There are alternatives. And when you go down the rabbit hole, you start to realize there are other ways of living, working, being. So, which is my preferred way, which would be the way that's actually unapologetically me. And that requires a lot of exploration and curiosity, open mindedness. So that's a big lesson, which I think is a never ending one, because that's like layers.

00:07:04:11 - 00:07:44:01
Inconnu
And the recent one is this the difference between forced action and aligned action as well? I want to just switch gears a little bit now and go back a bit more into your backstory. So you were born and raised in the UK and if I, if I have the right information, you lived in several countries before to to learn here in Switzerland and I think like our environments do play a big role of how we build ourself, how we uncover our strengths are we also build our own sense of identity.

00:07:44:03 - 00:08:14:13
Inconnu
And I'm just curious to know, like how those places have shaped your sense of self. Yeah, it's it's funny. So indeed I was born in the UK, but I also lived in Spain around the age, 14 only for one year, because my parents were brave enough to respond to perhaps an inner voice that was saying, is this it?

00:08:14:15 - 00:08:51:22
Inconnu
And they have a sort of an adventurous spirit in themselves as well. And so they sold, home in the UK, they bought a caravan, they bought, a Land Rover, an old sort of ex-military Land Rover, a generator powered our most important belongings on the caravan. And the Land Rover took a ferry from England to Spain, drove across Spain to a horse riding farm in Andalusia to rebuild old on this horseriding farm where they were used to going on holidays there to convert a shepherds route.

00:08:51:23 - 00:09:18:04
Inconnu
And when I say shepherds ruin, I mean a pile of rubble, literally on top of a mountain to rebuild that, and in that process, I was moved from a British school to a local white village Spanish school, where the only language they spoke was Spanish, and I spoke no Spanish. And I guess this showed me, looking back, I didn't realize it at the time.

00:09:18:06 - 00:09:55:22
Inconnu
It took me quite a few things, but one of which being that dare to be that adventurous if something's calling you. It didn't work out. We came back within a year and then I did my GCSEs in the UK, but I took away a love of Spain and Spanish and that became my university studies later in life. But it also planted the seed of that adventurous spirit that that when we make excuses from doing something that might be on a dream list in life and there's always a tonne of excuses, we can make for not doing things, and we we feel all kinds of things that hold us back.

00:09:55:24 - 00:10:13:22
Inconnu
But I guess it showed me that you can do that. And even if it doesn't work out, that's okay too. And because we landed back on our feet back in the UK, so I'm sure my parents had a stressful time at some point managing all of that. And I was only 14 and didn't get to see all of it.

00:10:13:22 - 00:10:45:20
Inconnu
But it it role model that for me. And I think that's important because in the schooling system it's all about things being right or wrong. It's not about explore, exploring and there is no failure, there's only learning. But when we educate people to feel bad about failing rather than extracting the learning from it, we continuously live in a in a in a form of anxiety of, you know, it's about performance rather than discovery.

00:10:45:20 - 00:10:50:20
Inconnu
What if we measured people in how much you've discovered this week? What would that look like? For example,

00:10:50:20 - 00:11:24:05
Inconnu
Greg from the podcast. I really hope you have as much fun as I do first. Thank you for being here and if you enjoy it, please give it a follow and share this with a friend because it really helps a lot. Now if you are a multi passionate creator, an adventurer or a visionary that feel called to express themselves fully, I'm opening few spots for my brand new one on one coaching that helps you build brands that feel like you and attract align opportunities without copying trends, faking it, or just waiting for clarity to arrive.

00:11:24:06 - 00:11:46:11
Inconnu
So whether you are still figuring out your voice or want to have more confidence expressing your story, we will co-create your personal brand and content with a sustainable rhythm that you can actually follow Sports Unlimited. So follow me on Instagram and Jimmy Pug Powered to see if this is a great fit. All right. Back to the podcast.

00:11:46:11 - 00:12:09:09
Inconnu
you you mentioned already twice, a sentence that I'm fascinating to hear when I hear it is, is this it's what is your personal experience of this and why do you think we reached that point? How spiritual can I get?

00:12:09:11 - 00:12:29:13
Inconnu
I'm going to scare your listeners. Is it it. I think one way to answer that question is I think we we live in a material world, in a physical body. But I've come to believe over the years that it's not that I never believed we had a soul. But I dug deeper on it, on what that means.

00:12:29:19 - 00:13:02:18
Inconnu
And so if you follow that storyline, our soul is here for a reason. You could even go as far to say is also has chosen to be born in, in, in the human being that we come into to live a certain experience and and bring ourselves our gift, our light into the world. And yet we live in this physical world where there are rules and, consequences.

00:13:02:18 - 00:13:25:01
Inconnu
So if you don't pay your taxes, you're going to be in trouble, right? There are certain rules you certainly don't want to mess with, but there's a lot of rules. Maybe in the gray zone. Like, I'm not saying I live an alternative, where life relationship wise, but who said monogamy would be the only relationship format, especially when you look at species in general.

00:13:25:04 - 00:13:50:16
Inconnu
That could be one thing that people might feel they need to question. Who says I can't live and work as a nomad creator traveling around the world that I have to have a 9 to 5 job? You know, there's there's so many layers to so many aspects of our lives that we just need to question, I think I don't know how many people, when they grow up, they really know what they want to do later in life.

00:13:50:18 - 00:14:11:05
Inconnu
It wasn't necessarily clear for me. And the things that brought me joy, I sort of downplayed and avoided. So I didn't go to, study art at university because I felt then what do I do? Like that's not going to get me a job. So I was very much shaped by mainstream thinking, as a 16, 18 year old.

00:14:11:05 - 00:14:35:06
Inconnu
So I've studied Spanish, so I still follow the passion. I followed the joy. And and that took me eventually into the world of human resources, where I was in a European, Air Service center answering Spanish IBM employee air questions. Two years after taking that job, I actually was offered a job in Spain with another company who was setting up their air service center.

00:14:35:06 - 00:14:58:22
Inconnu
So that's an example. Okay, I didn't follow my art passion in the beginning, but I followed my second passion, which was Spain and Spanish, and within two years it took me to Spain, where I continued working in nature. So there were so many choices. There isn't a wrong or right, but it just goes to show that whilst following that joy of Spain and Spanish, it led me somewhere.

00:14:58:22 - 00:15:20:12
Inconnu
That was aligned with that joy. It was when I was in Spain I started painting as a as a hobby, plus living and working in Spain with my second job, I started painting just as a self-taught artist. And now my father, is an artist and went to art school. So whenever I had questions I would call him and he would give me tips.

00:15:20:14 - 00:15:42:08
Inconnu
And I had started with oils and they take a long time to dry. So whenever I was moving canvases around my apartment in Spain, I'd be covered in in oil paint because it hadn't dried yet. And so he was saying, well, why don't you try acrylics? And that's how I got into acrylics. And then I found my technique with acrylics and then colleagues would say, who did that when they would come for dinner at my place?

00:15:42:08 - 00:16:08:17
Inconnu
And I said, that was me, and they would want to buy it. And I think I sold my first painting, for €30 or something like that. Fucking great. I can go buy more paint and more camp. And it was like a self-funding hobby for starting that hobby in Spain. I was following my Spanish passion and I was following my my soul's desire to paint and create and it just kept it keeps evolving and it leads to the next thing.

00:16:08:17 - 00:16:30:18
Inconnu
So if you if you had asked me at 16, 18, where would I be when I'm 46? I'm 46 now. I would not have guessed I would end up in Switzerland. I would not have guessed. I would have been an internationally exhibited artist or, a keynote speaker, spoken twice, as you said at the beginning on a Ted stage about creativity.

00:16:30:20 - 00:16:53:17
Inconnu
Like, no way would I have guessed that. But by following when I have respected myself and what my soul or my heart, if that's easier to digest once. It's not necessarily always easy and plain sailing, but it brings you to the things that are aligned with you. And I think that's something many of us have forgotten. And that's what brings us to that.

00:16:53:21 - 00:17:18:00
Inconnu
Is this it? When we've it's like when we've gone too far off our path, which we are created off, that if you start feeling, is this it? That's just a little wake up call to introspect and look what is missing in your life. What which joys have you pushed aside for so long that you're not following? And it doesn't mean necessarily a career change.

00:17:18:00 - 00:17:46:19
Inconnu
It can just be something that enriches it on the side. But why are we not following those joys? And it's a universal law to follow the joy as well. So I'm trying to be as faithful as possible to that universal law, because I have so many examples of seeing that it works. And the reason I talked about that duality is the the physical world, if you like, it brings us this.

00:17:46:21 - 00:18:15:20
Inconnu
I have to, I should, I must, which conflicts with what the heart and soul is whispering to us. So you can't refuse one or the other. The resistance makes the suffering louder and the the difference between the two more disruptive. Whereas if you can find a way to get the two of them to dance together like a collaboration and I'm still learning that I have good days and bad days with that.

00:18:15:22 - 00:18:46:23
Inconnu
But when the two of them work together because you got to get them working together, that's the sweet spot. I'm sure of it. That's, very powerful because I totally resonated with that. So since I lost my dad to suicide, I was constantly searching for what brings me joy. And that's how I tapped into that, to that adventure mindset in spirit, to constantly explore what makes me come alive.

00:18:47:00 - 00:19:27:16
Inconnu
And I totally resonate with your message, feeling the joy, following the curiosity and kind of like, keep that child spirits that we kind of like to lose because of obligation, responsibility, social pressure, or anything that tend to force us into what you call it. The beginning of the of the podcast, the mainstream. And I think it's also common thread into creatives like you and me that we tend to experience and I want to tap into that journey for you because I had my share.

00:19:27:18 - 00:19:50:22
Inconnu
Share, fair share of, struggle with accepting my journey as a creative. And I want to know first before I ask you more question about it, about that topic. How did that passion for, painting did come from? I think it was just in me. I mean, even as a child, and I was an only child.

00:19:50:24 - 00:20:19:06
Inconnu
So with parents who were entrepreneurs. So obviously I had friends who lived in my village who I'd play with it. I had a lot of time to amuse and occupy myself. And already there I was very creative. Whether it was, I don't know, I used to love, fancy dress, whether it was with friends or alone, but I had a box of, outfits and things that.

00:20:19:08 - 00:20:49:16
Inconnu
And so there was this sort of role play thing and, and experiencing being a character in my imagination. Or it was adventuring beyond the bottom of the garden that we had in the place we lived in. And going over the fence into there was a small area that was like no man's land. It was like between, a common, the area where people could walk their dogs and between our property.

00:20:49:16 - 00:21:14:17
Inconnu
But but I don't. There was a strip that didn't belong to anyone. And then there was a field where someone kept their horse, and that was like my secret place to hang out. And I built a den in the trees. But it was where I would explore. And even though it was a relatively small patch of land, it would put me into this sort of explorer mindset to to go play and hang out and catch butterflies or try and catch a frog or whatever.

00:21:14:18 - 00:21:46:01
Inconnu
I'm not to hurt them, but just because it was like a mission that I could give myself as a kid, or it was creating, rearranging my room or creating, like a massive cabin with blankets in my room and, and when I was really young, having all my teddy bears in there and having a picnic like. But just this when I look at my son, who's grown up in a world with smartphones, whereas smartphones came much later in, in my life.

00:21:46:03 - 00:22:16:06
Inconnu
In fact, when I was at university, I had one of those massive Nokia brick phones that was just in the glove compartment of my car in case of an emergency. But it wasn't like what we go around with today, right? And how much that is taking from the youth of today to just explore like I'm sure you did as a, as a creative spirit as well when you were a kid, because it's almost like no one gets bored any day, any anymore.

00:22:16:08 - 00:22:40:04
Inconnu
Because if you're waiting for some, if you're waiting for the bus or you're waiting for someone or you're traveling, you can easily get absorbed to what's on the phone rather than self, reflecting on something or doodling or having a conversation with the perfect stranger next to you. Yeah, I think I think that's the real a real shame.

00:22:40:06 - 00:23:10:07
Inconnu
And I've gone down the rabbit hole and forgotten what your question is. Now that's perfect. My question was about to understand your journey as, as you tapped into painting and creativity and the follow up question to that for me, just to discover how it was for you. So you started to paint, I guess, as a hobby, but was it something you ever thought could be a real job?

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:30:09
Inconnu
Yeah. Can you tell me about that? That's the name of. That's sort of mine. It was a it was a way to express myself, I guess it started. So I was drawn to it. My father was a graphic designer, and so I grew up in the office space where back in the day, it wasn't on a computer.

00:23:30:11 - 00:23:53:19
Inconnu
They were scalping and cutting things out, emerging it. And I was going into the photography room as well. It was it was the old school way of doing graphic design. Nothing like what you I mean, now we have applications like Canva that even make graphic design somewhat accessible to someone who doesn't know how to use Adobe's Creative Suite for example.

00:23:53:19 - 00:24:31:00
Inconnu
So you okay might not necessarily be the same quality all the time, but it makes that accessible. Whereas before you needed a scalpel and you would have to do all these layers. So I grew up in, I suppose, a creative environment, and I just had this innate need to express myself and for some reason, painting. Maybe it's because I like vibrant colors was the first outlet of a young adult that I connected with, and it started by just painting nudes, actually from my imagination in very bright colors, not lifelike colors in this apartment in Spain.

00:24:31:00 - 00:24:57:15
Inconnu
And then it started evolving. And then I started going into abstract by pouring paint, household paint onto flat canvases in grid like formations, using masking tape, and then ripping the masking tape off and letting the paint that I had poured ooze. So there was like the structure. Kind of an interesting analogy with this duality of worlds in a world that was the structure.

00:24:57:20 - 00:25:31:15
Inconnu
And then when you rip off that structure, there's that natural ooze that was coming from the paint. So it was I called that series Organized Chaos, but it was ways of me to express myself and even start to exploring certain topics. So like journaling through paint and drawing rather than writing per se. Writing came in later. But yeah, painting was the first way, as a young adult that I started to express myself, and it never started out as, oh, I'm going to become a professional artist.

00:25:31:17 - 00:25:56:13
Inconnu
It's just people started buying, buying my paintings. And I was thankful because one, it funded the materials and to after a certain point in time, you run out of space to store things as well. So it and it enabled the journey to continue that evolution, that exploration, without it costing me anything, without me needing to pay for a storage space just to store paintings that no one would ever see.

00:25:56:15 - 00:26:16:07
Inconnu
And then it evolved from there. But it was never an intention per se. I was just following a need and a joy, because it gave me a lot of pleasure to sing for you. Creativity was an act of rebellion on the mainstream you described before in some way. I don't think so, because the intention wasn't coming from there.

00:26:16:07 - 00:26:50:10
Inconnu
The intention was an internal intention, not not a if you world kind of intention and even even the kind of things I've explored through painting even today. So over, when did I start? I started in 2002. So over 20 years later, there's still not a rebellious, message or intention behind it. Even if I'm uncovering things through the process that makes me wonder about hang on, what's what's going on here?

00:26:50:10 - 00:27:16:10
Inconnu
And why can't the world be more peaceful, for example? But yeah, there's but I don't really have a mean bone in my body, so it may be that that part of me that isn't using it as a rebellious act, but I do feel like a rebellion, because when you don't fit into the mainstream, there's a you're going against the flow, you're actually going with the flow.

00:27:16:12 - 00:27:41:13
Inconnu
But because everyone else is going against it, it feels like you're going against the flow. But we're we'll get there together. Eventually. We'll find some common. Yeah, that's that's, definitely ask that question because it's it's sometimes really hard to be a creative when everybody else is doing something else. And it's hard sometimes to be understood and to see where you're going with that.

00:27:41:13 - 00:28:20:24
Inconnu
And there's also I think the, the social image about, how do you call it? It's like the, the dying artists. And I think it's really hard, the starving artist. And I think it's very hard in our, like, conception of what it means to be an artist. And that's also why we kind of like, cancel. It's almost like straight away at school when you when we were very young and I think in some way not like in a very hard way of rebellion, because I don't feel any sense of rebellion in myself neither.

00:28:21:01 - 00:28:52:13
Inconnu
But there is in some way, by trying to carve a different path for myself with creativity. And I think you and so that's very, very gently and beautifully. Thank you. And man, this question is now, I want to understand the transition between, okay, painting is a hobby that you've been doing to turning that into like somehow professionally and make it like something you can, like, make money of.

00:28:52:15 - 00:29:15:06
Inconnu
Something I should put down is the framework here is, as I have a very curious nature, I've always been fascinated by intersections. And so when I started developing painting as a hobby and I was getting all the benefits of the joy it would give me because it was a way to turn my brain off in a way.

00:29:15:08 - 00:29:41:12
Inconnu
I've, I've often been told I overthink quite a lot, and that's just the way my brain functions. And there are techniques that I've learned, such as meditation or moving meditation to help balance that. But I naturally think a lot about a lot of things. But what's fascinating in that are intersections where seemingly unconnected worlds or dots come together.

00:29:41:12 - 00:30:14:03
Inconnu
What does that create? And this is the and we're all creators. We're creators of our own lives, whether we realize it or not. And these intersections are my favorite spots to sculpt something that doesn't necessarily exist yet in that exact formula. And that's exactly what happens, in my life. So my career started in human resources, but I was painting as a hobby, and gradually that hobby became exhibitions in cafes and restaurants, in offices of companies.

00:30:14:03 - 00:30:46:21
Inconnu
I worked up to actual art fairs, galleries level. And at a certain point in my life, when I was at a down point, anyone listening to my first Ted Ted talk will know. I went through a post-natal depression after the birth of my son many, many years ago. He's 16 now, and in that dark space of feeling a bit lost, again, it's a stillness point where you have an opportunity to think and reflect.

00:30:46:23 - 00:31:06:11
Inconnu
And I had realized that I had to come far from the joy because I had all these new responsibilities in life as a as a parent and a full time job. And it was a space where I knew I had to that wasn't it. And I had to follow the joy and the joy being at the time painting.

00:31:06:14 - 00:31:41:18
Inconnu
But with that intersection point of view, perspective on it, how could I merge my past professional experiences with my hobby that was becoming a somewhat professional to some extent, and create something out of that that the world needs, which would enable me also not to be a starving artist. Bringing back your expression. And that's when I realized that not only is the process of creating soothing, it feels like time goes by and you don't realize it.

00:31:41:20 - 00:32:05:04
Inconnu
So there's an element of well-being. There's an element of communication to express something. And if you do that as a group of people together, there's an element of collaboration and a shared goal. And so my H had had a chat with my artist hat. And this is where collaborative art team building was born. And I didn't realize the power of it.

00:32:05:04 - 00:32:26:04
Inconnu
In the beginning, I was literally just connecting dots without understanding why it worked so well. And it took it took, you know, the first year there was a lot of iteration and experimentation to find the right formula. I think the first time I did it, it was 3.5 hours and companies wanting buildings that are much faster than that.

00:32:26:09 - 00:32:47:14
Inconnu
But I iterated the process and tweaked the process each time I did it with a client, to the point I even had IMD in those and say, yeah, we want you to do that for our client, but in in an hour. So I found a way that the client that connected to their objectives could actually do it in one hour.

00:32:47:16 - 00:33:10:06
Inconnu
The recommended time is two hours or 2.5 hours with a debrief. But depending on what each client is wanting to do it for. And so all these experiences, came together and it wasn't a failure in the beginning. It was just the learning. How can I make that better? How can I make that faster? How can I waste less time in the workshop itself?

00:33:10:06 - 00:33:40:20
Inconnu
By having certain things prepared upfront, for example? Or how can I get them to do more, get them extracting the answers rather than me or their leader pushing ideas onto them? And that visual process of growing something, especially in a symbolic language, gets people to think about something at its very core. So imagine a company, a new CEO has come in and they're changing the values the company values.

00:33:40:22 - 00:34:14:07
Inconnu
How do you make that shift in an organization that feels like pulling it from them, that you're co-creating it together rather than one person and their advisors saying, these are our new values, these are your new values. If you get them to envision it as a co-creative exercise, even though they said, okay, it's respect, sustainability and creativity, for example, get them to visualize what that means to them.

00:34:14:09 - 00:34:37:17
Inconnu
Not only are the leaders seeing how the organization perceives what those values mean to them, which is a nice temperature gauge in the process, you get people to buy in and internalize it because they've turned it into visuals that they've created. So although they didn't decide respect, even if that's a good one, obviously that should just be a default one for everybody on the planet.

00:34:37:18 - 00:35:09:20
Inconnu
Respect that. By by visualizing it and creating it together, it it feels like theirs. And then it hangs on the walls and it is reminded to them every day, and they want to see what the team did. The creativity piece did, and they can go and look at that, and they're admiring each other's work and and congratulating each other because they've done this thing they didn't think they could do because when they were seven, their teacher told them, you're crap at drawing.

00:35:09:22 - 00:35:48:20
Inconnu
And so there's a powerful element there, too, because when you get people to shift from doubt to pride, because they are amazed by what they've co-created together visually, at the end, that is transformational as well, because that applies back in the workplace. If we all work together to the shared goal, look what we can do. And if it seems too much of a mammoth task, if we break it down into small steps and we get the expertise we need from outside to guide us through those steps if we need it, look what we can do.

00:35:48:22 - 00:36:14:15
Inconnu
And because they do it in a shockingly short amount of time, again, all of those are analogies they can extract insights from. So although it is about the art because they have a long lasting reminder afterwards, it's it's more about the process and that when you debrief them on the process and the learnings that they learned, the painting will also remind them of those learnings, not just the message they've captured in it.

00:36:14:17 - 00:36:46:18
Inconnu
And I didn't realize it was that powerful in the beginning. It it revealed itself to me as I went along the way, and that was a way to turn my creativity and my love of intersections into something that later became a business in life. I still love what you said about intersections, because and I think it's a great transition to dive into, I think one of the most powerful piece of content that anybody can create online.

00:36:46:18 - 00:37:24:15
Inconnu
And I have actually a post coming today or tomorrow about the My Story video that they or a post that I think is a very powerful tool for any creators, entrepreneurs or anybody is creating content online to drive on their page and what you've said about intersection, for me is a great way to connect the dots. And I want to put myself into the shoes of somebody who is already starting to create content online or to be creative and want to share a bit more of who they are.

00:37:24:17 - 00:37:57:08
Inconnu
But first, how can that person trying to uncover her or his journey with intersection as you talked about, if you had to help somebody trying to uncover the story, how would you had them do that? Using intersections, for example, or something or something else? Do you mean how if they have a if they have a very diversified journey, how would you connect those dots?

00:37:57:08 - 00:38:22:22
Inconnu
Or do you mean how do you intentionally look for intersections where which angle are you? I think both, to be honest. First, I think it's about identifying those areas and then combining them together. It depends on the journey you are in. For example, I mean, to passionate person, maybe I just having a hard time like connecting the dots together and somebody is like feeling a bit more lost and just have no clarity on that.

00:38:22:24 - 00:38:42:07
Inconnu
Doesn't know where to start, and I, I know that you love introspection as much as I do. And that's your next book is going to be talking about that. So yeah. That's that start from from scratch and, and see how you can uncover your story from, from zero to almost like be clear on on who you are somehow.

00:38:42:07 - 00:39:09:14
Inconnu
Well, I'm a big fan of journaling. And journaling for me can involve drawing and text and asking myself questions and answer. Answering them not in a way that it's to show the world that it's purely, purely for my my own, purpose. Let's say. And something I've done at different stages of my life is almost like a timeline.

00:39:09:16 - 00:39:30:24
Inconnu
So take take the biggest piece of paper you can find, create. Find a quiet space where no one's going to bother you for a bit, and just focus on your journey and the different stages. And and sometimes I do sort of the more traumatic experiences on the left side of the timeline and the positive ones on the right.

00:39:31:01 - 00:39:52:24
Inconnu
I even do columns if I'm looking for certain commonalities and themes, like if you want a joy or creativity, or when you felt most alive, or when you felt most drained, like the columns on it you want so that as you go through your timeline, you can see what the patterns are. That would probably be where I start.

00:39:53:01 - 00:40:14:10
Inconnu
And then from there, when you sort of extract, what those key moments are, those key phases when you were eating really good and alive at different times in your life? What what do they all have in common? And maybe it's one thing in common, or maybe it's a palette of things like you're saying a multi passionate person such as myself.

00:40:14:12 - 00:40:42:14
Inconnu
There isn't one thing. And and that's challenging actually for people who are less multi passionate to, to grasp. I've even had a client tell me, in the past, they didn't understand how I was able to do multiple things. Well, let's just put it that way. So yeah, identify in your timeline those patterns, those commonalities or those intersections.

00:40:42:14 - 00:41:07:03
Inconnu
And then from there, how does that apply with what you're doing now? Where where are you right now. Are you in a is is what you're doing bringing you energy or is it taking it away. And then start to add more of what brings you energy, even if it doesn't mean changing career or changing job, but just by doing more of what gives you energy and letting go if possible.

00:41:07:03 - 00:41:28:18
Inconnu
Some of the things that are draining the energy or reducing them, that I think that's already a good place to start and journaling, because when you look back at where you were, if I read my journal from three years ago, I can see my own progress. I can, and also journaling helps me see the patterns over long time as well.

00:41:28:19 - 00:41:56:20
Inconnu
Then, in terms of turning that into a story, if you've got to promote yourself in a certain way, well, we are lucky to have, in today's world, so much technology such as AI. Whether that's ChatGPT perplexity, someone sent me a link to a tool that helps, for free rewrite your LinkedIn profile. I mean, you can already do that with GPT, but I think they particularly program this one with, with with rules of what works.

00:41:56:20 - 00:42:42:04
Inconnu
Well, and then it asks you questions. So then if you if you do that self-reflecting exercise and then feed that into tech saying what your voices. So it might be creative, authentic, playful. For example, I don't know it can write that and you can you can use tech to help you find yourself. Obviously it's not going to do the speaking on the podcast for you, but you can where at this intersection right now where we can leverage tech so that my marketing efforts are way more fluid now that I can spend more time with clients or reflecting or coming up the next concept than I would before, where I had to do put in

00:42:42:04 - 00:43:03:20
Inconnu
a lot of effort to to create content. I, I love what you you said here, and I would definitely recommend anybody listening to this episode to actively do what Steve just suggested, because I did my own version of that as well with, but similar approach. I'm not a huge fan of writing. I'm not to say another huge amount of writing.

00:43:03:20 - 00:43:24:01
Inconnu
It's just like I tend to struggle with having a journal and write into a journal because I didn't still find my my thing, but I, I hear that advice a lot, and I think it's a great one. And for me, I have to admit that content creation for me is also a bit of that is like forces me to think about my stories.

00:43:24:03 - 00:43:47:19
Inconnu
Be creative, reflect a lot and my adventures as well as like those combination. For me it works well. But definitely journaling is something I hear a lot. And I think, it's great to do. And, I have one more question about, the story aspect of things. I often hear a lot of people saying that they're story is in special.

00:43:47:21 - 00:44:16:20
Inconnu
And my question is like, how do you how do we or do you help them see the gold in their story and how with your expertise in storytelling and public speaking, how can they make that story, inspiring or unforgettable? So first question how do you get someone to see that that story is special? And then the second one is how do you sort of promote that online?

00:44:16:20 - 00:44:35:19
Inconnu
How do you get it out into the world? Yeah, more like a destructor or how to tell a good story based on your story. Okay. Well, let's start with the first one. I think if this is this is certainly not the core core of my work, but it's a really interesting question. How would you get someone to see that their story is special?

00:44:35:23 - 00:45:01:03
Inconnu
What? We are all special, and we have our own unique stories, and they are going to resonate with different people for different reasons, actually. And I think it was you that told me in terms of content creation to to create for the version of yourself from three years ago. And that's always stuck in my mind because when you start to specialize in something, you have the curse of knowledge.

00:45:01:03 - 00:45:22:17
Inconnu
You know, you don't actually realize how much you know about it doesn't mean you know everything, but you don't necessarily realize how much you know already. And when I get super passionate about a certain topic, I forget how how much I've integrated over a certain period of time about the topic, and that I need to bridge the gap for others who aren't there yet.

00:45:22:19 - 00:45:45:02
Inconnu
So that was a really interesting tip, but I would start by just listening to the person and what their story is and asking probing questions, just like you're doing today. On this podcast, to get a real feel of what this person's story is. And by asking certain questions, you can pull out. The parts that you're curious about already.

00:45:45:04 - 00:46:05:24
Inconnu
Because if you're curious about certain elements of it, there's going to be more people like you curious about those parts that you're pulling out of the person and then listen, obviously, but then reflect it back to that person in a certain way. And that could be if you want to use tech for that, you can use something like author and speak into it.

00:46:05:24 - 00:46:36:11
Inconnu
If you don't like writing, and then it will summarize it for you. And then you can then put that into ChatGPT and even say, what are the red dots here? Or what does this have in common with it? Or how would I go from here to here? I love playing with tech as well as just my own brain to find connections and so if you do that process, and there's not one way to do that with someone trying to figure out what their story is.

00:46:36:13 - 00:46:56:19
Inconnu
That's one way to do it. The other way to do it is if if, if there's a certain theme at a conference that they need to talk about, what does that mean to you and then reverse engineer it. So what do you want the audience to walk away with as the takeaway message from your story? And then you you construct it back in reverse.

00:46:56:21 - 00:47:27:20
Inconnu
And then in terms of the delivery, how to make that really strong. My favorite way of doing it is, is again, merging unlikely things together to reveal that story. So whether it be, challenging myself to connect whatever the topic is to another random topic, and it's almost like I set myself a playful challenge before going on the stage, whether it's Toastmasters or or a presentation, how can I?

00:47:28:01 - 00:47:52:00
Inconnu
It's like a party game in my mind. How can I connect this to this so that there's a surprising analogy and then it enables me to be creative without too much pressure because it the game and it will stick in people's mind. I have, for example, you weren't there for this one, but I, I gave a speech at Toastmasters this year.

00:47:52:01 - 00:48:25:13
Inconnu
I think it was about, a team effectiveness model. We use, in my consulting work with Kinetic Consulting, and I linked it to intimacy. So the same model that's used for team effectiveness, I connected, I used an analogy of a couple and how they communicate to have good intimacy in their relationship. And I just made that a challenge to connect these two completely different worlds, to make a very fun and quirky speech that showed people the team effectiveness model.

00:48:25:16 - 00:48:46:16
Inconnu
But linked it to the bedroom. So it was like, I played with boardroom and bedroom, even though it's not really boardroom, it's business. But and it went, it was a bit risque, let's say. But it's stuck in people's mind. So when you can deliver something in a surprising, creative, yet authentic way, I believe it will resonate.

00:48:46:16 - 00:49:15:21
Inconnu
It will stand out because so many people will talk about the same topics. But if you can do it differently, but it's you. I think that's the sweet Spot was a fantastic way to answer the two question at the same time, because what I took away from what you said is something I think is powerful, is like, either have, a trusted partner to reflect on your story, to to see the, the main, moments or themes of your story.

00:49:15:21 - 00:49:39:21
Inconnu
And if you don't have anybody, you can still use GPT two to do that. And I think it's it can be a great like partner to uncover that. And I also loved the way you explain how to build the story and going backwards from what people think is like. They think sometimes they have to say something, and then they hope that the audience get this.

00:49:39:21 - 00:50:02:18
Inconnu
But you said no. Try to understand your audience first and get backwards and then integrate your uniqueness, your story, with a different angle to touch the people. And I think that's exactly what you said in your last TEDx talk that I didn't see. That is not available yet, but I look forward to see because I've seen a picture of it.

00:50:02:20 - 00:50:27:18
Inconnu
It looks absolutely amazing. And that's how you brought and the to city in that. So I definitely recommend anybody who wants to to to find the that the good stuff in their story and how to express it just like to apply what Steph I just said it because I think it's really, really, really powerful. I have two more question for the, before to end, the podcast today.

00:50:27:20 - 00:50:58:23
Inconnu
The first one is if 16 year old Steph would see where you are right now, why would she say you should say you are everyone she speaks French, lives in Switzerland, is an artist, public speaker, facilitator. I think I would have had more confidence about myself at that age if I had known that, but it was all part of the journey.

00:50:59:04 - 00:51:31:00
Inconnu
Wow. What would 16 year old you say about where you are now? I'm curious. Now. I think you would say I'm proud of you. You would say that you had some hard times, that you turned into opportunities and you didn't lose yourself. And I think you would be not impressed by the achievement that I did in terms of experience, in terms of trials, in them, off of anything I had done.

00:51:31:04 - 00:51:54:07
Inconnu
But just like fascinated by the attitude that I try to to keep in front of challenges, but also the good moments and how I try to, I think what the most the thing that would impress him the most, I think would be that a bit kind of like what you said about intersection before is like how I, I am today.

00:51:54:07 - 00:52:23:02
Inconnu
Me 35 is the result of everything that happened before the bad, the ugly and the good, and I think it would be the most proud of this, that I took everything as an opportunity, looking backwards instead of cursed or things that would have brought me in different places. I think just like it would just have said that.

00:52:23:04 - 00:53:00:23
Inconnu
That's beautiful. I think your 16 year old, you was more advanced than the 16 year old me, because I think I would have seen the Facebook static moment of where I am, rather than necessarily. At that age, being curious about how in the, what on earth did she go through to get there? Which is what you've just answered, which is totally true and touching, but I'm not convinced my 16 year old version of me would have had the mindset to think about it from the angle.

00:53:01:00 - 00:53:24:00
Inconnu
It would have seen it like the tip of the iceberg, but potentially, I don't know. Well, I guess we'll never know. Never, never know. But I think you're right. Because of course, when we think about our younger version of ourselves, it's just like, and mature person with less resources that we have today. So definitely, probably not see exactly how I said it.

00:53:24:02 - 00:53:52:22
Inconnu
But probably that's also how I think I would have been inspired with, somebody like me now in front of that 16 years old. But yeah, of course, there's like an element of, and maturity and, and the biggest thing that you said, I think is confidence because, at this age, you are shaping your identity. We still do that at later stages.

00:53:52:22 - 00:54:16:21
Inconnu
But I think we just like that base ground that gives us confidence to experiment, try and and be ourselves. And I think seeing you for yourself and me for myself. The younger version of us, I mean, it would be that would give them confidence to just like, be and do stuff that they want to that we don't.

00:54:16:23 - 00:55:00:02
Inconnu
I didn't have at 16 for sure. So yeah, that was that was beautiful. Interesting. Then I had a really interesting chat with, a psychologist the other day. She was saying, all the work we do on ourselves as adults, I mean, obviously work can start at any time. All those things we unlock in ourselves. I was limiting beliefs, whatever the issues are, if we have kids, if we overcome those looks in our own personal work, it's like we're having a gift to, kids that they're less likely to need to do that particular work.

00:55:00:04 - 00:55:18:05
Inconnu
And I had never thought of it like that. And that was beautiful. So not only when we work on ourselves is it a gift to us. It's a gift to, kids. If we have kids I don't always see as a gift to the world because we become a more aligned version of ourselves and find our place in the world and how how we're going to contribute to it.

00:55:18:07 - 00:55:45:08
Inconnu
So it's a win win for everybody. So that's why. Yeah, I just wanted to add that on top of our 16 year old, vision of ourselves. Yeah. No, totally. I totally agree with that. And as I'm about to become a dad in a few months, at the moment I reflect a lot about the perspective. You know, because I grew up as a as a kid, as a son of my parents, and now I'm about to become a parent as well.

00:55:45:08 - 00:56:12:15
Inconnu
So the perspective is shifting. And there is, a guest on my podcast, I think 2 or 3 years ago who said that he was doing podcasting himself. And pursuing is, passion as a creative because it also wanted to be an example for his kids. And it stuck with me because that's exactly how I want to keep evolving.

00:56:12:15 - 00:56:38:22
Inconnu
Growing is like doing stuff that we talked about today is like things that bring you joy, your passions, your dreams. And I still want to be committed to doing that because that's how I will also inspired my kids to be themselves. And it really stuck with me. What he said about that. So yeah, was powerful to hear your perspective on that.

00:56:38:24 - 00:57:01:06
Inconnu
We are driving to the end of the podcast, and I don't want to take too much time, too much of your time. And I, I have one more question to ask. But before that, I want just to acknowledge you, Steph, for who you are, for what you're bringing to the world and how incredible your journey is to bring those intersections together to to be yourself authentically.

00:57:01:06 - 00:57:32:15
Inconnu
And I have witnessed you give speeches, because that's how we met. Is it in Toastmasters where we have a safe space to express ourselves and try new things and just speak in from an audience? And you're definitely one of the best speaker I ever, witnessed. I just want to say thank you for being so authentic and just to have given so much value today for people one, to start their creative journey and also tell more of this story.

00:57:32:17 - 00:58:04:12
Inconnu
Thank you. Christine. Where can people when where can people find more about you online if they want to follow more of your journey and what you do and and anything if they want to connect, where can they find you online? So there are three main platforms. My website, which is Steph fontaine.com, then Instagram. If you're more into seeing what I'm doing from an art or speaking point of view, Instagram would be the place to go and that's Steph Fontaine.

00:58:04:14 - 00:58:34:16
Inconnu
Steph Fontaine is my username. And if you want a little bit of everything but not necessarily go to my website and you're on LinkedIn. My username on LinkedIn is Stephanie Fontaine, I believe either Steph or Stephanie Fontaine on LinkedIn. And I don't overtime, but when I feel like I have something to say or share, I share. So I link everything in the National so people can, follow you and connect if they want to, with you.

00:58:34:18 - 00:59:02:01
Inconnu
One more question. Adventure. What does it mean to you? I'm going into the unknown, daring to go into the unknown and see. See what happens. See what you learn from it. That's adventure. It doesn't have to be something physically you, but it's going a bit like, I don't know if you ever watch Star Trek, but I think there's a slogan from Star Trek, Go Where no man has gone before, I guess.

00:59:02:01 - 00:59:23:07
Inconnu
No. Now we need to say go where no human has gone before. Well, go where they're being, has gone before. But yeah, that's adventure. Go where you haven't been before. Yeah. That's a great way to to end the show Steph, thank you very much. I really appreciate you. Likewise blaze. Absolute pleasure. Keep up the good work. Thank you very much.

00:59:23:10 - 00:59:26:19
Inconnu
All right everybody see you soon. Bye.