Dare to let ideas have a home - Melissa Castan

Daring Forever (Find your Extraordinary)

Melissa Castan, a Mexico City-born animator and community builder, shares her journey of embracing creativity through ADHD-driven curiosity

Key takeaways

• ADHD can fuel deep creative obsession rather than distraction.

Main topics

• ADHD as a creative superpower
• Finding emotional home for creativity

Notable quotes

"I've been wanting not to create a physical home for people that want to share their ideas, but as well as a person, embody somebody that can be a home for people to share their ideas."

Conclusion

Melissa Castan's journey exemplifies the essence of 'Daring Forever'—not through grand

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:09) I do agree. That's exactly what I unintentionally created. I've been wanting not to create a physical home for people that want to share their ideas, but as well as a person, embody somebody that can be a home for people to share their ideas, their path, and the stuff they feel most afraid of sharing or feeling that they don't belong. So I created in myself a space where I feel that my creativity belongs. And if I can create that feeling towards others, that makes me feel so fulfilled and that I have a path still in progress. Speaker 1 (0:53) Welcome to Daring Forever, a podcast about being human, wired for wonder, capable of courage, perpetually becoming. It's about the waves that look us under and the strange, stubborn grace with which we surface. My name is Rado Malinic. I'm an author, creative and an eternally curious human being on a mission to speak to incredible people whom I call Forever Daring Humans. Those in pursuit of an extraordinary life. Every week I share an interview that is packed with amazing stories, value, and I can only ask you, how will you dare forever? This podcast is inspired by my upcoming book titled Daring Forever, which is now available for pre-order out in October. Speaker 1 (1:42) My guest today once got lost in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter with no map and no phone, and yet she's come out with a life philosophy. Mel Castan is a Mexico City-born animator, illustrator, and a community builder who spent most of the last decade building a career and a home for others. In this conversation, we talk about growing up with retired army general grandfather turned into a spiritual seeker, her ADHD as a source of creative obsession, and many experiences that changed her path. We get behind the scenes information on her community building for fellow animators and her second space for creative well-being beyond networking. All point to one simple direction. Dare to let ideas have a home. It's my pleasure to share with you my conversation with Mel Kastan. Speaker 1 (2:30) Hello Mel, welcome to Daring Forever. How are you doing today? Speaker 2 (2:34) Very good, Ruthie. Thank you so much for inviting me to be here with you. Speaker 1 (2:38) Most welcome. It'll be exciting to talk to you because I've been following your journey for the last few years since I got to meet you and your journey is fascinating and I believe in my opinion you're one of the people who lives the Daring Forever life and Daring Forever doesn't always necessarily mean that you're doing something crazy or risky or silly. It's about pursuing the things that you otherwise regret never starting. So, For those who may not have heard of Mel Castan, who are you, what do you do, and how would you introduce yourself? Speaker 2 (3:04) This might sound a little bit chaotic, but I'm Mel. I am from Mexico City. I started my creative journey by working in advertising and starting advertising in Mexico City, working in several agencies, startup studios, different sectors that I just really wanted to explore. And after a few years, I ended up moving to Barcelona to study my master's in animation, motion graphics. By trying to figure out if I could maybe work in mapping, I just wanted to do something more experimental. So yeah, for now, I've been living nine years in Barcelona, figuring out different areas. I didn't end up working in mapping at the end. I did explore it. But my journey has taken me to different places. So it's been interesting. Before Speaker 1 (3:57) we rewind it back to Mexico City, what is the type of work that you do now? Speaker 2 (4:01) So right now I am a little bit of a jack of all trades. Yes. I work as an animator, an illustrator, a little bit of production, even production. So I have a full time job, but at the same time, some freelancers and some opportunities to work in different type of projects. that are quite interesting. So, yes. Speaker 1 (4:22) Would you say you're a bit of a specialist generalist, looking at all the interest of where it can take you? Speaker 2 (4:27) Yeah, I guess that this part of, and I wanted to mention this at some point, but this is part of ADHD people, that we really want to delve into different interests and we have so many things that we are curious about that we just can't leave them apart. So I have so many interests and so many little things that I really... love to just go into like super deep so yeah that made me a generalist i think yeah Speaker 1 (4:54) there's something about adhd i think i've seen the word that somebody used with adhd and they said it's an obsession like when you want to do something you're obsessed about it so relentlessly that you go after it and i think the more i think about all the previous guests and all the future guests we are really potentially 99 of us bound by this obsession about for what we want to do and how we want to do it Before we go to your work now, I really want to take you back to Mexico City because I was thinking about you as a guest on this show. And then I realized that a few weeks ago I interviewed Paulo Marincón, who is from Mexico City, lives in Madrid, had a similar story to yours, came to study and never left, stayed in Madrid ever since. And in your case, you went to Barcelona to study motion and never left. I want to know what you brought with you. What was your upbringing and the introduction to creativity? When did you realize that creative obsession is a thing? Speaker 2 (5:45) The creative obsession has been there since forever. I think since I was three years old. I've been a very avid drawer since I was really young. And that's actually something that I picked up lately. But I just knew that I was going to be in the creative field since I was like maybe eight years old. I just didn't know how. Almost honestly thought that I was going to enter proper art school because I really love to draw and illustrate. But I thought that maybe advertising would have different options for me, either in radio, TV, or I don't know. It just seemed exciting back then. And ended up exploring that side just to have a nice introduction to different worlds and different disciplines. Speaker 1 (6:31) Would you remember being surrounded when you Speaker 2 (6:33) were Speaker 1 (6:33) growing up? Because of the Mexico City is a vibrant place and your idea of exploring advertising must have come from something. How did you find your way to it? Because it doesn't seem always that straightforward because you either like consumerism, you like brands or you like creativity. What was your angle onto it? Speaker 2 (6:50) Can I be super honest? My grandma just found the school and she was like, maybe this is interesting for you. She took me there. My family, they have always pushed me to explore. different things. They always supported me when it comes to me being artistic or creative. So when she saw this, I think it was even in a magazine that she saw this university. And she was like, you should check this. It sounds interesting for you. Why don't we go? And as soon as I entered the school and I took, I don't know, a first introduction class for my career, I was like, yeah, this is it. Let's do it. Sounds fun. Speaker 1 (7:25) Do you remember the feeling? Do you remember like when you felt with that first introduction? Did you have that full body sensation going? Yeah. Thanks, grandma. You found me. Speaker 2 (7:33) Yeah. I think that's how we creatives have this intuition that is just there, right? It sounds fun. It seems like I would have a lot of options to explore and basically have fun in this while studying this. Speaker 1 (7:47) Tell me about a family push because your grandma must have known where your future might lie. Were you surrounded by creativity? Did you come from pragmatic, creative? What sort of background did you come from? Speaker 2 (7:58) This is hilarious. So I come from a military family, actually. So I was the first creative on my family. I broke the pattern and gave them a few headaches, of course, because they didn't know that me being a rebel or creative in the family was going to be easy. But yeah, my grandpa is a retired general. the army in Mexico City. He was in the army for 40 years. He retired exactly when I was born at 40. And then they started spiritual journey. So it was very interesting because I grew up with them trying to figure out what this spiritual journey, they just changed their lives completely. So the first few years of my life was me joining them to an ashram in Mexico, Saibaba, or maybe to the Tibet house to meditate or maybe to... hermetism classes or Dianetics even. They explored everything and I just joined them. So I observed not just the discipline of my grandpa, but as well, a lot of the spiritual base with them. So that's quite interesting. That Speaker 1 (9:06) is fascinating that you go retired army general going to meditate in the Buddhist temple. I mean, would you reckon that it happened at the right time? for them and for you that they've changed the course of their careers and their change of lives because they potentially have to start being open and absorbing to more different elements, right? Speaker 2 (9:24) Yeah, could be. I don't know if this is an astrology thing, but as a Pisces arriving to a family that is so square, all the family is changing and turning to spirituality. It's crazy. So all the family ended up in Reiki. Then we ended up studying Kabbalah. Still Kabbalists, all of us. So it's something that just ties us and keeps us together, like starting all this stuff. So we go quite deep into conversations about life in general. And I grew up with that depth. I love it. Speaker 1 (9:58) Do you remember any of your first creative pursuits? Do you remember exploring creativity? Was it physical? Was it more spiritual? How did it come about? Mostly before you entered the first advertising course, what was the dots that led you there? What was the steps? Speaker 2 (10:15) We'll be back after a quick break. Speaker 1 (10:18) This episode is brought to you by Lux Coffee Co., the first creative specialty coffee company building a platform to shine the light on emerging global talent with a mission to make a positive impact on the creative industry and beyond. Lux Coffee Co. offers exceptional coffee sourced from around the world through ethical and sustainable practices. And you can discover the current range of signature blends and single origins, coffee hardware and accessories, along with exceptional apparel at luxcoffee.co.uk. You can use the code PODCAST to get 15 % off your first order. Speaker 2 (11:05) I guess that the first really creative pursuit was for me to just go really deep into drawing or illustration. For me, it's a way of meditating, basically. So I think that there's a lot of beauty in the devotion you can have when you love to do something where your time just disappears. And it not only becomes work, but in my case, it became even a spiritual practice. Just go really deep into it. And actually, I was like, I don't need meditation. I just need to start drawing, start with charcoal, start with pencil, and just go really deep into the details. And that's when I find myself really in peace with the world, I think, on myself. Speaker 1 (11:48) I love it. It's absolutely fascinating. We can draw the line between a retired army general granddad who's been on a pursuit of spiritual journey, and then obviously it comes to you where to see illustration and to see creativity as meditative practice when time disappears. that's a gift. When you think of commercial creativity, it still can be meditative, it can be creative, it can be fun. But most of the time, if you don't look after yourself, you can allow yourself to be stressed by it because there's time, people, I don't know, money involved, constraints, all of that kind of happens and you're thinking, is this a meditative? But we'll get to that a little bit later because I think it gives me a better idea of what I know about you, what you do for community pursuits and from work. This is a really nice intro to what leads us to it. Let's go back to that advertising course when you walked in and you find yourself at home. What did you feel like to have the progress of taking your beautifully spiritual, meditative approach to creativity and then be faced with advertising, which, let's be honest, is not always that spiritual or soulful. Speaker 2 (12:47) No, it seems that it's exactly the opposite, right? It seems like this world that seems more materialistic is not really connected. But I guess that some people would just find their ways to actually... apply this creativity anywhere independently of what the outcome or where it's going to be shown. So I just found myself being really good at conceptualizing stuff. I was having a lot of fun and advertising showed me the path where I was thriving. So I started in university getting a