Welcome to the 28th edition of the Hive Community Spotlight series! Today, I'm delighted to feature another remarkable and amazing user. We have @alessandrawhite on the spotlight!

Who is @alessandrawhite

The dynamic and innovative @alessandrawhite, is a true leader in the creative community on Hive. Alessandra is the founder of the Creative Work Hour (CWH) live Zoom show and community, a platform that has supported creatives in their journeys by fostering a sense of togetherness and motivation. I first met her on PYPT, a nice show run by @shadowspub and from there she introduced the CWH to me and others. She's an amazing friend ❤️

Stay tuned to today's edition to learn a lot more about Alessandra...

Read below the interview Q/A for Alessandra White.

Tell us a bit about yourself - How you got to the Hive community, and what keeps you engaged?

I'm Alessandra White, founder of the long-running live Creative Work Hour live zoom show and community. I'm an avid learner, have a short little span of attention, and am highly discomforted when I don't understand something I want to know.

Funny story! On 1 January, 2022, my new year's resolution was to sort out the answer to this annoying conundrum, "what the hell is Blockchain, really?"

Yes, I could see its purpose in art provenance, real estate ownership & proof of titles, and to provide evidence that casts off any encumbrances to ethically-mined diamonds, for example.

But, the answer I was looking for went deeper and was one that answered it more personally, like, what can Blockchain technology offer me and those I lead in creative growth?"

Shaking in my Texas boots, I squinted my eyes and popped open my first Twitter Space, the live online audio show. It's like a call-in radio show. I called it, "You Know Blockchain? I Dare You to Help Me Understand It without Mansplaining!"

From my nervous side of the microphone, I posed the challenge to anyone who came by.

In the first hour, I had as my guest, Erik Newhard, a player/moderator of VulcanVerse which is built on Ethereum uses smart contracts to ensure good & fair player behaviour.

The top of the first hour came and went. Erik, as good a teacher as he is, bombed with helping me "get it." So I teed up second hour.

There was an Irishman named Jerry. So charming, but he had no emerald-isle luck clarifying blockchain for me. Then a Canadian copywriter named Dave came along. Again, a swing and a miss!

Then she appeared! The Hivian to be feared! @shadowspub explained the basics. In a relaxed economy of words, her trademark style, she told me she earned crypto by creating and posting her own original content. And that which she made and posted, she owned immutably. Her digital identity & assets were built block by block on a ledger witnessed by members who also contribute to the Hive blockchain.

It is fully decentralized blockchain technology, that is managed by real humans that comprise the Community. These are people she connects with again and again by the very nature that Hive.io is a social network breed of blockchain. Those who build the chain, secure the chain and have no need or desire for outside investors. The folk who build it, own it together as a Community.

Mind blown! A community-driven social network with no CEO to throw their weight around? And it sits awaiting my creative work?? I was gobsmacked!

I thanked Shadows for answering my question. But I had another. "Shadows, can we do this again next week?"

And so we did. The show became known as #HiveSpace, we added another co-host, @epodcaster and together we recorded somewhere near 100 shows, which are available on X.com. In collaboration with the Creative Work Hour community on Hive, we were proud sponsors of HiveFest 2023.

You're an international speaker and have participated in events like HiveFest and BuzzParty. What inspires your passion for public speaking and what are the experiences like?

I’m laughing, as I barely qualify for that description, Madilyn! Besides speaking in the US, I've only spoken in three places. I presented at the Inchbald School of Design, London, UK. I both spoke and ran a workshop at HiveFest in Rosarito, Mexico last September. In April this year, I shared at @buzzparty #Hamburg, the medium-sized weekend event led by @tibfox.

Public speaking is one of those interests that run hot & cold for me. It's scares me, but I feel compelled to try. I think part of what I like about it is that it runs similar to my playing clarinet on stage. What I am still working on is to find a hack to more easily help me create the visuals to clearly support the material and satisfy those listening. One would think it’d come easier being that I’m a designer. But, nope! I slog through like most everyone else.

And when I say, “it scares me,” I ain't kiddin’! To carry out the task, I take an additional beta blocker to calm my baseline level of anxiety. I also induce self-hypnosis with a script I've specially created to mitigate stage fright. In addition, I wear an ApolloNeuro, an anti-anxiety wearable device. Yup…I crank that thing up to 11, LOL!

There is something so primal about facing a fear. It's not something you need to do everyday. But you can do it for something that matters to you, right? It's that I feel compelled to give a voice to events and experiences from the stage that I can tell in a way nobody else can.
There's no better feeling in the world like knowing when it's time to drop the mic!

You founded Creative Work Hour. Can you share the concept behind it and how it supports creatives?

Just to give a time stamp of when we got started, it was during the throws of CoVid when many things we thought were a given, failed. Habits that were reliable, staggered. We slept too much or not enough. and we similarly ate too much or too little. Some of us gained weight, lost hair and reevaluated the need to get dressed and how to spend our time.

We looked at our old, dusty goals with a new & unique perspective since we were not as focused of what others thought of us or what we were doing. Some of us looked for online courses to solve favorite problems like, “what do I need to finish the book I've been writing or wanting to write?,” I could get back to learning the guitar if only I could find someone online to help me, or if only I could learn to increase my productivity and output with a custom digital system to organize my life, then I'd finally get on with the things that I feel are important that I create.”

With these courses there was enrolling, onboarding, and getting the hang of zoom sessions for cohort-based online learning modality. But with each one after a few days, I began to experience a downward slope of confidence. The classes weren't helping, in fact, it became distressing to participate. I was no star student, although I was sure that is what I wanted.

I made a few friends of the people with whom I sat in on those many zoom rooms, but I didn't have the energy to keep up with the homework, or the supplemental videos. You'd think if it were that important to me, and that if I paid good money for a course, I'd give it my best. The truth is that I simply could not.

But there was one thing I could do everyday—

I could show up.

And so I did. I became very good at showing up despite my dismal progress. On good days, I participated, but it felt risky somehow. Interestingly, after I spoke, I'd find DMs from course-mates, that they could relate to what I shared and they’d leave kind words.

It was those same kind people whom I invited to a community called, Creative Work Hour. CWH is the anecdote to the pay-a-lot for another online productivity course trend. It’s not a shiny object, but rather an authentic experience with people that are there to cheer you on. No cliques. Just creative experiences.

CWH is designed for both the creative and the practical endeavors. At last count, our community, which is also one on Hive, has met now for more than 1,300 live sessions.

As a performance and creativity coach, what methods do you use to help others unlock their potential during the CWH live sessions?

The ability to show genuine interest in another person's work is paramount to the Creative Work Hour milieu. I joke around with the crew, I tell them, “no one here will need to urge you to come to CWH, because when it comes to what you're working on creatively, your family doesn't care and your friends are sick of hearing about it. So, here we are!” Now, I realize this reads as gawd-awful copy, but in live sessions it kills every time… it's funny because it’strue!

Here's how each session works. We have a 30-minute gather around the water cooler hang out. We have Hivians join in just for that. It gives me a chance to read the room as people show up.

Then, at the top of the Creative Work Hour, we check-in very quickly popcorn style by picking someone to have a go after you've given your intention for the session. This is how we spend the first five minutes.

In the second five minutes, I set the tone and guide a brief breathing exercise to enhance creative flow. I bring this to a close by the sounding of one of our two bells. One is a Balinese bell that is highly clarifying, the other is a Napali pair of Ting Sha cymbals joined together by a fine thin leather strap. The pair sound rings of resonance from where one strikes the other. Tasia is one of the crew and she's a professional percussionist. She tutored me on how to properly play them. Hearing the bell notes that it is time to slip right into flow and focus.

For each day’s sesh I play selections of music that create a soundscape conducive to flow, but that is not soporific or distracting. This is the backdrop for the heads down work and fills most of the hour.

Then, at five minutes to the top of the hour, I whisper a “welcome back” and like in the beginning we take turns reporting our honest outcomes of the work hour. Sometimes we may only move the needle, sometimes we do the thing, and sometimes we squirrel and not do the thing at all!

By request, we offer a bonus second hour after a tiny break to stretch, refill coffee and water cups. During these few minutes we play something from the classic rock genre. Some of us have even been known to have a tiny dancer party with the camera on!

There may be several moving parts, but its that we support each other’s work, that makes us a creative family of sorts. We trust each other and treat each other with the same respect no matter what we guess may be ones status of wealth, talent, or outcomes. We can do this without the need to know anything about each other’s personal life. It allows for a priceless creative freedom, and for some, for the very first time.

What advice would you give to new users joining the Hive platform, and how can they get involved in the community?

Nurture your beginner’s mind. Even if you already have web 3 experience, Hive is the human-experience unicorn of web 3.

See if you can pick up on the vibe of Hive. We really are a world-wide community of scrappy adopters, independent thinkers, that are generally quite good listeners that can entertain other points of view.

As for advice for new Hivians, firstly, make it a point to attend a weekly audio show, the longest established on Hive, called Pimp Your Post Thursday. It meets on the Dreemport Discord server https://discord.gg/DhzYVVZaqM, every Thursday at 12pm EDT | 4pm UTC. On the street we call it #pypt and it’s a live curation show hosted by my favorite of all Hivians, @shadowspub. In turn, we introduce posts & offer a teaser to entice the attendees to go read, vote, and comment. It's wonder energy and there's a chance to get a recommendation or ask a question pertaining to Hive.io.

Secondly, be intentional about your mindset to learn Hive. Allow yourself to scratch your head and keep note of questions or sticking points. Explore and see what things do. Whenever your efforts get blocked, it might be something you’ve missed or it could be that something may be sidelined. So check with friends, “hey, is anything up with (insert the finicky d’App)?” Hint: for most Hive d’Apps, there is a Discord server, so polk around the profile and join their Discord. There’ll be a help channel there.

Thirdly, no lone rangering! My friend @starkerz has a gift for saying things with sparkling clarity. He told me last summer before #hivefest 8, “Hive is a social blockchain. It is about people authentically interacting on the platform to create human connections.” So don't go it alone. Learn socially. Be yourself. Keep it real.

Lastly, tag #cwh on Hive and come by https://CreativeWorkHour.com to learn more about our live daily sessions. Our mission is clear. It's about authenticity, learning to trust the creative process, and taking proper note of breakthroughs together. 🎈

Hive community Creative Work Hour or CWH is on daily at 10am EDT | 4pm UTC at https://pwl.to/cwh (mics & cameras optional).

Alessandra’s on https://x.com/AlessandraWhite and https://x.com/CreativeWorkHr.

Community Impact and Projects

@alessandrawhite's contributions to Hive and the broader creative community are vast and meaningful. Here are some of the key projects and initiatives she has spearheaded or been a part of:

Creative Work Hour (CWH)

• Founded: 2020
• Platform: Zoom
• Objective: To foster a supportive and collaborative environment for creatives, helping them stay motivated and productive in their work.
• Impact: Over 1,300 live sessions held, bringing together creatives from across the globe to share, create, and grow together. CWH is not just a productivity session; it’s a community where members find encouragement and accountability.

HiveSpace Show

• Platform: Twitter Spaces
• Co-hosts: @shadowspub and @epodcaster
• Objective: To demystify blockchain technology and discuss its potential with a focus on community-building and personal empowerment.
• Impact: With nearly 100 shows recorded, #HiveSpace has been a valuable resource for those looking to understand Hive and blockchain more deeply. The show has created a bridge for newcomers and veterans alike, fostering a deeper understanding of what makes Hive unique.

Thank you so much Alessandra for you nice contributions to dear community. I'm so happy to have you in the spotlight today. We look forward to seeing how the Creative Work Hour continues to evolve and support creatives around the globe 🌺

Special thanks to:

@thekittygirl
@wesphilbin
@snook

For their valuable support. See you all in the next edition 🤗

View Previous interviews here 👇