Ep.02 The ONE Book Story with Logan Gray

 

In this episode, Kristen is hosting her very first guest on the ONE Program Podcast - Logan Gray. Logan is the incredibly talented graphic designer behind the ONE Book but is also a creative strategist and coach who loves to help others build the businesses of their dreams. They have been a designer and artist their whole life, and have enjoyed a wide range of creative careers - from photographer to tattoo artist, writer to web designer, and a few more in between. They love to explore the intersections of art, creativity, relationships & work. Their pronouns are they/them and they are a proud transmaculine human.

Kristen and Logan take a bit of time reflecting on how they came to meet and what the journey of creating the ONE Book looked (and felt) like. Take a moment to read their latest blog post to hear more about their side of the story too! Kristen and Logan dive deep into their journey of bringing the ONE Book to life and things get personal too.

Logan shares their story of how they became a hand-poke tattoo artist - a journey that began during the pandemic when they weren’t able to go to a previously scheduled tattoo appointment due to shutdowns. They obsessively researched how to do it, garnered the courage to try, and their (very loving and supportive) wife let Logan do their first tattoo on them. Logan tells the story how just this summer, they gave their Mom her very first tattoo (a humpback whale named “Bertha”). To Logan, giving yourself a tattoo is incredibly powerful and it has also become something special to share with loved ones. See their popular YouTube video on safer hand-poke tattooing here.

Logan candidly opens up about their personal life lessons from creativity. It’s been a theme in their entire life and helped them in the process of becoming the person they dreamed of becoming. Kristen and Logan discuss the roles that we’re given in life, the boxes we are put in and the expectations that we are pushed to live up to. Logan asked themselves, “how do you get out of one of the biggest boxes you can be put in in life?” …”Woman wasn’t right for me..” and they were inspired by others being masculine, even if it wasn’t the role they were given. This inspiration, coupled with people believing in them, the journey of self-discovery was made easier. Logan explains that they kept opening their minds to possibility, tapped into their creativity, and started making the changes and, “now that I’m on the other side - I think ‘of course you can do that”. The answer to “how?” is creativity. We let possibilities in when we tap into our creativity. Life brings you the tools. Give yourself permission to break out of the box. Creativity is empowering. We are all just playing roles and we can play passively or actively… choose what feels good for you and if the role you're in right now doesn’t feel good, start by imagining what could be different. This was such an incredibly powerful part of their conversation in this episode!

All in all, it was a heartfelt conversation, but perhaps Kristen’s favourite quote from Logan in this episode was this: “The pain of “what if” will be far greater than any failure.” Be sure to listen to the full episode to hear many more nuggets of wisdom and stay tuned, Logan will no doubt be back for more great discussions about business, leadership, creativity, and everything in between.