For years, I've been connecting with interesting people and documenting insights that might help my clients and myself. What was once private is now (mostly) public.

People often ask: "How do you know all these people?" and "How do you connect these (re: random) ideas?" The answer is simple: consistent relationship cultivation and thoughtful note taking. My north star is trusting my instincts, my maps are the constellations in these reflections.

This approach to multidisciplinary networking has helped dozens of clients, colleagues, and friends strengthen their networks and unlock new opportunities. Feel free to steal these ideas directly - that's what they're for! I can't promise you'll learn FROM me, but I guarantee you can learn something WITH me. Let's go. Count it off: 1-2-3-4!

Introducing... Allison Wolfe!

Do you know Allison Wolfe? She's the voice and energy behind Bratmobile, one of the most influential riot grrrl bands to emerge from the '90s Olympia, Washington scene - and she's been creating, teaching, and building community across multiple projects and cities for nearly three decades.

If not, allow me to introduce you. Allison didn't just help define a musical movement - she's lived the full arc of what it means to be a creative person building a real life while staying committed to your art. From touring long-distance with a band that barely had time to practice, to teaching at UCLA, to DJing, to writing liner notes that reveal the messy beauty of creative decisions made 30 years ago (she tells this story and corrects me in our conversation, it’s amazing).

I wanted to connect with her because she embodies something I value deeply: the refusal to choose between artistic integrity and real human connection - and the understanding that sometimes the most important work happens in small rooms with people you trust, not on the biggest stages.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Cultish Creative and Epsilon Theory YouTube channels. Listen and you'll hear two artists from opposite ends of the country discovering they've been building the same kind of communities in their respective DIY scenes - and what it actually looks like to keep showing up for that work as an adult.

THREE: That's The Magic Number of Lessons

In the meantime, I wanted to pull THREE KEY LESSONS from my time with Allison to share with you (and drop into my Personal Archive).

Read on and you'll find a quote with a lesson and a reflection you can Take to work with you, Bring home with you, and Leave behind with your legacy.

WORK: Creating Under Long Distance (And Throwing It Together Real Quick)

Key Concept: Bratmobile was born from constraints. Molly, Allison, and Erin were separated by distance - not exactly by choice, but by circumstance. That meant they couldn't rehearse endlessly. They couldn't perfect things the way a literally local band could. They had to throw something together in the limited time they had in shared spaces and then run with it. The DIY ethos wasn't a purity choice in this regard - it was a practical response to reality. And somehow, that constraint became their sound. The urgency built the identity. That's the flip side of the DIY story most people miss: sometimes the limitations force you to make something real faster than you ever would have otherwise.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: The ultimate gift of DIY is learning to accept you are going to figure it out, or not. It’s the Yoda thing in a perfect little nutshell, you “do or do not, there is no try.”

Sometimes when I sit to write I think about all of the time spent in basements working on songs or sets or whatevers with music friends. We were always working in the margins of the rest of life. We didn’t have any massive geographical constraints in the way Allison described Bratmobile’s situation, but we did have work schedules, and jobs with various time-off policies, and school, and life, and all that.

And when there’s no real money on the table, it forces a lot of issues down to the point of “how much do I need this (re: you people) in my life?” You are doing or you are not doing. If you are trying, you’re probably already not doing.

The pressures of co-creating for the sake of creating are savage. And when I sit down to write, and the biggest concern in the room is my dog on the couch behind me, who is only up here because the space heater blows in the direction of the futon and he agrees this is warm, I feel lucky to remember that as an adult, I am doing it myself, on my terms, which sure feels like what Allison has been working out on all of her projects in various ways for years. AND, no Jack (the dog), I don’t have a snack, or a new toy that makes weird tappity tap noises - it’s just a friggin’ keyboard, chill.

Work question for you: Where are you treating DIY values as identity rather than strategy? What would change if you let someone else handle the parts that drain your creative energy?

LIFE: Stand With Your Community, Even When It's Hard

Key Concept: Allison's mom was a women's health pioneer who faced death threats for providing abortions and testifying against rapists. She wore a bulletproof vest. She carried a Glock in a fanny pack. She didn't leave. She kept showing up. Allison carries that legacy but also names the real fear of this moment - she's scared in a way her mom seemed less willing to admit she was. The lesson isn't "be fearless like your mom." It's "make your stand where you can, acknowledge the cost, and don't pretend the fear isn't real." Real courage looks like continuing to show up even when you're terrified.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: I want to echo an idea from Mike Perry and Aaron Gwyn’s Just Press Record here - that not everything has to be politics. I want to point out, in what Allison’s saying when I got her started telling stories to Bri and I about her mom, that those stories had nothing to do with politics, so much as they had to do with people operating in their communities.

Now, police, and serving and protecting, and policy is the stuff politics are made of. I’m not romanticizing or philosophizing politics away, but to Mike and Aaron’s discussion in their Just Press Record, it’s all about A. who is going to help you when you need it, B. who are you going to help when they need it, and C. how/why. That’s a personal decisions. Politics need not be a part of it.

I’m with Allison in that I don’t want to get shot in the face right now (or ever, preferably). I also don’t have the skillset to be anywhere near as badass as her mom. I don’t even have the ability to sing about it and rile people up like Allison can do. But I know who the people are who I want to reach. I know who I want to help and how I want to be helped.

It’s by the people who put their neighbors above the politicians they’ll never actually meet, never actually help, and never actually be helped by. It’s hard to change the world, but it’s not that hard to show up in a positive way in your community. I’m struggling with this, as is everybody else I’m talking to about these issues, and I think we’re making it more complicated than it needs to be.

We’re already misfits. We’re not going to be president. So set some precedents in your community. Walk those streets. Day and night. Go where eagles dare.

Life question for you: Who are your alliances? Who do you show up with when things get hard? Are you being honest about what you can actually do right now?

LEGACY: Being Accessible Changes Everything

Key Concept: Allison intentionally makes herself available at shows. She hangs out. She's social. She's not aloof. And because of that - not despite the Bratmobile reunion or the UCLA teaching or any of the other legitimate things she's doing - people bring their kids to see her. People recognize her in crowds. She gets to experience the full circle moment of seeing her influences, feeling like a fan, while simultaneously being someone else's influence. That accessibility is a choice. It's not required. But it changes what you build over time. It turns a career into a legacy.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: In my (finance/business) day job, I love reminding people that you can’t talk about markets without talking about marketing because of exactly what Allison is saying here. Wherever there’s a crowd, there’s a crowd watching that crowd, and you can learn a lot by listening to what they’re saying to each other, and thinking about what those words will get them to do.

Allison has the story of stumbling onto Kathleen Hanna in a pre-Bikini Kill iteration, being absolutely fierce and electric on a mic, and realizing “Oh yeah, we can do that too.” Bri told her Spice Girls story, and Allison wondered - what if she'd been watching a girl group instead of Duran Duran at the same age? Would that have changed everything? Anything?

We are pushing 50 years from Avengers, 40 years from Bikini Kill, 30 years from Bratmobile, 20 years from Tigers Jaw, and of course there are parents and cool older people bringing curious younger people to shows these days. Who knows who is watching who? The older people. Even if it makes them feel a little odd or out of place, which is perfectly natural too, it counts.

You have to just do it. There is no try. And exposing young minds to opportunity and potential is the very thing that makes the future. So why not make it a better future? Why not expose them to ideas, and art, and expression so they have something to do with their feelings that’s not so exclusively politically framed, even if it does involve a sense of how to protest.

This is about growing up and never losing your sense of being a fan. If you’re still a fan, you’re never too big for your community. It’s a very, very important reminder right now.

Legacy question for you: Are you accessible? Who sees you as a model or influence that you're not even aware of?

BEFORE YOU GO: Be sure to…

• Connect with Allison Wolfe on Instagram (@realbabydonut), and all the other places (via her website)

• Check out the new Bratmobile reissue on Record Store Day - The Real Janelle EP with the Peel Session

• Listen to the full conversation with both Allison and Brianna on Just Press Record

• Take a moment to think about who you need to make space for in your creative community

You have a Personal Network and a Personal Archive just waiting for you to build them up stronger. Look at your work, look at your life, and look at your legacy - and then, start small in each category. Today it's one person and one reflection. Tomorrow? Who knows what connections you'll create.

Don't forget to click reply/click here and tell me who you're adding to your network and why! Plus, if you already have your own Personal Archive too, let me know, I'm creating a database.

Want more? Find my Personal Archive on CultishCreative.com, watch me build a better Personal Network on the Cultish Creative YouTube channel, and listen to Just Press Record on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and follow me on social media (LinkedIn and X) - now distributed by Epsilon Theory.

You can also check out my work as Managing Director at Sunpointe, as a host on top investment YouTube channel Excess Returns, and as Senior Editor at Perscient.

ps. AI helped me pull and organize quotes from the transcript, structure the three lessons, and sharpen the Key Concepts. If you're curious about how I use AI while keeping editorial control and my own voice intact, I wrote about my personal rules here: Did AI Do That: Personal Rules