You can come for a really sick lineup and know that you’re getting some feminism mixed in there.
Being a woman in the music scene is very different from being a man in the music scene. Playing classical violin is very different that playing rock violin. And Anna Bulbrook knows a lot about these differences.
Anna has been the violinist for Airborne Toxic Event and Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros. She grew up playing the violin classically, but everything changed after college when she realized that she loved to play her instrument in a less traditional venue.
Years later, after touring with some great bands, she found a new passion: creating space for women in the world of rock and music festivals. Her new venture GirlSchool, is just that: a music festival by, for, and in support of women. Listen into this awesome episode as she talks about the life of a career musician, what it’s like being the only female in the band, and the moment that lit the spark for her latest project.
In the process of letting that classical violinist go, I was free to be open to what it would look like for violin to be valuable in other ways.
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/anna-bulbrook” title=”How To Transition To A New Creative Career” artist=”Anna Bulbrook” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/125_AnnaBulbrock_NIONradio-1.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- What it’s like being a rock violinist [3:45]
- Her band Airborne Toxic Event [5:00]
- When she played with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros [6:55]
- What it’s like being a woman in the rock music scene [8:20]
- Why she started GirlSchool [9:50]
- Who they’ve had at the festival [12:15]
- The festival is inclusive [13:20]
- When she started playing violin [14:30]
- What is screamo music [16:45]
- It all changed when she played violin behind Kanye West [21:00]
- How playing amplified music is different [23:40]
- How she grew into her role as a rock violinist [27:15]
- How she learned the creative process in the rock world [28:30]
- Learning to fail upwards [32:50]
- The challenges of starting Girls School [34:45]
- How Anna deals with uncertainty [38:30]
- The importance of personal development work [43:35]
- How she built a routine [46:15]
- Anna’s vision for GirlSchool [48:20]
- What issues she cares about [50:40]
- The power of salad [51:15]
- Anna’s advice for women [52:45]
- What it takes to be a kind loving person [55:10]
- What she is learning from different kinds of creativity [57:00]
Links mentioned:
- Learn more about GirlSchool
- Check out the Airborne Toxic Event and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Listen to the Harvard Business Review Ideacast
- Music Credit: Come Unwound by The Bulls
LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE
CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION
You can come for a really sick lineup and know that you’re getting some feminism mixed in there.
Being a woman in the music scene is very different from being a man in the music scene. Playing classical violin is very different that playing rock violin. And Anna Bulbrook knows a lot about these differences.
Anna has been the violinist for Airborne Toxic Event and Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros. She grew up playing the violin classically, but everything changed after college when she realized that she loved to play her instrument in a less traditional venue.
Years later, after touring with some great bands, she found a new passion: creating space for women in the world of rock and music festivals. Her new venture GirlSchool, is just that: a music festival by, for, and in support of women. Listen into this awesome episode as she talks about the life of a career musician, what it’s like being the only female in the band, and the moment that lit the spark for her latest project.
In the process of letting that classical violinist go, I was free to be open to what it would look like for violin to be valuable in other ways.
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/anna-bulbrook” title=”How To Transition To A New Creative Career” artist=”Anna Bulbrook” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/125_AnnaBulbrock_NIONradio-1.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- What it’s like being a rock violinist [3:45]
- Her band Airborne Toxic Event [5:00]
- When she played with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros [6:55]
- What it’s like being a woman in the rock music scene [8:20]
- Why she started GirlSchool [9:50]
- Who they’ve had at the festival [12:15]
- The festival is inclusive [13:20]
- When she started playing violin [14:30]
- What is screamo music [16:45]
- It all changed when she played violin behind Kanye West [21:00]
- How playing amplified music is different [23:40]
- How she grew into her role as a rock violinist [27:15]
- How she learned the creative process in the rock world [28:30]
- Learning to fail upwards [32:50]
- The challenges of starting Girls School [34:45]
- How Anna deals with uncertainty [38:30]
- The importance of personal development work [43:35]
- How she built a routine [46:15]
- Anna’s vision for GirlSchool [48:20]
- What issues she cares about [50:40]
- The power of salad [51:15]
- Anna’s advice for women [52:45]
- What it takes to be a kind loving person [55:10]
- What she is learning from different kinds of creativity [57:00]
Links mentioned:
- Learn more about GirlSchool
- Check out the Airborne Toxic Event and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Listen to the Harvard Business Review Ideacast
- Music Credit: Come Unwound by The Bulls
7/12/17
125: Anna Bulbrook – How To Transition To A New Creative Career
infuse your vision with a fresh breath of creativity and vitality
BOOK A BRAND PHOTOSHOOT
GET THE DETAILS
GET THE DETAILS
infuse your vision with a fresh breath of creativity and vitality
PODCAST
BRAND INTELLIGENCE
CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE
LIFE INTELLIGENCE
masterfully aligning perception and reality through personal branding
masterfully aligning perception and reality through personal branding
You can come for a really sick lineup and know that you’re getting some feminism mixed in there.
Being a woman in the music scene is very different from being a man in the music scene. Playing classical violin is very different that playing rock violin. And Anna Bulbrook knows a lot about these differences.
Anna has been the violinist for Airborne Toxic Event and Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros. She grew up playing the violin classically, but everything changed after college when she realized that she loved to play her instrument in a less traditional venue.
Years later, after touring with some great bands, she found a new passion: creating space for women in the world of rock and music festivals. Her new venture GirlSchool, is just that: a music festival by, for, and in support of women. Listen into this awesome episode as she talks about the life of a career musician, what it’s like being the only female in the band, and the moment that lit the spark for her latest project.
In the process of letting that classical violinist go, I was free to be open to what it would look like for violin to be valuable in other ways.
[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/anna-bulbrook” title=”How To Transition To A New Creative Career” artist=”Anna Bulbrook” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/125_AnnaBulbrock_NIONradio-1.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]
Some things we learn in this podcast:
- What it’s like being a rock violinist [3:45]
- Her band Airborne Toxic Event [5:00]
- When she played with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros [6:55]
- What it’s like being a woman in the rock music scene [8:20]
- Why she started GirlSchool [9:50]
- Who they’ve had at the festival [12:15]
- The festival is inclusive [13:20]
- When she started playing violin [14:30]
- What is screamo music [16:45]
- It all changed when she played violin behind Kanye West [21:00]
- How playing amplified music is different [23:40]
- How she grew into her role as a rock violinist [27:15]
- How she learned the creative process in the rock world [28:30]
- Learning to fail upwards [32:50]
- The challenges of starting Girls School [34:45]
- How Anna deals with uncertainty [38:30]
- The importance of personal development work [43:35]
- How she built a routine [46:15]
- Anna’s vision for GirlSchool [48:20]
- What issues she cares about [50:40]
- The power of salad [51:15]
- Anna’s advice for women [52:45]
- What it takes to be a kind loving person [55:10]
- What she is learning from different kinds of creativity [57:00]
Links mentioned:
- Learn more about GirlSchool
- Check out the Airborne Toxic Event and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Listen to the Harvard Business Review Ideacast
- Music Credit: Come Unwound by The Bulls
7/12/17
125: Anna Bulbrook – How To Transition To A New Creative Career
When you need a trusted creative partner in the room.
Take the Fit Check
Be seen at the level you’re stepping into.
Hey! I'm Nick.
PHOTOGRAPHER
BRAND ALCHEMIST
TEACHER
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia.
Build authority from the inside out.
Emanate is a creative-direction-led photography experience for entrepreneurs, speakers, and thought leaders in a moment of expansion. This isn’t about better photos. It’s about aligning how you’re seen with who you’ve become. For seasons of rebrand, visibility, and next-level leadership.
Magnetic Authority is a self-guided container for people who feel visible, but not fully anchored.
If your message keeps shifting, your brand feels inconsistent, or your presence doesn’t match your capability yet. This is where you build the foundation before you scale.
Take the Fit Check
Start Here
For founders, creatives, and leaders who want a trusted long-term partner. This isn’t coaching or traditional consulting.
It’s an ongoing creative partnership focused on bringing your personal brand identity to life.
Your brand. Your website. Your visuals.
All shaped as a direct extension of who you are. The work also includes a bespoke process of identifying and aligning the right experts when needed, so nothing gets built out of sync with your core.
Explore the Partnership
Quiet. Precise. Highly Selective.
NEXT post
PREVIOUS post
read the latest
I spent 20 years photographing personal brands. I watched brilliant people stay invisible because they skipped the layers nobody talks about. So I built the Brand Intelligence Engine to fix it. Here’s the full story.
Your AI content sounds generic because the AI doesn’t know who you are. It’s not a tool problem. It’s an input problem. Without your identity, voice, and brand intelligence loaded, every AI produces the same bland output. Here’s how to fix it.
Creativity as intelligence is the idea that creative work isn’t about expressing who you already are. It’s about constructing who you’re becoming. Most people treat creativity as output. It’s actually architecture. Here’s why that changes everything.
The personal brand identity gap is the distance between your expertise and your visibility. When who you are doesn’t match how you’re seen online, it’s not a marketing problem. It’s a coherence problem. Here’s how to close it.
Most personal brands skip visual translation entirely. They jump from identity straight to content. But brand identity before website, before content, before the sales page is the order that actually works. Here’s the layer you’re missing.
Most personal brand strategy frameworks skip the foundation. Brand intelligence is built in four layers: Identity, Visual Translation, Content, and Business. Here’s why starting at layer three is the reason your brand feels off.
Your personal brand feels off but you can’t explain why. It’s not your logo or colors. It’s a coherence problem, a structural gap between who you are and how you’re seen. Here’s what to do.
Authority isn’t binary. You’re not either an authority or not an authority. Authority exists in levels, stages, and progressions. Each level has distinct characteristics, distinct positioning, distinct challenges, and distinct requirements for advancement. Most people get stuck at Level One. They’re visible, active, creating content, showing up regularly. But they’re not building actual authority. They’re […]
You had the insight. The breakthrough moment, the realization, the epiphany, the profound understanding. Deep knowing about who you are, what you offer, and how you’re different. Life-changing clarity about your positioning, your value, and your authority. Then what changed? Actually changed? Behaviorally, practically, visibly? In how you show up, how you speak, how you […]
You are established. Actually established. Years in business, real results created, genuine expertise developed, actual clients served, tangible transformations delivered, proven value demonstrated. You’ve built real authority through real work over real time with real outcomes. But you don’t look established. Your brand doesn’t show it, your presence doesn’t reflect it, your positioning doesn’t communicate […]
Connor Beaton leads men into their shadows. Not the surface-level masculinity work. Not the “alpha male” performance. Not the toxic patterns disguised as strength. Shadow work. Carl Jung. Integration. The parts men hide. The parts they fear. The parts that control them when unexamined. His brand needed to reflect that depth. That willingness to look […]
You keep rebuilding. New brand, new colors, new photos, new messaging, new positioning, new website, new everything. Every six months, every year, every time it feels wrong and stops working. Hoping this time fixes it, this time solves it, this time creates the authority and positioning you need. It doesn’t. It never does. Because you’re […]
You know things. Real things. Earned through years of experience. Patterns most people miss. Insights that could transform how your audience operates. But nobody knows you know them. You’re the hidden expert. Competent. Skilled. Valuable. Invisible. The shift from hidden expert to recognized authority doesn’t start where most people think. Not with better marketing. Not […]
About the Blogger
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here.
