Today’s post is an interview with Rukmini Poddar, a visual designer and illustrator. She’s based in New York City and also works as a designer for The Bhakti Center. I met Rukmini through Jay Shetty, a mutual friend of ours and was particularly inspired with her Enneagram illustrations. For those of you who don’t know, the Enneagram is a personality typing system that consists of nine different types. Everyone is considered to be one single type, although one can have traits belonging to other ones. Check out the interview below.
Where are you based?
New York City
What is your creative zone of genius?
I would hope to think that it lies in the intersection of creative illustration and healthy self awareness.
What is the story of this particular project?
The seed for this project, 100 days of Illustrating the Enneagram, was planted in my heart a few years ago. It started in 2016 when I decided to dedicate 100 days of my life to illustrating the murky, unclear and often obscure emotions I feel in my life. That is when I started to become endlessly fascinated with understanding human emotion and different personality frameworks.
Not too long after, a friend told me that I was drawing Enneagram types without even knowing it. I didn’t know what that meant.
I soon found out that the Enneagram is an incredibly nuanced and specific personality typing system. It’s a powerful tool for understanding the human psyche and ultimately for self growth and transformation.
Unlike most personality typing systems, it focuses on motivation rather than behavior.
Last year I dived into head first into the world of Enneagram when I took 2 intensive Enneagram workshops entitled Excavating Your Ego, hosted by Upbuild. As I was taking these workshops I immediately dreamt of the day that I could help share this knowledge through illustration. I found that visual guides could make the enneagram so much more accessible and understandable to people.
It’s a tool that I found to be so helpful in understanding myself better and for creating stronger sense of empathy in understanding the sufferings and joys of others.
What was your inspiration for creating this?
I find illustration such a powerful way to share knowledge with others. The Enneagram has proven to be so helpful in understanding myself and others better, that I wanted to find a visual language where I could make it more accessible and easily understood to people.
What did your creative process look like in making this project?
My creative process is done daily. It’s as consistent as possible. It’s forgiving (none of my images are perfect), and it involves minimal tools (sketchbook and $20 paint set). Basically, my creative process involves me to sit down and draw an illustration every day and to trust that in consistency and persistence, all things come. I do not wait for inspiration. In fact, inspiration is barely part of the picture. I have to create so rapidly and quickly that I have no time to bother with inspiration. And I find that so freeing. Because the moment I don’t use inspiration as a crutch, I begin to realize that it’s been next to me all along.
How can people help you get involved?
Right now I’m just encouraging everyone to engage with this material. Check out my different enneagram types on my instagram account and see what resonates with you. Learn more on the enneagram if you’re interested and follow me for more daily drawings.
Where can people follow you or see more of your work?
You can follow me on instagram and see my daily updates: @rockinruksi and you can also check out my other side project, Dear Ruksi: www.dearruksi.com
LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE
CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION
Today’s post is an interview with Rukmini Poddar, a visual designer and illustrator. She’s based in New York City and also works as a designer for The Bhakti Center. I met Rukmini through Jay Shetty, a mutual friend of ours and was particularly inspired with her Enneagram illustrations. For those of you who don’t know, the Enneagram is a personality typing system that consists of nine different types. Everyone is considered to be one single type, although one can have traits belonging to other ones. Check out the interview below.
Where are you based?
New York City
What is your creative zone of genius?
I would hope to think that it lies in the intersection of creative illustration and healthy self awareness.
What is the story of this particular project?
The seed for this project, 100 days of Illustrating the Enneagram, was planted in my heart a few years ago. It started in 2016 when I decided to dedicate 100 days of my life to illustrating the murky, unclear and often obscure emotions I feel in my life. That is when I started to become endlessly fascinated with understanding human emotion and different personality frameworks.
Not too long after, a friend told me that I was drawing Enneagram types without even knowing it. I didn’t know what that meant.
I soon found out that the Enneagram is an incredibly nuanced and specific personality typing system. It’s a powerful tool for understanding the human psyche and ultimately for self growth and transformation.
Unlike most personality typing systems, it focuses on motivation rather than behavior.
Last year I dived into head first into the world of Enneagram when I took 2 intensive Enneagram workshops entitled Excavating Your Ego, hosted by Upbuild. As I was taking these workshops I immediately dreamt of the day that I could help share this knowledge through illustration. I found that visual guides could make the enneagram so much more accessible and understandable to people.
It’s a tool that I found to be so helpful in understanding myself better and for creating stronger sense of empathy in understanding the sufferings and joys of others.
What was your inspiration for creating this?
I find illustration such a powerful way to share knowledge with others. The Enneagram has proven to be so helpful in understanding myself and others better, that I wanted to find a visual language where I could make it more accessible and easily understood to people.
What did your creative process look like in making this project?
My creative process is done daily. It’s as consistent as possible. It’s forgiving (none of my images are perfect), and it involves minimal tools (sketchbook and $20 paint set). Basically, my creative process involves me to sit down and draw an illustration every day and to trust that in consistency and persistence, all things come. I do not wait for inspiration. In fact, inspiration is barely part of the picture. I have to create so rapidly and quickly that I have no time to bother with inspiration. And I find that so freeing. Because the moment I don’t use inspiration as a crutch, I begin to realize that it’s been next to me all along.
How can people help you get involved?
Right now I’m just encouraging everyone to engage with this material. Check out my different enneagram types on my instagram account and see what resonates with you. Learn more on the enneagram if you’re interested and follow me for more daily drawings.
Where can people follow you or see more of your work?
You can follow me on instagram and see my daily updates: @rockinruksi and you can also check out my other side project, Dear Ruksi: www.dearruksi.com
6/14/18
Community Feature: Rukmini Poddar
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
Today’s post is an interview with Rukmini Poddar, a visual designer and illustrator. She’s based in New York City and also works as a designer for The Bhakti Center. I met Rukmini through Jay Shetty, a mutual friend of ours and was particularly inspired with her Enneagram illustrations. For those of you who don’t know, the Enneagram is a personality typing system that consists of nine different types. Everyone is considered to be one single type, although one can have traits belonging to other ones. Check out the interview below.
Where are you based?
New York City
What is your creative zone of genius?
I would hope to think that it lies in the intersection of creative illustration and healthy self awareness.
What is the story of this particular project?
The seed for this project, 100 days of Illustrating the Enneagram, was planted in my heart a few years ago. It started in 2016 when I decided to dedicate 100 days of my life to illustrating the murky, unclear and often obscure emotions I feel in my life. That is when I started to become endlessly fascinated with understanding human emotion and different personality frameworks.
Not too long after, a friend told me that I was drawing Enneagram types without even knowing it. I didn’t know what that meant.
I soon found out that the Enneagram is an incredibly nuanced and specific personality typing system. It’s a powerful tool for understanding the human psyche and ultimately for self growth and transformation.
Unlike most personality typing systems, it focuses on motivation rather than behavior.
Last year I dived into head first into the world of Enneagram when I took 2 intensive Enneagram workshops entitled Excavating Your Ego, hosted by Upbuild. As I was taking these workshops I immediately dreamt of the day that I could help share this knowledge through illustration. I found that visual guides could make the enneagram so much more accessible and understandable to people.
It’s a tool that I found to be so helpful in understanding myself better and for creating stronger sense of empathy in understanding the sufferings and joys of others.
What was your inspiration for creating this?
I find illustration such a powerful way to share knowledge with others. The Enneagram has proven to be so helpful in understanding myself and others better, that I wanted to find a visual language where I could make it more accessible and easily understood to people.
What did your creative process look like in making this project?
My creative process is done daily. It’s as consistent as possible. It’s forgiving (none of my images are perfect), and it involves minimal tools (sketchbook and $20 paint set). Basically, my creative process involves me to sit down and draw an illustration every day and to trust that in consistency and persistence, all things come. I do not wait for inspiration. In fact, inspiration is barely part of the picture. I have to create so rapidly and quickly that I have no time to bother with inspiration. And I find that so freeing. Because the moment I don’t use inspiration as a crutch, I begin to realize that it’s been next to me all along.
How can people help you get involved?
Right now I’m just encouraging everyone to engage with this material. Check out my different enneagram types on my instagram account and see what resonates with you. Learn more on the enneagram if you’re interested and follow me for more daily drawings.
Where can people follow you or see more of your work?
You can follow me on instagram and see my daily updates: @rockinruksi and you can also check out my other side project, Dear Ruksi: www.dearruksi.com
6/14/18
Community Feature: Rukmini Poddar
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.
read the latest
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 […]
Devotion isn’t soft. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever practice. Most people think devotion means passion. Excitement. The feeling you get when inspiration strikes and everything flows. That’s not devotion. That’s infatuation. Devotion is showing up when inspiration is gone. When the work feels mechanical. When no one is watching and there’s no immediate reward. […]
You redesign your logo for the third time. Still doesn’t feel right. You hire another designer. Try different colors. New fonts. Different aesthetic entirely. Still wrong. So you conclude: “I just need better branding.” But the crisis isn’t your logo. It’s not your color palette. It’s not your website design. The crisis is deeper. You […]
You can be visible without being recognizable. Most people confuse the two. They post constantly. Show up everywhere. Maximize exposure. They think: “The more people see me, the more my brand grows.” But visibility isn’t the same as recognition. Visibility is being seen once. Recognition is being remembered. Visibility is impressions. Recognition is identity. You […]
Emma Reicher was hidden. No real brand. No photos of herself. Just lofi graphics that looked student-made. She had the credentials. Maturation coach. Qigong practitioner. Psychotherapy background. Real expertise. But nobody could see her. Nobody could feel her. The gap between who she was and how she showed up publicly was complete invisibility. The Fear […]
You’re not one person. You’re three. Right now, in this moment, you’re simultaneously living as three different versions of yourself. Most people never realize this. They think identity is singular. Fixed. One coherent self moving through the world. It’s not. You have a private self. The person you are when no one is watching. The […]
You got the photos back. They’re professionally lit. Perfectly composed. Technically flawless. But when you look at them, something feels wrong. That person in the images looks like you. Same face. Same features. But the energy is off. The presence doesn’t match. When you see those photos, you don’t think “that’s me.” You think “that’s […]
There’s a moment when someone stops holding back. Not loudly.Not dramatically. Quietly. That’s where Elena was when we began. The Moment Before the Shift Elena already had depth. Her thinking was clear.Her work was resonant.Her leadership was forming. But her visuals were still careful. They hinted at who she was becoming without fully letting her […]
TL;DR – What You’ll Learn in This Post There’s a feeling you recognize when it happens. Nothing is split.Nothing is rushed.Nothing is held back. Your thoughts, body, and actions move together. This is embodied coherence. What Embodied Coherence Really Is Embodied coherence isn’t intensity.It’s not confidence.It’s not motivation. It’s alignment in motion. What you feel […]
Most creativity books teach technique. Methods. Processes. Step-by-step systems. These five books teach something else. They teach how to be creative. How to access creativity. How to stay in creative practice. How to overcome what stops you. Not tactics. Fundamentals. The foundation everything else builds on. I return to these repeatedly. When stuck. When resistant. […]
There is a moment when your visuals stop keeping up with who you are. It’s subtle at first.Then it becomes obvious. You feel clear internally.But your imagery feels dated.Or noisy.Or just slightly off. That tension isn’t a branding problem.It’s a readiness signal. 1. Your Work Has Evolved, But Your Images Have Not You’ve grown.Your thinking […]
TL;DR – What You’ll Learn in This Post Identity does not change in theory. It changes in contact. Growth happens when something internal meets reality.Not in thought.Not in intention. In experience. This is where identity alchemy begins. What Identity Alchemy Really Means Identity alchemy is not reinvention.It is integration. It is the moment your inner […]
Nicky Clinch teaches people to dissolve their identity. So when I suggested professional photography and styling, she resisted. “Isn’t this the opposite of what I teach?” Her work is about loosening attachment to identity. Mine is about making identity visible. The paradox was real. But here’s what she discovered: you can have an identity without […]
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.
