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Mark Stinson, host: [00:00:00] welcome back friends to our podcast, unlocking Your World of Creativity, and we love to go around the world talking to creative people about how they get inspired and how they organize ideas and most of all, how they gain the confidence and connections to launch their work out into the world. And I'm so happy today to be talking to someone who's not only a brand strategist, but she's lived and worked in some of the world's most.

What I say, and she calls captivating cities. Of course, New York, London, and Paris, but maybe places we don't think about as captivating and creative in that Santiago, Casablanca Barcelona, Beirut, and welcome, Egle Karalyte Egle,. Welcome to the show.

Thank you, mark.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Thank you.

Mark Stinson, host: Thank you. And you said you were in Lisbon now, so yeah, the travels continue.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah, the travels continue indeed after a break we had with all the lockdown, but yeah, back on the road. I love [00:01:00] that.

Mark Stinson, host: I love to think about meeting new and creative people in coffee shops, wherever they are. And here you are in Lisbon. Now, have you found any great coffee shops?

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: It's my like second day in Lisbon, so I'm still researching.

Still finding my way around. Don't yet have a favorite one. Yes, anywhere where you see the pastel that's looking good. That's the place to be because. Yeah I like, like those older, old-fashioned, traditional places here. So

Mark Stinson, host: there you go. And do you find I do that's just a great place to meet people, talk about life and times and creative projects.

Yeah,

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Of course. It's it's a great hub for For meeting people. Yeah. Especially if you find the cafe you love. So

Mark Stinson, host: there you go. In your brand strategy work, you really build in a lot of interaction, collaboration beyond brainstorming. Tell us about why you think that [00:02:00] engagement and teamwork is so important to the creative process.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah. So whenever you are building a brand or any kind of product or any maybe creative project in order for it to be useful and interesting for the people, you really need multiple skill sets for this output to be accepted, in the world. And usually one person you. Like it's really impossible for one person to have all the skills needed to make a successful launch and a successful addition to what there is out there in the world.

So having a team of people who really create a very harmonic and united, whole, like a support system for the idea is super important. There's this so much that one person can do, we always hit the [00:03:00] limits of that. But if you get engaged people with complimentary skills that you don't have, you can really develop a very wholesome product or project.

Yes. So that's why teamwork collaboration is so important.

Mark Stinson, host: And as the team leader and often the group, process facilitator. Yeah. Is it your feeling that people, they might naturally gravitate into teamwork but you've found that there are tools, even games, that really engage this team and bring them together quicker, faster, and more productive?

Yes. What's your experience? Yes.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yes. So I've been running design and branding workshops around the world for I don't know now, maybe like 10 years. And I did that in, different cultures and different contexts. And the tools that I've re developed really came out of that [00:04:00] necessity that I saw when doing workshops to, Bring in those triggers or bring in the icebreakers that are needed to activate the flow within the workshops and to activate the teamwork even more.

So tools can really eliminate those Mt mtm. How do we say, states in a workshop that's like frozen states where you just don't know how to get out of that situation or like their lack of ideas on the table. So the ideation tools that have developed are exactly for that purpose to just take you to another state much faster.

So yeah, it's it can save a lot of time. It can really open new territories of discussion and I think any great facilitator that has a set of tools to bring in a new workshop also can make the process [00:05:00] much more fun. I'm a big believer that fun playtime, is what can relax people, what can bring in new ideas because of that.

And when the creative juice is flowing, I think there are no limits to what. What can be generated in the workshop. So if you have the tool,

Mark Stinson, host: isn't it, the often the thread you think about, you mentioned the cross culture. I think about workshops I've also facilitated, across Europe and the Middle East, Northern Africa, you know the places you've worked Asia Pacific.

Yeah. The cultures of creativity and even the, what should I say? The extrovertness, of maybe the, it's different. So different. Yeah. And very, do you find these tools and workshop games tend to help break those differences down?

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yes, very much very much of course, a facilitator, has to, let's say, push the [00:06:00] gear in different ways in every context, because exactly like you said, the level of dynamics and the level of Yeah, the way people communicate is so different.

Like one culture is much more playful and social than the other. And the facility that needs to know what type of things they should highlight or they should fill in the gaps, in order for the whole workshop to be successful. So here it's not so much the tools that can make a difference, but the skill set.

The mastery of the facilitator to know how to make sure that the group is really at ease and in everything is in place in order to really activate the group dynamics.

Mark Stinson, host: Wonderful. Edley one of the specific games that I was watching a great video on you called The Bloomerang Game.

Yes. [00:07:00] Love, love this name, love this title, and wow. It's not when you say it's a big game this thing covered a big table.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah.

Mark Stinson, host: Lots of things involved in it. Why don't you walk us through it? Yeah,

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: sure. Yeah, Bloomerang game is Is my latest creation. So it's 150 centimeters width, which is like 4.9 feet in inches.

Let's see actually. In inches. And we should just Google that. It's 59 inches. I love that.

Yes. Yeah. So it's a huge game. I wanted to create something that would really inspire to think big and would get people around the table and, would really be a, almost like an interactive installation in this space.

So the purpose of the Bloomerang game is to. Yeah. Is to help creators gain the state of clarity for the next steps they should do in [00:08:00] their venture. So whether you're creating a brand or a product or something just created any kind of project that you come to play the game or the game will ask you to.

The right questions in order to help you crystallize your next level of success and build a marketing system that will help you to take it out into the world. The game has really three use cases. So first is the brand transformation game. So as I mentioned for creating a brand and marketing system for your idea.

The second is a search under the sand game. For those people that are still searching what they would like to do, what is their mission, what is their purpose? It's a slightly deeper dive into your own inner talents. And then the third use case is a team cohesiveness game. So for teams who want to harmonize and [00:09:00] mobilize the team towards a common goal, it's a perfect game to do that.

And we have an analog version that I say it's the game with all the ideation tools that I've created. And we've just launched a tablet driven. Version. So basically this game board is controlled by a tablet and a lot of people can play it so you are not limited by a certain group.

It can be installed in big spaces where kind of any passing by. A community member can play the game fully or just have a taste of it. So it's very cool. I'm very excited about that. And yes, and I'm gonna go out and also see a few places in Lisbon, a few co-working spaces where potentially this could be installed.

We are going to Berlin Design Week and beginning of May to showcase also the game there. And Yeah. And a [00:10:00] few other things are lined up, so it's just the beginning. Yeah, I

Mark Stinson, host: love that. I love the fact that you're converting. What I see in the video is lots of cards and game pieces and dice and people moving things around.

It's good that you've been able to translate some of that into a digital format.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah. Yeah. Like I didn't want to make it a fully digital ver game because I think a lot of people, need that physical touch. I'm I'm one of them. But the digital I enabled game. Yeah. That's something I'm pretty proud of what we've managed

Mark Stinson, host: to do by now.

Yes. This gamification obviously a big theme, but thinking back to your own childhood and your upbringing. What sort of creative games or inspirations did you have growing up that now inform the work that you're doing?

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah, it's a good question.

Mark Stinson, host: You, were you a fun kid?

Did you enjoy fun? Oh

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: yeah, I was, I bet you [00:11:00] were playing all the time. I was sl all the time and I was lucky enough to have mean, to have had a lot of freedom in my childhood. Yeah, my parents would just allow me to do whatever I was interested in and. And I was always very creative. Like I used to spend a lot of summers with my great-grandmother in her house.

She had a huge garden and we would like do some embroidery or some sort of craft stuff. And I used to love painting dolls and clothes for the dolls, like these sort of old fashioned games. Yeah, I would always be doing something and creating something. So maybe not so much the type of games I was playing.

Like I never had, like our parents never bought games for us. Like we had some sort of mini gym at the house, but for but but we would always invent things. Ourselves and so maybe not so much the kind of games I [00:12:00] was playing that informed what I'm doing now, but that process of having full freedom to just go do your ideas and go for your ideas and, just let your imagination take you that I had the environment to grow in in that I had the opportunity to grow in that environment.

And I think that formed me and is very much the way I still live today. So

Mark Stinson, host: yes, that childlike curiosity and fun. Yes. Which I guess leads oftentimes, and I think about maybe the groups that you facilitated and how. Even people initially react to, oh, great, we're gonna play a game, but yeah.

But eventually maybe it catches on because people say, are you born creative? Do you develop the creativity? Can you learn creativity? Yeah. This kind of environmental acceptance of your creative side. What's been your experience [00:13:00] with that?

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: I think everyone is creative in one way or another.

It is just that I think the, it's very important the kind of environment we grow in and what type of friends or of family surround us because if we are allowed to. To experiment and to, to just go with our creative flow. I think anyone will find. Certain ways that they're creative and there are levels of creativity.

Like you might not be the kind of create a whole idea from scratch that nobody has ever done before, but you might make spins or twists on ideas that are already there. So that's another sort of com, another dimension, but As long as you are in the environment that allows you to be yourself and doesn't block you, I [00:14:00] think anybody can flourish or develop creativity further in that environment.

We all, we are all creative. It's just like where you are allowed to develop that, and to nurture that and to experiment with that or way, or. Where you're not. And if you weren't that, then of course that's blocked within you and yes. Then you think you might be not creative, but it's not the case.

I, everyone is creative. I think during the Bloomerang game we really we go deep into people's blocks as they say, and it's very inspiring when at the end of the game people really light up and because they have unlocked something within them that they reali, they thought they never had,

Mark Stinson, host: Yes.

Very encouraging. And I think if I take the devil's advocate for a second, some people may be listening to us and say, but Aly, it was easy for you. I've looked at your client list and you've worked in a incubator with the new school [00:15:00] mtv. Yeah. Lebanon a Google campus. These people are naturally creative and fun, but what about my company? Yeah. It's what about in my corporate environment?

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah, I know I worked in corporate environment as well. Like I started my career on Wall Street, in New York City. So I know what that also feels like. How some environments can be a little bit how do we say stiff, yes, exactly. But then if you are feeling that you are in the environment that you don't. Flourish. Like the question is what are you doing there? Maybe it's time to change, but if it's the environment that is not, you feel like you can influence it and you can help to improve it, so maybe there's just something you need to take.

Initiative on, and then, suggest why don't we try this? Why don't we try that? Because if you in an [00:16:00] environment you feel like there is potential for people to grow, it's just that there, maybe they're not that many growth opportunities, maybe then you are the actually the person that, that could bring this in and could color up the atmosphere and add more play and, change the dynamics.

So I've been in both of these situations, I've been in an environment where I felt like, I don't know what I'm doing here. It's really not my place. And I left, but I also were in an environment where I felt like, okay, like maybe it's not the vibration or the energy level that I would love to have, but Once I started bringing in the ideas and shake things up a little bit, I saw that the environment was flexible enough.

It was co-creating with me, with people were open for that. They were. Looking for what I was able to bring. [00:17:00] And then it just worked out great. Like I, I elevated things,

Mark Stinson, host: yes, I do see that taking the initiative I. Yeah. What energy are you bringing into the room? Not just what energy are you taking, from the other

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: people.

Exactly, yes, exactly that there always has to be a co-creation with your environment. So if you are initiating that, and let's say it's not happening, it's bouncing off the wall all the time, then yes, maybe, you are not really in that environment that's gonna help you grow, but. Maybe it's the environment that just needs that activation from you.

And then if you see that there's a response and there's always an exchange, then you know, I love those environments because you can create a lot of things. You can bring in a lot of things and you can really shape up the environment then. That's a great place to be.

Mark Stinson, host: Definitely. And I think this, not to maybe fuel a debate over [00:18:00] whether we should be working remotely at home or working in a corporate office, but this this debate seems to be lingering. We really have Yeah. Settled on what is the value of creative people being in a shared space. What, yeah.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: What have I seen? I think that I've also had periods in my life where I was working alone at home, with my remote team. And I also have had periods where I was in the environment with other creative people.

I think ideally there would be a mixture of both, that. Like me as a creative person, I sometimes need to go back to my cave as I say yes, and just do my thing and not to be distracted by anyone and. Complete silence in a way. That's actually when I'm able to come up with good ideas. And, but then when I need to bring them out or implement them or bring them [00:19:00] out into the world, I need to work with people.

And I have this urge to be around people and, so I, I really need both of these modes of operation. So I wouldn't say like either. Just that or just that is the best way personally for me, it's like a bit of that and a bit of that is the perfect mix. Yes. A little bit

Mark Stinson, host: of pulsing. Yes.

Met to know. Going back and forth and back and forth. Yes.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yes. I like that.

Mark Stinson, host: Or maybe the seesaw in your old home, backyard gym. Like you said. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. You sound like a great person to be in the room and fuel some creativity. How? How can we get in touch with you ley and learn more about you and your work?

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah. The best way is to check out my website, Karalyte.com, or you can follow me on Instagram. It's e g l e dot [00:20:00] k a r a l y t E. That's the Instagram. Username or you'll find the link on my website as well. Yeah, for

Mark Stinson, host: sure. And we'll put these links in the show notes so people can find them as well.

What a great conversation. I've really enjoyed talking with you. And thinking ahead, ala thank what do you see as a project maybe that you've been thinking about? Contemplating that you can't wait to apply some new creative muscle to.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Yeah, I love that concept. Creative muscle. Boomerang, boomerang is this project like I've created a TRI with the mission to help other creators take their ideas out into the world and to give a new.

And fresh format for doing that in the form of a game. So that's my mission now is to, take it out as far as I can and and share it with the world. Wow. Good

Mark Stinson, host: luck with that. [00:21:00] And we thank you. Wait to get an update. So come back and tell us how it's gone, say in Berlin Design Week and other places you're presenting this.

Love to hear how it's going for you.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Thank you, mark. I will thank you for absolutely for having me on the show.

Mark Stinson, host: It's always good to talk to people who've lived and worked and traveled in these places. I, too get a lot of creative, battery recharging from this sort of travel. So all the best in that.

Egle Karalyte, Brand Strategist: Thank you. Thank you so much. You

Mark Stinson, host: bet. And listeners, come back again next time as we continue to stamp our creative passports in places far and wide to learn how creatives are getting inspired and launching their work out into the world. We're unlocking your world of creativity and we'll see you next time.