Nikki Welty

For a long time, I felt uneasy about not knowing exactly what I was meant to do. (And, to put it in context, that feeling was amplified by motherhood — something I wrote about at length here.) But now, I think the French have it right: you don’t have to know. You don’t even have to ask.

What they value instead is curiosity. Culture. Taste. The art o... See more

But what if your purpose is simply to build a good life? To raise kind children. To cook a little better each year. To read a few excellent books. To notice the seasons. To build meaningful relationships. To help others. To give time - and money if you can - to causes you care about.

Now, my natural wiring leans toward clear lines and judgments. I like to quickly file things away in neat little categories: good or bad, right or wrong, love it or hate it. It makes the world easier to manage. But life isn’t quite that simple, and sometimes the best response isn’t a label—it’s space. Space to let things breathe, settle, and show y... See more

Sam made a point that really stuck with me: what if loneliness is actually a time of opportunity?

When you don't have to coordinate with anyone else's schedule, you can work late, work early, pursue goals that matter to you. You can take risks you might not take if you had to consider someone else's comfort level. You can get really good at taking c... See more

Most people I know are walking contradictions. They care about the environment but drive gas-powered cars. They want authentic connections but spend hours on their phones. They believe in working hard, but also think the system is broken.

People are complicated. Thank God.

The problem is that complexity doesn't generate clicks, nuance doesn't go vira... See more

Or, to be a little bit more positive and poetic, as Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in The Dispossessed : “True voyage is return.”

That is: A person — often a founder, or someone similarly empowered — needs to have compelling ideas, establish a voice and perspective, and use it. Tools like brand books and style guides are important so agencies and partners know how to speak the same language. But the actual opinions and values can’t be algorithmically generated or offloaded to... See more

All of sudden, we weren’t just designing something visual, but we needed to understand human behaviour, to see ourselves in other people’s contexts ( don’t get me started on our empathy phase!!! ), to learn how the decisions we made could affect a company’s bottom line, etc.

But along the way, we lost something. The actual work we were producing. W... See more