Margo is joined by artist, author, and teacher Sam Dion Baker for a conversation about creativity, sketchbook practice, and finding meaning in the everyday. Originally from Philadelphia and now based in Brooklyn, Sam spent over two decades as a graphic designer before returning to drawing in her forties—ultimately building a deeply personal and widely loved sketchbook diary practice. Through her books, teaching, and artwork, Sam encourages others to slow down, observe their lives, and express themselves in their own unique way.

Margo and Sam discuss:

• How a lifelong exposure to art shaped her creative path (and why it didn't follow a straight line)
• The transition from graphic design to a personal, sketchbook-based art practice
• Why sketchbooks can act as a form of therapy, reflection, and emotional processing
• Finding beauty and inspiration in everyday moments, not just big adventures
• Letting go of perfection and embracing messiness as part of the creative process
• Simple exercises to loosen up creatively (like continuous line drawing and using your non-dominant hand)
• How to develop your own unique creative voice through observation and consistency
• Sam's books and upcoming projects, including her new coloring book Color Your World

Connect with Sam:
Website: www.sdionbaker.com
Substack: www.samanthadionbaker.substack.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sdionbakerdesign

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

Margo is joined by illustrator, creative community builder, and industry champion Salli Swindell, who has spent nearly five decades in the illustration world. Salli began her career at American Greetings before co-founding several beloved platforms with her brother Nate Padavick—including They Draw, The Illustrator's Circle, and Illustrators For Hire—all dedicated to celebrating and promoting illustrators around the globe. Margo and Salli explore Salli's creative evolution, from decades of client-driven illustration work to embracing a more personal, self-directed creative practice.

Margo and Salli discuss:

• The power of starting small and following curiosity instead of waiting for a master plan
• How Salli and her brother Nate built global platforms from the ground up
• Why partnerships with people who have different strengths can open unexpected doors
• Salli's shift from decades of client-driven illustration work to developing a personal creative practice
• The origin story of Snack + Sketch, a gathering that blends creativity, food, and meaningful connection
• Why community, creativity, and shared meals can be powerful pillars of wellness
• How simple gatherings around your kitchen table can spark inspiration and lasting creative friendships

Connect with Salli:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallistyle/

Website: https://freshfoodillustration.cargo.site

Illustrators For Hire: https://illustratorsforhire.com

The Illustrator's Circle: https://www.illustratorscircle.com

They Draw: https://www.they-draw.com

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

Margo is joined once again by celebrated illustrator, author, and educator Mike Lowery for a lively conversation about the realities of building a creative career. Mike is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of more than 80 books for children and he's spent decades navigating the ups and downs of freelance illustration and publishing.

In this episode, Margo and Mike pick up where their first conversation left off—diving into the lessons Mike has learned over twenty years as a working illustrator, what it actually takes to build a portfolio that attracts clients, and why being "good at drawing" isn't always the same as being hireable. They also talk about Mike's new course, Get Paid to Draw, designed to help illustrators create strategic portfolios, understand what art directors are really looking for, and turn their creative skills into real opportunities.

Margo and Mike discuss:

• What Mike's younger self would think of his career today
• The behind-the-scenes work of running a creative business
• Why a strong portfolio matters more than raw talent when it comes to getting hired
• Portfolio tips to help art directors understand how your work fits their needs
• The difference between creating art for yourself versus creating work that attracts clients
• The power of community in a freelance creative career
• Mike's Get Paid to Draw course and how it helps artists build portfolios that actually lead to work
• The upcoming Portfolio Challenge starting March 11 and how creatives can participate

Connect with Mike:
Join the Illustration Portfolio Challenge: https://bit.ly/illoportfoliochallenge

Website: https://www.mikelowery.com/

Course: https://www.gettingpaidtodraw.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikelowerystudio/

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

Margo Tantau is joined by educator, researcher, and national leader in creativity, arts integration, and STEAM education, Susan Riley. As the founder of the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM and author of Creativity's Edge, Susan brings a refreshing, deeply human perspective on creativity — not as an artistic gift or innovation buzzword, but as a decision-making skill essential for navigating uncertainty, complexity, and an increasingly AI-influenced world.

Susan shares her journey from growing up as a self-described "farm girl" in Pennsylvania to becoming a pioneer in arts integration. She reflects on the early creative influences that shaped her, the role of music in her life, and the challenges of forging a nontraditional career path.

Margo and Susan discuss:

• Why creativity is a cognitive skill rather than a personality trait or talent
• How uncertainty and complexity actually activate creative thinking
• The hidden cost of optimization, efficiency, and "best practices"
• What "Create Before You Consume" looks like in everyday life
• How curiosity becomes a uniquely human advantage in the age of AI
• The connection between creativity, judgment, and human agency
• Susan's path from educator to national thought leader

Connect with Susan:
susanmriley.com

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

Margo is joined by award-winning PR strategist, community builder, and host of the Small Business PR Podcast, Gloria Chou. Known for disrupting traditional PR by helping creatives, founders, and small business owners land top-tier media using AI tools instead of big budgets or insider connections. In this episode, Gloria joins Margo to unpack how PR now fuels AI search visibility, why press and podcasts act as modern trust signals, and how artists, makers, and small brands can use accessible tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to pitch with clarity, credibility, and relevance.

Margo and Gloria discuss:

• Why visibility—not talent—is often the biggest hurdle for creatives
• Reframing PR as relevance-driven storytelling (not self-promotion)
• Gloria's CPR Method: Credibility, Point of View, Relevance
• How cold pitching works—even without contacts or PR experience
• Using AI tools to research angles and draft pitches in minutes
• Press & podcasts as critical trust signals in AI-driven search
• The shift from traditional SEO to AI shopping and discovery
• Mindset shifts to overcome imposter syndrome and "not newsworthy" thinking

Connect with Gloria:

Website: www.gloriachoupr.com

Instagram: @gloriachoupr

YouTube: @smallbusinesspr

LinkedIn: in/gloriaychou

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

Margo is joined by Ashley Lohr, an artist, educator, and community builder based in Petersburg, Alaska—a small fishing island town where she has taught art for nearly two decades. Working across painting and enamel jewelry, Ashley has built a creative life rooted in place, curiosity, and long-term commitment. From sustaining robust school art programs to teaching workshops far beyond the classroom, her path is a testament to what can unfold when artists design lives that support both their work and their values.

Ashley shares how moving to Alaska at 23 shaped her identity as both a teacher and artist, how she continues to grow her own practice alongside full-time teaching, and what she learned from intentionally stepping away during a self-created sabbatical.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Moving to Petersburg, Alaska for a teaching job—and how place can deeply shape creative alignment
• Teaching art in ways that feel authentic, expansive, and student-centered
• How Ashley builds, sustains, and evolves art programs within a school setting
• Maintaining a personal art practice alongside full-time teaching and family life
• Taking a self-designed sabbatical and what it revealed about community, creativity, and pace
• Teaching outside the classroom: workshops, travel, and non-gallery ways to share work
• Finding and proposing workshop opportunities—locally and farther afield
• Trusting a slow, steady creative path and allowing your work to change over time

Connect with Ashley:

• Website: https://ashleylohrart.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ashleylohrart

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

Margo is joined by Jill Labieniec, an illustrator, designer, and endlessly curious maker living on Vashon Island in the heart of the Pacific Northwest. Working primarily with watercolor, Jill's whimsical illustrations and patterns have found homes on everything from fabrics and home goods to books, stationery, and editorial projects. Alongside her illustration practice, she has a deep love for working with her hands—sewing dresses, making shoes, and shaping clay—guided by a belief that art should help people create spaces where they can rest, daydream, and grow.

In this episode Jill reflects on her winding creative path—from a homeschooled childhood centered on making, through art school and freelance work, to building a creative career that prioritizes curiosity, balance, and day-to-day happiness over rigid labels or prestige.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Jill's creative beginnings and how family life and early making shaped her career
• Moving through art school, freelance work, and product-focused creative paths
• What it really means to build a sustainable creative career over time
• Letting go of fancy titles and external validation in favor of daily fulfillment
• Balancing freelancing, creative freedom, and personal happiness
• Jill's thoughtful, intuitive approach to social media and sharing work online
• Working both digitally and analog—and the joy of seeing art come to life on physical objects, especially ceramics
• Embracing curiosity, trusting the creative process, and tuning out the noise

Connect with Jill:

• Website: https://www.jill-labieniec.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jill.labieniec/
  
  

Connect with Margo:

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry

In this 300th episode of Windowsill Chats, Margo sits down for a special solo conversation—answering thoughtful listener questions that span creativity, confidence, career longevity, leadership, and the magic that keeps artists going.

With over two decades of experience in the creative industry, Margo reflects on how her relationship with art has evolved, what she's learned from running The Foundry, and the advice she returns to again and again when mentoring artists.

Margo shares:

• How she makes space for her own creativity—and what her personal art practice looks like now
• Ways to quiet imposter syndrome and trust decades of lived creative experience
• The artistic work she'd most love to take to marketplace and why
• Her favorite and most challenging parts of creative work and leadership
• How the rise of AI has shifted client interest in traditionally created artwork
• The advice she gives artists most often—and what truly matters day to day
• Lessons from trade shows, licensing, and running The Foundry
• What keeps her going, where she finds creative magic, and why it's never too late to begin

Mentioned in this episode:

Get 50% off your first month of The Foundry: https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/offers/XVKbuygV/checkout

www.homeawaystudio.co

• Website: www.windowsillchats.com
• Instagram: @windowsillchats
• www.patreon.com/inthewindowsill
• https://www.yourtantaustudio.com/thefoundry