Podcast Summary: Art + Audience

Episode 30: Andy J. Pizza on How to Build a Creative Career as a Neurodivergent Artist
Host: Stacie Bloomfield
Guest: Andy J. Pizza
Date: August 26, 2025

Overview of the Episode

This engaging episode features illustrator and “Creative Pep Talk” podcast creator Andy J. Pizza in conversation with host Stacie Bloomfield. Together, they dive into the realities of building a creative career as a neurodivergent artist, discussing mental health, self-acceptance, authenticity, and the necessity of finding your own unique path as a creative professional. The conversation is candid and relatable, packed with personal stories and practical insights for artists navigating both their creative practice and mental well-being.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Neurodivergence and the Creative Process

• Both Andy (ADHD) and Stacie (OCD) share how their neurodivergent minds fundamentally shape their creative lives and approaches to work.
• Andy discusses the prevalent advice about habit formation (“do the same thing the same way”), and how such routines often break down for neurodivergent people.
  • Quote (Andy, 00:19):
    "Right around the time it [a new habit] should become automatic, my body rejects it. I'm like, I am not doing this. I will lose it if I have to do this one more day."
• They agree that there isn't a one-size-fits-all path to productivity or business success.

2. The Power of Self-Acceptance in Art

• Stacie and Andy emphasize that you cannot create art you love if you do not like yourself.
  • Quote (Andy, 08:30):
    "You can't make art you love if you hate yourself. Because art is self expression. You're never gonna love that expression if you hate the thing it's an expression of, which is you."
• Both recount personal stories—Andy’s relationship with his estranged mother and Stacie’s journey with therapy—demonstrating that self-understanding and healing informs better, more authentic creative work.

3. Channeling Neurodivergent Traits as Strengths

• Andy details his strategy of using his unique brain as an asset, not a setback, and finding methods that feel natural—such as constantly varying his daily run routine for mental health.
  • Quote (Andy, 15:53):
    "What changed, actually, was learning about myself and learning like, oh, this is the kind of brain I have...If I channel them [quirks] correctly and I build a lifestyle and a way of approaching work that maximizes those things."
• Stacie notes the importance of not seeing yourself as broken when a popular plan doesn’t work.

4. Permission to Build Your Own Path

• Both discuss resisting the pressure to fit “successful” molds imposed by self-help books, business gurus, or even mentors.
• Stacie recounts trying to emulate a regimented coach, only to realize it made her miserable; her takeaway is the value of adaptive routines:
  • Quote (Stacie, 20:33):
    "I've let myself start changing my schedule whenever I need to. I used to be so like committed to things that I would do it at my own expense...But, no, people often feel like if there's a plan to follow and the person's successful...and they can't do it, that means they're broken."

5. The Myth of Earning the Right to Happiness

• Stacie brings up the idea of “having to earn” the right to ease or happiness, rooted in her upbringing.
• Andy reflects on how witnessing his mother struggle to be someone she was not gave him an early awareness that authenticity is non-negotiable for his mental health and career sustainability.
  • Quote (Andy, 24:31):
    "I saw her try to live in a way that was not authentic. And it destroyed her...I knew from the beginning I'm going to have to figure out how to work with myself."

6. Embracing Creative “Pulsing” and Seasonality

• Andy introduces “pulsing” or non-dualism in the creative process; there are times for openness and experimentation, and times for closure and structure.
  • Quote (Andy, 27:51):
    "It's never this, it's this and then that, this and then that. It's always a pulsing...You can't create and edit at the same time, your brain's gonna just break."
• He references his adaptation of Cal Newport’s idea of living seasonally and Jill Bolte Taylor’s “whole brain living,” alternating between logic and abstraction.

7. The Social and Systemic Context

• Both comment on how education and societal structures favor “cogs” and sameness, rather than nurturing unique strengths.
  • Quote (Andy, 04:23):
    "Our system is more set up to create...It is like a human assembly line going through school."
• They stress that creative careers thrive when individuals reject the assumption that everyone must operate the same way.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andy (02:47):
  "The core of the show is this positive self psychology...What if we assume that, at your core, you're not broken, you're actually good. And you need to channel these things."

• Stacie (13:13):
  "I was terrified whenever he [my doctor] wanted me to deal with it, because I was like, what's going to motivate me now? I don't know who I am without this pressure."

• Andy (15:53):
  "There's so much that I don't talk about. Even things that happen to me with, related to my mom that I don't share because I think it just kind of encroaches on her dignity in a way that I don't want to."

• Stacie (23:47):
  "You kind of have to earn, like, goodness and, you know, religiously. That's the environment I was brought up in...could I have done that earlier and I'm just making up rules?"

• Andy (32:49):
  "If I start listening to too many business podcasts, I will have a hard time listening to the art podcasts...That's a siren. That is the thing that's luring me away."

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:19: Andy describes ADHD habit struggles; “my body rejects it.”
• 02:15–04:23: Framework of positive self psychology & strengths-based approach.
• 08:09–11:54: On loving yourself as a creative; Andy’s personal narrative of self-acceptance.
• 13:12–15:53: Stacie’s therapy journey and learning to view OCD traits as strengths.
• 15:53–20:33: Andy’s day-to-day as a neurodivergent creative; building adaptive habits.
• 20:33–23:43: The pressure to follow others' routines; redefining success for yourself.
• 23:47–26:15: Do we have to "earn" creativity or happiness? Wrestling with inherited beliefs.
• 27:51–32:49: The concept of pulsing, non-dualism, and seasonality in the creative journey.
• 32:49–33:09: Recognizing how left/right brain states affect focus and creative flow.

Episode Tone and Takeaway

The tone is honest, encouraging, and relatable, with frequent humor and warmth between Stacie and Andy. The main takeaway: Building a sustainable creative career as a neurodivergent artist means deeply understanding yourself, giving up on one-size-fits-all methods, and leveraging your unique quirks as superpowers. Happiness, authentic work, and professional success come not from conformity, but from embracing—and designing systems around—your true self.

Next Episode Teaser

This is part one of a two-part conversation. Tune in next week for more from Andy J. Pizza and Stacie Bloomfield as they continue their exploration of creative careers, mental health, and self-acceptance.