MEET MEGAN PIERCEY MONAFU

Founder & Artistic Director CSArt Ottawa
Playwright / Director

Megan can be found in the midst of deep conversations, creating community through art and working to connect with others through the projects she creates.
She is passionate about the art of hosting, and finding new ways to spark conversation.
She also happens to have a beautiful sense of humour that carries her through life.

MORE MEGAN

WEBSITE:
http://csartottawa.ca

INSTAGRAM:
https://www.instagram.com/csart_ottawa/

Note from Amy:
*I met Megan in Highschool in grade 10. Something about her then, told me that this young woman would be someone I could have more than just a good laugh with. As we have grown over the past decade plus, Megan continues to amaze me at her ability to grow and become even more of herself. I think that’s what we want most for anyone who played an important role in our lives at any one point. That they become even more deeply who they are and isn’t that such a beautiful thing to behold.

Meet Claire Fraser

Owner of Claire Fraser - Photography & Videography
Artist & Entrepreneur

Claire can typically be found shooting events, weddings, portraits and headshots. 
She is passionate about variety, and creating content that is impactful.
& also happens to have the cutest cat of all time….

MORE CLAIRE

WEBSITE

Claire Fraser - Photography & Videography

INSTAGRAM

cf_photovideo

Note from Amy:
*I saw Claire at a distance at a conference & was amazed by her calm and professional presence while she was working. Her ability to be at ease with herself and others in personal and professional settings is one of the main reasons I wanted to get to know her better. She continues to amaze me with her solid presence & ability to connect, inspire & ask the deeper questions.

Meet Amy

Creator of the Spotlight Series & other byamygrace projects
Writer & Creative Influencer

Working to connect and create empowering conversation with women on creativity since 2013.
If she’s not at her desk writing, planning, or scheming, she’s either reading, walking along the Atlantic Ocean or playing with her daughter.
& also happens to adore good food.

More Amy

Instagram:
byamygrace

Twitter
byamygrace

Over the past six months Claire Fraser & I have been carefully collaborating and refining this platform. The development of this is ongoing and we are thrilled to officially share it with you and bring you into our journey together.

What is it?

Brilliansea:
pronounced the same as ‘Brilliancy’
A platform for sharing the voice of women in creative and entrepreneurial positions.

PROJECTS

The Spotlight Series

Through the Brilliansea platform Claire & I are continuing my work with the Spotlight Series by adding a video component that will serve as a way to better share the interviews and to better serve what we see in the various women we find brilliant.

Young Female Entrepreneur Documentary (2020)

While filming for the Spotlight Series we are in tandem, interviewing women for a documentary to focus on young female entrepreneurs. We are excited to bring you into this journey along with us.

How to Find & Join Us

Instagram
Follow us on Insta to get the latest content & personal updates.

Youtube
Follow us on Youtube to get the latest spotlights & video content.

#sheisbrilliant
Join us in our collective work by using the hashtag #sheisbrilliant for resharing , highlighting women you know who captivate you & for your own empowering creative & entrepreneurial process.

This past Autumn I began learning and gaining experience as an extended script & bit writer for a television series ‘Eyes for the Job’.

Eyes For the Job is a ‘do it yourself’ television series of two hosts who tackle different projects in and around Halifax.

What I’ve been Learning

Integrated Described Video (IDV)

What is unique about this series is that it integrates from the ground up described video. This is done so that a viewer who couldn’t visualize the show clearly, can still fully apart take in the show and know as much as any fully sighted person what is going on, and how it looks without the typical ‘Described Video’ overtop.

This means I have been learning over the past few months how to write in a way that includes this information. What does the project look like, where are they, what does something feel like?

Having worked four years as an American Sign Language interpreter this type of writing style is a fun challenge and taps into a side of me I haven’t used in a while.

Bits

Currently I am working on bit writing. The transition segments that take about 30 - 60 seconds long that tackle a quick tip or project in-between the bigger projects. I am having a BLAST with these. I am verbose by nature, so this work is not only a challenge for me, but a practice I am learning to embrace whole heartedly and find a unique satisfaction in.

The Takeaway

This experience is giving me active feedback on my writing and an active way to grow in this industry that fits where I am in this season of my life. I am learning not only the craft of brevity, but what is required to get a series like this on air.

& in honour of that learned brevity, to sum up:
knowing that the work I am doing here is contributing to a bigger project that gives others more equal access, is a satisfaction that goes beyond the work itself.

Entering into 2019…

with more to balance and maintain has enforced the need for scheduling and I am working on embracing it in a more effective and succinct way.

What I am Using:

Moleskin Plain Pocket Size

I use these Moleskins to keep track of various aspects of my personal & professional life.
- Movement & Diet
- Inspirations (quotes, ideas etc)
- Seasons (Winter activities, recipes, etc)
- Work Log
- Home Maintenance & visions

Kate Spade Journal

There is a shortage of these journals as Kate Spade is releasing less of them yearly, but I make a point of buying them when I find them & I use a journal for each year for my personal notations / writing about life and thoughts.

Leuchtturmn1917 (A5)

I use Leuchtturmn journals for my yearly bullet journaling. I do not follow the ‘bujo’ method to a ‘t’ but I apply what works for my own methodology and it seems thats what Ryder Carroll was aiming for.

Fossil Watch

New to me this year, for less attachment to my iPhone when checking the time. Doesn’t hurt that I am addicted to metallic tone fashion statements.

Sharpie & Midliner Pens

Knowing that these are the pens I use simplifies the tools I reach for. Decision fatigue regarding finding a new pen: ‘be gone’.

WHAT I AM AIMING FOR & WHY:

Reducing my scheduling hours and methods is one of my main goals this year. As great as it can be to have time to sit down and schedule the week ahead it can severely stir up anxiety when given too much space to be dwelled on. It also can swallow up much needed rest and quality time with others.

I am giving myself a year to work on the craft of scheduling because I realize it’s a task that I am going to have to unlearn bad habits, try new methods & simplify again & again.

As I hone the craft of scheduling I am keeping these words close to me as a reminder:

Create. Cultivate. Curate. Centred.

Here we go…

New Years Eve Sparklers | 2019

The ground is shifting.

It’s quaking and rumbling beneath my feet. I can sense the place in which I am planted is about to change in this new year.

If I am being honest, it has created a lot of questions for me.

How will I manage in 2019 as these shifts take place?

Will I and what’s important to me, fall through the cracks?

Will I find that I am even more capable, or will I crumble?

Spinning these thoughts in my head over the past month has led me to the unique word: ‘Curate’.

Curate verb

• select, organize, and present (online content, merchandise, information, etc.), typically using professional or expert knowledge:

& although it’s often reserved to explain an art gallery or other aspects of gathering information/elements together, it has struck a chord within me. As I am adjusting to the ‘shifting’ and ‘growing’ in my / our lives, it is time for me to make careful and precise choices with where I place my energy and time.

PERSONALLY

Raising a ‘little’ into a child to equip her to handle the various aspects of life that will be thrown at her in less than 2 years (entering the public school system) means we need to be even more focused on bringing her the opportunities to grow, learn and mature in a new way. My time with her in this format of life is limited. Instilling values of kindness, empowerment, literacy, imagination, etc, before her world becomes more than just us, is increasingly heightened in importance.

As a family we are capable of more than we ever have been before. Leaving the baby/toddler stage has meant we are more able to connect and interact with our community, family and friends on a deeper level. It’s time to open up and pour out our energies in a new way.

PROFESSIONALLY

Continue to carefully align myself with the work atmosphere, collaborative teams and projects, knowing that what I commit to will get my full attention. Learning not to downplay myself & what I have to offer is a practice. I have learned so much in the past year about my craft, the industry I work in and where my boundaries are. Continuing to cultivate these interactions and various work projects while upholding my values is not a risk, it’s an integral part of who I am and how I choose to function within this world.

& as I close on this first day of the New Year,

by learning how to ‘curate’ in both my personal and professional life, I will be finding the proper footing to keep my feet actively on the ground while also gaining insight on how to adjust wherever 2019 puts me / us.

Happy New Year!

Let nothing hinder you.
Let everything propel you.
Let the trials deepen you.
Let the accomplishments inspire you.
Let the passion empower you.
Let the uncertainty intrigue you.

2018

Has awakened me & has allowed me to see deeper into elements I would not have seen.

There has been disappointments and heartache in projects.
Misuse of power and behaviour in settings of learning.
Boundary lines crossed.
Periods of anxiety, fear and confusion.
Unsettling moments of communication.
Emotional roller coaster rides in parenting.

and

There has been confirmation in passions.
Connections reaffirmed.
Opportunities provided.
Memories made.
Time with good friends and family treasured.
Professional growth.
Freelance opportunities.
Collaborations developed.
Friends returned.
Celebrations had.

&


Through all of these very real and true experiences, there is a thankfulness for it all. For the one who leaked their insecurities, which provided me the courage to use my voice and not back down. For the collaborator who has passions uniquely her own that can confidently express her directions and how they coincide with mine. For the boundary lines crossed that reminded me that the lines drawn are founded. For the friends returned whom reminded us what it means to have depth in relationship.

For all these experiences has brought me here, to right now & continues to carve me out, to be the person I need to be. & while I take a break and reflect on where to go from here, I am truly thankful for it all because I know, it is within that thankfulness that I will find a deeper sense of peace and healing, so I can continue to become who I am called to be.

In the quiet of the corners of our life,

Claire Fraser and I have been cooking up and working on a colloberation that stretches beyond ourselves.

It’s early days and I think there is something important about not over sharing our projects too much too fast.

Not because of trust, but for the protection on its infancy. We are just now starting to emerge and begin to walk with it.

What I can say:

We have identified that parts of our individual work and projects overlap.

We have identified that what will help us continue, will be to focus on the process of creation. To be working on remaining present in each moment and each stage of this collaborative journey.

We will be walking this into 2019 and are excited to work with many more women in both the creative and business industries.

Stay tuned…

I saw this post from Elizabeth Gilbert on instagram.

& I realized I was missing this key ingredient. Cue cards. (Or Index Cards). I have tried various forms of this but never with simple cue / index cards.

As a screen writer,

one learns that story boarding with index cards is essential.

As a writer / creator,

I hadn’t considered how this may help my practice for other projects, ideas and organizing all their bits and scattered thoughts and ideas.

I am still creating my own method around how to best catalogue my ideas, story arcs, characters etc but I am finding it a mysterious and alluring process.

Will make sure to update on what process I find most productive, fun and agreeable.

If only I had boxes like Elizabeth Gilbert has in that picture to file these cards away….

As I take on more work and find ways to adapt to the various projects at my desk, I have found the need to practice wellness in my professional life.

This isn’t a call of selfishness. This is a call for excellence.

Over the course of the year, as I have been pursuing excellence, I have realized that it doesn’t come from the work that is perfect.

Excellence comes from the person who has taken great care and thought in the work they do, to make the time and space for it.

This means, not taking on what you cannot follow through on.

It means giving oneself creative space to play and interact with new ideas and not taking the whims too seriously.

It means, that when committing to something of a professional nature, making sure that how you take it on, not only honours you and your work practice, but also the practice of those you will be working with.

The beauty of it all?

Is that the excellence happens while you are following through with these things. It’s not an over night success that speaks volumes. It is the daily , weekly, monthly and yearly care one takes to reassess and find new ways to better honour the work in which they are called to do.

That bit of truth here is:

Wellness has it’s place not only in the personal but also in the professional.

With working on my own projects, taking on freelance work, balancing the mama life and maintaining family and friend relationships I have been meditating on

‘Flow’

How do I respect the flow?

What is flow?

Flow is tossed around within the creative and millennial communities as a term we use to describe what it means to be in a good productive working physical and internal atmosphere.

Flow Professionally:

Means I do my best to accept and actively do work during my prime productive hours.

For me, this looks like mornings for technical work, and evenings for creative work.

I have noted over the years as a student, freelancer & human being that from 1:40pm - 5:00pm I am a zombie of energy. During those hours I tend to dip in energy (no matter what food or exercise routine I do) and am apathetic in motivation. This could be due to the way my energy is at an all time high from 7am - 1pm, or that I tend to stay up till close to midnight most nights for creative and inspirational purposes.

Either way, I have learned over the years, and especially at this stage in my life, that working to match that rhythm produces my best work.

Flow Personally

Means I create routine and boundaries for the things in which I value and know feed my soul.

For me, this looks like having bi-weekly routines of date nights, friend dates, farmers market visits etc, while also making sure the times I am least energetic is where I am at rest, read, journal, etc.

Knowing yourself is a huge part of optimizing your flow.

As an example, I know I am a social introvert. I am stimulated by intimate settings with others, but too much and I am drained. I also realize that I do need that time to retreat and reflect in order for me to continue giving out in a healthy and high quality manner.

& with that…

I am at my best when I respect and adjust my days to match the work flow that brings me to where I need to be.

Optimizing your personal and professional work flow and respecting those limits is a way in which to produce excellent work that continues to grow in concepts and depth while also protecting oneself and the work from burn out.

My Question:

How can we communicate authentically and respectfully?

Communication plays a huge role in most, if not all professions.

Professionally and personally, I take communication seriously. I am hard pressed to not take deep note of how body language and words are presented. Since focusing my work away from the interpreting field, and into writing, working amongst creatives, and the performance industries, I have noticed how the communication style various in huge ways.

This presents itself through email, one on one conversations, social events in a crowded room or even just a glance as we pass eachother in the street.

There is no one size fits all in the performance / artistic industries.

The biggest thing we can ever do for each other professionally and personally is to seek clarification when there is a shimmer of confusion or doubt on the intent of a communication, be it verbal or physical.

Especially as a woman, we are in a world today where miscommunication can be the complete break down of a professional / personal experience.

What I wonder at and am theorizing, is how good we are at accepting that someone was put off, hurt or misunderstood by our own intent? How they might have got it wrong, and we also might have communicated wrong?

We can’t get it right 100% of the time, we are human after all. What makes us think that we are above that?

I ask this question not because I seek to create positive and empowering experiences with those I communicate with and I know that I won’t get it 100% right all the time. There is no world in which I will, and I would hope and trust, that those around me would be capable and empowered enough to seek that clarification from me, challenge me and continue to pass me grace for when I didn’t have the words or ways in which they needed.

Personally and professionally, this is what I desire.

After a very hot summer in Nova Scotia (avg between 28-40 degrees C with humidity) on days on end, I am more than happy to be moving into Autumn cripsness. Although as I speak, the past two days have been 28 degrees C and only dipping down into the teens overnight. (note: this was written second last week of September…delayed due to Spotlight post & various personal events)

Here is a ‘coles notes’ work update:

Summer

Brought clarity and insight into my next steps both professional and personally. After a challenging Spring of raw interactions and professional setting circumstances, it’s empowering to know that with showing up, comes a continual growth.

This clarity was what I was hoping and aching for.

Autumn

Brings new projects & possible contracts

A Research / Writing project on my Paternal Grandmother

I will be focusing the majority of my writing time on my grandmother Joan Francis Gooddday Lugar. Who she was, what she did and why I find her life story one that needs to be shared.

WORDS

Looking to expand the words project.

Brilliansea

Joining with Claire Fraser, the Spotlight Series will be expanding into something more in a video / documentary format.
Stay tuned!

Freelance Screenwriting

Accepting contracts and opportunities when feasible.

Discipline
verb [with object]

• (discipline oneself to do something) train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way: every month discipline yourself to go through the file.

I am dedicated to being the full time caregiver of my child until she is of school age. These years are precious and yet as she is growing I am taking on more and with that is even more reason to continue my practice in discipline.

This means knowing two things:

Who I am In My Personal Life

I am a woman who values quality over quantity. I would rather have less in every aspect of my life, as long as what I do have, is of good quality and experience. I realize that my joys and my true value comes from enjoying quality time with those around me and the season I am in. Having enough time to eat well, exercise, get fresh air, invest in relationships with friends, family and my own personal development is highly important. I recognize and have learned that when these values are pushed aside by my need to not disappoint others, I experience the physical symptoms of anxiety and when I am in alignment with these values, I am at peace.

Who I am In My Professional Life

I am a woman who values follow through. Committing to my work and projects are of high importance to me. I recognize that I am personally affected when someone I am working with does not follow through with what they had committed to doing. I also recognize that this happens and for whatever reason, I cannot control others and their own agendas. I can control myself and how I work and communicate. I value clarity and humbleness in others and therefore I must remember to maintain that clarity within myself. I am driven and I am stubborn which I use to my advantage when going about my work. I will not give up on something I know has true value and quality behind it.

And as I navigate the next stage of my journey I remember to have:

Grace for those who don’t understand my boundaries and my striving for my dreams.

As students go back to school there is no reason us adults can’t get a work refresh as well. With new work coming my way, I figure it’s time to recenter and recalibrate.

Here are a few essentials to think about:

Materials

Know exactly what materials you need and will create a productive atmosphere for you. For me, this is my MacBook Pro, headphones, notebook & bullet journal, along with whatever beverage I am drinking (water, coffee, tea, etc.).

Nutrition

This is the time of year that colds start getting shared & I am loath to get sick. When I do get sick it’s usually a doozy, so I do everything I can to avoid it, including taking vitamins (specifically, probiotics, garlic tablets, vitamin C and my regular multi vitamin), eating salads, kale smoothies and adding meat to my diet when I feel I need it (I specifically know that I crave and need extra portien when approaching my period).

Movement

Getting some sort of exercise is not only known to help with mental wellness, it is key when working at a sit down job. As a writer, all I do is sit down to work. I make a huge effort to maintain an equal amount of moment into my life. This usually means, 20 mins of yoga, 20 mins of cardio and a walk during the day. Extra movement looks like: (skating, swimming, swing dance, nature walks / hikes, hot yoga).

Dress

Using the ‘getting ready’ part of the day as a mindful exercise in preparing and choosing items to wear that will help me embrace the work I am about to do is essential. I am highly aware it is a privilege and a luxury to have items to choose from, products to use and the time to set aside to prepare for the day. I mindfully express gratitude as I prepare and never forget that although I may at times believe I want more, that I in fact, have more than enough and am content with the life I am breathing this day.

Inspiration

However you work, it’s important to have what inspires you in proximity. For me this is having a few privately chosen places for knick knacks that are meaningful to me and that only I can see. A tab on my laptop specifically for bookmarked articles, videos relating to my professional development that will help me grow, a background on my laptop I love and music that I can play while I work if the work fits that.

However you refresh your work lifestyle for the Autumn, do take it into account.

There is nothing like realizing you can do something to boost your ‘practice’ to be more full, enjoyable and productive.

INSTAGRAM : #strikinggold

Striking Gold is a long term project that has evolved and continues to find it's place in this world out of the souls of two friends.

Jasmine Alexander & I have been forging through friendship, faith, creativity and life's intricacies together for years now.  Heading into our thirties (me, sooner than later...) we have realized that our friendship, conversations and discoveries go deep and we have found a thread of connection and relevancy within our friendship that has surpassed our own understanding.  

Watching and experiencing her discoveries are as awing and moving as if they were my own. And so we go forth, at a distance, discovering together, and discovering apart.

Our journey as friends has brought us and continues to bring us to a place of grace, celebration, empathy and mindfulness.

It's that thread of friendship tangled up with our passion for creativity that has urged us to continue to find ways of creating together, albeit a country wide apart.

We don't know the future of Striking Gold, but what we do know, is that our love for sharing deeply, listening intently, seeking wildly is something that continues to give us great passion and joy....

Join in following our project on instagram:

Where words & imagery collide

Photo by Steve Rau

If you have been following my work over the past two years you will have seen that I have enjoyed producing the "Spotlight Series" where I highlight creative / intuitive women and ask them five main questions.  Initially I started with ten, but as the project evolved I narrowed those questions to five and the project is about to get another revamp in 2019.

More on that to come!!!! 

Along with taking the Spotlight to the next level for 2019, I have also found an incredible outlet in Women in Film and Teletivion Atlantic.  These women amaze me at every turn.  To be given the opportunity to interview women for their newsletter is an honour. 

As I adapt to each project / assignment I aim to hone my craft of interviewing into where it needs to be and identify what I need to grow in.

2 main things I focus on when interviewing:

Individuality

Each person is unique and that is what makes it all the more interesting to read / hear what they have to say.  You will never get exactly the same answer or exactly the same story to tell.  

Details

Those details in conversation is what colours a person and adds depth to their whole self.  Seeking out those details gives me joy and a big part of my process.  There are always delicious gems to uncover.

I am so nervous and yet excited to share with you one of my latest brewing projects...

The Words Project.

I have so often declared myself as the girl / woman with words falling out of her back pockets and this has remained true throughout my life.

Quotes are my thing, words are my thing, finding any way to describe and sum up my heart are my thing...

It's all my thing.

This project is a long time coming for me.

The concept came to me over three years ago and yet it has been one of those concepts I have avoided because it felt too real and true to me.  

How can I do this when it is the essence of who I am?

So I started slowly.  Using instagram as a way to explore the concept and yet with no commitment.  I found that no matter the likes or the comments I LOVED finding words to sum up my feelings over something and I LOVED finding ways in which to design the simple 'Amy' hand writing lay out of it all.

Without further ado 

The project page is live and stay tuned for the journey!

WORDS PROJECT PAGE

I started writing a blog on blogspot in 2010 called 'intentionally Amy'.  

I posted on it weekly and through that routine I found a renewed passion for writing.  

My writing and my voice was something that my education in ASL/English Interpreting took from me (I don't say that lightly). As a very young twenty-something I knew my voice mattered but I struggled to find it amidst the rules, the circumstances and the professional boundaries that I was now confined in. 

I needed to find, at least, my written words again.  Somehow.

Blogging became that way for me to to find my words and inadvertently, connect with living a more 'intentional' lifestyle, something I craved.

As the years progressed, I learned that not only my words mattered but my voice did too.  

I made the scary realization that the profession I chose was one that overall, discouraged my young voice and where I often found myself in positions where the rights of others, including myself, were being not only ignored but pushed aside.  

(that being said, I do want to add that towards the end of my short interpreting career I was developing a great relationship with my then, current boss & a few very wonderful mentors whom I know would have continued supporting my growth in the profession.)

Looking back, I can recognize that in certain circumstances, even as an individual providing a service, I deserved to know that I had autonomy and a voice in the situations I was in, despite being just 'a conduit for communication'.

It has been having a blog space that has allowed me to find my voice in a quiet and yet public manner.  

It hasn't always and still won't always be as eloquent or as thought out as I would like, but blogs have a way of delivering the honest state of a person and I am empowered by that.  To read the honest states' of others and to have a moment to discover my own place in this world.

It's a privilege.  

It's a privilege to have had that tiny little blog which turned into this website format where I can explore my creative and performance projects in a public and yet collected manner. 

I continue to blog as a consistent way for me to conintue my output and growth.  Consistency is important even when we don't feel like it, even when it sucks.

I will always be maintaining a blog because it is a habit that continues my work, my creativity and also in honouring my own unique voice.