Rachel Mae Zeolla, Creative Director at NBCUniversal, meets up with The Reflex Blue Show while at the 2024 HOW Design Live conference in Denver, Colorado.

We talk about her being eaten by a shark on The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (I have been fortunate to have a LOT of great guests on the show over the years, but still get amazed by the things people get to do in this profession, and this one is just cool), Chucky, Suits, Wynonna Earp, Hacks, her talk at HOW about fandom and how to use marketing to tap into it, how a musical theatre background helps in marketing, and more.

Enjoy.

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Aaron Draplin stops by, I mean, more like I crashed his merch booth in the lobby to talk to him about closing down the 2024 HOW Design Live in Denver. And wow, that merch table has grown over the years to truly be a sight to behold.

After that, I speak with Stephen Gates about his talk, which was followed by an immediate, and basically unplanned, open Q&A chat – maybe next year he’ll finally bring that band he works with to HOW as well.

And on the other side of the lobby, I find Rick Griffith near the pop-up bookstore run by, well, his bookstore. I will say, I was very happy to see a bookstore return to the conference, and such a well curated one at that. It was also worth the walk to the actual store the day before.

And that wraps up – wait, one more, very brief cameo to close down the daily recaps from Bill Gardner, who celebrated his birthday in Denver by giving his yearly LogoLounge Trend Report.

Recorded on September 25, 2024 in the lobby of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House during the final day of 2024’s HOW Design Live. I recorded eight podcasts while there, and they will be released over the next few months.

Enjoy.

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Debbie Millman joined me backstage just as the 2024 HOW Design Live was starting up. We talk about The Shop at Matter, her upcoming book, “Love Letter to a Garden“, breaking the elevator at the San Francisco Sterling Brands office within minutes of when we first met, podcasting for almost 20 years, and more.

Recorded on September 23, 2024 in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Moving HOW Design Live to a creative venue was one that was a a big hit – seeing the main stage speakers in an Opera House really added to the creativity and inspiration of the event – one I would love to see continued.

As usual, the speakers were great (Debbie helps with selection of a number of them, which we also discuss), being in Denver is always a week to remember, and I can’t wait to see what next year brings. Until then, I will be back this week with two more daily recaps, and will finish off Season 17 with eight podcasts recorded during the event.

Still can’t believe that Design Matters is going to be 20 in February, as it also reminds me of my own podcasting beginnings later that year…

Enjoy.

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