Episode 135: Creativity, AI, and the Art of Slowing Down: Building an Innovative Business with Emma Grace Moon
Podcast
Episode 135: Creativity, AI, and the Art of Slowing Down: Building an Innovative Business with Emma Grace Moon
"Innovation is what makes me excited to show up to work." — Emma Grace Moon
This episode is your invitation to rethink what success looks like and how creativity can become your greatest competitive advantage. I’m joined by founder of Praize, Emma Grace Moon, for a conversation about AI, entrepreneurship, creativity, burnout, and why moving from New York City to Paris transformed the way she leads her business and her life.
Emma shares how building a data-driven strategy consultancy has taught her that creativity isn’t limited to artists. Whether she’s helping brands understand AI search, measuring the impact of PR, or building innovative strategies for clients, creativity shows up through curiosity, experimentation, and staying ahead of what’s next.
We also explore the relationship between creativity and place. After years of building her business in New York City, Emma realized she was burnt out and disconnected from herself. A series of travels led her to Paris. She shares how shorter workdays, stronger boundaries, and creating space outside of work have actually made her a better leader while helping her business grow.
Toward the end of our conversation, Emma shares her approach to public speaking, creative confidence, and moving through self-doubt. Rather than over-preparing, she trusts the knowledge she’s built through years of experience. In addition to the support of affirmations, breathwork, and nervous system regulation.
Whether you’re navigating burnout, building a business, exploring AI, dreaming of living abroad, or looking for new ways to nourish your creativity, this conversation is a reminder that your environment, curiosity, and willingness to evolve (and shut the laptop) all shape the work you’re here to create.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform while you cook, clean, or create. Get the full show notes & transcript below.
Questions to Reflect On:
Sit with these questions: Journal, take them on a walk, create a voice note, chat with a friend, or sit with a cup of tea and reflect on them.
Leave a comment on Substack or connect with us on Instagram @chefcarlacontreras and @aniavolovique to share your takeaways from the episode.
1. What story am I continuing to tell that no longer serves me?
2. How can I create more spaciousness in my life for creativity to emerge?
3. Where am I outsourcing my power instead of trusting myself?
4. What would change if I believed everything happening in my life was here to teach me something?
5. What part of myself is asking for compassion today?
Disclaimer: Always seek the counsel of a qualified medical practitioner or other healthcare provider for an individual consultation before making any significant changes to your health, lifestyle, or to answer questions about specific medical conditions. If you are driving or doing an activity that needs your attention, save the energy practice for later. This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only. Note: Some of these are affiliate links. I receive a small percentage of the sales. I appreciate your support of my small Latina & women owned business.
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Ania Volovique
Full Transcript:
Carla (00:04):
Welcome to Nourishing Creativity. I'm Chef Carla Contreras. If you don't know me, I'm a content strategist and food creative. Today's guest is Emma Grace Moon. Emma, welcome to the podcast. I'm so grateful to have you here. Can you introduce yourself and how you serve your community?
Emma (00:26):
Yeah. My name is Emma Grace Moon and I am the founder of Praise. We are a strategy consultancy that helps brands determine the revenue coming from channels that have just been really hard to track. So PR is one of them. AI is a new established lever that we're pushing for. We serve our community of brands and helping them sort of debunk a lot of channels that have just been really difficult for them to prove out for their companies and just working with a lot of really great founders that have a mission and a focus and they really want to scale their business.
Carla (01:01):
What was the last thing that sparked your creativity?
Emma (01:05):
Oh, well, travel always gets my juices flowing. And it's funny because my day-to-day is very in the weeds of data, revenue, like marketing channel mix. But honestly, I actually get a lot of inspiration with what types of brands we want to work with when I travel. And I'm currently in London at the moment. I live in Paris, but actually speaking English has sort of sparked my creativity again because I've been able to connect with people. Whereas in Paris, I don't have that same kind of language connection. So that's something current that's been sparking my creativity.
Carla (01:40):
And you're on Substack. Can you tell us about that?
Emma (01:42):
Yeah. We started our Substack called Business Wise. First post went up January 3rd of 2025. And there is a lot of misconceptions and a lot of frustration that brands have around PR and media. And it's really because the landscape is shifting so quickly and all the time. And as of recently, AI is becoming another category for brands to focus on of how to get their brands ranking when someone searches in ChatGPT for best pots and pans for dinner or whatever kind of prompt. And I really enjoy sharing my hot takes. I enjoy sharing what we're seeing on the ground in our research. And it's been a more authentic resource for people to follow that almost feels like a conversation versus like a marketing guidebook. It's really sharing my hot takes, sharing my opinions about the industry, where media's going, where AI is going. So it's been really fun.
Carla (02:40):
How do you define creativity when it comes to your work? And I want to put in parentheses your lifestyle in Europe, because that's actually what drove me to reach out for you to be on the podcast.
Emma (02:52):
Yeah. It's funny because again, my business, I don't feel as that creative, but my life is so full with creativity. And I really like to compartmentalize those two areas of my life is like life is fun. It's supposed to be playful. It doesn't have to be so rigid and structured, but with my business, I have goals. I'm setting KPIs. I'm making sure we're hitting revenue goals for our clients. And actually I was living in New York City before moving to Paris and I was in New York for about six years. And it was just what I needed. It was where I started my company. It's where we really took off. I got connected with a lot of the entrepreneurship bubble there, which was a gift. But then I totally burnt myself out and I felt myself just being an angry person all the time, which I am not that kind of person.
(03:42)
So I started to travel to sort of get myself outside of that entrepreneurship bubble in New York, which can be quite small. And I went to Mexico City, I went to Paris, I went to different parts of Spain and Italy. And I just fell in love with Paris because they don't like talking about work. They do not like talking about anything about money or any kind of like ambition is sort of a trigger word for them. They do not like the word ambition, which is funny. And it's actually very taboo to talk about work when you're at the dinner table. So as a result, I've got to meet a lot of really cool people that I would have never met in the entrepreneurship bubble that I was in, in New York. And you're surrounded by history, you're surrounded by very old structures and buildings and museums and art just by going to the grocery store.
(04:28)
So it's really helped me sort of think about the world in such a bigger way than a small little bubble that I'm tied to.
Carla (04:35):
And what is it like to shut down your laptop while people are still working in New York?
Emma (04:41):
Yeah. I get that asked a lot because I've been in Paris for about two years. When I moved to Paris, I was a little worried about the time difference. But to have a block of four to six hours, give or take in the first part of your day where no one's slacking you, no one's emailing you, no one's booking meetings on your calendar and you get to have whatever first part of the day that you want. I've actually gotten to a place where I am serving my team better as a founder. I'm serving our clients better as a leader and an expert. And I've been able to almost have some time back to get stuff done faster and more projects done. So actually the amount of clients that we take on has decreased, but our revenue has increased. So our value has grown exponentially, whereas we are able to get some time back to be the humans that we want to be outside of work, which is the opposite of what I though was going to happen when I moved there.
(05:36)
And I actually trialed shutting my computer off at 60 PM Paris time, which is in the early afternoon in New York time. And my business coach told me, let's see if the world burns down if that happens. So I tried it a few days. Nothing happened. Emails were sent, they were waiting in my inbox, but I just answered them the next day. And there was nothing that happened with client relationships or projects. We still got all of our things done. So by that sort of like test, it sort of just helped me feel a little bit more comfortable and now I don't even think about it. I work a regular nine to six, nine to five, depending on the day and shut my computer off at the end of the day.
Carla (06:15):
What is your current relationship with creativity?
Emma (06:19):
At Praise, because we work in the media landscape, it's changing a lot as I mentioned. And the way that customers find products and search for products is changing a lot. I was feeling like I was in a rut for the last year in my business. I just didn't feel excited to show up. I honestly felt like burnt out, but I wasn't working enough to really have that equate to burnout. So I was getting a little bit more curious of like, okay, why am I feeling like in a block? And I realized I was not being innovative in my company. I was doing the same things, the same projects, the same processes for the last six years and I hadn't innovated. And innovation and sort of staying ahead of a curve is what I love to do. And it makes me feel really excited about what I'm doing, what I'm putting out.
(07:12)
It makes me also determine what I'm doing is valuable. Because I don't want to be doing the same strategies that brands have been seeing for five years because it's no longer going to help brands in the current state. So that's why we got into the world of AI and helping brands rank in ChatGPT and different large language models. And ever since then, I am so excited to show up to work. I am learning more than ever. I'm contributing to our Substack newsletter, doing all the research, understanding how consumers are shifting to AI. And I would have never thought that I would be an AI girly, but here I am.
Carla (07:49):
Can you tell us about your creative process? And what I like to say is nourish your creativity.
Emma (07:56):
So I always say in another life I was an interior designer. My mom loved creating a beautiful, colorful home as a kid. And so I always grew up in beautiful spaces that were built to be functional, creative, fun and sort of eye catching too. And I took after my mother and ever since, that's just been my favorite thing to do outside of the day to day of my work.Because again, my work is very formulaic. It's very data oriented. And now that I'm in an AI, it's even more formulaic. It is ask a question, receive an answer immediately. That something that I've been doing to fuel my creativity is actually like creating art in my free time and also putting myself in real life situations to be surrounded by people that are interior designers or that make objects. So one example is there's this really great exhibition that comes every year to Paris called Paris Photo.
(08:55)
And every year I will go and I will invest in a piece of art at Paris Photo. And there's photographers from all over the world that come and display their work. And that is a ritual of mine that I get really excited for. And then I hang it up in my home and I frame it in the kind of frame that I want. And that sparks my creativity, which also feeds into my business as well. But when it comes to AI specifically, I think I have been able to meet so many cool people through this that I would have never been exposed to. And these are people literally crafting the future of commerce and media. And I've been able to go to really great conferences and connect with different kind of folks that are innovating beyond me that inspire me too, to push beyond the lines that I'm setting for myself.
(09:41)
And for speaking engagements that's actually come out of this is where I've started to innovate within my company and then I have these opportunities to speak about that in person. So I spoke at the Female Founder World Summit in New York City and it was a group of a thousand people. It was the most people I've ever spoken in front of. And you would think I was really nervous, but because I've put so much blood, sweat and tears into researching what we're bringing to the table and how we can be innovative at praise, I felt so confident showing up on that stage that I actually did not prepare at all.
Carla (10:16):
No.
Emma (10:17):
I did not prepare at all.
Carla (10:20):
Wow. Tell me more.
Emma (10:22):
I did that strategically actually because I knew in myself, the more I prepare for something, the more that I feel really confined to what I'm writing down or the questions that I'm going to be asked that I almost, I know in myself and I trust myself that I know my stuff. I know it. I've put in the hours. I've put in the blood, sweat and tears. I know it. And I also know it's in my brain, it's in my body. And I just want to trust myself in that. The more that I try to be like, well, you have to say it this way and you have to rehearse and you have to look at yourself in the mirror. And then I start to freak out and I don't like those kind of restrictions. It feels like restrictions to me. Whereas just really on the way to the event and on the way to the summit, I rehearsed a affirmation to myself.
(11:10)
I said, "You are an expert and you are an eloquent speaker. You are an expert and you're an eloquent speaker." And I did that all the way there. And I did box breath, which is a breath technique where you breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four, hold for four, just to also reduce the tension or calm my nervous system because that also impacts with nerves and anxiety. And I killed it. It was honestly my favorite and I think most successful speaking engagement I've ever done and I didn't prepare at all. I just trusted myself.
Carla (11:46):
What is it like to get into your body and mindset in that way? And I'm curious, have you done this before in other areas of your life or business?
Emma (11:57):
Yeah. Well, when you look at it from, this is me going into the data side of myself, but when you look at it from the scientific level, I read this book called Sapiens a long time ago and it honestly has stuck with me ever since because it really breaks down how we have become the humans that we are. And when you think about when you're nervous or anxious about something, your, I'm just going to say like tribal self feels like it's literally in danger. Something is like attacking you or prey is coming back at you versus like this is literally just speaking in a really big room in New York City. My life is not at risk. And to remind my body of that has been really helpful. And so anytime I'm speaking with investors or a really big brand, I always remind myself like we are all humans.
(12:49)
We all are just making stuff up as we go. We all created this in the book Sapiens, it talks about how sort of countries are make believe and terminology. And there's a lot of like contracts are make believe. We all just created this. So it helps reduce the pressure a little bit and remind you like, okay, well, if they did that and they can do this and I can do this, who's telling me I can't? It just helps you like calm the expectations and the tension that comes from all those nerves that build up. But I highly recommend the book Sapiens. It really just helped put things into perspective in so many different ways.
Carla (13:26):
Because you're getting into rooms with big brands and things that might appear scary to most people.
Emma (13:34):
Yeah, totally. And when I'm meeting with really big executives, I love meeting them in person and not on a call because you really just see them for who they are, which are we're all animals floating on a rock. I like to say that's like my phrase I always like to remind myself of. Not to diminish what we're providing or the value we're bringing to the world by any means. It's more just to allow us to connect on a different, deeper level than, "Oh, you're a CEO and I'm not, so you're higher than me. " Who says that? Really connecting with someone in person can be really helpful just to be like, "I see you for a human." And you tend to get that same kind of reception back.
Carla (14:13):
Tell me about creative blocks. We talked a little bit about them, but I'd love to go deeper.
Emma (14:19):
I'm fortunate to be in Europe, so that's very easy for me to travel to new countries. And something when I do travel is I always scope out a very unique design forward hotel so that I can sort of encompass that interior design element. And that is a ritual that I have for myself because at least for me, when I'm surrounded in a space that's beautiful and I may not have designed it that way, but this designer decided to do it this way. Then I get new ideas for my home and then that sort of sparks my brain to be creative in my business. So that's like a ritual that I've just planned for myself to almost like a preventative creative rut solve. And then for the business, again, reminding ourselves that it's funny because I am sort of working in the world of robots and ask a question and you shall receive, but reminding ourselves that we're not machines, we're not robots.
(15:13)
And there are times where we feel stuck or in a rut. And honestly, honoring that side of yourself and being like, this is totally normal and okay because we can tend to get in a place of like, well, I should be in a good place with this or I should have creativity around this topic as I did before. And all of those should statements tend to put us deeper into a hole versus trying to get us out. And I'm a big, big fan of taking a nap, going for a walk and getting your favorite coffee or something and just stepping away, like fully removing yourself or connecting with someone, calling a friend because then that can remind you like who you are outside of your business. And then when you jump back in, it's not as scary. But I also am a huge proponent of creating two things that you want to get done that day.
(16:02)
Because the higher expectation that we have of what we need to get done, how we need to get it done, the more we put ourselves in a rut if we're just literally not in that state of being that day. So I always write down like physically on a piece of paper, what are the two things if I got literally nothing else done that I would need to get done to feel remotely successful today? And then I'm going to take a bath and go to bed and then try again tomorrow.
Carla (16:27):
Do you feel like this is easier to do in Europe versus the United States?
Emma (16:32):
For sure. 100%. I was back in New York for this summit and we really do feed off of each other as humans.That's why it's so important to really be clear about who you're surrounding yourself with. Who are your friends? Who are you spending your precious hours of the day connecting with? Because if you're connecting with people that aren't super aware of their creativity or don't want to be, you're not going to sort of embody that in your life. And I feel like in New York, I definitely was in a place where I was surrounding myself with people that really just cared about making money, being successful. And while that can serve a point in time and place in your life, I think it was really cathartic and helpful for me to step out because in Paris on our free time with my friends, we literally will go to museums and then sit at a cafe for four hours just talking about literally anything but work.
(17:25)
About our favorite artist, about a movie we saw the other day, about politics, about something we want to make this weekend for food or an event coming up. And we just talk about random stuff for four hours and it's beautiful.
Carla (17:39):
Emma, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Emma (17:43):
Thank you for having me.
Carla (17:45):
Where can we find you? How can we work with you? How can we support you?
Emma (17:50):
So you can find me on Instagram at emmagracemoon, which is my full name. And then you can find praise on Instagram at praise.studio. That's also our website is praise.studio. And then if you want to follow our Substack, it's called Business Wise on Substack.
Carla (18:07):
Thanks so much for tuning in to Nourishing Creativity. You can find me Chef Carla Contreras across all social media platforms and more information in today's show notes. While you have your phone out, please leave a review on iTunes or Spotify. This is how others find this show. I really appreciate your support, sending you and yours so much love. I