Episode 112: Courageous Self-Expression, Leadership, & Nakedness with Melanie Curtis Professional Skydiver + Keynote Speaker
Podcast
Episode 112: Courageous Self-Expression, Leadership, & Nakedness with Melanie Curtis Professional Skydiver + Keynote Speaker
“The most fulfilling creativity is the kind that feels like you’re standing naked in public.” — Melanie Curtis
This episode is your invitation to explore the meaning of courageous self-expression. I’m joined by Melanie Curtis, professional skydiver, keynote speaker, and life coach.
Melanie shares the BTS of her creative journey including: Skydiving naked, building an art installation, and how she uses psychedelics for deeper healing and sharper creative insight.
She also opens up about what it means to share from the scar, not the wound. Why risk is a non-negotiable in her creative process. And how “being naked” is less about shock and more about truth.
Melanie reminds you that your most meaningful work comes when you let go of how it will land, and make it anyway. Creativity isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessary to nourish your soul.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform while you cook, clean, or create.
PS: Substack curious? Listen to the podcast episode about building your new digital home on Substack. Join the Build Your Rising Substack Accelerator to share your creative projects and work in the world. Create, Launch, & Grow Your Substack
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. This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only.
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About Melanie Curtis
Melanie Curtis is a world-record pro skydiver turned keynote speaker, coach, author, and entrepreneur who dares driven professionals into accessing their massive untapped potential. With over 12,000 skydives and 30 years of experience leading, competing, and coaching worldwide, Melanie brings unmatched energy and insight to every stage and human connection.
She has spoken at organizations like PNC Bank, Athleta and NatGeo, and landed parachutes at Dodger Stadium and the Great Pyramids. She has done stunts for Weird Al Yankovic and shared platforms with icons like Gloria Steinem and Megan Rapinoe, for both her commitment to mentorship and activism for women and girls. Above all, Melanie brings heart, hilarity and real tools to help people rise.
CONNECT WITH MELANIE:
Website: http://melaniecurtis.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/melaniecurtis11/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/melaniecurtis11/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniecurtis11/
Podcast: http://trustthejourney.today/
Carla Contreras (00:01):
Welcome to Nourishing Creativity. The cycle of the last few years has left you and me feeling mentally, physically, emotionally, and creatively drained, nourish your very full life through interviews with creatives and entrepreneurs about how they create and move through their creative blocks. If you don't know me, I'm Chef Carla Contreras, a food stylist and content strategist. You can find me, chef Carla Contreras, across all social media platforms and more information in today's show notes. Welcome, Melanie. Thank you for coming on the podcast. I'm so grateful to have you here. Can you introduce yourself and how you serve your community?
Melanie Curtis (00:49):
Carla, I'm so happy. Thank you for having me. I love your energy. It is so funny how it took us some time to come together, but now that we have it is so obvious. So yes, to answer your question, how I serve my community. Well, I mean, the bullet point is that I'm a keynote speaker. I talk on untapped potential. I'm a world record pro skydiver. That's usually the thing that people remember about me, but it's only one thread of my experience as a human being wanting to really press into the expanse of my human experience. And I mean that both in terms of what I can do, achievement, creativity, and I also mean it in terms of healing and depth of connection with myself and others.
Carla Contreras (01:37):
Let's get into food. I'm a trained chef and I'm curious, what was your last meal?
Melanie Curtis (01:42):
My last meal was a bowl of Cheerios and a greenish banana that I ate right before this call because I was like, oh, crap, I'm starving. I need food. So that was it.
Carla Contreras (01:55):
Delicious. I love the green bananas.
Melanie Curtis (01:57):
Yeah.
Carla Contreras (01:57):
Let's get into creativity,
Melanie Curtis (02:00):
And
Carla Contreras (02:01):
This is my big question for you. How do you define creativity?
Melanie Curtis (02:06):
Gosh, how do I define creativity? Well, one of the things that I say a lot is that I believe deeply that courageous self-expression is our highest, both healing and contribution. So I feel quite strongly about that's a calling in me to be sort of seen, to be self-expressed. If I have something that needs to come out of me and be in the world, I'm going to find a way to do that regardless of how it is received, regardless of what impact it makes. I'm of course always hopeful that my creativity makes some kind of positive difference, but for me, it's about that brave self-expression. One of the first things I ever wrote on a bucket list was to own an art gallery and support local artists, because I've always had this deep love of artists of creativity and respected it as that version of bravery. So I would say it's connected to that for me.
Carla Contreras (03:14):
And you say this, and I've heard you say it multiple times on different podcasts, you have a voice and a platform. What does that mean?
Melanie Curtis (03:21):
Yeah, I think power comes in lots of different forms, and when people are willing to give us their very valuable time and attention and energy and engagement, man, I view that as a gift and I'm not going to mess around with that. You know what I mean? So I also recognize from the perspective of leadership where I might not be in the quote position of leadership, but it doesn't matter. I am a leader in the world simply by existing. And so if I have any platform, Instagram followers being on this show, being on another show, my own podcast, whatever, all that doesn't even matter. We can even be that leader in our day-to-day life and our community and one-on-one conversations and in that type of way. But yeah, for me, I've cultivated a community, a following, as it were over the course of my professional life and personal life. And I've chosen to be out in the world in alignment with my values and kind of what we were talking about just a second ago. And so that gives me a platform, and I am very connected to my voice and using it bravely. And so I'm going to use it for things that I think matter. I'm going to use it to uplift people and ideas that I think are going to help other folks that have absolutely helped me.
Carla Contreras (05:04):
What is your current relationship with creativity?
Melanie Curtis (05:07):
What a fun question. I love it. Well, I kind of want to share about a recent project that I did. I had this idea probably three years ago. I mentioned I'm a pro skydiver and I am a deep creative in my heart of hearts, I've never really considered myself or thought of my artwork ending up in places or spaces. It was more just this vehicle for inspiration and positive impact and my own simple growth and clearing of these energies that need to come forward from me. So anyway, the project was basically, I had this vision. I'm standing on a ladder like a really tall ladder, 10 feet tall safety person holding the bottom and basically created, built with some friends, this giant skirt made of parachutes such that I am looking like, and I'm wearing a shirt that says, I am here. And it's essentially this fantastical image and this thing that makes you look twice, double take, but it's about women taking up unapologetic space in the world where it's just like, and personally, I put it in front of a government building, sort of making some commentary on our current existence and all of that.
(06:36)
But it's really about how can we be heard? How can we take up space in the world the way we are uniquely called? Because again, that project arguably has no value. But the truth is, is that it absolutely has value because it was true and honest for me. Funny enough, the coworking space that we met through the cocoa, they asked me for a copy of that image and they hung it on their wall. This is the first time I've ever had artwork hung in a public space that was not just me participating in something fun or the cafeteria when I was a first grader. You know what I mean? So it's been interesting in opening my own mind as to where my artwork and creativity might land. I've been an author or writer, and I make videos, and I hold my cell phone up to my face and converse with the world and the people in my orbit that I feel is really creative as well.
Carla Contreras (07:40):
Melanie, how do you nourish your creativity? And I want to put parentheses around this, your creative process, and I would love for you to tie in psychedelics to this conversation,
Melanie Curtis (07:52):
So I can't not address my work. So I mentioned I'm a keynote speaker, and a huge part of that is crafting content that feels true to you, so that when you are on a stage where people are giving you that very, very valuable time and attention and heart and energy that I respect to the highest degree, yes, it's my work, but it's also a very creative thing. And so this is connected to my infinite fascination with my own potential and the potential of human beings. So what I didn't mention is I'm also a life coach. I've been a life coach, having clients for going on 20 years. That one-on-one work is so fueling soul fueling to me because of that belief in people, that love of people, and that belief in our potential and all that I've seen from just examples in my own existence, from the skydiving world record stuff to the books that I've written, yada, yada, yada.
(08:58)
So why I say that is not to be like, look at me and how cool I am and all the things that I've done. It's that it's a really important thread because my creativity is enlivened and fueled when the work has that element of pushing a boundary, pushing an edge. And so I'm not really that interested. I'm interested to participate and have experiences like, for example, my partner Ken, he runs figure drawing sessions, which I think is totally awesome. I go to those to participate, to be a part of community, to have friends do something that isn't work related. So that's still creativity to me, but it doesn't get me going. I wrote and drew a bunch of stick figures, and I make little thought bubbles about the human experience. Again, this human experience comedy. So those are threads that are exciting to me and interesting to me.
(09:51)
But the creative process itself for me is most alive when I'm like, how can I feel a sense of risk? How can I feel a sense of this is absolutely true for me, and I've now gone past that boundary where I actually have to do this? The parachute skirt is a great example of that. My last book is a great example of that. I was just like, this has to be in the world. I don't even care if it's successful, whatever that might mean. So tying into psychedelics, psychedelics have been a massive crucial component to my own healing, my own growth. I mentioned to you before we started recording about how currently I use microdosing with psilocybin to explore the, again, further reaches of my creativity. Meaning what is my creativity? What is my focus? How has it improved? What new ideas, form or new ideas come together and merge with the compliment of this medicine?
(11:01)
So that's been an interesting exploration. I think it's absolutely helping me. I love it. Do I need it in order to be creative? Absolutely not. The deeper healing with psychedelics, though I think can't go unmentioned in the sense that only by doing deeper healing work in ceremonial settings. So I've done quite a bit of work with ayahuasca and psilocybin in these higher dose, ceremonial, deeper healing, highly intentional, sacredly held spaces such that I am able to be more bravely in the world. So that is crucial. The impact of it is absolutely immeasurable on my ability to be in the world, like I said, but also in how fulfilled I am in my personal relationships, in what I choose to do with work, how I have boundaries. We were talking about my email automatic responder.
Carla Contreras (11:59):
Let's talk about your autoresponder because I absolutely adore it.
Melanie Curtis (12:06):
Yeah, my autoresponder. I encourage you all. If you're listening, feel free. Send me an email if you want, mel@melaniecurtis.com. I had many years, and I think entrepreneurs end up this way because we're building a business. We are doing something we care about. We have ideas about how we need to respond and what high quality responses look like and response time, and all of these things that are sort of baked into how we start to build a business as a younger, more youthful entrepreneur business person. And then there comes times where, and Tim Ferriss, I'm a huge Tim Ferriss fan. Again, this thread of peak performance, huge fan of Tim Ferriss because of just all the peak performers that he has on his show. Super fascinating, really high level education and insight there. But why I bring him up is that I recall years ago hearing him talk about his own inbox and how he had reached a point of success in his life and career and business that he couldn't possibly respond thoughtfully.
(13:18)
And nor did he want to respond to every message that he got. And I don't say that as a disrespect to messages that I receive. I value any person that wants to connect with me. But there is this thing of I'm keenly aware now that if I continue to spend an exorbitant amount of time in my email inbox that the goals that I have for the impact I want to make as a speaker, the dreams that I have to buy a new home for our family with a beautiful porch that we can sit on. I need to say no to things I need to consider. What does my life and business need to look like such that those things are possible and not just autopilot in the way that I've done things? Always, the email responder is essentially me saying, Hey, love you so much. Thank you for writing me, yada, yada. I'm going to respond to this person, this person, and this person. If this is not you, here are ways to connect with me, work together, yada, yada. And I explain in very brief that the reason they're getting the email responder is for exactly those reasons, those really more heart-centered goals for my kind of later chapter in my life.
Carla Contreras (14:35):
Let's go into Creative Blocks, and I'm going to ask you specifically around visibility and nakedness.
Melanie Curtis (14:43):
Oh God. I mean, tell me what you know
Carla Contreras (14:49):
Had a video. I feel like it's from years ago where you're sharing about skydiving Naked, and me as a content strategist, I was like, well, isn't this being on social? Isn't this having a podcast? Isn't this sending out a newsletter?
Melanie Curtis (15:07):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, the comical thing of that is that I think the video you're talking about is an educational sort of talking head video that I made for Skydivers who want to have the experience of skydiving naked, which is a thing in the sport. It's something that people do. I always was like, no way. I'm never doing that. My nakedness is for my partner. And that's it. Until my friend basically was like, we're going to do the naked vertical world record during the Chicks Rock Boogie, which was like a big event that I organized. So essentially, I did two naked jumps in my entire career of skydiving, and they are, I'm telling you guys, it is not sexy. It is hilarious. It is. So your skin flaps, you look terrible. It's just atrocious. But it is the funniest thing you've ever seen in your life.
(16:09)
And so for me, I just kept myself as covered as I could until jumping out, and then when my parachute opened and I just landed far away and walked in, wrapped in my parachute so that I could keep the level of modesty that mattered to me. Obviously you're seeing everybody in the video, but it's so gratuitously ridiculous. It's not even a thing. It's also not online. No one can find it, so don't even bother trying. But to your point about being naked in the world is that I think if we really care about our creativity, and I encourage people to care about it, I respect people who care and put energy toward an intention, toward any area of their life that matters to them. And so we often are taught that creativity is a luxury, that it's not a necessity, that it's not super high value thing, but I can test the exact opposite.
(17:11)
I think it is super crucial soul fuel and that it's smart to add energy to that. But where I'm going with the nakedness is the most fulfilling, liberating, transformative versions of creativity are when we feel unquote naked, when we feel like we have actually been brave enough to expose and share what's true. So that's the thing, and again, why I brought up the keynote speaking is that that's really what I'm going for. What's true now, this is with consideration of the audience, the platform, what are we sharing? Because there's a lot that can go into this notion of oversharing. I'll leave you one last thought about this idea. One of my favorite quotes about creativity, I want to say Glennon Doyle said this, she's one of my favorite writers. She said, share from the scar, not the wound. So you don't want to use your audience as therapy. You don't want to use them for that. You want to be a contribution. This is my feeling, because there are definitely ways you can use your creativity as your healing, but share it in a way that it helps you get to that healed place. Then when you are in that more healed place, you can share it more widely with people that can receive that level of sharing.
Carla Contreras (18:35):
Beautiful. I love this conversation. Thank you so much for coming on. How can we find you? How can we work with you? How can we support you?
Melanie Curtis (18:44):
Yes, Carla. Thank you. Melanie curtis.com is my website. Like I said, if you want drop me an email, I'm happy to receive it. Just might take me a bit to get there. But melanie curtis.com on Instagram. That's one of my favorite channels. Melanie Curtis 11, and I'm on LinkedIn as well. I'm just so thankful to be here with you.
Carla Contreras (19:04):
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.