Branding & design strategist Jessie McGuire was born in El Salvador and adopted by a “wholehearted feminist” single mother. She grew up exploring her creativity and getting encouragement to go to art school. After a few degrees and a slew of work experience she’s now the managing director of ThoughtMatter, where she’s fostering a culture of work worth doing, building a justifiable case for creativity and spreading the gospel of curiosity, thoughtfulness and generosity. And redesigning the constitution, nbd.

Graphic designer Paula Scher grew up drawing pictures to escape a turbulent home life. Later, rebelling against suburban existence, she ventured to art school and became a hippie, and then art directed album covers in NYC. She’s been a partner at Pentagram since ‘91. In her ~50 years in the business she has blazed trails, upended boys’ clubs, committed “typographical blasphemy,” given form to the zeitgeist, and earned herself a reputation as one of the world’s most influential graphic designers.

In this special Clever Extra, we’re sharing a rebroadcast of another podcast 2VDE Media produces for Neocon called NeoConversations. What does it take to effectively design brand character into a space? How can brand values and purpose be communicated through materiality, visual language, ambiance and experience? What’s in the tool kit needed to implement a design program company-wide? Amy Devers explores these questions with Renee Hytry Derrington, International Design Lead for Formica Group, and Abbott Miller, a partner at world-renowned design studio, Pentagram.

Brand strategist, OG podcaster and all-around badass, Debbie Millman, traces the genesis of her branding talent back to the Stayfree packaging at her father’s pharmacy, shares the poignant details of how a pair of lime green Levi’s helped her cope with a painful childhood and just generally oozes wisdom and deep thoughts with every word. Plus, she offers a revelatory distinction between courage and confidence and has an enduring fondness for potato chips.