This bittersweet podcast started as a chance for Kelli to sit down with two creative minds, Jim Rivett and Shelly Young, to discuss art and life. We are saddened to now post this episode after learning of Jim’s passing. During this episode, Kelli was given the opportunity to meet with Jim and Shelly Young to talk about finding self-satisfaction and genuine joy, both in their careers and personal lives.

What began as a deep but upbeat conversation has now become a reflection and celebration of the talent that this world has lost. Please keep Rivett’s friends and family in your thoughts as you listen to the wonderful dialogue these three got the chance to share. Thank you, Jim, for the beauty and knowledge you shared during your time with us.

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About our Guests: Jim Rivett (August 16, 1958 – August 23, 2018)

Maybe it’s because he was a junk-picking junkie who was addicted to scouring curb sides, attics, and flea markets for creative inspiration.Or maybe it’s just that he had dangerously high levels of adrenaline. Whatever the reason, Jim had an uncanny ability to quickly bypass clutter and zero in on missed treasures, like a brand’s authentic value proposition, for instance.

A Green Bay native, Jim’s earliest ambition was to become a serious painter until post-graduate study at the New York School of Visual Arts fueled his interest in design. While he always continued to sketch and take to the canvas, he was more often than not inactivity-challenged, which accounts for his 30+ years of success in advertising.

Don’t be fooled by Jim’s gentle spirit and soft-spoken manner. He had a wicked sense of humor and took pleasure in finding the most outrageous ways of achieving fun daily. Not to mention he was a man of profound integrity.

About our Guests: Shelly Young

After 10 years of producing numerous successful series at Wisconsin Public Television-PBS, while simultaneously contributing to various independent films and videos, Shelly met Jim in the aisle of an antique store. The rest, as they say, is history.

Shelly is the junk-picking yin to Jim’s yang. The Myrna Loy of antiquing to Jim’s William Powell. Full-time, however, she’s KHROME’s ace producer who believes “making moving pictures is the greatest job on earth” (and we’re all thankful she does). Using keen observation skills, Shelly develops full-bodied, client-reflective content, then cheerfully shepherds video projects from creative conception to complex completion, all while remaining radiantly composed in Bakelite bangles.

Despite the Tellys and Emmys on her shelves, Shelly’s true joy comes from her three fur babies and French vanilla iced coffee (hold the sugar, no cream). And anything chartreuse. Oh, and that vintage Blenko vase. On that divine mid-century table. With Russel Wright dinnerware.