Creative Director | "I Like Making Spaces For Weird People To Feel Good" | MARIA STAVROU

Maria Stavrou has been an optical engineer, a circus aerialist on three world tours, a therapist, and a festival producer. She's visited 52 countries and built everything from cabaret shows to 15,000-person events. The thread through all of it? Creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be themselves.

In this episode, Maria talks about how growing up in foster care pushed her to map out a 20-year life plan at 16, why the people you work with at 22 will still be around at 32 (so treat them accordingly), a 70-year Harvard study that proves feeling understood is the single biggest factor in living a long, healthy life, and why building community to tick boxes will always fall apart.

She also shares the simplest advice for managing pressure that nobody follows: check the facts, don't check the feelings.

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