Headsmack: Conversations with Misfits Brandon Triola / "Save the Creatives" Chief Creative Officer. Author
Brandon Triola almost threw away his creative dream before it began. Now he's on a mission to save every creative professional from making the same mistakes he did.
As the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Forrest.co, a global brand and marketing consultancy serving B2B tech companies, Brandon has spent the last 15 years building award-winning brands for bestselling authors and publishing giants like Thomas Nelson and Baker. His strategic campaigns have generated millions of dollars in revenue for personal brands and global tech firms.
But his journey wasn't always decorated with accolades. After crumpling up multiple scholarship offers to prestigious art schools and battling two mental illnesses as a young creative, Brandon faced a harsh reality: creative talent alone doesn't translate to business success. Through failure, persistence, and hard-won lessons, he transformed his creative career into multiple successful businesses and a multimillion-dollar consultancy.
His bestselling book, Save The Creatives: 8 Uncommon Keys for Achieving Abundant Success and Bulletproofing Your Career Against AI as a Creative Professional, has maintained its position in the top 10 of Amazon's bestseller lists for over a month. The book's title came from an unexpected source—his editor pointing at the hat he was wearing during a manuscript review—proving that sometimes our best ideas are right in front of us.
In this conversation, Brandon shares the raw truth about caring too deeply for your work, why emotion can be both your greatest asset and biggest liability, and the uncommon keys that separate struggling creatives from those experiencing abundant success. He also discusses his vision for building a creative culture where unlimited PTO isn't just a perk but a reflection of values, and why the future of creativity isn't about competing with AI—it's about becoming irreplaceable.
Brandon lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife and four kids, runs a free community for creative professionals, and maintains an above-average jump shot for a 36-year-old dad.
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Paul Povolni (Voppa) is the founder of Voppa Creative and a creative leader with over 30 years of experience in brand strategy and design. Based in Jackson, Mississippi, he has worked with clients internationally, leading teams in award-winning branding while serving as a coach and speaker. Paul delivers workshops and keynotes on brand strategy, creative thinking, and organizational culture, and hosts The Headsmack Podcast: Conversations with Misfits. His work centers on helping organizations lead with Clarity, Creativity, and Culture.