Adaptability as Advantage: Keeping Your Creative Spark

Join host Molly Baker for a candid conversation exploring what it means to build a creative career inside a corporate world. From navigating a company acquisition to working in a male dominated industry, this episode unpacks how our guest has learned to protect her creative spark without losing herself in the process. She shares insights on knowing your worth, resisting hustle culture, and why the grass isn't always greener. Whether you are a creative in a corporate role, rethinking your own career path, or simply looking for permission to choose happiness where you are, this conversation delivers honest, grounded insight for building a career on your own terms.

MB (Molly Baker): Without telling us who you are, what are you thinking about professionally these days?

GT(Grace Steel Travers): My career is at a big growth opportunity right now. I'm really leaning into how I can grow in my role and take advantage of the trajectory the company's on, and figure out where I fit into that picture. I'm trying to get in the right rooms with people at work and have conversations about what's next for me.

MB: Do you feel like the company's changing a lot?

GT: Yes. We were acquired a couple of years ago by a big bank. We were a smaller shop, and now we're a bigger shop, and there's a lot of cultural change happening. I wasn't sure where I was going to land in all of that, but now I'm getting my footing and I feel really inspired and motivated to level up and ride the wave a little. You can't just wait for things to happen, you have to have the conversations you can have.

MB: What are you really good at?

GT: I think I'm really good at pulling at the heartstrings and tapping into emotion. I've always been behind the camera. I'm a very sentimental, emotional, nostalgic person, and I think that comes through in my work naturally. I also think I'm good at disarming people, whether I'm behind the camera or on set. I can adapt to a situation and get people to feel comfortable.

MB: Do you think you're good at reading people?

GT: I think so, it's a Cancer thing. I can walk into a room and feel the energy. Being a highly sensitive person can be exhausting, because you end up taking on other people's energy. It gets me into trouble sometimes, because if someone's having a bad day I have to remind myself to stay in my own lane instead of taking that on. Sometimes I'm too good at it, I'll think someone's being snippy and then I'm overthinking my response, too in my head. I wish I was a little more analytical sometimes, but it's who I am.

MB: I heard someone say recently that your single biggest strength is always your biggest weakness too.

GT: I totally believe that. I always say sensitivity is my superpower, but there's a shadow side to it. It reminds me of how the quality you fall in love with in your partner is also the thing you end up hating the most.

MB: What do you think has been the most pivotal moment in your career?

GT: This might sound like a boring answer, but I'd say it was when I got my first promotion. I don't think I grew up understanding my worth when it came to money, and it's okay to admit you're money motivated. I remember being a production assistant for a company in Philly and thinking I might not even get paid, and being fine with that. Then I got my first big promotion and started making enough to live in New York City, and that was pivotal, because I realized creativity and money could coexist. It was pivotal professionally, but also personally, realizing my worth and that I could keep fighting for it.

MB: And there's value, you're bringing value to the table that's worth money.

GT: Exactly, your time is worth money. That's something I had to learn. Money is such a complex thing we don't talk about a lot, especially as women.

MB: Why do you think that is?

GT: I have no idea, honestly. I work in a very male dominated industry, and I think I'm a confident person, but that was something I always struggled with. Part of it was how I was raised and the philosophy around money growing up. Starting young without going to film school, I found myself just happy to be in the room and taking whatever I could get. Money was never really part of that mindset. No matter who you are, you should remember your worth. That's the advice I'd give my younger self or anyone starting out: know your worth and don't be afraid to ask for what you want.

MB: What's something people misunderstand a lot about your line of work?

GT: People always assume that if I work at a bank, I work in finance, and then I have to explain what I actually do and no one really understands. People are also confused because of my Instagram, they think I just travel all the time or ask if I even work. Honestly, I can't post the work I film at work because of compliance, so that's why I don't share much of that on my personal account. I do actually work really hard.

MB: What relationship has been most impactful on you professionally?

GT: I have to say my husband. He happens to work in the same industry, so he's been a confidant and a mentor, someone I can talk shop with. He's also helped me with confidence and knowing my worth. I remember one time I didn't know what I wanted to do next and was all over the place, and he wrote out ten steps for me to take. I still have the piece of paper he wrote it on.

MB: Okay, so tell us who you are and what you do.

GT: I'm Grace, and I'm the head of video for TD Securities, a subsidiary of TD Bank.

MB: What does your day to day look like?

GT: I work on a lot of different things within the bank. My day to day could be anything: filming research analysts in the studio for a new video series I just launched, building a treatment and shot list for a corporate or charity event, planning travel for an upcoming conference, or brainstorming with my team. It really runs the gamut every day.

MB: What do you enjoy most about it?

GT: I love the autonomy. Even though it's a really big company now, I still feel like I can create and produce things and be met with, great, let's try it. I just launched a video series called Hot Seat, where I bring in an analyst and ask them off camera the questions investors really want to know. They have sixty seconds to answer it on camera. That video is doing really well. There's not a ton of red tape, things have to go through approvals and compliance, but it's very much a test and learn environment.

MB: What do you find most challenging about it?

GT: I'd say it's that it's a small team, and I still struggle with the corporate world a little bit. When I started I thought I'd be there for a month, and now I've been there eight years through the acquisitions. There are pros and cons to everything, the grass isn't always greener. I've stayed because of the benefits and the pay, but it's tough not having as many people to bounce ideas off of. When I started, everything I made, people thought was amazing, but it was really just one camera in a dark studio because nobody there even knew how to turn a camera on. I wasn't really challenged, and I like to be challenged. Now we're growing our team a little, and I'm feeling more of that camaraderie. But I do learn a lot about financial topics I'd never learn otherwise, and I find that really interesting.

MB: From your days at previous companies, like the NFL, and your freelance or passion projects on the side, what do you think you've learned from those that you bring back to your full time job?

GT: I've had so many little freelance gigs and side projects, I've even shot weddings. I think of it almost like a trade. I've been the biggest nobody in a room and I've known the most out of everybody in a room, and finding that flexibility, knowing who you are and being adaptable, is something I've brought to my role as a leader. If someone doesn't know something, I try to take the time to teach them, because people did that for me when I didn't know how. There's a lot of paying things forward in this industry.

MB: What's something you wish you knew earlier in your career?

GT: That the grass isn't always greener. I didn't think I'd be at this job as long as I have been, but I am, and I'm really happy and grateful for the benefits and feeling motivated right now. A lot of people struggle with wondering what if or thinking they could be doing more, but there's something to be said for choosing happiness where you're at.

MB: At twenty one, did you think you'd be doing what you're doing today?

GT: I don't think I thought I'd be at this company for eight years, but I always saw myself in more of a full time role than freelance, and I'm happy with that because I have the security of it, plus flexibility for passion projects on the weekends.

MB: If you could give one piece of advice to someone just getting started in their career, professional or otherwise, what would it be?

GT: I'd say try to learn a tangible skill set. It could even be something personal, like knitting, or it could be professional. I feel for people who don't have a creative outlet, because I think that's part of why people get burnt out at work, when there's nothing they're creating just for themselves. For me that was being behind the camera, taking photos, and making people smile.

Find Grace on Linkedin and Instagram!

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