Austin - South by Southwest is everything you've heard about it. The body piercing, tattoos and vague whiff of ganga in the air mix easily with executives from The New York Times, Chile's Creative Economy, IBM, Sony Pictures and scores of other firms working deals.
Tina Roth Eisenberg kicked off things paying homage to clean and elegant design and the joys of white space. The Swiss Miss (www.swiss-miss.com), as she's called, runs a Brooklyn design studio and off-the-charts popular design blog with a million unique hits a month. She says she's found joy in living her own values and honoring her own standards, to which I say - You bet! Is there any other way?
She offered 11 principles for living well, personally and professionally. The most profound advice was to "invest your life in what you love." She added that, "Happiness matters and the lack of it affects your creative work." She enthusiastically suggested that each of us "be a master in the art of living" where work and play are inseparable. So, what's your level of creative joy and professional happiness? As Scott Belsky says, "A labor of love always pays off." Twitter @ jessicamcwade