Louis Henry Mitchell

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Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
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Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
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I want to introduce you to a Q one O
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four point three listener who is part of our early
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morning Shelley's shout outs. In fact, I think that's how
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we got to know Lewis Henry Mitchell. It was from
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the shout outs which we began for those who don't
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know during the pandemic, and we started it at five
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point forty this morning in the morning, really as a
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heads up and a thank you to the essential workers
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who were heading in early in the morning during the
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pandemic when the rest of us were staying home, and
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Lewis Henry Mitchell would always join us with a big smile.
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You could see his smile from the text, and he
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didn't have a smiley face because he has one of
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the best jobs on earth, and that being the creative
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director of character design for Sesame Workshop, which by the way,
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it had been in danger because they lost their contract
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and now they're going to be back on PBS, but
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it's also going to be streaming on Netflix. Netflix saved
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Sesame Street. That's like the headline Netflix Saved Sesame Street.
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So Lewis, Hello, Hi.
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Shelly, how are you there?
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Thanks for having I'm great. And the reason Lewis is
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joining us this morning is that in two days on Tuesday,
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his new book will be out, which you can buy,
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which is called Creative Evolution, The Intimate Practice of Creative
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Fulfillment through Guided Self Education. What does that mean?
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Well, actually, you know what. The subtitle has changed. Oh yeah,
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only only because they felt that there would be something
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that would explain a little bit more about why I
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spelled creation with a que. Right, So now the subtitle
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is how to question Everything to find your create a fulfillment.
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And that's why I put a queue there, because I
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want you to question everything about your life in order
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to be able to explore it more.
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That actually makes more sense to me, because the other
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was I thought this is too deep. This is just
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too deep. That's me.
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That's for my school. I intend to start an art
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school eventually, and that's actually the purpose statement for the school.
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But I figured I would use it on the book
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to introduce it that way, but it didn't work out,
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and I'm glad it didn't work out because this is
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much better.
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Okay, So, unlike most people, you kind of recognized at
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the ripe old age of six what you wanted to
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do with your life.
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Explain, well, when I was watching the At Sullivan Show,
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remember the Sullivant Show.
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Oh sure, beetles, Yeah, exactly.
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Well, I didn't care about the Beetles. I kep Muppets
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because when Ed sell of them say and here come
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the Muppets whatever he said, I do a sliding run
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in front of the TV. That was my time, and
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I'd watched the Muppets, and you know, I always loved him.
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And then at the end, Jim Henson would come out
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to shake at Sullivan's hand, and I didn't care about
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him either because I didn't know who that was. But
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then one day he came out and he still had
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Kermit on his hand, and that's when it blew my mind, said,
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you mean a man was doing that again? Six years
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old back then was different than six years old now.
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But that's when it triggered. Something snapped in my head
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that never snapped back, and I considered that's when I
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got hired for Sesame Street, because again I was only six.
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But it never left my heart, never left my mind.
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I kept searching out for more and more about the
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muppets and everything, and then eventually I saw Sesame Street
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without even realizing what I was watching. I saw the
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claymation at the beginning that was forming the words Sesame Street,
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and I didn't know what I was watching, but I loved,
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so I kept watching. Then I started seeing puppets that
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look like the ones I saw India Sullivan show, So
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wonder if it's the same man. Sure enough, it was
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Jim Henson, and he became like my first real hero
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creatively anyway, as far as our goes. He's the first
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person that really turned on that thing that I needed
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turned on. It was already in me, but it was
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Jim Henson that turned it on, and that's how I
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got to says some she basically, at what age.
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Did you know that you were so good at art? When?
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When did it start?
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Well, you know, the thing is that all kids are.
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They all start drawing before they start to ride or
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you know, speak even and it's something that children just
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have kind of innately, is that they're talked out of
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it as time goes on. That's the thing. Goodness. My
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mother kept encouraging me to keep drawing. But yeah, it
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was just that something that I just kept doing, and
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eventually his teachers started seeing it. There was a gift there,
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and more and more people were encouraging me. So I
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didn't think about a career back, especially at six years old.
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But as time went on, I started realizing there are
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other people that are professional artists, either comic books or painters,
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and I said, maybe I can do that too. So
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it just clicked because you know, kids know they're great artists.
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And there is this great story about a little girl
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that was drawing a face and the teacher came and said,
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see that's very nice. Who is that going to be?
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Is that a picture of your mommy? No? No, so
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is that a picture of your daddy? So no, who's
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that a picture of?
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It?
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Said? What's the picture of God? Said, well, sweeter, nobody
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knows what God looks like. And she said, well they
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will when I'm done. That's when kids know they're great artists.
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So you don't have to really try to teach them
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how to be honest. You have to protect them so
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they can continue to be artists throughout their lives.
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I am speaking with Lewis Henry Mitchell. He is the
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creative director of character design for Sesame Workshop. Name some
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of the characters you've created so people have a point
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of reference, because I mean, you really do live the
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life when it comes to your job.
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Yes, it's such a gift. I'm so grateful for it. Well,
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I guess I designed quite a few. We have what's
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called the RC Muppets. They're on the race, ethnicity and culture.
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So there's let's see some of the new ones are like,
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her name is Nave from from Ireland. Then we have
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tj Ever been from the Philippines. They have different ones.
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But the most famous muppet I designed, her name is Julia.
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She's the autism muppet for Sesame Street. And the weird
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thing about that is that I have been volunteering on
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at the school on Staten Island as a friend of
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mine Rachel London, Well, Rachel and McCarter. Now, she said, Louis,
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she'd be great to go and help these kids. I said,
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but I'm not trained for them, and she said, you
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just have to love them. I said, well, I can
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do that because I love kids. And when I fell
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in love with all these kids and worked with two
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kids on the spectrum and Sesame Street didn't know that
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I was doing that, just like I didn't know Sesame
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Street was working on and for autism. So it was
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this beautiful, serendipitous thing that happened. When I come in,
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I had to stop because I was using all my
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vacation days to volunteer. So I was felt bad that
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I had to stop. But I was in my office
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and doctor Jeannette Bettencourt, the person in charge of the
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Autorism initiative, came and said, Luis, you know, we have
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a brand new character. We've been working on this autism
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initiative for ten years and now we think we know
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how to begin. After ten years, they learned how to
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begin the process is we need a new character. And
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that's when she came to me for Julia and the
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rest is like history, I guess, they.
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Say, working for Sesame Workshop. Although it was a dream
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for you, the dream did not come easily. At one point,
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at the last point, tell this story. You were ready
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to just stop. Yes, you had applied, applied, applied. Take
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it from there, Lewis.
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Yes, I had, you know, because a dream was to
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actually work for Jim Henson Nonsessment. She well, I wanted
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so badly to work then, and I kept sending my
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portfolio and they said, oh, your portfolio is wonderful, but
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we don't have anything right now. I said, okay, well
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I'll just keep trying. So I would add another piece
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here and there and it said submitted again, and they
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were like, oh, wonderful, but we don't have anything for you.
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And I had a teacher in college that told me, Louis,
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you're aiming way too high. Sessama sheet, that's way too high.
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You should make the kind of goals that you can
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actually meet. But sessame chet, that's aiming way too high.
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And at first I believed them. My mother told me
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that he doesn't work there, so don't listen to him.
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So I kept on trying and it took me eight months.
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That last month I was submitting it. That last four weeks,
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I was submitting it every week, hoping that something would happen,
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because that teacher can't be right. I know I belong here.
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But after that eighth week, that last week, I went
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and say, no, what if I don't get some kind
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of real work. Yeah, they're saying nice things about my work,
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but if I don't get a real job, out of this.
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Maybe the teacher was right, maybe need to quit. So
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I said, I'm going to leave it one more time.
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If I don't get something positive, that's it. So sure enough,
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I left it there and I went back home and
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there was a message waiting for me. Remember the old cassette. Yeah,
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the light was beeping, I mean was blinking, and I said, wow,
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I wonder if that's from Sesame Street. I said it's
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probably not listened to it, it's sure enough. It was
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a man named Jim Mayon who became like my mentor.
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And he said, you know, I really like your work.
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I had heard your portfolio was going on. I hadn't
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seen me yet, but when I saw it, I thought
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you could do some work for us. I'd like to
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get you started on the projects. Can you call me
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up and we can have a meeting. And I listened
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to I wore that tape out. I just kept playing
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it over and over again because it's like my dream
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is coming true Sesame Street. So finally I went and
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met when the men needed. Sure enough, it was a
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wonderful opportunity. I became the number one licensing artist for
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like three years, and then they asked me to come
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on full time. So I believe in dreams coming true.
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I don't dreams are not fantasies. Dream a seeds. You
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just have to warn them until they get to the
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place where they actually start to sprout, and then you
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have to cultivate. You have to do the weeding that.
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There are going to be people that say you can't
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do this, you can't do that. Those are the weeds,
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not the people. But the things they're saying are the weeds.
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You have to plug out so you can continue to
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go on the path that you know is yours. I
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knew it was mine in my heart.
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What about people who aren't sure of what their dream is?
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I mean, you and I both agree that everyone has
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a purpose in life. Yes, some people are lucky enough
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to be aware of that purpose. I think most are not.
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How do you become aware of your purpose? What do
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you have to open in your mind, in your body? What?
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So this is a very good question, Shelly, and I
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didn't really have an answer until I wrote my book
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Creative Evolution. That really helped me to really understand this. So,
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if you don't have a purpose, or you don't know
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what your purpose yet is, that means you yourself are
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your purpose. You have to become the best person that
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you can be. Go back and look at your health,
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go back and look at whatever education you might have,
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go back and just start making yourself your own assignment.
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When you do that, you start getting healthier, you start
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getting clearer, and then whatever that other purpose might be,
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it's going to be revealed to you once you get
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rid of all the things that are kind of distracting you.
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So that's what it is. Your purpose is you until
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you find what the other purpose really is.
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How do you encourage people who, like you, kept getting
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rejected and like you said, you were about to give
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up that dream.
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Yes, Well I learned. It took a while to learn this,
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but I learned that the rejection is actually a form
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of direction. If somebody's saying no, that means you don't
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belong in that direction. But you have to keep looking
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for the yes, keep on striving for the things that
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you're looking for. Like me, I kept on going for
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sesame until I got the yes, even though I came
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close to giving up. But I think that was just
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testing my wherewithal to see if I really really wanted this,
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because after eight months of trying, it was really difficult,
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but sure enough I stayed with it, and that's what happens.
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People just have to stay with it. Things are revealed
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to those We don't decide our libr We shouldn't decide
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we should discover it, because there's something already in there.
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I really believe it's revealed in childhood. But a lot
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of times people think children don't really know enough. Like
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when I was a kid, I knew about Sesame Street.
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Probably when you were a child, you knew you wanted
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to talk to people and share. So the thing is
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that if you stay on your path, eventually it's going
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to be revealed to you what it's for. But a
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lot of people have talked out of it way too early,
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and that shouldn't be talked out of it at all,
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because you need to at least try something. The only
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way you really know something's not for you is by
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doing it, reveal itself whether it's for you or not.
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By the doing, you don't ever have to sit back
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and try to figure things out. Who can figure out anything.
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You have to follow your heart. That's how I got
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dissed Mistry.
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He anuway, we only have about a minute and a
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half left. What if we not touched on that you
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want our audience to know either about you or Creative Evolution,
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your book that's coming out this coming Tuesday.
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One of the things I say in Creative Evolution is
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that everyone's an artist. Everyone. I know people don't think
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that way, but everyone is an artist because what you're
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actually creating is your life. Everybody's creating your life, whether
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they know it or not. The decisions you make, the
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things you turn down, the things you accept, all those
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are like you're almost like your paints, your different colors,
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and you're actually making a masterpiece. You just have to
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be deliberately moving in that direction. Do it on purpose,
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you know, create your life as an artist working on
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your artwork rather than just trying to see where it
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goes or see what happens. Be engaged, be intentional about
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the direction that you are goes. And also, I like
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to think of myself as a child. I'm still that
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six year old kid that so Jean Henson on at Sullivan.
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That's why I'm still excited and thrilled about life. And
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that's the direction I go in as a child. I
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keep that red at the floor.
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Front, you know, Lewis. I have a theory on life
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and that is half of it is choice and half
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of it is fate. So I think the fate part
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of it is that things come into your path, and
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the choice is do you do those things? Do you
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enter into a relationship with this person? It's all laid
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out for you. But then you have the choice, and
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a lot of people are afraid of making that choice,
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so they miss out on these opportunities. But that's just me.
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That's how that's how I feel.
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I'll work for you.
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Yes, yes it did. And let me tell you, I
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was terrified when I was offered my first radio job.
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I was absolutely terrified. But I did it. But I
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did it, and I did it without taking what did
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my father tell me to take? No, it wasn't xanax
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at the time, I forget. But I thought to myself, well,
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if I take that before I go on the air,
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I'm going to have to take it every time I
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go on the air. So I'm not going to do that.
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Good for you.
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So the book is creative evolution. Thank you so much,
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Lewis Henry Mitchell for being you and for being a
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Q one O four point three listener.
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You've been listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio. A production
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of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
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three