A Podcast About Creativity
Hosted by professional photographer and content creator Matt Stagliano
Hear from the Best Photographers and Creators Working Today
About Generator
I’m Matt Stagliano, and I’ve been podcasting and hosting interviews in some form since 1999. I know what makes a conversation work, and I know when someone’s just performing for the mic.
I started Generator because working creatives needed a place to hear honest conversations about the parts of this work most people don’t talk about. The doubt. The comparison trap. The reality of doing everything yourself.
I run a portrait studio in Maine, so I live this too: the editing, the marketing, the constant grind of being a one-person operation competing against people with teams.
This show exists so you feel less alone in that struggle.
I’m not here to give you tactics or tell you how to grow faster. I’m here to have the conversations that remind you your humanity is sufficient, and that showing up imperfect is enough.
The mission:
Generator exists to remind working creatives that they’re allowed to show up imperfect. Every episode is a conversation about the parts of creative work most people don’t talk about: the doubt, the comparison trap, the financial reality, and what it actually takes to keep going when you’re doing this alone. We’re here so you feel less isolated in the struggle and more willing to keep showing up as yourself.
The vision:
I want Generator to become the place where working artists and creators can hear honest conversations that reflect their reality, not some polished version of success that only exists on social media. If this show helps people stop comparing themselves to creators with teams and resources, and instead focus on their own work and their own pace, then it’s doing what it was built to do. The vision is simple: more honesty, less performance, and a community that values output over optics.
The history:
Generator started because I couldn’t find the conversations I needed to hear. I’d been running my portrait studio for over a decade, editing my own work, doing my own marketing, handling everything myself, and I kept looking for podcasts that talked about what that actually feels like. The unglamorous, in-between moments where you’re wondering if you’re doing it right. I couldn’t find it, so I built it. The show launched as a way to have the conversations I wished existed, with working creatives who were willing to talk about the hard parts without dressing them up. It’s grown into something bigger than I expected, but the core has stayed the same: real people, real struggles, real conversations.
Recent Episodes
Join host and Maine portrait photographer Matt Stagliano while he has long, casual conversations with his guests about creativity in photography, art, business, and relationships.
Most photographers will tell you the same thing if you ask them honestly. The shooting is the part they love. Everything else is overhead. Ashley Siegert heard that enough times that she built an entire company around it.
Ashley is the founder of Vacanva, a platform that pairs photographers with nonprofits to run portrait-based fundraising campaigns. The model is built so that photographers show up, shoot, and get paid, while Vacanva handles everything else: client consultations, location scouting, permits, editing, gallery delivery, and mileage reimbursement. The nonprofits get an easy fundraising vehicle. The clients get portraits they actually wanted. And the photographers get paid work without the admin weight that burns most of them out.
Ashley came up as a producer and stage manager for ESPN baseball, building a portrait business in parallel and running at a pace that would have broken most people. When COVID killed her original tourism concept days before launch in March 2020, she pivoted into nonprofit partnerships with the organizations already in her orbit. The first campaign sold 20 packages. The next sold 30. Vacanva now has 75 photographers and is in conversations with corporate partners that could accelerate the whole thing significantly.
I met Ashley at WPPI a few weeks ago and walked away from that first conversation wondering how I had not heard about this sooner. This episode is the answer to that question.
What You’ll Learn:
- How a last-minute COVID pivot turned a silent auction donation into a repeatable nonprofit fundraising model
- What photographers are actually paid and how session assignments work
- Everything Vacanva handles on the backend so photographers never have to
- What the staff portal provides before you walk into a session
- The corporate partnership strategy Ashley is building toward and why it matters
- What is coming this summer and why it is worth watching
Resources Mentioned:
Vacanva: https://vacanva.com
Connect with Ashley Siegert: Vacanva: https://vacanva.com
Connect with Matt: Website: https://generatorpodcast.com
Instagram: @generatorpodcast
Want to be a guest? https://generatorpodcast.com/apply/
Here’s what I use to make Generator a reality:
SOFTWARE
ECamm – What I use to live stream, record my video, and conduct interviews (Only for Mac)
https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=generator
Captivate.fm – The software I use to publish every audio episode and distribute it everywhere
https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yjuymdqo
17Hats – Get 50% off your first year of the best CRM for entrepreneurs
https://referrals.17hats.com/card/stonetree
BorisFX Crumplepop– Clean up audio faster than ever before
https://borisfx.com/?a_aid=68bb347aa27d1
Cloudways – Solid, affordable Hosting for my wordpress websites
https://vrlps.co/f83e6os/cp
Pixieset – Get $20 off my favorite way to show clients their galleries
https://pixieset.com/ref/djDARTY4pa
WisprFlow – My typing gets slow, so being able to dictate anything in any app makes Life a lot easier.
https://wisprflow.ai/r?MATT1716
Fourthwall – A great selection of drop-shipped branded products
https://link.fourthwall.com/join/generator
HARDWARE
My Entire Studio Setup – This is an ongoing list of all the equipment I use in my home studio
https://www.amazon.com/shop/stonetreecreative/list/UI27EORM80W1?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_91ERYXJ9ZAQ1E4C0Q1VT
Small print: Some of these are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I get a small commission at no cost to you. I only recommend stuff I actually use.
What the Listeners are Saying
“If you're tired of podcasts where everything is projected as being perfect then you will enjoy Matt's conversations with other artists. Here he discusses with other creatives the ups and downs of being an artist without any of the fluff”
“Always excited when the next episode pops up in my listening queue. Always real conversations on what it's like being a working creative and Matt as well as his guests make you feel like you're part of the conversation”
“I am loving the content on the last 3 podcasts from Matt. Listening to them feels like I've known his guests for years. They don't hold back and Matt's subtle guidance with his questioning pulls even more from them. Excited to catch up on older podcasts and can't wait for more to come. Keep it up!”