The Truth In This Art: Stories That Matter

Music

Rob Lee: Welcome to The Truth In This Art, your source for conversations, connecting arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee, except no substitutes. Today, I'm excited to welcome my next guest on to the program, a thin, Maryland-based, multidisciplinary artist and creative leader, celebrated for her impactful music and commitment to uplifting women artists. We'll be discussing her journey as a musician, as well as her work with the Making Her Mark Foundation. Please welcome to the program, Ruut. Welcome to the podcast.

Ruut: Thanks so much for having me. It's a pleasure.

Rob Lee: Thank you for coming on, Making the Time, and it's one of those things where I started following you on social, and I was like, on Instagram specifically, and then I reached out, you said yes, and I was like, okay, let's make this happen.

And then I thought March would be perfect for some of the different circles that you operate in. So if you will, could you introduce yourself in your own words? I'd love to set the stage, you know, starting there. I have a follow-up question, but really starting with an introduction, because I think we have to control our own stories and those online bios, while they're often great, I like to hear directly from the person.

Ruut: Well, I appreciate that. Thanks for letting me share about my music and about my kind of my creative endeavors. So I'm a Finnish singer, songwriter, composer, and writer. I was born in Finland, and I moved to the states in my teens. And I'm also the founder of Making Her March Foundation, which is a nonprofit here in Baltimore that supports women artists. There's a lot more to my bio, but that's basically what I'm doing these days.

Rob Lee: Thank you so much. It's always good to get it directly from the person. Like, I've had intros done for me else like that, not how I describe myself at all, and not how I would describe myself any time. So, you know, this sort of follow-up question setting the stage, could you talk a bit about when you first realized you were creative and wanted to pursue a life that creativity was a big portion of it? Because, you know, there is obvious overlap. It's like, oh, I'm only creative between the hours of three and five.

And it's like, I don't know if that's how it works. So if you will, could you share when you realize you were first interested in creative or creative expression and when you wanted to pursue sort of a creative life?

Ruut: Yeah, so my answer is kind of interesting because music found me as a child. I sat at the piano in our family apartment and just started playing and writing songs.

I was probably about seven years old at the time. And music and film and visual arts all run in my blood. I have a lineage of artists in my family. My grandfather's a composer and my dad is a filmmaker.

Lots of visual artists and my parents are actually classical musicians who met in conservatory. So there was never a time where I didn't do music, where I didn't pursue it, where I didn't prioritize it. But I would say that the way that my life has gone, I for the first time maybe at age 24 kind of took the reins into my own hands and took a risk and started pursuing it professionally. Up until then I had been part of a pretty controlling evangelistic environment. And I took a social risk to kind of lose my connections and I turned my back and walked away. And so that resulted in me going on this like 15 year hustle in LA, in New York, in Nashville, pursuing it professionally. And I learned a lot. I collaborated with a lot of incredible people and really was a journey back to reclaiming my own artistry. So maybe this answer isn't like your typical like, I decided to take on an artist gig on top of my other job.

It's kind of the other way for me. Like I've always been an artist. And then in my 30s I actually went back to school and got a degree and became an educator. So I did it in reverse. And now I'm back doing music full time.

Rob Lee: It's great to hear. And going back to one of the things that definitely connected for me and put a light bulb on for me. You mentioned sort of at 24 sort of taking that risk. And I started doing this as a creative pursuit at 24. And so 17 years in, right? And prior to that, writing poetry, doing art, you know, in different ways and just trying to find it.

So it was always there just trying to find the sort of right spot. And, you know, at 24, like in this job, I'm like, oh, this is cool. I guess I guess this is fun. And taking sort of a financial risk, if you will, of taking, I've said this before, but taking the last $500 a hat on me to go across the country. And I've been doing it ever since as a big part of my life. Yeah.

Ruut: Yeah, that's it. It's funny you say that I think that a lot of a lot of artists, a lot of creatives have it simmering just under the surface. It's not so much like, oh, let me look in this creative arts magazine and choose a career. It follows you around. It calls on you. And the more you ignore it, the more miserable you become.

Rob Lee: So yeah, I think I think Austin Cleon calls it like Phantom Limb syndrome or what have you. It's like, oh, you you stopped doing that for a bit. And now you're you're sort of back, but you you still really like playing the guitar and you put it down for a while. And you have that inkling to play the guitar is not going to go away.

Ruut: That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's basically like my whole thing with making her mark. We'll get into it later. But it's it's like, we all have it. We have that not all of you know, not everybody has it as strongly, but artists have it and we tend to avoid it for various reasons.

Rob Lee: I like I like the tease right there. I like that tease. We're coming back to it. One of the things I found a research that thought was interesting was sort of those a nickname the Baltimore's piano girl. So I like this and I have I've gotten a nickname. I don't know if I can do it.

I don't know if I can use it. But people know me for the thing that I do. I do the podcast and folks will say, oh, that's Mr. Podcast right there.

Or, you know, sometimes I'm not Rob. I'm just truth in this art. I literally had a guy nearly get into a car accident to say, hey, you know, that's truth in this art right there.

I was like, watch the light, bro. And I'm like, at least get my name right. You know, it's really funny, but it's really cool also to be recognized for the creative thing that I do are, you know, creative talent. How does that feel for you to be recognized for your creative talent and sort of having a nickname outside of the talent piece, but just sort of that reputation piece when you get a nickname? It's like a love thing, I think.

Ruut: Oh, my gosh, that's I mean, you put it that way. Yeah, it's totally an honor. And by the way, you totally can have that name because you you're doing it. You've been doing it for so long and it's really an honor to be among the creative guests when you've hosted this really great, great podcast. But I don't know, like part of me, like I get I get a little bit like funny about recognition because of course it's so nice when people start to recognize like, oh, this is you're an artist and you know, we they come to you for that thing and it's so awesome. I just know that I've I've become more watchful as I've gotten older to pay attention to how much I love the process of creating over like the response I get from the external world. So it's just something that I can't control. I can't control how people are going to react to what I make.

But and also for my own mental health, like I really, really want to find like a sustaining practice. And so I try not to pay too much attention to like, you know, what how other people see it, if that makes without sounding like I'm so grateful when people love what I do. But it's, you know, it's all about loving the process of making and that's really like my my safe place, you know, and so I really protect that.

Rob Lee: That makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. And it echoes sort of the conversation I had this past weekend, actually, with my partner, I was talking about just sort of, you know, you have this sort of, I think we you're creating something or you're not getting maybe the result that you're looking for. You're kind of really in the process, like, you know, sometimes booking interviews and moving things around from my perspective.

I can be a little frustrating if I'm being honest at times. And, and she'd asked me she's just like, is it you want to get a certain number or a certain number of episodes or what have you thinking sort of in that end result sort of way. I was like, that's for other people. I was like, I wanted to be able to enjoy sort of doing this and I've had some weird back and forth with a few guests that was like making us a challenge. And, but I was like, that's part of it and I get through it and I build up on that. So the sort of process portion of it the internal the machinations portion of it is really for me and I think the same applies for someone who's a painter that may not be figuring something out or someone who's a musician who might be stuck on sort of a musical component of their work. It's like that that tinkering with it that being in that process is very much for them, regardless of the end result.

Ruut: Yeah, absolutely. Yes, it's all part of the process. You know, I'm a mom, I have two young daughters, they're teenagers, and they're so, they're so, to no surprise, I'm sure they're very artistic and very much passionate about certain creative expressions. And if I can instill anything in these kids before they leave the nest is to really find the joy in that creative expression, because I don't want them to feel like they're tossed around the world, based on kind of how the world responds. I want them to return to that creative practice.

I mean, they're going to do what they're going to do. But this is something that I wish I'd had growing up, just like this, this gift that you have this talent, this passion that you have. It's your refuge. It's, you know, what God put inside of you and you're meant to do this with your life. And because of like so much trauma around it and so many expectations and all the stuff that happened to me personally, like, it wasn't fun.

And, and so then I went in and like tried to pursue it professionally. And you forget why you're in it, you forget why you're doing it. And so I actually took a long hiatus and went into the classroom and did some other things. And it was so helpful to step away for a while and to really come back to it for the right reason. And so now I would say, protect it, protect that magic that you feel when you're in your studio, when you're, you know, doing your thing, protect that with everything you have, because, you know, the world will change its mind about you all the time. And if you pay attention to reviews or comments or any of those things, like that's not where the source is, you know, the source is always like in you. And so, yeah, I'm just, I don't know, I'm just becoming like really watchful of that just for myself, you know.

Rob Lee: Thank you, Root. That's, that's great. That's great to hear. And, you know, and a person on note and for folks listening, I think it's definitely something that serves as a important reminder. So let's talk about music a little bit, because you know, I can't have, I can't have a musician on, you know, multi-discord never been a musician on and not talk about music.

So, you know, gotta be gauche. Let's go back to maybe one of the earliest instances. Could you talk about maybe first song you wrote, performed, just a song that sticks out very, very early in your creative like arc that sticks out for you?

Ruut: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I've lived many lives. Like, you know, I had my like life in that community that we traveled with my mom was a missionary and I wrote so many songs for that community because I was really like hungry for approval and we had I came from like my broken family and so I think I was like, it was like a love drug. It was like, I'm going to write a song that everybody approves of and then like, you know, I get this like response and, you know, you're amazing kind of thing. So at the same time, growing up in that environment, I was like secretly writing like poetry and lyrics and things that were not very kosher.

And, you know, I've always had this kind of like undercurrent of like, well, who am I really because I'm not doing this for me. And I think the first one of the first songs that I wrote after, you know, that kind of that turning point my early 20s, I got married really young and I wrote a song called anchor and it's it's a love song for my husband and I'm filled with him. It's been 22 years and he just I already back then kind of had this feeling like he was such a friend to me because I we right away we saw like things were going to be different.

We were going to have a very different kind of journey and and I can't tell you to this day that song is like one of the most important songs I've ever written. And it's still so relevant and it's we're going to talk about it a little bit when we talk about Steinway sessions, which is the next question.

Rob Lee: So you have this special edition Steinway sessions is being reissued through meridian ECR and later later this month March 27th I have down. Yeah, what made now the right time to revisit and re-release the recordings and we released a record. What made you decide to sign with meridian ECR. Let's talk a little bit about sort of those two points sort of the release and sort of the signing.

Ruut: Yeah, it's it's amazing to have been on this journey for you know 20 years and to find the label that you know connects with you as a person like later in life like I call myself like a light bloomer because I mean I did like sign deals when I was younger but I wasn't really asked to be you know deep and soulful and it was like this is what sells and so let's do this kind of thing and so with ECR meridian I've just had this incredible collaboration and the reason I signed with them. We were talking and they said they're not just interested in my music they're interested in my story. And they're interested in my story as an artist what I've been through and how that story translates into my music and that just hit home I was like okay this is the right label for me these are the people because I have a story I've been through something and it's the fuel for my work with women artists it's we all paused at Steinway we all were like okay this feels really raw and true tell us what you were going through at this time you know and I recorded that album live in a Steinway restoration atelier in one evening. My dear friend Tanya Regear who was a sculptor artist in Los Angeles had this Steinway atelier in the back of her garden where her husband at the time David was the restoration expert and she had heard a piano vocal demo of mine and had fallen in love with like that pure sound of just me singing to a piano and she invited me to come and play the piano. And then we became dear friends she became my mentor and she invited her brother Frank who is still is an amazing sound engineer in LA to come and to record me that night and so it was really thanks to their kind of. Guiding and guarding guarding me I was like a new bird in LA and I was in a nest and they were keeping me safe and they were like okay you can take a risk and the risk was. You know up until then I had worked with labels and producers and managers who were trying to find my sound outside of myself.

You know this is what sells and this is on the radio and this is what's going on and. And then Tanya and David and Frank were like when you sit at one of these Steinways and you sing just one of your songs that you've written that's you and that's the raw real root and. And so we just captured these songs and there was that same electricity listening to them 15 years back like you know later and. We decided it's just a really perfect way to start our relationship with meridian to do a remastered version and I'm so thrilled because it's kind of like reclaiming my voice and coming back. It's a little bit nostalgic but more than that honestly it's like a fresh beginning it's like starting over and I just feel like I'm just getting started so it's just yeah it's awesome.

Rob Lee: That's it tracks based on a few of the things you said earlier being being protective right and being able to go back and sort of having those experiences that you were you were touching on a moment ago of perhaps. Maybe other folks in different labels early on trying to craft where you could fit at versus accepting what you're actually doing. I run into that and actually helping to to cultivate what you're doing like like polishing and helping to refine it and really saying this is great. Let's bring it up versus maybe you're great. Let's give you something different to do and I encountered that a lot so I definitely felt that I was like. Let me put this mute button on because I want to chime in and I feel that in doing this I interview the people I interview I present what I present and folks will tell me hey it's great.

But then I get it all the time of we need to change what you're doing and I'm like I don't know if I want to do that and the changes are just what's sort of popular what's really going right now. For context I'm six foot four so it's just like oh you should do a sports show. I was like I don't care about talking about sports I want to talk to interesting creative folks and really help help them share their story and one of the other things you touched on with already an ECR is sort of the you of helping you elevate and share your story through your work.

That's what I'm interested in doing these interviews not just you know tell me about your color what's your songwriting process purely how long should a songwriting process be. Or whatever the thing is I want to know who the person is that's making the great work.

Ruut: I love that yeah that's that's so good I believe in that I believe in the power of the artist. I really appreciate that and also you know I'm having a little bit of a moment of deciding not to be done. You know I'm forty five and proud of it and you know women my age. Don't stick around you know in the creative field they do I'm finding more and more like I'm meeting more and more courageous amazing women but. There is a little bit of there's ageism and there's things like that and you know it's it's really easy to get sucked into all all those negative kind of energies but. If you focus on the individual who's creating the art.

And no one else can do exactly what that person can do and so. There may be some similarities there may be some genre comparisons there may be like you want to know like if you're a writer you want to know like what bookshelf they're going to put you on a farm to know well like it's really important to like know how you fit into the marketplace but. But it's it's so important to go deep into your quirks and your things that make you unique and this is where I'm saying like my story really matters and what I've been through matters. Yeah and so and that's also like why I care so much about working with women artists because I feel like the more I talk to them the more I hear the same story like oh I just feel like you know I'm not relevant anymore or. There isn't a place I'm not seeing someone like myself you know like representation.

Rob Lee: The point you were making there about the quirks that's literally a question I used to use almost the exact wording so what are those quirks and those unique qualities that make you you creatively it was some version of that I was like are you telling me my question back to me which would be really funny. But yeah it is it is a thing where you're you your perspective your experiences your story make you you and your approach to whatever it is that you're doing maybe there similarities as you're you're touching on from a job or perspective or maybe the topics you're curious or covering but. I think it's important also to be very protective of the you in it because once that goes away you know everything external of the person I think it's kind of fickle. You say oh yeah we like this next week or we like that the week after and so on but if you're continually doing the thing that feels good and feels true and authentic to you and that you love. You know everyone else their job perhaps to catch up with is your job to keep doing the thing that you love and that you're curious about your interest in.

Ruut: Yeah absolutely that's the only way you're gonna unearth all the gems you know like. I am you know this brings me back to my my mentor Tanya because not only she was she like you know root I want to hear that raw voice like I want to hear that honesty and that authenticity but. It was kind of like just having that safe space of being able to explore ideas together and be completely safe like I can share what's on my heart I can share who I am and what I've been through. You actually can discover like you already have like your desires laid out you already know what you're capable of you know like your abilities you know kind of like your potential it's all in there.

But you need a safe space to like unearth and uncover those things and so that's why like. How I was so lucky to have met her and to have that space with her.

Rob Lee: That's really important. It's great that you had that experience and those memories and that sort of just that impact on you. I hear it, you know, in your voice of the importance of having a mentor and a friend in that way.

Ruut: Yeah, yeah. I'm glad that you can hear it. I think I have like a little book of Tanya-isms that I filed from my journals and, you know, not every now and then I'll flip a page and I'll resonate with me still. You know, she passed away two years ago from brain cancer and after that I kind of lost my footing, you know, and I had to become my own champion to some degree. But that's when making her mark was born really out of that loss. It's like, how can I honor her legacy? How can I honor the relationship that we celebrated that, you know, she uplifted me as an artist and as a woman and as a mother, you know, how can I pay it forward? How can I do the same for other women? And it just kind of, it just kind of happened.

Rob Lee: So that's a, it's actually a good spot for us to go a little bit deeper in because you've touched on, you know, sort of, well, actually, let's go back a little bit. When, when did making her mark like, like, like start in earnest and you did touch on, I think, one of the specific challenges that there are others that come top of mind, please share those. But let's talk a bit about making her mark. Yeah.

Ruut: So we've only been, been in existence for about nine months. So we're like a baby org. I, I can't believe like the response we've gotten from our community here in Baltimore. There's also been like an incredible response, like nationally, just my contacts everywhere that I've told about it.

Yeah, the issues are really universal. The more I started talking to my communities and meeting with women artists, I discovered that, okay, yeah, maybe I've had an, I've had this like really unique story as a songwriter or whatever. But like the feelings are all the same, you know, we, we like lack the structure to be able to commit to our art. And there's like, we have to get past the gatekeepers, there's like sexism, ageism, there's lack of opportunity.

Then there's like, we're usually the caregivers, like there's all these, the stories were the same. And especially talking to like older women, it was like, I have one regret in my life. And it's that I wish I had kept up a creative practice throughout all those years, because I just focused on making money and I didn't make my art.

And so it's been an unbelievable richness for me personally to be able to have this wisdom from all these women. And so after we, I, we launched in September, and by the time we launched, I had done interviews and research, and I had talked to arts organizations locally and nationally, and just gone deep inside to kind of like, well, how can we stand out? How can we be a little bit different? Not for the sake of being different, but like, how do we fill a hole?

Like, is there an empty hole for women artists? And I kind of came up with like three, like three aspects where we can really step in the first ones, like emotional, like, just the sustainability, basically, because women are facing these external barriers already, where they shouldn't on top of that also hold all these internal barriers, like, you know, confusion about their vision or like, insecurity or lack of support. So that's the number one thing is to give them like a safe space. So we have a mentorship program. The second is more practical, because so there are a lot of great organizations who or that provide practical inspiration for artists to make their artistry more like business, you know, be more business minded. But something that we do that's unique in our mentorship program is we match a mentor and a mentee from two different disciplines.

So you can just like an experienced culinary artist. And the way that those two creatives connect with their unique audiences is going to be very different. But when they talk about it together, it can unblock new, fresh ways to market themselves. And so we've really found that this is so vital to this program is to is to match people, not in the same discipline.

Right. And I think like, I'm kind of proud to say, but like, I think it started with me and Tanya, because I was a musician, and she was a sculptor artist. But like, I'd be writing a song about taking a leap of faith, and she'd be sculpting her thing called leap of faith. And we were totally aligned. And then we would talk about the process and how we're going to reach our audiences. And we always had this exchange.

And it would have been boring if we were both musicians, and we were both trying to crack the same nut, you know? So that's that's the second aspect. And the third aspect is the community impact, which is different. Also, like, we really look at women artists as playing a role in cultural infrastructure, like there's all this research, all this evidence that shows that neighborhoods that have, you know, lively art scenes, like theaters and amazing, like, original restaurants and places where people can interact and participate in the arts, like those kinds of neighborhoods and communities thrive. And they're, they have healthier economies, and they really like overall impacts like a country's economy. And so we want women artists to move from the scarcity mindset of like, Oh, my art is this luxury that I don't have time for, to this like abundance mindset of like, my art can make my community stronger. And really start to think of themselves as like an integral part of a healthy community. And I mean, I think the inevitable result is just going to be a more sustainable art practice. You're going to be able to make more money, you're going to be able to grow your audience because you're benefiting others with your guests.

Rob Lee: That makes that makes a lot of sense. And I think one of the things I'm going back and thinking through sort of just having the tools, having a community, having the mentorship to a lot of times, and I want to hear your take here, but a lot of times, I think, and doing these interviews, and being someone that does this, it's a loneliness that's there. So not having perhaps a mentor, not having someone to say, Hey, you have, you know, so much effort or time or resources, giving you perhaps a few different ideas of where to point it, which I really like that having a mentor who gets the sort of creative aspect, but it's not doing the same type of creative work that you're doing. I make those comparisons in conversation. A lot of times I talk to chefs and chefs and I, we have really interesting conversations. And I'm like, Yeah, you guys like musicians and here's why they're like, I've never seen it that way, go on.

And it maybe changes that approach. Or I had a conversation with a painter and sculptor who does very politically inclined work, but it's a sense of humor to it. And I was just like, it's a comedian sensibility to what you're doing.

And has like, you see the light bulb go off, he's like, Oh, you're making comparisons that I never thought of. So I love that that you're doing that and making our mark, making that sort of that mentor connection.

Ruut: Yeah, yeah, the mentorship program is our pride and joy. It's really our flagship program, although we do other workshops as well and other events. But yeah, I see it really becoming kind of like the thing that we do is we is creating this space space for artists to connect with each other.

Rob Lee: And in connection is so important. I think, like, especially now, like, when, let's say last year, when things sort of maybe regressed a bit in certain areas, especially creatively with funding and things of that nature, the thing that popped in my head just immediately was sort of two ideas, this notion of like a stranglehold, like it's being cut off and how do you get oxygen back to it and breathe life into it, right? And by it, I mean sort of a creative economy, creative community. And I was just thinking, I was like, it has to be with the community, it has to be people getting together, supporting each other, paying it forward. And in the last three years, but really concentrated, well, this will be the third year, but really concentrated in the last two, I've picked up being an educator doing the sort of podcast education thing and seeing that so many people are doing podcasting and that thing is changing.

And I want to present it as a viable place that everyone can go into. And frankly, in some of the classes I'm teaching, I spend a bit more time with the young women in the classes, the girls, because it's like, it's just young students that had high school students and college students. And I pay more attention. I'm heard. So here's your opportunity to look at dig sort of podcasting as a outlet to share your thoughts.

Ruut: Yeah, that's really cool. I love that. Yeah, we definitely, I mean, I have a big vision for making her mark. But one of the things that I really am passionate about is like young girls who are aspiring artists, you know, that that time of life when you're when you believe anything's possible, that's the time when you need a mentor, you know, when you really need that day of space. So I really I love hearing that.

Rob Lee: Yeah, try to try to use the you know, once I once I got into late 30s and into the 40s, I gotta gotta be a mentor, I gotta pass this, this knowledge and education on, you know, whatever I know. And, and I find like just meeting folks where they're at, of course, you know, now moving to the last question I have, but of course, on the the first day I had in the high school class, I was teaching one of the one of the girls in the class that kind of old you look like my dad, I was like, wow, I feel like I was shot. And but then she ended up being one of my best students in there or was another young lady in there who's just just having, you know, just needing a little extra attention. It was just like senior year, you know, and it was just really kicking her butt. And I wasn't sure how to get through because I don't have an education background. And I, after maybe a few weeks and kind of getting some feedback and some advice from different folks as the art school, I was just like, we had like an exercise where we're all recording.

And I'm just giving prompts, I say everyone pick up, you know, you know, your teammates and all. And we had an odd number of students and this young lady had missed multiple classes. So she never had a chance to pair it with anyone. So she comes in there and it's like work to do. And I was like, well, I guess you're partnering with me. And she's just like, oh, am I? And I was like, yeah. And I got to kind of sit with her and hang out. And I got her to come out of her show. And, you know, she wants to be an actress. And we were talking about Marvel movies and all of this different stuff.

And I had no idea. And, you know, we had a really cool conversation. And after that, she wanted to do all the recording. She was like, every time like, I want to record this, I want to talk about this, she's doing podcasts by herself. And I was like, this is great.

Ruut: You inspired her. I love hearing that. That's the cool story.

Rob Lee: So here's the last question that I have for you. I read this quote, I believe is attributed to your thing. Art saves us. What does that phrase mean to you now at this stage of your career? And in 2026, after revisiting the Steinway sessions and through your work with making her a mark, what does art saves us mean to you?

Ruut: Well, I mean, when I was younger, being able to express myself, I would like play the piano and write my songs. And it was such a, it was such an escape from the circumstances and from the emotional turmoil that we went through as a family. And it was just such a beautiful plan for my life that I always had this creative expression.

And I always was encouraged in it. I think that I have this kind of like this theory that we go through certain things to, to learn certain lessons, and then integrate that into our art. So like, for example, like a lot of my songs touch on returning to yourself, you know, letting go of all the pretense and the false identities that you carry around to please others or to fit in and finding your truth and returning to your truth.

Like that seems to be like kind of my life theme because of what I've been through. And, you know, if I was able to heal as a result of processing those things through art and through music, and if I can create a beautiful experience for other people through the art that I create, like maybe someone else can also heal. And so that's what I mean when I say art saves us. Like, I think that I honestly think art is going to save us. Like, the world is going to beep and art is going to save us.

No, but seriously, I really, really, really believe this. Like, it's how we learn empathy when we're children, you know, we read books and we watch movies, we, we, you know, hear stories and like oral storytelling is a huge thing, you know, for how our brains developed and our imagination evolved through empathy. And so, I just really, really believe that we go through things.

And then if we can process those things, the trauma and the lessons into some kind of a beautiful artistic experience that we share with others, and other people can benefit from our experiences, it's not insane that we went through those experiences.

Rob Lee: It's beautiful. I 100% agree. All right. So I think that's a good spot for us to kind of close on the major portion of the pot. I got a little, some housekeeping and by housekeeping, it's a rapid fire in the sage advice segments. And the rapid fire questions, these aren't going to be specifically arch related. It kind of go into the person a little bit, because I found early on in doing the show, you'd ask these questions, and it's nothing about the person. I was like, let's get about the person a little bit. So you don't want to overthink these questions. Very quick answers, whatever you have top of mind.

All right, here's the first one, with all that preamble out of the way. When, let's say, whether it be part of the year, part of the day, when are you most at your most creative, whether it be writing, whether it be just coming up with ideas, when are you at your most creative? For me, it's on a train. I'm always coming up with questions on a long train ride.

Ruut: Yeah, no travel is so good. I would say 5 30am. It's not the most rented. My dog knows it. She gets me out of bed. I make coffee. I sit down with my laptop and I write my novel. Like, I'm just like, my brain is going faster than I can catch up. It's early mornings are like it for me.

Rob Lee: Yeah, that tracks. I get up super early around that time. I usually go to the gym. The only creative thing I'm doing is I'm going to move this weight. But, but yeah, definitely getting up early. And if I'm on a train or something, or from coming back late, I was in Philadelphia last week. And I wrote a majority of questions for two interviews for this week. And that's usually the hardest thing for me kind of starting. It's like, all right, what is the story? It's like, I have, you know, sort of the background, maybe some talking points. But what's the story I'm trying to craft here? So that's always sort of a challenge.

And maybe coming from Philly, maybe when I hit, depending on how many stops it's going to be, I'm like midway through. Here's all the questions. I got them. Let's go.

Ruut: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, there's something about moving, like being in a moving train or playing. It's the same for me. But consistently is the early mornings. That's right. Now, here's the second one.

Rob Lee: What is your favorite way to unwind after a long day?

Ruut: I like to drink a nice glass of Pinot Noir and cook something yummy. It's like, I love getting in the kitchen. And one of my daughters is like, really passionate about cooking.

And she wants to be a chef. So it's become our thing together. We like, plan a recipe and get the ingredients. And it's just so much fun. I love being in the kitchen. It's good.

Rob Lee: That's, you could have, you have no way of knowing that this is going to be the next question. What's an element of Finnish cuisine you would suggest to someone maybe curious about trying Finnish food for the first time?

Ruut: I mean, my favorite aspects of Finnish cooking are probably more Nordic anyways, like salmon, like smoked salmon, you know, locks or like, you know, with dill and capers. And I love, I love just any kind of like fish seafood.

But you know, we have amazing things that are also just only in Finland. Like there's this certain kind of dark rye bread that Fin's make. That's so delicious.

My sister knows how to make that. Let's see. What else?

Well, I don't know how much you like candy, but we eat like that salty licorice, salty black licorice that has ammonia in it. It's not even a leak. It's not even lingered in the US anymore. Wow.

Rob Lee: I think I've heard about that, that particular candy, maybe in a comedian's bid. It's like, I had this candy. It's like, a little salty. He's like, I don't know what's illegal here.

Ruut: Yeah, it's like, so like, you get hard burn after like five pieces, but Fin's are hardcore, you know, we could just like, we can withstand the heat and the sauna. We can eat a whole bag of it and not feel a thing.

Rob Lee: You're selling the ticket. I love it. That's all of my questions, you know, hardcore, hardcore Fin. So here's the last sort of question I have for this podcast. This is the sage advice and thank you for indulging me on the rapid fire because I think it's always fun to get a peek behind the curtain.

So sage advice. At times it's hard to balance personal responsibilities with creative work. Parenthood for some, especially creates attention. My partner has a couple of kids and as a writer and it's just like, I'm trying to balance all of these different things. So could you share how you perhaps manage all of your or manage maybe not the work, but how do you operate with all of the different creative interests and work that you're doing while that tension of, you know, Parenthood and these sort of the personal responsibilities are there and what advice could you share in that area to folks having trouble sort of balancing and having that tension that's there with Parenthood and creative life?

Ruut: Yeah, I mean, I'll try my best to give advice, but, you know, at some point when my my daughter started to demonstrate their interest in their own like specific disciplines of art. I had this kind of realization that it would be selfish of me to not to not let them witness like a healthy art arts career.

If there's someone in their house who has a passion and a vision, and I'm not doing my best with it, it's a it's kind of a missed opportunity. So instead of like thinking like, oh, I'm such a bad mom because I'm so dedicated to my art, I actually believe that like, as long as they know that I love them and I'm not neglecting them, you know, like they know intrinsically that they're my priority. I think in the long run, they're going to benefit from having watched me enjoy the process of being a creator. And I mean, like they get to see all of it, you know, like if I don't get an opportunity or a grant that I applied for, like everybody partakes in my pity party for a couple of days, like I'm really sorry that happens too. But you know, I think that's also important because they get to see how I process disappointment. They it's really, really important for them to see the fact that I took a risk and I took chances and then I got denied.

I failed, but then I got up and I tried again. So like if they're not seeing that enough as their creative parents, like where are they going to see those skills? So I think that the advice is heal your relationship with your art. Take time to fix your relationship with your art first, and then let your kids see you thrive as an artist. And I'm just going to plug this because I'm also in the nonprofit world, but like, how are we going to change the negative societal narratives about the art? You know how the kids are always told like, we'll have a plan B. How are we going to change that? It starts at home. You know, we can perpetuate more positive cultural outlook towards the creative arts and creative fields. If children are growing up seeing their parents thrive and enjoy, you know, their their career. So I say take pride, take pride in it and don't apologize.

Rob Lee: That's a great answer. And thank you. You did a good job there. You were a little on the fence initially about advice. You did a great job there. I felt that. So that's kind of it for the real for all the questions.

So you you know, you got an A so great, you know, there's a great, this is great. It just so you know, so in these final moments, there's just two things I would like to do. We'll close out after that. One, I want to thank you for coming on and spending some time with me. We've been here about an hour.

This has been a treat. And secondly, I want to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners pretty much everything, all of the pertinent details, dates, websites, social media, all that good stuff. The floor is yours.

Ruut: Okay, well, first of all, thank you, Rob, for having me. It's been an absolute pleasure to talk about the stuff. It means so much to me and so fun to have friends who care about it. So you can find me online, root artist, that's my website rootartist.com and all my handles are root artist. I'm going to be sharing lots and lots of music this year and doing my collat my new record deal with ECR meridian. And I've got some shows coming up. So check out bands in town or Spotify or my website. And then also, if you're a woman artist seeking connection and mentorship, come to makinghermark.org. We're in the Maryland area, but we are quickly moving around the country. So we're here for you.

Rob Lee: And they have it folks. I'm going to again thank Root for coming on to the truth in this art and telling us a bit about her journey as a musician and her organization, making her mark. And for Ruut, I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You just have to look for it.