We had the good fortune of connecting with T Lake and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi T Lake, what matters most to you?
Be bold. Of course, being bold comes with a lot of risks, specifically failure, but success comes with it too. Few things are as exhilarating as success on the heels of a bold move. At the risk of being trite, remember that the turtle gets nowhere without sticking its neck out. Being bold is exciting from the start; one needn’t wait for the outcome to experience the satisfaction, thrill and kaleidoscope of emotions that comes with the first step into making a bold move.

As for the outcome of failure, that too is exciting if one looks at it as an opportunity to learn. It is easy to argue that one learns more from failure than success. Of course success is the goal, and a sweet one it can be, Success provides terrific motivation to take oneself into new territory.

As an adventurous soul, I love stepping into the unknown and seeing and feeling the benefits of learning through that experience. I’ve ventured into many creative venues for the learning opportunity through participation, which is how I got into acting in TV commercials, movies, and theater upon taking a leap out of the corporate world. The latter most notably as a first time playwright with my first production of a solo effort playing seven roles.

In addition, I’ve performed on stage as a storyteller, master of ceremonies, and a stand up comedian. My last stand up performance was a solo effort which I wrote and produced and performed in with the promise of 100% of the ticket sales going to charity. It was a wonderful experience. In addition, my experience as a writer includes 8 books, a sports column for a major newspaper, a column in a monthly magazine, and a traveler’s guide podcast.  My artistic endeavors also include acrylic painting on canvas, an endeavor which has allowed me to sell over 100 paintings in the past 15 years, mostly featuring themes of animal respect and jungle preservation.

One might ask why the diversity? In a significant sense, the motivation in going down so many creative avenues is the joy of empathy. Yes, that’s right, I pursue these creative directions in the interest of knowing what it feels like to experience the work, what it feels like to struggle and succeed, that I may feel what other artists feel and experience first hand what other artists experience.

Ultimately, on hindsight, I must say, I love entertaining people through my work. Making a connection with people means a lot to me. It gives me a healthy view of the world and enormously rewarding outcomes that come from understanding other human beings and how they see the world in their artistic endeavors.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Through grade school I acquired several monikers, including The Class Clown and The Class Artist. These were deserved names spun out of a creative energy that would not subside over time. In my college years, my pragmatic side took over and I pursued a corporate career for 25 years after the achievement of an MBA, which put me into Madison Avenue ad agencies for 12 years before committing to 25 years of running my own consulting company, a marketing research-based business that provided creative solutions to the traditional challenges faced by Fortune 500 companies.

I retired after 37 years of the business world, unable to stifle my creative urges, which thankfully and finally won out over my pragmatism. My creative side bloomed in hot pursuit of the thrill of new experiences, including acting in TV commercials, radio voice overs, and bit parts in movies and theater. Concurrent adventures into the world of writing and art generated successes as a special correspondent for the SF Chronicle and free-lancing on various publications. Adventures into painting with acrylics opened a new creative avenue for me, notably with the success of selling my work on my website

TomasoPaintings.com. Most recently, the highlight of my creative adventures occurred with the writing and performance of a one man play featuring 7 roles about a psychiatrist who as a world famous expert in multiple personalities suddenly discovered that he had multiple personalities. “The Shrink” thrived with multiple performances on stage in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico in early 2024. This was the crown jewel of my desires for experiencing the creative process.

My next adventures include a showing of my paintings supporting animal rights in Ajijic in the summer of 2024 and the birth of my undertaking “The First Annual Ajijic Storytelling Jamboree” which features me as several different storytellers with the theme of “Didn’t see that coming!”

It takes courage to put oneself out there, in front of an audience and in front of critics, but the exhilaration of the experience overwhelms all the fears and insecurities that come with that endeavor. The ultimate reward is the pleasure I feel when I can give to the audience joy, laughter, and a thought provoking experience through my humor and the drama of life I offer up in the simplest of terms.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m not sure my goal would ever be to show a friend the best time ever. I am more inclined to present an opportunity to experience something unusual and different from what my friend may experience in their lives. The way this path becomes most likely is through a presentation of nature in some form, with the goal of experiencing its tranquility, ferocity, majesty and spirituality spun out of nature’s interface with mankind. Something as simple as a park bench in a secluded part of a wildlife preserve could be a good setting to introduce my friends to the sounds of nature, the rustle of the wind, the love songs of the birds, the activity of a pasture or forest. This sort of adventure could provide a most memorable experience for many. Simply observing the natural world can be exhilarating.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to children, to encourage them to try their creative skills and explore their creative interests. Let them learn from doing and feeling and going into the artistic world of self-expression, fearlessly for the sake of trying something different that might bring them joy and even joy to others as well.

If I were to dig deep into my past to find someone who deserves a little credit and recognition, it would be my mother. She always said to me that I could accomplish whatever I wanted if I set my mind to it. She always said, never give up. She learned this in her remarkable life, a life I wrote about in my book “The Face In the Mirror, A Story of Love and Courage” which is available in books on Amazon.com.

Website: TomasoPaintings.com or the author T D Lake on Amazon.com

Other: I’m not really on social media.

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