Latin American Artist, strategist, and writer dedicated to inspire others to live
more curiously and creative, currently based in Brooklyn, New York.
1. Tell us your name, where you were born, and your first memory you have from where you began!
Marianna Phillips. Menlo Park, California at Stanford University Hospital.
Many of my earliest memories are wrapped up with the music I heard when I was very young - memory, for me, is organized like an audio catalog... filing cabinets filled with soundbites. Those earliest memories are with my dad, listening to three specific things 1) Stravinsky’s Firebird, 2) Sven Vath’s Sensual Enjoyments, and 3) Maxi Priest’s I Just Wanna Know.
2. What were the overlaying cultural themes in your family? How did that align or differ to the communities you were surrounded by?
My family is a melting pot. It was a very intellectual household. Sensitivity to art, the sciences, and culture was always extremely important.
My mother is Argentinian, a descendant of Jews who fled the Holocaust, with a history of accomplished artists and musicians. My father is Colombian and Catholic, with a long family history of scientists, builders, and politicians. I grew up learning about and celebrating both worlds, both countries, and both religions.
My parents immigrated to the United States in the late ’80s after a bomb was set near their home in Bogota, and we ended up in California. My sister and I are first-generation Americans.
My sister and I grew up in the United States, and we always felt caught in between two worlds. Not quite Argentinian or Colombian, but not quite from here either. We were in-betweeners, and it was up to us to balance those two worlds. When my parents immigrated, my mother didn’t speak any English. Our household was completely Spanish speaking, and my first language was Spanish.
As a kid growing up in the United States, I sometimes felt like a foreigner. Over time, my sister and I learned how to blend into our surroundings, but we never lost our ties to Latin America, to what being Latinx meant to our parents and our family. Now that I’m older, I don’t need or want to blend anymore. In NYC, I feel I am who I am - I straddle worlds and cultures, I’m Spanglish and I’m comfortable with that.
3. What did you like least about where you grew up? What did you like most?
I grew up in the suburbs. I didn’t like feeling stuck in a bubble. But we traveled a lot, and I saw a lot of the world from a young age.
I loved that I grew up around plants and animals. Our home was surrounded by forest, and we used to have a large vegetable garden in the backyard.
4. What was the first big idea you ever had? Did it come to fruition in some sense?
My love for science. I wanted to be a scientist. In some sense I did explore that - I had my first internship rather young at the Cancer Biology and Pharmacology Department at Duke University. I even presented a research paper I wrote for a state science competition in high school. I loved science but was miserable spending all day underground in a lab. At the time, it felt like all I saw was white walls and fluorescent lights. I knew I wanted a different sort of life.
But my love for science has never wavered. And what ended up happening was finding new ways to explore science - right now using imagination and curiosity as a compass through the intersections of science and art. Reinterpreting ideas and systems I loved as a child in Weird Little Lines. Structures taken from chemistry, biology, physics.
5. Who influenced your taste in expression as a child? How so?
My parents. They are cultured and very diverse in their tastes - I learned a lot from them. They exposed me early on to science, fantasy, and science fiction, and I’ve loved it all my life. Also, the library of books at our house. Artbooks, philosophy, math, engineering, music books...and my Dad’s record collection. I had (and still do have) a big imagination, and that shaped who I was early on.
6. What was the first full album you purchased/found and couldn’t get enough of? What did it make you feel?
That’s a hard one because I grew up around so much music. A lot of classical, but also electronic, progressive rock, jazz, and salsa. The first album I remember my dad sharing with me was a compilation CD that included David Sylvian, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Sven Vath...
7. What hobbies, sports, events, arts, were you drawn to before the age of 10? Do you feel like you’re still interacting with these same genres in your current time in life? Do you miss any of them?
I started private lessons in classical violin right before the age of four. I was also involved in art, dance, and chorus lessons. Orchestra and philharmonic were a big part of my life until age 18.
I inherited violins from my great grandfather, and keep my favorite violin near me. I feel a certain separation anxiety when I don’t have it nearby... but I don’t play anymore. I’m happy with that, at peace with that decision. It was a source of pleasure but also a source of major anxiety for much of my life. I still dance and still sing while I cook, and still paint - I’m building a better routine around consistent painting with Weird Little Lines.
9. Where do you go to find your peace?
Into books, and spending time with my favorite authors.
10. What is a lifelong goal you can’t wait to start? What is it about it that brings you to life?
To spark curiosity in others, to be a mentor - I think I can work on those two for a lifetime.
11. Where do you wish to travel that you have never been? Why?
Borneo. Ever since I saw a National Geographic special as a kid, I’ve wanted to visit the orangutans.
12. How do you connect best with other people?
Spending quality time, sharing a meal, discussing ideas. Building something together.
13. Favorite song of the moment?
This is a very hard question. I'll make a list. These just so happens to be songs I’m listening to right now:
Chick Corea and Gary Burton - Love Castle
Midlife - The Magnificent Moon
Rosalia - Catalina
Jay Electronica - The Neverending Story
Iamamiwhoami - t
Freddie Gibbs - Deeper
Top 5 Albums that I’m currently listening to:
Sufjan Stevens - Planetarium
Low - Double Negative
Miles Davis - On the Corner
Richard Barbieri - Planets + Persona
Viktor Vaugn - Vaudeville Villain
Close to the Edge by the band, Yes is an all-time favorite album. There’s the “my most favorite albums of all time” and “most favorite songs” list, but that would take too long to include. A lot more prog rock, classical music, experimental music, and hip hop.
14. What are you most proud of at this exact moment in time?
I’m proud that I still surprise myself.
That I’ve taken the leap in combining science, art, joy, and creativity by working on Weird Little Lines. Of the series I'm currently working on: On Creativity, a spotlight for artists exploring their creative process.
My past projects, for example, Co-Founding Math Plus Music, an international public art series combining math education and musical performance. Past projects represent different periods of my life. I’m also grateful for my past projects and what they taught me.
15. What is the thing you are most shy about? What is the worst that could happen if you did it?
Going all-in with my art. Worst case scenario: people won't like it? I’m working on not censoring myself and allowing myself to create.
16. What are the qualities that you value most in a friend today?
Loyalty, kindness, and respect. After that, I value direction, independence, creativity, curiosity, grit, confidence - people who inspire me.
17. How do you find your calm in tumultuous times?
Tea. Painting. Yoga. Reading fiction. Making lists. Naps.
18. What is your current greatest fear?
Swallowing pills.
19. What is your current greatest strength(s)?
Imagination. Ideation. Strategic execution.
20. What brings you the most joy?
Spending time with my loved ones, a great cup of tea, walking around the city, being in nature, music, and art.
21. How does your current line of work support your core values?
With my partner’s company Forcing Function, nurturing potential in exceptional people and bringing more joy and purpose to their lives.
With Weird Little Lines, allowing myself to foster creativity and curiosity in myself and others. Being authentic.
22. What advice would you give your 10-year-old self? What advice would your 10-year-old self give you?
“Worry less.” I was too serious as a kid.
My younger self would probably tell me “If you’re feeling nervous, it means you need to practice more. Have a banana.”
23. What projects are you working on now that you are most excited about? Why are they so valuable to you?
All my projects bring me joy and challenge me to learn quickly. I mentioned Weird Little Lines before, and working on that allows my imagination to run wild. It's me in my purest form.
24. Who would you have coffee with, dead or alive? Why?
Richard Feynman, Bjork, Frida Kahlo, Toni Morrison, Mercedes Sosa, Flannery O’Connor, Nik Baertsch, Roald Dahl, Dostoevsky, Jascha Heifitz, Maya Angelou, Niccolo Paganini, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Brian Eno, Chris Squire, Noam Chompsky… the list goes on and on.
Family members on both sides that I never got to meet.
I have questions for each of them - each of them taught me lessons and pushed me to ask bigger questions.
25. Who do you find most inspiring at this current time in your life?
My partner Chris. COVID has been stressful, and he has been such a source of warmth and calm through it all.
Also, my friends who are creating incredible work through it all. I admire their talent and tenacity. They’re such badasses!
26. Do you have a morning or night routine? If so, why are they important to you?
In the morning, I stretch, make tea, make my to-do list, and paint. Good habits and routines are very important.
27. How do you best honor yourself?
Learning to say “no”. Being careful who I accept favors and gifts from.
28. What is the craziest thing you want to do?
Visit the space station - now it feels like something that might actually happen in my lifetime. I’d love to see the earth from an outside view.
29. What is your favorite meal to cook when you need something fast, and when you are ready to invest in the kitchen?
For fast and no fuss: kale salad, or chicken and veggies in the oven. When I have time, using the mortar and pestle to make fresh pesto, or making tacos from scratch.
30. What is your favorite question to ask others?
What’s your favorite book?
31. What are your favorite travel tips?
Make friends with locals! Go to a local market and eat everything.
For plane travel: Bring green tea bags and chamomile tea bags with you and ask for hot water. Also bring a blackout eye mask, compression socks, great smelling hand lotion, face mist.
32. And of course, what is your go-to travel snack?
Almond butter packets with an apple, sparkling water, and lemon-flavored Larabars. ...
Marianna currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. You can connect + read more about her exciting endeavors at the following links below!
At Weird Little Lines, Marianna explores the intersection of art, science, and education through the playful lens of childlike imagination.
Her newest digital interview series: On Creativity explores the creative process with 50+ accomplished creatives from around the world.
She is a partner at Forcing Function, a high-performance consultancy that works with investors, founders, and CEOs to maximize their trajectory and decision making. The Forcing Function recently published its first workbook Experiment Without Limits.
Previously, Marianna Co-Founded the Math Plus Music Series, a public art series launched at The National Museum of Mathematics in New York City that combined math education and live musical performance.
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