TEMECULA — Local entrepreneur, executive producer and nonprofit founder Diane Strand has released a new book exploring how creativity can be used as a practical tool for building businesses and navigating a changing workplace.
“CreativePreneur: Use the Tools of the Arts to Grow Your Business,” released digitally Sept. 4, draws on Strand’s decades of experience in television production, entrepreneurship, marketing, education and nonprofit leadership.
At the center of the book is Strand’s belief that creativity is not limited to the arts but can be applied to business through communication, adaptability, collaboration, storytelling and problem-solving.
As artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies reshape the workplace, Strand argues that technical skills alone are not enough. Entrepreneurs and professionals also need the ability to communicate ideas, adapt to change and find creative solutions to problems.
“The arts taught me how to adapt, communicate, collaborate, tell a story, and keep moving when the answer wasn’t obvious,” Strand said. “Those aren’t just creative skills. They’re business skills.”
The book includes Strand’s D.R.E.A.M. Framework, designed to help people move an idea from possibility to action, as well as her “Pack Your Own Parachute” philosophy, which encourages entrepreneurs to prepare carefully before taking major risks.
“You don’t always have to know every step before you start,” Strand said. “Sometimes you just need enough confidence to take the next one.”
Strand is well known locally for her work through JDS Creative Academy, a Temecula-based nonprofit that provides education, training and workforce development through the visual, performing and digital arts, including opportunities for people of diverse abilities. She is also an executive producer at JDS Studio and creator of DigiFest Temecula.
“CreativePreneur” is currently available digitally, with hardcover and paperback editions and book-signing events planned for the fall.
