Cait Oppermann, Creative Director
💭 Thoughts on Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity, the Loftie Alarm Clock, and taking in new information away from your phone.
Cait Oppermann is a Brooklyn & Hudson Valley-based creative working with brands (Stella Artois, Volvo, IBM,...) to shape their visuals and brand worlds. At 18, Cait was hired out of high school to move to NYC to work for Vimeo, where she transitioned to work as a Video Editor at their sister company, College Humor. She went on to study Photography and Art History at Pratt before becoming the 5th hire at Uber in NYC at age 22, where she started and built out the Community Management team. Following that, she consulted on Community at Skillshare before leaving to work full time as a Photographer and Director. In 2023, she left one of the top agencies in the industry to start her own company, FLOWERS, which is a creative agency focused on building more interesting brands.
🎯 Current focus
I started my substack High Thought a little over a year and a half ago and it’s my little playground for trying out new things. I’ve had IG fatigue for several years, so High Thought is a nice way for me to test out new things and be creative. I’m about to change up the format again, which keeps it fun for me.
🐌 Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
I’m working my way slowly through this book as I listen to Cal Newport’s podcast, Deep Questions, week after week. He’s someone who has been super influential to me as I learn more about how to do “deep work” as opposed to reacting to processes, apps, methods of communication that steal my attention away from the work I actually need and want to be doing. I’ve developed a practice of working slowly but steadily on a number of things that I really, really want to get done and have recommended this book to several friends who are finding it difficult to stay focused on the projects they’re wanting to make headway on.
🕉️ Mantra of the moment
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” - I feel lame quoting Teddy Roosevelt but this one hits.
🏋️♀️ Working across multiple industries and projects
Issa Rae always comes to mind no matter what. I was an avid watcher of Insecure, but in recent years I’ve heard her speak on a few podcasts about her journey and trajectory and she’s become such an aspirational figure to me in so many ways. I’m particularly drawn to the way she’s had the ability to work across multiple industries from her web series in college, to HBO, to her media company working in music, tv, film, whatever makes the most sense from project to project. It’s just cool as hell to me.
📚 Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
I recently read Michael Lewis’ latest book, Going Infinite, about the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried along with the FTX exchange and his fund Alameda Research. The book is baffling and full of contradictions, which is what I really loved about it. I also delight in having debates in my own head about how many things can be true at once, which is sometimes difficult to sit with! This book was riveting to me.
One thing I am looking forward to the most? Survivor viewing night (Wednesday) at my apartment with my friends. Episodes are 90 minutes long and that’s a beautiful thing.
📝 Taking in new information away from your phone
To be 100% real, if I come across something that interests me, I’ll print it out. I have all of these packets of paper stapled in the corner of articles or interviews that I want to sit with and take in properly, with a pen and a highlighter for notes. Between that and podcasts. I’m an auditory processor and really retain information when I’m able to be moving around doing things. I try to stay off of social media as much as possible, so podcasts are how I like to consume information - press “play” and walk away from your phone!
I am obsessed with my alarm clock. As you can see, I have developed a strong resistance over time to my phone and letting it steal my time, my self-worth, or my sleep! I’ve been hustling the Loftie Clock (and lamp) to anyone who will listen, because it’s user-friendly, comes stocked with sleep sounds I used to have to queue up from my phone, doesn’t trigger me when I wake up, etc. I just wish there were a smaller version I could travel with for work!
Follow Cait on Instagram & Linkedin and check out her studio’s website here.
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