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Why Creating Art Together Matters: More Than a Parent + Child Workshop
Parent and child art workshops provide more than a creative activity. They help families strengthen relationships, improve communication, build confidence, and create meaningful memories through shared artistic experiences. At Wicked Rae's, families create side by side through mixed media art, sensory exploration, and collaborative projects designed to deepen connection while fostering creativity.

Jules McVey
4 days ago4 min read


Beyond Neurodiversity: The Human Intelligences We Still Don't Have Names For
What if intelligence is far larger than IQ, grades, productivity, or traditional measures of success? Building upon neurodiversity, Howard Gardner's work, and emerging insights from learning science, this article explores the human intelligences that may still exist outside our current frameworks and what that means for education, leadership, and society.

Jules McVey
7 days ago7 min read


The Night a Cave Outside Sedona Changed My Life
Three friends entered a cave outside Sedona with sleeping bags, little firewood, and no idea what awaited them. What we experienced that night changed how I understood awe, protection, and the unseen world around us.

Jules McVey
Aug 272 min read


Fall Updates, Back to School Specials & New Programs @ Wicked Rae's 🦋
🍂 WICKED RAE’S FALL UPDATE New youth experiences, fall specials, wellness partnerships, and a BIG next chapter. School is back, fall is around the corner, and a lot is happening at Wicked Rae’s. We’ve been listening to what families, organizations, schools, and our community have been asking for - and we’re building more ways for people to create, connect, play, and spend meaningful time together. Here’s what’s new: 🎨 NEW! YOUTH EXPERIENCES ARE HERE We’re officially

Jules McVey
Aug 234 min read


Creativity Is Survival Intelligence: What Happens When We Stop Living From the Outside In?
By Jules McVey What happens when a woman's inner life is pressed so hard into survival that there is no room left for softness, desire, or dreaming? What happens when men are taught to equate strength with suppression, then wonder why fear of lack, fear of reject, or fear of being fully seen shows up in the body as tension, disconnection, or performance pressure? What happens to the body when expression is chronically postponed? Last year, when I had an emergency hysterectom

Jules McVey
Aug 222 min read


Why I Built a Safe Space for Women - My Story of Survival and Strength
After surviving domestic violence, a false arrest, and years of rebuilding safety for herself and her daughter, Jules McVey learned what it means to rise anyway. This chapter of her life shaped part of the mission behind Wicked Rae’s - the one where they create a space where women own their stories, their businesses, and their futures.

Jules McVey
Aug 203 min read


Nourishing Foods for Women’s Bodies: Why Chickpeas Can Be a Gentle, Powerful Choice
By Oakley Rae As women, our bodies are always moving through cycles, changes, and seasons. From hormone shifts to energy dips to the way stress shows up in the body, what we eat can make a big difference in how we feel. Nourishing foods should do more than fill us up - they should support our bodies and minds in a way that feels steady, comforting, and sustainable. That is especially true for women living with PCOS (PMOS). Research shows that diets rich in fiber, plant protei

Oakley Frankie Rae
Aug 192 min read


Why Communities Need More Places to Belong
After serving more than 3,000 people through art, creativity, family programs, team building, and community experiences, Wicked Rae's is exploring what comes next. Discover why we're building more than a larger space and why communities need more places designed for connection, belonging, creativity, and human flourishing.

Jules McVey
Aug 195 min read


What Heat, Movement, and Sensory Play Teach Us About Human Behavior
When you change the sensory environment—heat, movement, sound, color - you see how people truly respond to change. Adaptation, curiosity, regulation, irritation, withdrawal, leadership. Wicked Rae’s experiences reveal real‑time human behavior and team dynamics that traditional workshops never touch.

Jules McVey
Aug 172 min read


Don’t Spend 27 Years Between Your Ears
By Jules McVey Yesterday morning, putting our sign on the sidewalk, a woman in her 70s abruptly stopped and looked at me and said, "It's so good to see a face for this place - thank you for all the color you're putting into the world." Her words immediately warmed my heart. I told her thank you and that she should come and paint. She looked down and said she's too old now, but maybe she'd book a session for her grandkids but they're teenagers so they'd probably complain. Told

Jules McVey
Aug 131 min read


The Science of Play at Work: How Human Experience Design Fuels Innovation, Connection, and Collective Intelligence
We often think of play as something we leave behind in childhood. Research and experience suggest otherwise. Play may be one of the most important drivers of creativity, innovation, connection, resilience, and collective intelligence in modern organizations. Explore why Human Experience Design begins with understanding how humans naturally learn, connect, and create.

Jules McVey
Aug 44 min read


Remembering How to Be Human: Reconnecting With Our Core Abilities for Stronger Teams
Explore how to strengthen teams by reconnecting with core human abilities for improved trust, communication, and creativity.

Jules McVey
Aug 36 min read


Why Community Art Matters: Transcendence, Belonging & Creativity
Community art isn’t valuable because of the final product - it’s valuable because of the connection it creates. Research shows that shared creativity fosters transcendence, belonging, and well‑being. This post explores why making things together strengthens us individually and collectively.

Jules McVey
Jul 302 min read


Frontline Leadership Lessons From the Lake
I rarely talk about being an I-O psychologist. But the more time I spent inside organizations, the more I saw the same blind spot - and a duck on the lake reminded me exactly who actually changes workplaces.

Jules McVey
Jun 163 min read


The Sway
May 17, 1995. I was 13 years old. The room was hot, dark, and smelled like sweat and freedom. Some moments don't live in your memory. They live in your soul.

Jules McVey
May 312 min read


Hi. I'm Bones.
I'm Bones Fish. English Foxhound. Almost 11. I've lived in six states and walked in almost every one. I've been meaning to write this down for a while. It just took some time to figure out the typing.

Bones-Fish
Apr 213 min read


Don’t Forget the Parts of Yourself You Promised You’d Come Back For
A man walked into our studio and reminded me how many versions of ourselves we leave behind as we grow up. This is a story about creativity, connection, and returning to the parts of ourselves we promised we’d come back for.

Jules McVey
Mar 102 min read


A Community-Driven Initiative: Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park
Wicked Rae's is partnering with Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park for all of 2026, bringing texture-based art workshops to major community events including Spring Into Adventure, Walk N Wags, Camp S'more, and Winterfest. This mission-aligned partnership focuses on culture preservation, generational healing, and building community resilience through hands-on creativity. When art meets outdoor programming, phones go down, hands get busy, and strangers become neighbors.

Jules McVey
Dec 15, 20253 min read


When Punching Paint Becomes Peace: The Neuroscience of Somatic Release Through Violent Expressionism
In the sleep lab, I learned the nervous system is a better historian than the mind. Electrodes don't lie - even when patients say they're fine, their bodies whisper otherwise. Fast forward: swap EEG leads for paint buckets. The truth remains: your body needs completion, not cognition. When you combine motion, creation, and consciousness, you don't just regulate - you reclaim. Sometimes peace isn't stillness. Sometimes it's the sound of a body remembering how to breathe - in c

Jules McVey
Nov 12, 20257 min read


My Secret Superpower: How Childlike Wonder Changed Everything
A sex therapist, my daughter, and a trampoline on an olive farm in Grand Junction all said the same thing. Here's what childlike wonder actually looks like when it's not a practice. It's just who you are.

Jules McVey
Aug 27, 20253 min read
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