White Water is new podcast about creative urgency and the crazy things that happen when we ‘ride the wave’ of life.
Hosted by Panakin’s Founder, Maya Guice, each episode features candid stories of tenacity and grit from individuals leading creative ventures that span industries, mediums, and borders. If you’ve got an idea and don’t know where to start, come hang out with us in the white water.
It’s cold and tumultuous…but if you don’t get in, you may never catch a wave, baby!
What is White Water?
In business, creativity, and personal growth, White Water is that critical transition phase where we leave our comfort zone and ride the wave toward our dreams. It’s a period marked by creative urgency, where the pressure to innovate fuels rapid change and unexpected breakthroughs.
I start the podcast with a four-part breakdown to bring the metaphor to life. Listen to the trailer.
Read the blog on Medium.
TRAILER
ENTER THE WHITE WATER:
The Ocean Doesn’t Come to Us
WHITE WATER — PT I
The Edge of Action:
Answering White Water’s Call
WHITE WATER — PT II
Waiting for Wind:
White Water, Weather, and the Conditions for the Right Waves
WHITE WATER — PT III
Effort is Part of the Elegance: Ride the Wave Like You Mean It
WHITE WATER — PT IV
The Detour is the Destination: Where the
White Water Meets the Road
FULL EPISODES
EP 001
Reimagining Altadena:
The Fire, The Future, and the Case for a Rethink
Can imagination help solve a housing crisis?
In this episode, I join Kacy Keys—one of LA’s most influential women in real estate—and my mom, a lifelong Altadena resident, for a drive through a neighborhood still healing post fire. As we take in what was lost and what remains, Kacy and I talk about what happens after the fire: the slow rebuild, the policy gridlock, and the deeper housing crisis it exposes. Listen in as we explore how imagination becomes a tool for recovery, how local politics have stalled development across LA, and what it might look like to reimagine housing from the ground up—not just in Altadena or the Palisades, but citywide.
EP 002
VICTORIA CASSINOVA
Creative Alchemy & the Deliberate Art of Becoming
Painter Victoria Cassinova survived a five-story fall—and turned that life-altering moment into a masterclass in creative alchemy. From learning to walk again to redefining her path as an artist, Victoria shares how she transforms pain into purpose, and why manifesting your dreams often requires us to slow down to speed up.
Victoria is an LA-based visual artist whose work explores the unconscious and unseen. Her bold, multimedia style blends striking portraiture with abstract textures, touching on themes of identity, resilience, and community. Known for her large-scale public murals, her distinct voice has made her a sought-after collaborator for brands like Netflix, Disney Pixar, Adidas, CNN, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and more. She’s also contributed to political and social justice initiatives through powerful visual storytelling.
Entirely self-taught and fiercely expressive, Victoria’s art is as much about social commentary as it is about beauty, placing her among the most compelling creative voices in LA’s contemporary art scene.
Listen in as Maya and Victoria talk about what it means to be in the White Water——the messy, powerful process of turning change into creative growth.
EP 003
JAMES WALLMAN
Community, Creative Urgency & the Relentless Work Required to Bring Something into Being
Author and futurist James Wallman has spent decades making a simple but radical case: that we are moving from materialism to experientialism, toward a world where experiences, more than things, shape our culture, our economy, and our sense of what’s possible.
In this episode of White Water, Maya sits down with James to talk about the slow, relentless work of building something you believe should exist—long before there’s proof, polish, or consensus. From founding the World Experience Organization—the world’s first global institution dedicated to the experience economy—to cultivating a truly international community of designers, strategists, and makers, James shares what it takes to turn conviction into infrastructure.
Together, Maya and James unpack the reality of community-building as a business practice: the patience it demands, the responsibility it carries, and the emotional endurance required to stay with an idea over time. They explore the experience economy not as a buzzword, but as a human-centered shift—one that asks leaders to think beyond transactions and toward transformation.
A bestselling author (Stuffocation, Time and How to Spend It), keynote speaker, and advisor to everyone from global brands to cultural institutions, James is both a thinker and a doer. His story is a masterclass in perseverance, belief, and the quiet courage it takes to build something simply because it should exist.
Listen in as Maya and James talk about White Water at scale—the uncertain, unglamorous middle where vision outruns the map, community is forged slowly, and meaningful change only happens if you’re willing to keep going without guarantees.
EP 004
Tommie-Waheed Evans
On Teachers, Guides, and How dance will change the world.
Every surfer needs someone who's been in the water before. Not to clear the path, but to help illuminate the way through.
I imagine if you are a traveler, moving in and out of the white water, from one sandy beach to the next, you are likely meet many people who can walk you through each phase of life. People who can get you into the white water, people who bring you back to shore, people who equip you with the tools we'll need when its time to hit the road once more. These are teachers, parents, coaches, mentors. Maya uses the term, 'guide'.
In this episode of White Water, Maya sits down with dancer, choreographer, and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow Tommie Waheed-Evans, a man whose entire path has been shaped by guides who showed up exactly when they were supposed to. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tommie trained at Hamilton High School before receiving a fellowship to the Ailey School in New York. He has performed nationally and internationally with Lula Washington Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and PHILADANCO!, one of the most storied Black dance companies in America — where he now serves as co-artistic director. He holds an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University, taught for twelve years at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and has been commissioned by companies across the country, from BalletX to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He is a Princess Grace Award recipient, a Research Fellow at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, and the founder of waheedworks, his Philadelphia-based company.
Together, Maya and Tommie explore dance, mentorship, arts business, and the quiet, profound responsibility of becoming someone else's guide.