Jonathan Hyla Inspires Neurodiverse Creatives via Clubhouse

Jonathan Hyla, more commonly known simply by his last name, wants to empower creative professionals who think a bit differently than many of their colleagues—especially those who have ADHD. After working in radio, film and television for more than a decade, including doing high-profile celebrity interviews at E! Entertainment, Hyla shifted to his most recent work directing commercials, documentaries and music videos for the likes of Samsung, Clif Bar and Zillow. He still does the occasional high-profile interview, though, collaborating with Cannes Lions the past two years and sharing the screen with top creatives from around the world. In 2020, he began working on a book and documentary called All Day Dreaming, both of which address living and working with ADHD. However, they were put on hold due to the pandemic. But that hasn't stopped him from exploring the subject via his original passion: audio. During quarantine, he started a local radio station, Eastside Radio, and began experimenting on Clubhouse in new ways. He created the platform’s first 24-hour radio station, All Day Dreaming Radio, playing lo-fi beats with no lyrics for listeners to work to. He also created the platform’s first 24/7 club focused on creativity, ADHD and productivity. “I could open up a [Clubhouse] room with ADHD and a title, and there'd be amazing stories of people from all over the world that I normally would never get access to,” he said. Hyla is a founding member of the Audio Collective, a hybrid live audio creator community, production house and ambassador group that partners with creators, agencies, brands and studios to develop, strategize and execute engaging interactive audio events on Clubhouse and throughout the emerging social audio space. “Success on Clubhouse is built around collaboration when the right moderators can get together and create magic,” he said. “That's the secret sauce of Clubhouse: people collaborating in rooms.” Now, All Day Dreaming has grown to more than 60,000 followers and provides “a simple survival guide to navigating creativity,” including interviews, conversations, co-working sessions and music for deep focus. While it has a special focus on ADHD resources, it also supports the neurodiverse creativity more broadly. “One of the top five questions or subjects that we talk about in All Day Dreaming is how to navigate talking about your ADHD, or mental health in general, in the workspace with your boss and with your colleagues,” he said. To that end, Hyla’s goal for both his Clubhouse community and his personal ADHD project is to help other neurodiverse people communicate more effectively about their needs and make the workplace more accommodating for creative and atypical forms of productivity. Big mistake People with ADHD can often struggle with delegation, and that was very much the case for Hyla. "Early on in my career, I would try and do it all because I was afraid," he said. Lesson learned "I quickly realized that when you try and do it all, you're not giving people the opportunity to make the thing that you're working on better." He embraced collaboration, learning to limit his role on projects to allow for team-based creativity and productivity. How the dream came to life Hyla's long history includes work in radio, film and television, including work with major brands like Samsung, Clif Bar and Zillow. Now he's working on his own projects, such as impactful work with All Day Dreaming, the name of his Clubhouse ventures and the book and documentary he plans to create. Pro tip “We have to have space to be bored. We have to have space for meditation. Mindfulness is an incredibly valuable tool that lets you shut off your brain for a second and let it roam without the algorithm,” he said.

Leadership & Talent

How Jonathan Hyla Inspires and Equips Neurodiverse Creatives via Clubhouse

The director, creator and Audio Collective co-founder on professional success with ADHD

Jess Zafarris

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Jess Zafarris