Artist Recovery Podcast

Artist Recovery Podcast is Bringing Light to the Darkside of Art. I’m Rich Wright, your host — and here we're redefining recovery as Renewal, Resilience and Creative Transformation. Because for artists, it’s more than survival… it’s Remembering.
This show is about the real journey of being a working creative — the highs, the lows, the pivots, and the reinventions that shape who we are. Together we’ll explore how setbacks can spark transformation, how loss can open new paths, and how resilience fuels the heart of every artist’s story.
If you’ve ever faced doubt, setback, or the call to reinvent yourself, you’re in the right place. Let’s recover — and create — together.”

Want to be a guest on Artist Recovery Podcast? Send Rich Wright a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/artistrecovery

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Artist Recovery Podcast

Artist Recovery Podcast S2 Ep. 16 | Paul Delaurier: Design, Healing & Walking out of the Dark.

April 17, 2026 • Rich Wright • Season 2 • Episode 16

0:00 | 1:59:59

What does it look like when a creative keeps building while quietly carrying the weight of imposter syndrome, a fractured family foundation, and a soul still figuring out if it wants to stay?
Paul Delaurier has spent decades answering that question through his work.
A strategic designer and creative technologist born and raised in Detroit, Paul built his career from the ground up — literally starting in a basement office, pitching nail salons and pager stores in suits, cold.

From those early hustle days co-founding Eclipse Productions with mutual friend Dennis Leigghio, to leading brand work with Harley Davidson, The Black Keys, and Hickory Farms, to senior product design roles at NerdWallet and GTB Detroit — Paul's creative journey is a masterclass in quiet resilience.
But behind the portfolio was a story he hadn't told.
In this raw and deeply human conversation, Paul and host Rich Wright — who've known each other since the Eclipse days — finally pull back the curtain. Rich shares his own suicide attempt for the first time with Paul, and what unfolds is one of the most honest exchanges the Artist Recovery Podcast has produced. Two creatives from the same orbit, carrying invisible weight the other never knew about.

Paul opens up about:
Growing up in Warren, MI and how his parents' divorce at age 8 quietly installed a lifelong fear of failure disguised as ambition
✦ Mad Magazine as his first portal into graphic design thinking — and why that fold-out back cover literally rewired his brain
✦ Building Eclipse Layout Services with Dennis Leigghio in a basement, wearing suits to pitch pager stores
✦ The chaos of living, working, and trying to grow up all in the same condo
✦ Navigating imposter syndrome through agency work, startup pivots, and a commute he hated ✦ How a nearly empty gym in a Detroit apartment building changed his body, his mind, and his entire relationship with himself
✦ Why it took until 2020 — and his wife's courage — to finally walk into a therapy room
✦ What he discovered when he stopped pretending everything was fine
This episode is for the creative who shows up to the work while quietly wrestling with something no one else can see.
Because the design on the screen and the story behind the hands that made it — they're never the same thing.

Connect with Paul:
Website: https://www.pauldelaurier.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldelaurier
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulmdelaurier
Dribble: https://dribbble.com/pauldelaurier

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