The Los Angeles book launch of Carolyn Dailey’s The Creative Entrepreneur wasn’t simply a dinner — it was an atmosphere. A gathering that felt more like the ignition point of a creative movement than a traditional launch.
And the spark at the centre of it all was Carolyn’s co-host: designer, artist, and “Architect of Joy” Yinka Ilori, one of the creative leaders featured in the book. Two Londoners reunited in LA, leading a table full of creative pioneers.
The setting was extraordinary: “a Schindler House” – LA shorthand for one of the houses designed by Rudolph Schindler, the iconic Austrian architect who redefined architecture in LA in the 1930s. And now the home of force-of-nature and Yola Mezcal Co-Founder Gina Correll Aglietti.
Inside, the room glowed. Tables were dressed with Yinka’s unmistakable joy-infused designs — vibrant textiles, sculptural candles, and colour stories that turned the dinner itself into an artwork. Stacks of The Creative Entrepreneur were arranged architecturally across the table, a quiet nod to the book’s own design language, while the wonderful menu was curated by culinary visionary Chloe Walsh.
The conversations flowed around the table as the fire crackled. Beyond the windows, the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign shimmered in the night air over Silver Lake. All of it underscored by live music played on Schindler’s famous built-in piano — a detail that felt almost too perfectly cinematic, yet entirely fitting for the night.
The guest list brought together an extraordinary cross-section of LA’s creative world: artists, founders, designers, filmmakers, cultural builders. The energy was palpable — generous, electric, elevated — the kind of energy that surfaces when people who make things gather and recognise their shared purpose.
As Carolyn said on the night “Creativity is about bringing people together around ideas we love.” And we couldn’t be happier to receive such a warm bold, and unmistakably Californian for “The Creative Entrepreneur”.
The Creative Entrepreneur is now available everywhere — a manifesto for building a creative life on your own terms and your guide to building a successful creative business, with expert insights from ten creative industry titans.