PJ Richardson / Laundry

PJ Richardson is Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of Laundry, where he leads motion design, animation, film and storytelling across brands, products, and experiences. He partners with clients like Apple, Google, Snap, and Coca-Cola, among many others, to transform complex ideas into emotionally resonant work that connects audiences through craft, innovation, and human emotion-centered motion design.

In Don't Wait for Permission, motion creative director and filmmaker PJ Richardson, co-founder of Laundry, shares an honest, funny, and deeply personal talk about building a career by moving before you feel ready. From painting graffiti as a kid in San Francisco to leading global campaigns for brands like Apple, Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Nike, and Samsung, PJ's journey has been defined less by certainty than by curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to take creative risks.

Rather than focusing on software or trends, this talk explores the mindset behind long-term creative success. It's about developing taste when technology becomes commoditized. It's about designing behaviors, not just executing them or the outcomes. It's about embracing uncertainty, finding opportunity inside limitations, and remembering that the most valuable thing a creative can bring is a distinctly human perspective. All rooted in feelings, struggle, and our individual superpowers.

Through personal stories, industry lessons, and practical principles, PJ challenges creatives to stop asking for permission—from clients, from employers, from social media, or from themselves—and start making the work we wish existed.

Attendees will leave with a renewed sense of confidence, practical ways to stay creatively relevant in the age of AI, and a reminder that the biggest breakthroughs often come from acting before you feel completely prepared.

Because no one is coming to hand you permission.

The best creative careers are built by the people who give it to themselves.