Introduction
Dana Fetch is performing as my co-lead for this month’s Have Feelings? Gathering. I’d love for you to get to know Dana and our relationship in this conversation, including our new relationship as co-leads for this month’s Have Feelings? gathering.
Being and Becoming: An Interview with Dana Fetch on Therapy, Creativity, and Lifelong Growth
Luke: Hi Dana! I’m excited to create this conversation with you!
Dana: Thank you! I’m so grateful to be here.
Luke: I’d love to give our audience a little bit of our history together to start. How and when did we meet?
Dana: We first met at the start of our Social Therapeutic Study Program in 2022 (thank you, Zoom!) and spent two incredible years learning alongside one another, our peers, and our teachers. Over time, we discovered a shared passion for yoga, travel, and—of course—growth.
Luke: Dana, you talk about this idea of “being and becoming” and describe it as your guiding mantra. It’s such a beautiful phrase. What does it mean to you?
Dana: Thanks! For me, “being and becoming” is about holding space for both who I am and who I’m still growing into. It’s a reminder that development isn’t something that ends once we reach a particular age or point in our lives — it’s a lifelong, creative process. We’re always performing new versions of ourselves as we evolve, connect, and respond to the world around us.
Luke: I really appreciate that life-span perspective on human development and development as a creative process and performance. I know your journey into social therapeutics really deepened that perspective. How did you first get involved with the East Side Institute (ESI)? How did that experience shape your understanding of growth and therapy?
Dana: Discovering the East Side Institute in 2019 was transformative. It opened me up to the study of social therapeutics, which views human development as something we do together — through new performances, play, and community — because we are inherently social beings. I completed the ESI International Class, joined a weekly social therapeutics group, and graduated from the Social Therapeutic Study Program. Each step deepened my understanding of what it means to grow collectively rather than individually. Social therapeutics has been a supportive guide along the path to choosing how I’d like to be in the world while also becoming most aligned with the person I want to be. I wanted to learn more so that I could share the learnings with others.
Luke: Wonderful. You also co-led a fascinating group focused on creativity and aging. Can you tell us about that?
Dana: Yes, I co-led a short term social therapeutics group called “Creating New Performances of Memory Loss, Dementia, and Growing Older” with Helen Abel. We explored how creativity and performance can help people reimagine what it means to age and/or experience memory changes. We weren’t focused on fixing or diagnosing or labeling as caregiver or patient; we were performing new ways of relating, creating, and seeing ourselves and our loved ones. It was a powerful experience.
Luke: It indeed sounds like a powerful experience for the group. You’re also an artist, a yogi, and an explorer. I also am a yogi and artist and I feel such kinship among yoga, art like improvisational theater, and social therapeutics. For me, there’s a focus in these activities on being present, being and building with an ensemble, and celebrating our human capacity to create. Does that focus resonate with you?
Dana: Definitely! They’re all deeply connected. Whether I’m painting, on my yoga mat, or traveling somewhere new, those are all ways of engaging with the world creatively. Yoga especially has been such a grounding force for me. Movement of the body is only an incredibly small piece of it — it’s about nurturing the mind, the soul, and the body. I love sharing that practice, whether it’s in a studio or a totally unconventional space.
Let's enjoy Dana's art!
Luke: You also work full-time at a venture capital (VC) firm. Sounds like quite a different environment! How do you bring this mindset into that world?
Dana: I work as a Senior Operations Specialist at a VC firm, and I’m inspired by the startups we support and the leaders taking risks to build something new, especially those tackling global challenges. Even in such a fast-paced environment, I find that the principles of social therapeutics apply: collaboration, curiosity, and development through relationships. It’s all about helping people and systems grow creatively.
Luke: That’s such a new take for me on working with and in corporations. Thanks for that. Your background also includes work in ethical fashion and social compliance. What did those experiences teach you?
Dana: That meaningful change happens when people come together across boundaries — workers, leaders, and consumers alike. I helped advance social compliance initiatives in apparel factories around the world and worked with a handcrafted leather company dedicated to ethical production in the U.S. fashion industry. I also spent time overseas working with cooperatives of women crafting beautifully handwoven and handsewn products. It really shaped how I think about development on a systems level — not just personal growth, but collective and economic growth, too.
Luke: Wow! Such fascinating and provocative activity. Thank you for doing it. When you look back at all of this — your therapy journey, art, yoga, your career — what ties it all together for you?
Dana: Curiosity. I’ve always been curious about people and how we are capable of learning, changing, and reinventing ourselves over and over again. I think that’s what “being and becoming” continues to teach me: to not be afraid to start again, to create something new, to keep exploring. Some of the best things that will happen to you in your life haven’t even been dreamed up yet!
Luke: Beautifully said. And powerful. So, what’s next on your journey of becoming?
Dana: Working with you! I look forward (and am honored!) to join you as a co-lead in the monthly “Have Feelings?!” group typically co-led with Luke Santos. Moving from a participant to a supportive guide, I’m excited to create something special alongside the community who partakes in the experience. I want to keep exploring how we can grow — together — in ways we haven’t yet imagined.
Luke: Me too! I love that and how each group each month explores and creates its feelings and activity together. And I’m thrilled to co-create a new performance with you as co-lead of our next Have Feelings? Group, happening Tuesday, October 28 from 4:00-5:30 Eastern Time (US). Folks can join us on Zoom that day here.
Meeting ID: 844 9955 9970
Passcode: 644443
Thanks for the conversation, Dana!
And hope to see you all soon...
