He deleted his corporate career, gave himself three years of deliberate spaciousness, and came out the other side making documentaries in the Arctic and portraits of strangers in Paris. What does freedom actually look like for a neurodivergent creative who spent six years as a production engineer at Shell - the "well doctor," flying between Norway and Australia - before walking away from all of it? Not gradually. All at once. Baby Pro (Ming) spent the next three years in intentional flow: night cycling through Amsterdam at 4am with a drone called Miss Maverick, no plan, no goals, documenting beauty in 14 handmade journals. Now 34 and based wherever the work takes him, he earns a living entirely from his art - Arctic documentaries, TV productions in China, and a portrait project called Humans of Paris. This conversation is for anyone who has felt the narrowing that happens inside a corporate system - the slow reduction from options A through Z down to only option A - and wondered whether there is another way to work that actually fits how their brain works. Baby Pro doesn't offer a blueprint. He offers proof that a different kind of life is possible, and that flow state isn't a productivity hack - it's what happens when a neurodivergent mind finally stops swimming against the current. IN THIS EPISODE The awakening on March 6th, 2021 - a Buddhist scholar on YouTube cracked open a fog Baby Pro hadn't realised he was living inside. He describes it as glasses falling off your face - and suddenly seeing clearly for the first time. What corporate actually costs a neurodivergent mind - the progressive narrowing from options A through Z down to only option A. His word for it: becoming a robot. How he makes decisions - not goals, not five-year plans. He plants seeds, writes them down, and trusts the process. "Look, it's manifesting here. This is in Paris now." The early years - being short, Black, and late to puberty in a world that mocked difference. Finding solace in solitude, gaming, and writing. The roots of a life lived outside the mainstream. The 2024 low point - money running out, depression, the tension between income and originality. How he moved through it: cold emails, a crypto week in Korea, and letting the work sell itself. The Arctic documentary - six days, five strangers, no electricity. One person filming everything. Then watching it on a cinema screen with 150 people. Baby Pro's three practices - wake up early, look up when you walk, and create a mirror so you can see yourself clearly enough to notice the bubble. GUEST Baby Pro (Ming) is an artistic storyteller and documentary filmmaker based across Europe and Asia. His work has appeared in TV documentaries, cinema screenings, and 14 handmade journals he calls his Baby Pro Playbook - a living autobiography. Find him at babypro.art RESOURCES MENTIONED Samsara (2011 documentary) - Ron Fricke Humans - documentary series, available on YouTube Alan Watts - philosopher and writer on Eastern philosophy Alan Wallace - Buddhist scholar whose YouTube video triggered Baby Pro's 2021 awakening WORK WITH ANIA If something in this conversation landed - the permission to do things differently, or the recognition that you might be running on the wrong operating system - Ania works with neurodivergent founders, leaders, and creatives who are ready to build theirs. Chemistry call: 30 minutes, no mask required. aniahulsman.com ENJOYED THE EPISODE? A five-star review helps more gloriously unboxable humans find the show. If someone in your world would love this - a founder, a creative, someone quietly tired of pretending - pass it on. Produced by Ania Hulsman. Original jingle by Steve Greenwood.
