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Alexandra Bowman: starting a freelance art business, the pain of not fitting in, and making art that matters Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

When Alexandra Bowman isn’t working her 9-5, she’s an illustrator. She draws all kinds of pictures, many of them women of color who are artists, writers, activists, and leaders. She “ focuses on ways to celebrate the female and illustrate her as a focal point of the community and social movements.”

Alexandra's work has been featured in The New York Times, Edible Magazine, Pop-Up Magazine, Food 52, and the BBC.

Some of the things we talk about:

being the daughter of bi-racial parents in a mostly-white neighborhood
using art to find your place in the world
the best advice for getting your freelance business off the ground
and making art about what matters

Melissa Dinwiddie part 1: the creative sandbox way Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

Melissa Dinwiddie is an amazing talent. It’s like everything she touches becomes beautiful. At 12 she was in adult-drawing classes. At 19 she was a dancer at Juliard. When she was 27 she was in galleries for her paper cut art and by 29 she had her own business making commissioned calligraphy and papercut art for clients all over the country.

Now Melissa runs the Creative Sandbox. It's a community, a consulting agency, retreats, and playdays. But most of all it's a way of life where art is just art and creativity is (almost) always fun.

Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha, The Abundant Artist, Creative Pro, and Life Hack.

Some things we talk about:

abandoning drawing in 7th for not being “good enough”
getting into Juiliard at 19 and dropping out at 20
starting her own business at 29, getting divorced, shutting her business down and
starting over with The Creative Sandbox.

Allie Monday: high-end boudoir photography for badass women Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

Allie Monday is a woman-centered high-end boudoir photographer who believes women are "badasses and should be photographed that way." She doesn't airbrush, photoshop, or gloss over a woman's beauty. Instead, she highlights it, exactly as it is.

She has learned that when she gives other women a chance to see and know themselves through the lens of a loving camera and a compassionate photographer, a woman transforms.

And she has learned that every body is a canvas and every woman an amazing piece of art.

Here Allie shares it all: her truth, the truth of the women she photographs, and the undeniable truth in the beauty of every woman who lets herself be seen just as she is.

Some things we talk about:

her thoughts on overcoming an eating disorder and being ten years sober
leaving the airbrushed world of wedding photography for the world of
boudoir and
doing what you love no matter how bold or terrifying

Sonal Nathwani: when normal is all you need to be very succesful Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

Sonal Nathwani is an artist. She was born in Africa to Indian parents who fled to England to escape bad things in Africa. She grew up in England before moving to Belgium, Florence, and eventually, Vienna.

Sonal Nathwani is old enough to know that it doesn’t matter what someone else tells you matters. That when you make art, what is most important, is that you make it for you, that you do it first, for yourself.

Sonal has been making, selling, and teaching art full-time for over 20 years.

Some things we talk about:

ditching perfectionism for imperfect beauty
creating, sharing, and selling art
becoming your own person, your own artist, and
making what you truly love

Ash Sierra: this isn't how humans are supposed to live Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

Ash Sierra dropped out of college her sophomore year to explore herbalism. She began making salves and tinctures for friends and family. It was never meant to be a business.

Today Ash runs Ritual Botanica, a private consulting practice and a thriving business selling tinctures, salves, dried herbs, oils, teas with over than 55,000 followers on Instagram and customers all over the world.

Some things we talk about:

trying to be adult, losing herself, and getting found
starting a business doing what she loved most – as impractical as it
was
how to tune into your guidance and
depression, autonomy, and choosing your own life

Lanecia Rouse: death, life, and full-time art Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

Lanecia was born the daughter of a pastor. As a young adult, she chose to study divinity and become a pastor herself. But then, at 36 years-old. Lanecia found out she was pregnant. And, as many expecting moms do, she started to examine her life in preparation for parenthood. She began questioning things in the church she hadn’t questioned before, and she started to re-envision who she was and what was possible. And that is when Lanecia began the journey into life as a full-time artist.

Here Lanecia shares her story as honestly as she does her art, her struggles with the church, her loss around her daughter, and her new life as a full-time artist who is finally free.

Some things we talk about:

being the daughter of a black pastor in an all-white world
losing a baby girl and gaining a new life
getting starting making art as you’re your full-time thing and
leaping after your dreams no matter the scrapes and bruises

Amira Rahim: from zero to $90,000 in three years Jul 15, 2018

Show notes

In three short years, painter Amira Rahim went from painting alone in her room to selling art in galleries and online, having licensing agreements, and being recognized the world over for her talent .

Amira's work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Time Out, The Chicago Tribune, Ebony and in galleries and personal collections around the world.

Amira spends every day living out her mission: using her art to make the world a more colorful place.

Some things we talk about:

how she built her business piece by piece,
dealing with depression while building a huge art business and
the need to lead – taking your followers where they want to go

Jennette Nielsen: Keep Your Possibility in the Pitcher May 13, 2018

Show notes

“Honey-drenched maker, sister keeper, and gentle spirit badass mother fucker,” Jennette Nielsen, creates from just about anything to make just about everything. From goddess mugs to witches salves, from bags and hats to rattles, and inks, Jennette makes to mend and turns rubbish into beauty. When Jennette was four years old her step-father began sexually abusing her. He stopped when she was ten. Jennette found refuge in creating and today makes her living from the art that keeps her breathing.

SOME THINGS WE TALK ABOUT…

Using art to heal from long-term sexual abuse
How having a baby freed her up to be totally honest
How she “cobbles together an income” to make a living from making art and
Making art without asking a single soul for permission

A'Driane Nieves: "Painting Saved My Sanity." Apr 15, 2018

Show notes

Addye Nieves is a self-taught visual artist, writer, and mental health advocate. Her work focuses on trauma, healing, and how both shape who we are and who we become. She “empowers women to transform brokenness in their lives into power and beauty, and amplifies the voices and experiences of those marked as Other in society.” This is her story from broke to beautiful.

In this conversation we talk about:

• the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father
• how she made it through college while raising two kids as a single mom
• finding painting and how painting saved her sanity
• the path to becoming a self-taught full-time visual artist
• learning to promote and sell her work
• and the first thing anyone can do to help heal trauma through art

Kimberly Beaman: dyslexia, depression, & cupcakes Apr 08, 2018

Show notes

Actor, advocate, singer, and author, Kimberly Beaman, was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was five. She was humiliated, threatened, and segregated in school. By middle school, her self-esteem had plummeted. By high school, Kimberly was officially depressed. Today
she runs her own company: Accessible Books for Children. Her first children's book, My Little Cupcake, is a book for all young learners but designed specifically for kids with dyslexia and other learning differences.

In this conversation we talk about: