About the Artist
I started out my career as a young Artist, still in middle school, going to an after school program called 901 Arts. The connections I made at 901 Arts allowed me to apply for several scholarships to cover art programs I was interested in. I was able to take fundamental drawing, expressional drawing, pottery, and photography classes at local Universities, Towson and the Maryland Institute of College and Art. The scholarships also allowed me to go to an art and film focused summer program, Steven Yeager's Young Film Makers Workshop. This program opened the possibilities of making art my career. I had so many memorable experiences there, some that I carry to this day.
I was taking open studies classes, selling commissions, and applying for grants during the school year, all kinds of opportunities where I could make art I was passionate about and develop my own projects. As a multidisciplinary Artist I got to work with several different mediums, such as podcasts, short films, pottery, photography, graphic design, and illustration. I wanted to work with it all. Those experiences gave me the confidence to build my own creative process and cultivate my creative problem solving skills. As I progressed in my craft my experiences made me want to sell products, so I joined a Youth E-commerce program, called Baltimores' Gifted. That's where I learned to model and scale a business to make profit off of my art in all of its mediums. I had learned about digital marketing and marketing design to increase engagement and sales. When I was twenty, I was so confident in my skills that I wanted to share my knowledge with my community. So I became a Teaching Artist at the same after school program where I got my start in my creative passions, 901 Arts. There I taught art and culture, and how to profit off of that art with youth and young adults. My experience as a Teaching Artist also gave me a lot more opportunities to participate in more community based work and grow as a professional and an Artist.
At 901 Arts, I grew into the position of Youth Program Manager. This title change allowed me to be in a more leadership position and pursue projects I was passionate about for my community. I was able to organize, facilitate, and plan for community events. My first event was putting on out door movie nights for the community, Summer Movie Night in the Sculpture Garden. This position also pushed me to learn how to manage professional social media pages, expense reports, budgeting and more skills on the technical admin side of running a business, specifically a non-profit. As I grew into this position I learned how to book venues, travel, perfect my grant writing skills, and other administrative skills.
All of my experiences have given me a unique background that helped cultivate my skills as an Artist and Entrepreneur. My skills in communication, time management, organization, adobe suite, customer relationship systems (CRM's) and Project Management Systems, are what made me want to build a business as a support mechanism for entrepreneurs, other businesses, and my community. Last year, I made changes that allow me to be more independent in how I manage my time, projects, and business.
As a freelance Artist and Entrepreneur, I strive to be helpful, creative, and informative. My goal is to make sure that I understand the needs of my community and possibly even reach beyond the communities boundaries to invite like minded others to the table. I have been working as a (Teaching) Artist and Entrepreneur for thirteen years and have gained valuable experiences that I believe will propel me in the direction of bringing positive change to the world.
I am most proud of my work as an illustrator and designer for my apparel brand, Out of Grace apparel. The brand allows me to combine some of my passions illustration and streetwear. The apparel medium allows me to reach my audience and connect in cultural ways. Most of my work centers around the queer people of the global majority (PGM), although I know people who are not queer can still connect with my work. I take in a lot of pop culture influences from all periods and other concepts that inspire me from psychology, philosophy, astrology, and spiritualism. My favorite genre to work with currently is afro-futurism mixed with aesthetics from ancient civilizations. Specifically, ancient Native Nations (including Pacific Islands, and Aboriginal Nations) African Nations, and Asian Nations.
