Saturday, June 19, 2010

what's your passion?

ten things you should know 
about ten {amazing} people i know.
i randomly picked ten women that inspire me. some i know, some i have only tweeted with once or twice. 


i invited these girls to participate because i wanted to find out what inspires them. what drives them. who they are. what they do. i hope that you will add your own comments, follow along as i introduce a new question and answer each week, and hopefully, sign up to be a part of the next session...late summer/early fall.
ten women i know: leigh morlock of An American Girl In Cambodia, susan wickstrand, alex of vintage by alex keller, sana harris of pip and estella, charlotte of plum pretty sugar, tricia meeter of equinox photo, wende of evidently, lucy snowe of lucy snowe photography, rachel of moonflower images, and giovanna of boho market.
this week's questions:
what's your passion?
what's the name of your business?
where can we find you?
why do you do what you do? 
how did you get started?









Leigh: What's your passion? What's the name of your business and where can we find you? My passion? Do I have to have just one? I'm passionate about art, fashion, jewelry, design, entrepreneurship and serving others. I talk about my love of all things creative over at Constant CravingsAn American Girl In Cambodia chronicles my adventures in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I am launching a weaving business. My job is to link weavers in the countryside of Cambodia to Western markets. 
Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? I believe everything happens for a reason. I've talked about how I got to the point where I was ready to move across the globe here and here. I've always wanted to travel. I've always wanted to serve people. I'm not really into slinging hammers or building latrines. Those types of service don't light my fire. I want to wear dresses, ridiculous earrings, be creative and laugh. A lot. So when the opportunity to continue to work in fashion but across the globe while also giving financially disadvantaged men and women jobs came up, how could I say no? 
















Susan: What's your passion? What's the name of your business and where can we find you?  My passion is creating images.  Collaged, photographed, drawn, wood blocked, & painted.  I love to create very large public artworks too down to small 6" collaged & waxed artworks. The name of my business is; Susan Wickstrand and you can find me at: http://www.susanwickstrand.com or make an appointment to visit my studio in Encinitas. Why do you do what you do? How did you get tarted? I create artwork because I must, it is my voice & my expression of my vision that keeps me alive, alert & happy.  Even if I won the lotto (which I won't because I don't play it) I'd still create with the same vervor & passion.  However, since I love what I do for a living I already feel like I've won the lotto.  Creating artwork is a way of putting down on canvas what's in my mind's eye and then communicating it to others.  A picture is worth a million words and emotions too.  I got started at a young age getting really involved with nature. I always had to be outside exploring & collecting; from pollywogs down at the creek into jars to, gathering sea shells in La Jolla as I grew up venturing out to the sea shore with my bucket in hand just like all kids do.  Drawing is important but I really grew up using my imagination quite a bit dreaming up into clouds to find shapes etc.  Painting came later in High School as the easy A.  I'd enjoy procrastinating on art projects just to stump my teacher.  I thought it was funny to spend the 2 month timeline give to a big project socializing in class & having fun to only go home the night before a painting was due and to crank something out to my teacher's amazement & frustration!  Then in college after attending USC's business School feeing unfulfilled I switched over to artwork on a whim just convinced I could do this.  After selling artworks to the University each year & with successful shows to follow I was on my way, no looking back. 










Alex: What's your passion? What's the name of your business and where can we find you? My passion is beauty. It encompasses fashion, art and design. In my corner of the world, I've channeled it into making jewelry. I named my business 'jewelry recycled' because that's what it is - recycled antique, vintage and resale jewelry that I've reconstructed into fresh and {new} pieces.  http://alexkeller.etsy.com My addiction is thrifting for things I like. My vintage shop really started with a place to sell the vintage jewelry that I found but didn't want to take apart. It morphed into a shop where I sell all the housewares and things that I find and want for myself. Problem is I want everything and that's not practical. So my finds come home with me for a time and then go off to new homes. http://vintagebyalexkeller.etsy.com Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? Just for fun, I was headed to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show last year, http://www.tgms.org/ and stopped at a resale shop. While waiting in line at the cash wrap, which was loaded with jewelry, I realized there was plenty of material to work with in the second hand market - antiques, vintage and resale. So I went home, pulled out my jewelry making tools that were hidden away in the garage, and made a necklace. I was studying to become a Certified Financial Planner at the time. I hadn't made anything in over 4 years. I was really torn about finishing the CFP course, which I really did not like, or pursuing my love of creating. I even consulted a shaman, a wonderful woman, who helped me see that I already knew the answer. I gave her that first necklace.









Sana: What's your passion? What's the name of your business and where can we find you? Pip & Estella are visual storytellers. In the spirit of free-spirited decorating, we travel to find vintage and antique objects for our home and yours. Be our guests and visit us at www.pipandestella.com. Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? I've always had a love for decorating. Decorating my own surroundings with interesting wares and even decorating myself, so to speak with vintage or unique findings. This led to work in visual styling. I later decided to study Interior Design formally and began working in textiles. Since then, Pip & Estella was created and is a reflection of all of the intriguing things I find beauty in. I have a fascination with things that are aged. To imagine how someone used a certain piece and to decide how you will use it as decor in your own surroundings is exciting!










Charlotte: What's your passion? ? What's the name of your business and where can we find you? Plum Pretty Sugar Loungerie www.plumprettysugar.com Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? Plum Pretty Sugar Loungerie lived in my heart for some time before pouring out and over. It was a journey of sorts… a mutation of lessons learned, life changes, heartbreak and inspiration. Like a dream I pieced together in order to find my path, my truth. Throughout this there was this idea of how I wanted to feel…  the carefree-ness of breezy happiness, of cozy comfort and with an ease of living beautifully, inspired and with heart. From there came Plum Pretty Sugar.







Tricia: what's your passion? what's the name of your business?where can we find you? Equinox Photo Specializes in natutal light, lifestyle photography for wedding, portrait, boudoir, pet and equine  We capture the subjects energy, essence and spirit through photography turning everyday occurrences into art.  website and portfolio here and for fine art on Etsy here. why do you do what you do? how did you get started? After 10 years in the same position in corporate cosmetics I was feeling worn out and uninspired.  A lot of travel and a lot of stress...  I had always been an artist and yearned to go aback to it but was so scared to lose the fat steady paycheck.  Each day as I cleaned stalls on my horse farm before work I listened to a podcast from my favorite inspirational coach JB Glossinger at morning coach.  He asked two vital questions about diving into a new career.  " What did you LOVE to do as a child?  Answer- Ride horses and hang out with animals and "What would you do even if it it was for free?"  * Again hang out with animals, create art and take photographs!*   I year later Equinox Photo was born, 1 year after that I know do it full time.  Now I get paid to take pictures of beautiful people, places, animals and things and every once in awhile I even do from horseback!   Oh, and I would do it for free, shh... don't tell anyone! 

Wende: What's your passion? What's the name of your business and where can we find you? I’m pretty passionate about  fabric, especially vintage fabric. Um, it’s a borderline addiction—so I channel all my creative energy about that into Mireio. You can find my store on etsy at the moment. And I write a blog that features all the things that inspire my work. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also say I was pretty passionate about journaling all the beauty I see in life. You can find my work on Evidently; it’s kinda the place where my soul lives online. http://etsy.com/shop/mireio http://mireiodesigns.com  http://evidently.org Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? Starting Mireio was an evolution. Slow and steady! I started with an online line vintage store that did really well. But the more I sold vintage, the more I wanted to create for myself. And that led to creating for others. It took me a few years to work up the courage to open a real store. But it’s been so rewarding. I still honor the spirit of my first vintage store, by using vintage textiles in my work and of course, there’s always a bit of vintage to be discovered in Mireio. I think the store would feel a bit naked without it!











Giovanna: What's your passion? My passion is everything related to art, design and fashion. I love the artistic side of fashion and the design process because it allows me to express my ideas in a creative way. 
What's the name of your business and where can we find you? Right now I have a Fashion blog named Boho Market by Giovanna and it's a place where you can find all things inspiring, especially fashion inspiration. I also share pieces of my work as illustrator and designer. I'll be launching my online store soon, but I'm still working on it so stay tuned, I'll announce the opening of my shop on my blog Boho Market. I'm a freelance Fashion Designer, Illustrator and fashion blogger. I also do styling work and writing (online publications related to fashion). You can find me on my blog: http://bohomarket.blogspot.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/BohoSpirit or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BohoMarket 
Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? I do it because it makes me happy, I think everyone should have the opportunity to do what makes them happy, I'm sure everyone would be smiling all the time :)  and of course the work product would be even better.
I love my work because it allows me to be creative and free. I'm very blessed to be able to do what is my passion. I started when I decided to move to California, I've always loved fashion and I used to dream about being a Fashion Designer since I was 6 years old. When I was little I used to draw my designs and then used candy wrap paper as fabric to create the outfits. I still treasure those drawings :) I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had and for the love and support of my beloved ones.




Lucy: What's your passion? My passion is photography!  I eat, breath, sleep and dream photography right now. What's the name of your business and where can we find you? My shop name on etsy is Lucy Snowe Photography. Here is my link:  http://www.lucysnowephotography.etsy.com Why do you do what you do? How did you get started? I always wanted to be a writer....I was working for a newspaper in Los Angeles as a journalist..and rented a camera to illustrate my articles. I thought they would sell the story!  I got hooked on the photographic process...the dark room magic...and especially the excitement of capturing an already disappearing moment.





Rachel: what's your passion?


 what's the name of your business? where can we find you? Photography is my passion. I can't go a whole day without using my camera. My Etsy shop is called Moonflowers. why do you do what you do? how did you get started? I love freezing time. I love to be able to go back and relive an experience through photographs. I also love creating images that are sort of dreamy and relaxing and nostalgic. I offer an ecourse in photography here on my blog bloom ecourse.


please please spread the word 
about 
these amazing creatives. 


tweet, share, blog, link. 
repeat.
thank you.