slow inside

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 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 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 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 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

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

“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

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

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: her first emotional breakdown at 8 years old being bullied, threatened, and misunderstood finding healing through community and counseling ditching corporate life to be an entrepreneur and her first steps in a global vision for change

Muralist, Painter, and Performance Artist, Gregg Deal, makes art that is provocative and powerful. Work that explores themes of Indigenous identity, race relations, decolonization, and appropriation. As a marginalized artist in a Western art world, Gregg's work challenges our assumptions and beliefs about what it means to be Indian in America. In this conversation we talk about: Being bullied for being brown The role of identity in art and using it to find your own Taking the leap into life as a full-time artist without any safety net What it took for Gregg to find, and own, his voice and The balance between self-expression and honoring one’s culture