Allow me the indulgence about how the universe works.
I asked a network of professional women for a recommendation. I sought a woman of color who was a illustrator or animator. I even included two examples of my illustrations from my current work, The World’s Sexiest Dictionary. No one made a suggestion. I wasn’t sure whether the lack of response was due to apathy or they didn’t know of any illustrators/animators who were women of color. Either way, the Universe answered via email about a workshop with a bonafide graphic artist/animator a day or two later.
Just to show how much of a unicorn she was,
Samara was the first Black woman to graduate with a graphic arts design degree at her school. This was in the 90s, but still so recent to be a first Black anything. Nonetheless, I loved attending her session, which was a combination of art therapy, artist interview and painting.
Although watercolor is my least favorite medium to paint with,
I appreciated the enthusiasm she brought to the medium. At least I had a chance to break out with my watercolor crayons. I hadn’t touched them since I completed my 156 rough draft illustrations for my dictionary.
The first thing that Samara advised any of us who were interested in becoming full-time artists was NOT to quit our day jobs. I laughed because that’s usually the first advice all entrepreneurs give everyone. There are so many pitfalls involved with being an entrepreneur that not everyone takes into account, being dazzled by the freedom of having control of one’s own schedule and the possibility of making far more money, doing what one loves. If not as successful, the steady income from a day job is sorely missed as the bills start to collect.
One of my objectives for attending the workshop was to get Samara’s contact information, so I could ask her the five questions I’d written out for a future mentor as a professional development exercise. Whether she ever answers those questions or not, at least I put them out there.
As a matter of fact, I set out with this life-changing mission with the attitude that I was going to collect 100 no’s or rejections within the year. I’ve not actually ticked off how many rejections/no’s I’ve gathered so far, but I don’t think I’ve even received 20 of them yet.
As we say in sales, every “no” brings one closer to a “yes.” It’s a good thing I’m getting into a sales state of mind since my current customer service day job has opened up a sales opportunity, which has the potential for making more money. That’s one of my goals, but not all of them.