Yesterday I was working away at my bench, really enjoying the precious studio time I have when I decided to take a break and answer a few emails. Of course when I logged in I also checked Facebook, Twitter and my Pinterest pages. Honestly it jerked me right out of my creative mode and into the harsh reality of the terrible things we are doing to each other. It was interesting because my Facebook feed was filled with ice bucket challenges, which is raising awareness and money for a horrible disease, but Twitter was rapidly throwing murder, shootings, rape, sexism and racism all my way. As a person who really truly wants to remain an eternal optimist and believe in the good in humanity the news can really throw a wrench in that pretty picture quite quickly. Now before people come jumping in on how this is a first world problem and tell me how lucky I am that I can just tune out the news and the harsh realities that others face in their every day life, I know how lucky I am which makes me want to use my resources as my business grows to help those less fortunate in whatever way I can. But just because I can't go out and end starvation, global warming, genocide, war, and everything else today doesn't mean I can't do anything.
So back to how this relates to the BF+DA video I posted above. Well today when I got on my computer I was greeted by more uplifting posts about trends from the NY NOW show, as well as articles about the changing marketplace and opportunities for creative entrepreneurs. This video got me excited about the future of design and how they are mentoring talented designers along their path to building thriving design businesses! It started because a friend posted a link to this article about how Etsy has changed their policies in the past year and what it means to designers. I love that it gave constructive tips on what designers can do to drive their traffic back up on Etsy. So then I followed the links to learn more about BF+DA and watched the video above. If you are a Brooklyn designer you should definitely check out the site. Lots of challenges face designers when they leave school and want to start businesses and I love seeing all the different programs, organizations, and classes that keep popping up to help designers thrive.
This past weekend I went to a portfolio review event that West Elm held to kick off their new West Elm Local grant program. It was fantastic to have the chance to sit down one on one and get some advice and feedback on presenting my business in these contests. This was the third grant application I submitted this year and with the advice I received my applications will only get better in the future.
This post may seem a bit random but the idea behind it is that we may not be able to go out and fix all the horrible things going on in the world around us today. But I hope that by following my passion and growing Amanda K Lockrow I can help create jobs locally, create a demand for local manufacturing, eco friendly materials, and sustainable business practices and that's definitely better than doing nothing. If more of us build thriving businesses that care about our local and global communities, then together we can definitely create positive change. So thank you BF+DA for the Wednesday inspiration!
Be bold. Live Beautifully.
-Amanda
