Rememory

It's hard to not fall in love with your work because it is so energetic and colorful. How did you develop such a distinct style?

 

Developing my personal style took a lot of practice and experimentation. I’ve spent a lot of time just making tons of different work in order to determine what design elements I like, and how I can thoughtfully apply them to my work. 

 

Your work features women of all shapes and shades. Can you speak on why you're so passionate about color?

 

I choose to draw strong, fashionable, and daring women because that's how I want to show up in the world. I love using vibrant tones and playful shapes because I find that they help me express the feeling of optimism and freedom, which is the root of my work.  

 

I hardly meet other black girl designers from Chicago who also do illustration and art direction. Can you talk about how your upbringing let you to art and how you became so color obsessed? How would you compare your experience in the creative space in NYC versus Chicago?

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I grew up in Waukegan, a small town outside of Chicago. Since I was young, I've always been encouraged to be artistic, with my colorful paintings and drawings always being celebrated by my parents and older sister. My home was almost like a small gallery exhibit with all my artwork framed and taped to the fridge.

 

In college, I studied Fashion Marketing & Management at the Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago. I originally wanted to pursue a career in fashion styling, so I thought gaining a strong business background would be great for me. While I was in the program they taught us the basics of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign to create marketing materials and I quickly fell in love. With the help of online tutorials, I started using the programs on my own time to create wacky designs. From there, I slowly started to figure out that my true passion was art and design and that I had a natural talent for it.

 

There are a lot more creative opportunities in NYC because more businesses are based here and the city pretty much runs on producing creative content. Chicago is more Ad driven city, but in NYC you have way more avenues to play in, especially when it comes to fashion, beauty, and music.

 

You've had a lot of success in recent years as an illustrator and art director. What are some of the most exciting projects you've worked on? Are there any bad experience you wished you could have warned your younger self about?

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I really enjoyed working with Toyota to create illustrations for their social media outlets, and just recently I was I design my very own chip bag for Stacy’s Pita Chips. I was given a lot of creative freedom on both projects which made them really fun to work on. I would tell my younger self to only take on a project that I was 100% passionate about and not just chase money.  Whenever I took on projects I didn’t really want to work on, I always ended up feeling stressed/resentful and the work ended up suffering because of it. Now I turn down those types of projects in order to keep my sanity. 

 

 

Are there any younger artist you’re crushing on? If you had time, would you be willing to mentor a younger artist?

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I really love the work of Celeste Mitchell, Meg McConn, and Justine Mae Diaz. Right now I’m still very young in my career as well, and I’m still trying to figure out things for myself. I think mentorship is something I can make a priority later on in my career. 

 

Art can lead people to advertising, film, fashion and more. Was your heart always set on illustration and direction? What advice would you give to artist unsure of what path they should take? And what does your future look like at the moment?

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At the end of the day, I just like to create. Along with illustration and direction, I also design and paint. Picking a medium can be daunting, but I think it important for artists to know that they don’t have a choose a specific path. I think as long as your work has a unique voice that consistent across all mediums, you will be successful. 

 

I plan on continuing to expand my artistic vision by working on projects in experiential events, books, and product design. 

 

 

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