We recently connected with Grace Chappell and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Grace, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?
I graduated college in May of 2020. Needless to say, it was a challenging time in many ways but especially when it came to starting a career. My internship I had prior for two years let me go, no one was hiring, everything I had worked for suddenly seemed like it had been taken right out from under me. This was the first lesson that taught me nothing is guaranteed. Unlike school, which was all I knew for the last 15+ years of my life, the next step isn’t just handed to you. It’s not moving onto the next class, the next level, the next thing. Now you have to create what that next step is going to look like. All of a sudden you’re in full control. This realization ended up landing me in the spot more perfect that I ever could have imaged. And for many reasons. I never wanted to be in sales, it wasn’t even a thought. But suddenly I was a sales manager for Abbott Events in downtown Kansas City. I was fully immersed in the wedding industry. An industry I knew nothing about and never saw myself in. Now all of a sudden I am supposed to sell wedding venues to people for the biggest day of their life? The next lesson, learning confidence and finding your community. The women I worked alongside and especially my mentor, Shallie taught me so much more than I ever thought I needed. Not only did they teach me confidence, they taught me about the woman I wanted to be. They gave me tools and resources that went beyond my professional career but they also taught me the importance of believing in myself. Together through a very interesting work environment we leaned on each other in more ways than one. But at the end of the day those women and that experience taught me that although we may not be able to understand it while it’s happening all of these challenging and scary stepping stones that I took led me exactly where I am today. Graduating during COVID helped me understand the importance of taking charge of my future and being the best business owner I want to be. No one is going to do it for me, it’s fully up to me. My previous company taught me in hard ways how I want to treat others; peers, clients, myself. It taught me the importance of valuing myself and killing with kindness. Not to mention how lucky I am to play a part in the most special season of two peoples lives. And the women that I get to now call my chosen family taught me that believing in myself will bring me to be the best artist I can be.
Grace, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Truthfully, my journey with photography has felt anything but linear. When I received my first hot pink digital Kodak at age eight, I had no idea how much of an impact this object would have on my life beyond a childhood Christmas present. My journey through photography started simply as a leisure activity around my home whenever I was looking for something to do. It took around five to six years before it began to look like more of a hobby with friends or close family friends (mainly when I could drive and take my creativity past my basement or backyard). By age 18, I had one wedding and anywhere from 15-20 senior or family “sessions” under my belt of experience. But it still was not something I took seriously as an official job or career.
Therefore, photography took more of a backseat because I only saw that as something fun to do in my free time, but now it was time to focus on the foundation of building my successful future. Coming from a small town, the idea behind a successful profession came strictly from the gradual progress of high school, finding a college, picking your major, spending four years getting your undergrad, finding an internship, graduating, and getting a job. I was conditioned to find a secure and stable job with a decent paycheck, benefits, and PTO. Therefore, I did not consider what I wanted to do but more so what boxes I just needed to check to keep up with the natural progression of the “proper” educational ladder. As I went through my first two to three years at The University of Kansas, I began to see past those limitations and explore beyond what I thought a career could look like. But I still felt like I had to play it safe. Photography still stuck around when I had time, but nothing more as I entered my fourth year after the classes, the internships, and the experience; it was all spelled out for me. Then COVID happened. As COVID came in to completely disrupt every life plan and step I had made thus far, my stability crumbled alongside it. I was forced to think outside the norm of my everyday life and the future moving forward. This first step taught me that no matter what you do, no matter how safe you can play it or the plans you make, nothing is guaranteed. In this case, especially my future.
During this time, I returned to those things that made me happy. I returned to writing. I returned to photography. I returned to intentional creation and expression. But in my head, I still needed the paycheck and the job, even if it looked different than my original plan. Although it was different and nothing I was prepared for, the job was precisely where I needed to be. I was surrounded by strong women influences that would help give me the confidence and the support to get started and make the jump before I knew the deep end was even approaching. It gave me the hard but meaningful lessons of adversity and toxic authority that would show me how I want to avoid running a business or how I will always make sure my clients feel valued and listened to. It taught me everything and more about the woman I wanted to be and that the job title, the benefits, the promotion, the pay increase, and the PTO were different from what I wanted. That paycheck and stability wouldn’t help me find and fulfill my purpose. It was the idea of it all that I thought I wanted. If there is something I do know, it is that I am a very nostalgic person who loves to tell stories. Whether through school essays, random poems, or even my private journals, I loved to create something from scratch for others to enjoy or interpret. The nostalgic side stems from my grandparents’ photo albums. Growing up, we rarely would be at my grandparent’s without somehow flipping through old photos. I wish I could say I had this revelation sooner, but as I have grown older, I recognized that these two qualities were a big part of who I am. And they helped me discover exactly what I was made to do.
I am an artist and a storyteller. Therefore, I get to help tell the stories of people’s lives. Consequently, it might be the story of two partners starting their families through a maternity or newborn session. It could be the story of someone starting their own business like me, so I get to tell the story of their business through branding photos. It could be celebrating one of the biggest milestones of someone’s educational career, so I get to tell the story of graduating high school or college. But my favorite stories to tell of them all are the love stories. It is the biggest honor to be part of one of the most special and exciting seasons of people’s lives through their engagement and wedding journey. I still cannot believe I get to help tell someone’s love story that they will share forever.
It sounds silly, but I am proud of myself for seeing it through. Who knows what the future holds and what Gracefully Made could transform into one day beyond photography? But no matter what, I get to reflect on this chapter and say, “Hey, I did that myself, and this was the impact I made.” My sweet friend Sara, who created my branding material, tag-lined the phrase “Soul Full of Sunshine” when she thought of what described me. Ever since she introduced that phrase into my life, that has become the motto I want to run my business by and my life. I want to be the sunshine in someone’s life or day. I want to be the kindness. I want to be the impact. That’s what I want myself and Gracefully Made to be known for.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I am constantly unlearning is not defining yourself or your art based solely on others opinions and validation. I want to make people happy, I LOVE seeing people happy whether it was caused by me or not. However, as an artist my career path is very subjective. Everyone sees and interprets the world differently, that’s the beauty of it truly. But therefore, everyone also see’s themselves differently as well. So when it’s your turn to show someone how you see them and how beautiful they are, they could not like it. No matter how much time and energy you put into creating this art and this story a client, a fellow photographer, even a random stranger could disagree with you. In my opinion, that’s the toughest part of my job. You’re proud of yourself for creating something so special and so beautiful but someone could interpret it all in completely different way, which is totally okay. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt and that it doesn’t stick with you. At times it feels like it’s not enough, you’re a failure, like feeling successful is unattainable. Running a business can feel like a dog fight. Just because you don’t have the instagram followers, the likes, the accolades doesn’t define the artist you are and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re not good at it. But it’s unlearning where we find our value and our worth and making sure it’s coming from a healthy place. But it also just means learning to be proud of yourself for what you’ve created even if it’s against the grain or the “popular” vote.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
This might be a different answer than what the question is truly asking but honestly, the thing I want to be known for is being kind. Sure, comes off cheesy but truly that’s all I want to be known for. Kill them with kindness. Spread kindness. Be kind to yourself. I love my work and I love getting to create and share beautiful photos with the world but what does any of that mean if you’re not kind to others? I like to think that has helped me build not necessarily my reputation but what I want to be known for in this industry/market and I think it’s helped me build great relationships and connections between fellow vendors and my clients. And at the end of the day I just want to make that connection and cherish it for as long as I can as a business owner in this industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gracefullymadeinks.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracefullymade_in_ks/