We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amy Elizabeth a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I’d be trying to make a living as an artist and mentor, I am not totally sure I would have believed you. Or I might have assumed maybe I won the lottery or something, to put me in a position of being able to pursue these things as my career.

But the funny thing is, if I had won the lottery (that I don’t play), there’s no way I would be pursuing these things like my life depended on it…because my life wouldn’t depend on it.

So why did I decide to take this risk as a 40-something-year-old?

Because my life has felt like nothing BUT risk over these last couple years. I left my marriage of over 16 years in 2022 and therefore left my life as a homemaker and pastor’s wife and worship leader in the church. I took a risk and left everything I knew and all my so-called comforts in hopes of something better.

And at that time, it was assumed I’d go back to teaching high school math–a job I had for five years before I started having kids, I had my teaching license (albeit expired), had taught in three different states, and even got my masters in math ed. It was so….practical. And familiar.

But what had practicality done for me up until this point?

So when my ex and his lawyer were putting pressure on me to go back to teaching, I doubled down on making my photography/mentorship business a full-time endeavor.

What had started out as “portraiture, on the side” circa 2009 had expanded a bit to include education via the form of contributing to a blog and hosting some workshops, but I never thought it would, or could, turn into my *thing*.

The first person I admitted it to was my therapist. I told her I didn’t want to go back to teaching in a traditional education setting. I wanted to pursue art and art education in a way that felt sustainable (or relatively sustainable) as a work-from-home, single mom to three boys. Not only did she NOT laugh in my face, but she told me I absolutely could make this happen and that she believed in me.

I began to open up to friends about my desire, and to my surprise, none of them laughed. None of them discouraged me. No one said, “that’s not practical! Why don’t you teach high school math?” None of them told me it was a silly dream. They all supported and told me that I could absolutely do this.

Then I confided in a colleague, a fellow artist and educator in my same space. I told her I wanted to do this full time. And she said, “Then you will. The people who make this life work are the ones who take the risk and go all in and have to pursue it like their life depends on it.”

I’m still not turning the profit I need to for the long haul, but I am making it work. One step at a time I am creating art, empowering others to create, and building small but mighty community in the art world. I am educating in a way that feels sustainable to me and my life, and I am overall loving it.

The risk feels sort of normalized at this point. Not that there’s no risk, but a life worth living always involves risk, and any step you take to normalize positive risk is good.

I’ve watched those with “practical” jobs get laid off and fear for collapse of their industries. No one makes it through this life with a guaranteed future, so we might as well lean into the risk and create the life we want to live.

And maybe that’s the point of it all: I am creating the life *I* want to live. I am learning to listen to my inner voice and pay attention to my likes, dislikes, dreams, and desires. For almost 40 years I ignored my inner knowing and learning to listen to her has been rocky to say the least.

I recently heard it said that you know you’re on the right path when there is no path. You’re doing the thing that is truest to you when you are blazing the trail.

So here I am taking the risk, blazing the trail, and trying to encourage others to do the same.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Amy Elizabeth! My business has many prongs, so hang with me as I do my best to describe them all.

Back in 2009 I started my portraiture business on the side as a creative outlet, and that part of my business remains. I photograph families, newborns, and seniors (which I love as a former high school teacher!), and even got talked into one wedding. My goal is to make people have fun and feel good in front of the camera, all while creating and documenting special memories.

I am also the owner/operator (janitor/PR/admin/HR) of Film Lab 135, a small lab dedicated to processing experimental film, namely film soup. Film soup is the process of soaking a roll of film in some sort of concoction (often boiled water+some sort of household ingredients like lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar, dish soap, food coloring, etc.) before developing it. Regular labs often don’t take this film because it has the potential to contaminate the chemicals, but my lab not only accepts this kind of film, but it specializes in it. In 2020 when the world was living a veritable Groundhog Day, creativity felt near impossible. I was taking the exact same walk twice a day with my kids, and I was bored. I leaned hard into souping my film, because if I couldn’t change my surroundings, I could change my process. Film soup pulled me out of a creative Pandemic funk, but I recognized I had the luxury of knowing how to develop film and also having a professional-grade scanner to get good results. I decided to start this lab in an attempt to spread the film soup love, and bring this technique to others wanting to get out of their own creative funks.

In 2023 I started an online group called The Art Lab/The Artist’s Collab in an effort to create community, learn about art/artists, and create our own art centered around a main prompt each month. We learn about one another and ourselves, get creatively pushed, but also embrace slow art in an era in which art feels fast and disposable. It’s my joy to help push people past creative roadblocks and get them thinking in new ways. Plus, having a safe haven of other artists who “get it” is incredibly valuable for those of us who don’t have many of those friendships or colleagues in our everyday life.

I also run 1:1 mentorships and online workshops such as Self-Portraits With Meaning. Self-portraits basically saved me as I was nearing the end of my marriage. I began taking them seemingly compulsively, and I didn’t know why. I thought maybe I was trying to find my voice. But after a visualization exercise with a martial therapist, I realized it was far dire….I was needing to see myself. Self-portraits were and remain a way I process my emotions, take up space, and keep seeing myself when parenting, business, and life can feel stifling. My individual therapist recognizes them as one of my healing modalities and can always tell when I haven’t taken self-portraits in a while. I believe in them so strongly, that I want to empower others to take them on, whether or not they are a self-identified artist or photographer. My recent project:30 Days of Self-Portraits which started April 1, has been a way to take this concept to the masses as we have gathered on Instagram around the hashtag #30days_itsamyliz. I have had former roommates, high school friends, students, neighbors, and many more participate. The constituency spans generations, genders, and life walks. There are photographers and non-photographers in the group. But the way each one is encouraged and supported by the collective is beautiful, and one of the positive aspects of social media.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

A year or so ago, I didn’t plan to, but I started talking about ‘purpose’ while being interviewed for a podcast, and of course was then asked “what *is* your purpose?” I didn’t have a canned answer, but came up with an answer that I feel remains true to this day: to use my vulnerability to empower others.

This creative, entrepreneurial life has involved me putting myself out there in all the ways. Whether I’m marketing an offering, writing a blog post, or submitting my art to the world, it’s all vulnerable.

As artists, storytelling is our greatest superpower, and when it’s done with authenticity and vulnerability, these stories help others feel less alone. It also provides a well for people to come and gather, and it inspires and equips people to live their own authentic, creative life.

A lot of what I do has always felt akin to the work I did in the church ministry world, which was coincidentally echoed by a member of one of my groups just today. She said I was akin to a pastor and I inspired others and helped them realize themselves in their own voices. And I’m not sure I could have asked for a better review.

Vulnerability begets vulnerability. In an era where social media has us all consenting to the façade, I desire to stoke the fire of authenticity. We are craving the warmth this kind of honesty can provide.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

::::I ended up answering a lot of the questions above??? whoops!::::

This new era has been about creating the life I want to live. It’s filled with hard work, risk, and self-doubt, and to be honest there are so many moments I feel like turning back to do something “regular”.

But I am learning to push past these obstacles and I am working on flexing the muscles that help keep me present and confident.

I grew up with the message that being miserable in your life is just the norm. I remember my grandma counting down the *days* until retirement for nearly 20 years. TWENTY YEARS.

I was told I had to major in something “practical”, which definitely didn’t include art. (Basically every “acceptable” major included. anything in the math and sciences and possibly business-related.) I grew up with the message that artists are starving and it’s not a sustainable way of living.

But some of us don’t fit well into the existing molds, and we thrive on thinking and living outside of the box. The fact that I get to make art, build community, and guide others feels like a dream. Yes, it requires lots of hustle and creative thinking, but I love the challenge of having to figure out ways to keep pushing forward toward sustainability. And hustling is fun when you love what you’re doing.

The trick for entrepreneurs who feel the pressure of building a business and supporting a family is creating boundaries around our time and space (especially those of us who work from home). I could work for 12 hours a day, every day, and still not feel like I’m doing enough. But I decided from the beginning that if I’m going to be creating the life I want to live, that starts NOW. If I work non-stop and never take breaks now, there will never be a time I feel like I can relax enough to do it later.

One of the mottos I’ve adopted is “the process is the point”. This goes for everything I do, whether it’s business, art, parenting, or relationships. I’m not working for someone else’s bottom line, and I get to decide what matters. And turns out it’s the process.

I am still learning to internalize this, but the moments I cling to it, I realize that this statement allows me to live a life that is fully present. Creating a life that enjoys the process is how we live the good life in the here and now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.itsamyliz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsamyliz/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDua-izKsC-lNJDa3MSdjww