We were lucky to catch up with Doretha James recently and have shared our conversation below.

Doretha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

If I could go back in time, part of me wished I would have started sooner to be further along in my creative career. But I understand now that things happen the way they are supposed to happen. You have your own one unique journey. If I would have advanced prematurely, I wouldn’t have the tools to catch myself before getting to high on a hill.

I started my creative career a couple of years after my youngest child was born, after I realized personally I had nothing going for just me. I realized, in order to keep giving to my family, I had to do some self-care.

At the time, I had also started Graduate School for a Social Services related career, working a full time Social Services job, and a wife and mother. You may say super woman, but honestly I was doing too much. And yet, I was determined to start my creative career because it was something I wanted for me, and not what everyone else wanted for me.

Starting sooner would’ve meant, I would have started this career before starting a family, and starting a family was very important too. Knowing what I know now, work would have gotten in the way, and my chances for starting a family would be low. Because my creative career has caused me to work long and odd hours from time to time. I would have also not been emotionally, and mentally ready as I am now because I had a difficult upbringing.

One thing I would change is taking control of my life from the beginning. Doing what I thought was best for me, instead of unhappily following in the foot steps others made for me. I would have been more confident in what I wanted for myself. At this point in life, I’ve accepted where I started. I’ve learned so much about how resilient I am along the way. And to focus on should haves, will only hinder me into a dark place of stagnation, going in circles, and feeling stuck. But I am ever pressing to continue this journey.

Doretha, 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?

I’m the sole owner, media manager, and creative producer of Doe’s Crafte’. I got started in my industry by creating a YouTube channel, watching tons of YouTube, and it blossomed from there.

While developing my YouTube Channel I learned that I had a knack for all things creative. I have a discipline specifically in Resin, and Loom Knitting. And I am the epitome of a “jack of all trades”, but I see nothing wrong with always wanting to learn something new.

The products I provide are resin accessories, decor, and memorials, and handmade knitted items such as blankets, amigurumis, hats, scarves, and baby booties at this time because I’m always adding more.

I provide free services for social media growth, how to master loom knitting, and how to troubleshoot issues when working with resin.

I’m most proud that my followers can trust me to provide them with the best information when acquiring how to get started with loom knitting, and resin.

I want my potential clients, followers, and fans to know that I am an honest person, who tries to provide good quality products, and very knowledgeable intellect when trying to assist them with achieving success.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was that everybody was making the same thing I was making, and that there wasn’t anything special about the way I was doing what I was doing.

I had to unlearn this because personally I’ve had quite a bit of negative nay sayers in my ear about where I need to be going in life. And that I needed to stick to a 9 to 5 because running a business for yourself is hard, and often times people become a failure more than a success because big corporations beat them out of the game.

In all honesty there are a lot of big businesses out there that do very similar things in there own way, and I can do the same. There are multiple makeup companies, multiple fast food burgers providers, multiple clothing retailers, and they all have a different way in which they do business.

Some of the things I produce may be very similar, but I can put my own twist on anything I put my mind too. Because if I didn’t it wouldn’t truly be called handmade.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think the best thing society can do is to cut down on trying to get the most bang for their buck often. And think more a long the lines of good quality work deserves the income they worked hard for.

And to understand that in these days in times of social media, it’s all about a simple click of a button. If you want an artist to grow to a target audience of people who can afford to pay for their services, give them a like, follow, share, and try to completely watch or interact with the hard work that they’ve had to compress down into just a couple minutes of a video. And the best part about this is it’s totally free, just requires the time that you’re already spending on social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://does-crafte.square.site/s/shop
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doe_s_crafte_/
• Facebook: fb://group/383937283123684?ref=share
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCGdwfeo4IcAx4mgVPfBguMw
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@doe_s_crafte_1?_t=8UVyLa4Aces&_r=1