We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rosalie Gale a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rosalie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
After studying theater performance and then deciding that I hated it I moved to Seattle with my college boyfriend (he had a ponytail and a pet tarantula). After reading an article about how 20-somethings were becoming millionaires by working at this new tech company, I decided that’s what I would do. I started temping at Amazon.com around 1999 – before Amazon was Amazon. I most definitely didn’t become a millionaire. I made about ten dollars an hour (which – at the time – I thought was amazing). I DID receive an insane amount of stock options that I later sold when they reach about $13 a share. So again, I didn’t become a millionaire. Also, why would a company issue a temp stock options? Like – has that ever been done ever at all at any time?
After five years, I couldn’t take a corporate environment any longer so I decided to return to my roots and get an adult continuing education certificate in arts administration. In a bizarre turn of events, in the first class, I ran into someone I went to school with in Illinois and she immediately brought up the last play that I was in – the one that made me kind of hate theater. Bizarre. I quit working at Amazon and started working in a non-profit theater. After about five years I couldn’t take the non-profit paycheck any longer so I changed gears and started working for a marketing company that focused on non-profits and social causes.
This whole time – all my life really – I was compelled to work for myself and make things with my hands. One evening, after receiving an MRI scan for something else, I got a call from my doctor saying they thought I might have a brain tumor and that I needed to come back in for another scan. In two weeks.
Those two weeks gave me time to reevaluate basically everything in my life and I decided to quit my current job and start working for myself. Shortly after, we opened our first retail shop – Ugly Baby – in the historic Pike Place Market. Oh – and I DIDN’T have brain cancer.
Getting that call gave me the ability to focus in on whether I was actually doing what I wanted to do with my life. In that sense, I think it happened at exactly the right time. I do very much wish that I had been able to take the leap sooner but I don’t think it would have been wise. Having some professional work experience before setting off on my own has been extremely valuable.
Rosalie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My husband, Doug, and I own a couple of retail shops in Seattle. Ugly Baby (https://www.uglybaby.shop) in the historic Pike Place Market and Monster (https://www.monstermonster.shop) in the Ballard neighborhood. Both shops focus on items made by independent artists. Ugly Baby is our brand headquarters where we sell our own work as well as D.I.Y. craft kits, enamel pins and a whole wall of stickers. It’s almost impossible to find on purpose so we draw unicorns on the sidewalk from The Gum Wall (an attraction that lots of tourists visit) right to our door. Monster is a larger venue that allows us to teach art and craft workshops in addition to selling the work of independent artists. We are the inventors of Shower Art – waterproof art to hang in your shower with a suction cup. Even if the rest of your house is already covered in art – you probably still have some room in your shower. We cast our Shower Art pieces out of rubber in molds. They have silly or motivational sayings. Some are helpful reminders like”Floss, bitch” and “Make time to meditate.” Others make very little sense at all like, “Oh great sky gorilla: When will I get my wings?” Either way, they’re colorful and full of stickers, glitter and discarded toys. They are perfect for the most immature adult in your life.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
For much of my life, I would make huge to do lists but instead of really getting anything done – I would just make and remake my to do lists. My husband – being the hilarious man that he is – bought me a copy of a book called ‘Getting Things Done’ by David Allen for Christmas one year. I decided to read it. And then read it again. And then I implemented his practices to great success. It was honestly a life changing moment for me and helped me juggle all of the different jobs required by a small business owner.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that I get to make things by hand out of nothing. I love being so in the flow of creating something that I lose track of time. Especially in a world where screens are all around us it’s especially satisfying to actively build something. A close second, is being in control of my own schedule. I love being free to work when I want and decide when I don’t.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.uglybaby.shop & https://www.monstermonster.shop
- Instagram: @uglybabyshop $ @monstermonstershop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uglybabyshop & https://www.facebook.com/monstermonstershop/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosaliegale/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ugly-baby-seattle-3 & https://www.yelp.com/biz/monster-seattle-2
Image Credits
Rosalie Gale