We were lucky to catch up with Isabel Roloff recently and have shared our conversation below.

Isabel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I am actually in the middle of taking a risk right now. My dream is to make music, and I have been playing it safe my whole life and haven’t done it yet. Truthfully because it scares me. Even with this dream in the back of my mind, telling me to go for it, I haven’t taken the leap. But I just turned 30 and I feel like it’s now or never. I have songs written and I just want to put them out there and share them with the world. I feel ready, but still scared. The feeling is similar, I imagine, to stepping off the ledge when you are skydiving or cliff jumping. It takes courage and I haven’t always had that. My brothers were musicians in a traveling band, and I got a lot of inspiration from them. But my late brother had more courage than anyone else I had ever met. He just went for the life he wanted; he simply lived it. He didn’t wait around for anyone else to make things happen for him. My goal is to be more like that, more like him. And that involves taking a risk and realizing that things might not happen quickly (or at all), but if I don’t try, I will never know. So I might as well go for it and see what happens.

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 background and context?

I have been doing this social media thing since around 2016. A whole decade of putting myself out there and sharing about my life. I started by posting about my travels, writing a blog, and then I started writing poetry and sharing that. People seemed interested in it, so I kept going. I have always loved writing stories and so sharing mine felt natural. Sharing my writing on a public forum felt terrifying yet exhilarating. It felt exactly like what I was supposed to be doing. I put a lot of pressure on myself as a creative, to keep putting out good writing and pumping out “content”, so to speak. But things didn’t “take off” right away like I might have expected them to. Then I read the book ‘Big Magic’ by Elizabeth Gilbert and it changed my life. She recommends taking the pressure off of yourself and your creative endeavors to make you a living by having multiple. Things will flow easier once you do. That’s when I decided to try another creative outlet — painting. I was very depressed at this phase of my life, and my writing showed that. Painting felt really cathartic and healing for me, like I was channeling that pain into something beautiful. Over time, I started sharing my paintings online, and people felt called to them. I opened my art shop soon after and started selling my artwork. I couldn’t believe it, because I never imagined I would be a painter for a living. I have always loved to paint, but suddenly I was doing it for work. I started trying different mediums; playing with my artistic style.. This led to having many art shows over the years. During this, I was still writing a lot and had the dream to one day self publish a book of poetry. In 2024, I did just that. I released my first book ‘Belonging Somewhere’. I’m really proud of myself for that. Each creative outlet needed to have its moment. And now that I have accomplished those other things, I feel like music is next. I go to as many concerts as I can to draw inspiration and I am always listening to music. Many musician friends have told me to finally just do it. I can feel it is time. To take the pressure off, I learned from the past and have many other creative outlets to fulfill while I chase that particular dream. For example, I grow different flowers every year on our farm, and it gives me a sense of purpose beyond myself. I have had many dreams morph and change over the years, but being a creative person will simply always be who I am. And over the course of my life, that has taken many forms. Listening to my intuition and letting it lead me is something I am good at.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Aside from the fact that life circumstances have sort of led me down this path, I think for me my hope has always been that others know they are not alone. As I said before, when I first started writing, I was depressed and I needed to move through what I was going through. Writing helped with that but sharing it was something else entirely — it was connecting me to others who had been through similar things. Even if we haven’t walked the same specific paths, we may be able to relate to each other on some level. Writing is very human in that way. I want people to feel connected to my work. To know that their story matters. If I can share mine, hopefully they feel inspired to do the same. I want everyone to know their life matters. Writing music is similar. We write about our own experiences, but inevitably, other people have gone through something similar. That’s why we are drawn to certain artists, we feel like they get us. It is comforting to know other people have gone through what you have, and you can unite over it. Also, sometimes you have a deep desire that you can’t quite explain, but it is always calling to you. I think life is about listening to that tiny voice that says “do it”, even if you feel like you can’t, or feel afraid. Even if it wasn’t the original “plan” for your life. I believe that a lot of times, what ends up happening for us is a lot better than anything we had originally imagined for ourselves.

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

Connecting with other humans. I am a very empathetic, sensitive person and I crave close connections with people. Being creative has connected me with so many like minded people and souls from all over the world, and I will never get over that. Friends I have made from Instagram who said they were inspired to write or paint because of me. That is such a gift. It’s rewarding to know that as hard as it is to share your life, be vulnerable and make mistakes publicly, that there are people who are watching you and drawing inspiration from your vulnerability. I wouldn’t be here today without the support of those who encourage me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artbyisabelsofia.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: @isabelsofiarock

Image Credits

Shannon Weiss photo for the first image, credit to me for all the others