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

Josie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I first started content creation when I was 18 years old and it was the summer before my freshman year of college. In all honesty, I started my account to have something to do to help with my mental health – not to become popular online. It wasn’t till quite a few months in where I realized I wanted to take it seriously. I go back and forth on whether I’d like to have started earlier or not. More than likely I would have gone to beauty school instead of traditional college (which is what I’m doing now at 22). I wonder how much farther along I’d be if I had that time to just create and enjoy the process. Recently it seems like I’ve been burnt out during what could very well be the peak of my success due to having so many other things that have taken my focus. It’s scary to think that maybe this is it. On the other hand, if I had started later in life perhaps I would be just as exhausted now and less enthusiastic or excited about my chances of succeeding. Maybe I would know more on how to handle the business portion of things and it would be easier to handle. Either way, there is no use speculating on it now. The only thing left is to just keep trying!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Josie Shipley and I am a 22 year old Asian-American content creator that specializes in abstract makeup. Those on Instagram and Tiktok can find me @sunshinethebee! I

Most people know of me from my Squiggle Sunday series that I started 3 years ago which focuses on my applying makeup with my hands/brushes without any plan on what to do beforehand. I started making them to allow myself to let go and enjoy the process of the application without worrying about the end result.

I’ve had some really amazing opportunities because of it such as getting featured multiple times on Instagram, working with well-known brands, and even being asked to collaborate in making my own makeup palette just to name a few. You can currently still buy my limited edition Daydream Paint palette that I partnered with Kailav beauty to make.

I feel incredibly lucky to have done so much with the time I have spent on social media. I really try to not take it all for granted even when creating gets really hard to do.

It’s hard to believe how much my life has changed just from filming videos in my mothers bathtub. I feel like there is more in store for me, I just never know how or when it will happen. Recently I’ve been really struggling with burnout that has lasted nearly a whole year. It’s hard to keep creating when there’s so much pressure to perform or you lose all the hard work that you put into it. The internet can really suck a person dry and I’ve been working on learning to take my time with things even if it means not achieving the goals I’ve been wanting for ~years~ at the fastest rate. It’s all about the process instead of how soon I’ll be rewarded.

Creating is supposed to feel fulfilling for my viewers as well as myself.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

One of the main struggles within the community is trying to make other people outside of the creative community understand the value we create. It’s so easy for a person to say, “oh, you work on social media…must be easy.”

It’s really not. Maybe for some, but for the rest of us it can be nearly excruciatingly hard to break through and actually make a living off of this. It’s a lot of running your own business. We are in charge of doing everything from marketing, learning technology, taxes, accounting, networking, etc. to keep ourselves afloat. I know for a fact it’s much easier to go and apply for a regular full-time job rather than try to constantly pitch to people and show off the skills you have in an effort to make other’s understand your credibility and pay you for it. It can be so heartbreaking and soul crushing to feel like you’re giving all you have only for it to not be enough. Us creatives often get so emotionally attached to our work and it’s impossible not to feel like it’s a personal attack when you don’t succeed.

When you hear someone trying to make a living off of their creative abilities, try not to downplay it. More than likely that person has spent countless hours learning all there is about business on top of honing in on their skills to be successful in doing what they love as a means of living.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Easy. Pay them what they are worth. Pay them!!! Be respectful of their rates. Their rates are fixed based on multiple different factors that allow them to live. Who wouldn’t want a person to be able to eat and have housing + a little extra?!

If the bare minimum you can do is support your friend by sharing their work and liking their stuff that is totally okay!

But if you are hiring them for work, you need to be paying them an actual fair wage based on the rates they give.

We also need to hold those accountable when others try to shortchange artists for their work. God forbid they don’t pay at all (having deposits are important especially if doing commissions).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kailav.com/collections/eyeshadow/products/daydream-paint-palette (For my water-activated palette)
• Instagram: @sunshinethebee
• Youtube: @sunshinethebee
• Other: Tiktok: @sunshinethebee I will be making an esthetician page as well which you’ll be able to find @jshipleyesthetics