We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brianna Starry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brianna below.
Brianna , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I’m a 32 year old woman, mother of 3, and wife. For the last several years, I have really struggled with maintaining work for multiple reasons. The first being my children. You know, society is built to have two working parents in order to survive financially, but there is so little support out in the world for mothers and fathers when your children get sick, or they need to take extended time off of school. Aside from that, I significantly struggle with my mental health due to a colorful past and hard childhood. I don’t think I’ve held a job for more than 2 years through pretty much any of my life, and a lot of that has to do with my mental health struggles.
Between being a mom, needing to be present for my children, and going through my healing journey of trying to grow from my past traumas and learn to live a fulfilling and happy life as a mentally I’ll individual, I was really struggling with the 9-5 job.
In March of 2022 I had this absolutely random, and out of nowhere impulse to buy paint. I didn’t know what I was going to do with that paint, I didn’t know what I wanted to create, I just wanted paint. I was depressed and tired of sitting and scrolling on my phone for 8+ hours a day. So I bought paint, and it probably took me all of a week to find mandalas. Then I was obsessed, and I never looked back.
August of 2022, I officially opened my art business on Etsy. Completely unprepared, still working full time, and with no idea what I was doing, I took the big giant leap. I was on the verge of getting fired from my full time job due to attendance since my kids were sick pretty much every week. Within a month and a half I left my full time job that I was honestly incredibly miserable at, and I let art take over a larger part of my life. Since beginning to paint mandalas my life has completely transformed, and so has my mental health. I’ve found happiness, I’ve found peace, and I’ve found something that is helping me along in my healing journey. Mandalas have saved my life, and given me hope for my future as a disabled mother with significant mental health issues.
Brianna , 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?
My name is Brianna Starry, I am 32 years old and a mother to 3 beautiful babies, as well as a wife to my biggest cheerleader. I have quite the history, to be honest, so this may be a little long. I feel like one of the first most important things to state about myself is that I am a recovering alcoholic and addict. I struggled with addiction from the ages of 12-23 years old, and eventually almost found myself in prison. Thankfully, the universe had better plans for me, and I was released on a 3 year court program that helped me drop my felony, but also learn how to live a clean and sober life. I met my now husband just a handful of months after going into recovery, and a lot of life just fell into place after that. We had two beautiful babies together, but I was also able to adopt his beautiful daughter from a previous relationship last year. Well, as a person in recovery, as is with most people in recovery, I have a ton of trauma and mental health issues, mostly directly related to my past. I am also disabled, and have sensorineural hearing loss, where I am almost completely high tone deaf. All of this about me, are direct reasons I have pursued my art so intensely.
To start, I make art for me. As a person in recovery with significant mental health issues and disabilities, art is a symbol of hope for me. Specifically, I paint mandalas. I meditate as I paint. My paintings center me, calm me, and help me feel more present in life. The beautiful intricate designs to my hand painted mandalas, goodness I could get lost in them day in and day out. In Hindu and Buddhist symbolism mandalas represent the universe, and when I paint them I become more in tune with this universe I’m in. Mandalas have encouraged me to learn more about my chakras, healing stones and crystals, and honestly just helped me become the best version of me. They are my zen and my happiness. Being able to make this beautiful art has brought so much purpose to my life. Even aside from all the spiritual hippy dippy stuff, as a disabled woman who has no idea how long I will have hearing in my life, it has also given me more hope than I have had in a really long time that my future will be more than just growing old and living on disability. Mandalas gave me my life back and my hope for my future.
Second, I make art for my family. Since starting my art business, and leaving my full time job, I have been more present for my children. I can stay home with them on sick days, get them into the dentist, be home for school breaks, and go on all the field trips and to all the school performances. I can support my husband in his career so that he can support our family, and so he can support me while I pursue my art dreams. I make art for our future, and for my children’s future. Both of my daughters (6 and 10), love art beyond words. I hope that they see me as they grow up, and are inspired to do whatever they put their mind to. I hope they see their Mama at 32 years old making her dreams come true, and they know it is never too late for them no matter the choices they’ve made.
And my brand? My brand is that hope. My brand is, showing people you can dig yourself out of the trenches and thrive. That you can have the most messed up, wild, traumatizing, horrible childhood, adolescence, and everything else, and you can still win. You can pick up something new when you’re 30 years old and make a living out of it. You can decide that this isn’t the life I want to live and change it. I want to be the proof that there are rainbows after the storm, that there is a beautiful life out there for every single person on this planet if you’re just willing to put in the work. This universe has so much to offer you, you just have to be willing to receive it. All of that, all of this, all of me, that’s what sets me apart from everyone else. I am only one me, and I spent so much of my life making myself small, that I want to be as big as I can to give every small person who feels small hope that they can absolutely be amazing.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
This has been a big one for me, seeing as I’ve built my social media by the thousands in the last month and a half. The biggest piece of advice I can give to any creative is to network with other creatives. This has helped me grow my business beyond what I ever thought imaginable. Every single day, find at the bare minimum, 10 creative accounts that you are interested in, they inspire you, or that you just think are really freaking cool, and engage with those creatives! Go through their pages, check out their stuff, comment on it, react to it and be present. Build relationships with real people and real business owners and you will be shocked at your growth over time. Every single person is not only a potential client, but also a potential friend and inspiration. You learn SO much from following other makers, doers, and creators, and nobody is going to support you like other small business owners. We are all chasing the same dream, and for that, we are family
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
As I continue on my art journey, I find so many things in the art community that sadden me. Some of the big things I’ve started to see, especially on larger small business platforms, is them being taken over by oversea companies, and even the ideas of Etsy creators being stolen from small creators, mass produced, and then sold for pennies on the dollar compared to small business made. We need to find a way to protect small businesses, their creations, and their ideas, and we need to create a truly safe platform for them to sell their products without fear of their ideas being stolen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Etsy.me/3jkyb2n
- Instagram: Instagram.com/BeeStarryArt
- Facebook: Facebook.com/beestarryart
- Other: Etsy @ beestarryart
Image Credits
All pictures have been taken by me or family.