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

Audrey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I started off drawing on Procreate during the pandemic as a way to mentally distract myself from getting sucked into the depths of social media – especially during this time when there was no physical escape. I remember chatting with my friend about this new hobby when he suddenly asked me to draw his dog who had passed. I remember telling him it wasn’t going to be any good because the last time I drew any animal was when I was probably in elementary school. And at the time, I didn’t know what my style was or how to properly use this digital medium. Regardless, I gave it my best shot and when I sent him the final drawing, he loved it so much that he ended up using it as his phone wallpaper. Because of that response, I felt a *smidge* of pride and decided to post it on my IG art account that had about 10 followers at the time (and is now @thejuseclub). Suddenly I had friends asking me to draw their pets! I was so thrilled – not only had I finally found something that I genuinely enjoyed doing, but I was able to bring happiness to so many people through my art and that meant a lot to me.

Anyway it kind of all came together from there and I experienced a slow but organic growth through word of mouth. People were so excited to have their pets interpreted as art and it was a bonus that the final drawing came with a phone wallpaper. This is now my classic style, which features the heads of loved ones (both humans and pets) as a default 5×7 portrait that you can print, along with the matching patterned phone wallpaper.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Audrey and I am a Chinese-American illustrator and designer, born and raised in Southern California. I started The Juse Club back in 2020 as a way to express my creativity at the peak of the pandemic. Since then, this hobby has turned into an incredibly rewarding small business that has allowed me to turn people’s loved ones into digital art and waterproof stickers.

I grew up loving all forms of art, specifically drawing, but as it is in many Asian American households, pursuing art was not really an option for me. So having the opportunity to (re)dive into this passion now as an adult outside of my day job is really special. Plus, being able to bring joy to so many people is a huge added bonus.

I offer a select menu of styles that can be found on www.artbyjuse.com. Clients have gifted these drawings to family and friends on holidays or special occasions, as well as featured at weddings, on clothing, framed in their homes, printed as head cutouts for birthdays and graduations, and much more.

Another service I recently launched earlier this year is live illustrations at private events – from weddings and birthdays to bridal showers and corporate events. I draw your guests live and at the end of the event, they’re able to take home a print out of themselves as an illustration.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A huge portion of my career in my 20s was actually in account and client services, where there was no real creativity involved. I finally hit my breaking point when I realized I had absolutely no work-life balance, I was overly anxious on a daily basis (even on weekends), and my day-to-day responsibilities were not bringing me any joy whatsoever. Let’s just say I was having a mid-life crisis 3-4 times a week.

So one of the biggest risks I took was to not only quit the job I had at the time, but to promise myself I would never work in that line of work anymore. I had no backup job or any idea of what I wanted to do next, but I was just relieved that I finally took that risk and made a move that I knew was going to better my mental health and overall lifestyle.

To my luck, my current company reached out a couple months later about a Senior Creative Strategist role that actually leveraged the skills I acquired in my past roles. But this job allowed me to exercise my creativity and problem solving abilities. I now have a job that allows me to practice what I like doing and an amazing work life balance so that I’m able to pursue The Juse Club on the side. I remind myself everyday that I’m the only one that has full control of my life and the trajectory it’s going in. If you’re unhappy with the situation you’re in, close that door and another one will open – no matter how daunting the situation may seem. It’s one of the most valuable life lessons I’ve learned from this experience that I’ll practice time and time again.

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

Growing up as an Asian American, it was a struggle for me to speak out and to have confidence in the work I created or took part in, even if I was really proud of it. When I started The Juse Club, I was (and sometimes still am) nervous to post my drawings, afraid of what people would think or say, let alone turning it into a small business where I would profit from creating art for other people.

I’m still a work in progress when it comes to those insecurities, but I’m learning to value what I create and to finally be proud of owning something that I can call my own – my inner child is living!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artbyjuse.com
• Instagram: thejuseclub