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

Brittney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

Honestly, I don’t think I am wishing for anything grand. I am a bit simple-minded regarding what I do, I love creating in general and hope there will be people who can appreciate what I have done and created. I love doing fashion and art, both are ways of how I express myself, thoughts, feelings, stories, and more. I hope I can be remembered for that, and that if any of my art lives on, people can still appreciate it even when I’m not there.

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.

Ever since I could remember, I was always deeply involved with art, and sewing. I grew up around clothes, and my curiosity about them eventually inspired me to pick up sewing and design. Despite that, I couldn’t leave art/illustration. I struggled for a while in choosing what field I should go into. Eventually, I chose Fashion Design as my field and kept art-related projects as a hobby of mine or on the side. However, I do see fashion as art too, just not in the typical paint-on-canvas or pen-to-paper way. An art form that involves the body. Currently, I am a work-from-home seamstress. During my free time, I work on a new fashion collection and continue to improve on art. I have also picked up other hobbies such as jewelry making and candle making. I love experimenting in ways where I can create something and have it be expressive of myself, like a signature touch to whatever I make. What I hope to do more in the future with all of this is create a collection that can utilize the jewelry and candles. I think it’d be interesting to see what I can do with them together, and what feelings and stories I can deliver across to viewers and clients. Nonetheless, what I am proud of is my growth and progress. I am still experimenting with ways to blend my love of fashion and art together. It’s hard for me to say or pick what artwork or garment I have made I am most proud of. But I do know every project I embark on is filled with my efforts and love, and challenges I give myself. Every project is a step for me, and I think that is worth being proud of. I think this also sums up my brand and work well, the constant push to be better.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, what is most rewarding to me is the feeling of seeing the progress of a project (even if unfinished) and how it turned out, especially when it is a project I want to express myself with. For a long time, and sometimes still now, I had a mindset that something must be perfect for it to be rewarding, and having to churn out a lot of “perfect” works. I found this mindset to hinder me instead. It is good to aim higher, but also be willing to accept not everything is going to be “perfect”. Because of this, I found it to be unrewarding no matter what I did. After some reflection, I find it most rewarding to accept it as it is and to enjoy the process and progress that comes from it. I see much of my works in a different light now and can feel satisfied with them.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This might be a bit typical, but I come from a family that doesn’t easily accept anything related to art as an actual career. Even today, I still get comments of concern from other family members. I got lucky a little, I stayed stubborn and eventually convinced my parents to let me pursue the art/design field. I was and still very worried about what would become of me from pursuing that. I think some doubt is normal though, for me I used them as motivation in a way. I’m very stubborn and didn’t want to let my doubts stop me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brittneymdo.wixsite.com/home
• Instagram: Fashion Account: https://www.instagram.com/do_brittney/ ; Art Account: https://www.instagram.com/mmei.yi/

Image Credits
Fashion photos: Green dress and white jacket photos are by @theonewillfocus on Instagram. Black backdrop photo with the white/beige outfit is by @em.mortonphotography on Instagram.