Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carissa Espey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carissa , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

My Bread and butter has always been cosmetology and things for me at the salon were a little slow a couple months prior to Covid19. When COVID19 hit I was completely out of work, I was low on cash and needed to figure out something to do. I had more time to dive back into old hobbies, such as painting. I have always loved painting and thought “let’s do something related to that.” I had a small amount of paint and brushes lying around, took the cash that I had and invested in coffee mugs and wine glasses. Then with the small following I had on social media I started promoting custom mugs and glasses for sale, slowly orders were coming in and it kept me busy for a short amount of time. My friends and I had a virtual paint date where I taught them step by step through a painting we found on pinterest. They mentioned how much fun it was to do something artistic and how great I was at instructing them through each step and that is where Paint with Ppaparazzi Mom began. I then started teaching virtual paint classes and finally when the summer months hit I started investing in product and hit the ground running by reaching out to local businesses to teach classes in their establishments. I was so scared and unsure if this would be a popular thing to do for people in their spare time, but it has been amazing so far. I am learning a lot as I go but I don’t plan on quitting any time soon, taking that risk has opened so many doors for me and has connected me with my community.

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

I am an artist here in Minnesota and go by the name Ppaparazzi Mom. I created my instagram in hopes of connecting with my community and sharing my love for life with my family. I was the lady behind the camera that never stopped clicking. Once I decided to teach paint classes it just evolved into something bigger than I had originally planned. I then came up with the tag line – Paint with Ppaparazzi Mom. Art – Wellness – Lifestyle. That is exactly what you will see when you visit my page. Painting with Ppaparazzi Mom is not only to share my love of art with people but to build relationships within my community. I want everyone to feel a sense of freedom while expressing themselves through painting. I teach classes at establishments that are small and locally owned. My goal is to collaborate with those businesses and bring awareness to the importance of supporting small and local especially now. I also want to help others have confidence in themselves while painting. We are so hard on ourselves as beginners and often criticize ourselves even when trying something new for the first time, such as painting. Painting is meant to be a release where your mind is lost and your hands are in control. I want everyone that takes my class to feel confident and proud with their creations.

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

Not to take things personally, its a business so treat it as such. When you are the boss and or creator of something of course your human instinct is to take things personally when they go wrong. I was on such a high because my classes were selling out one after the other, I couldn’t believe how well it was going especially because I had started this business during a pandemic. Spring of 2022 felt different, classes weren’t filling up as fast and I had to cancel several classes. I was embarrassed and ashamed, I felt like a complete failure as if everyone hated me and what I was trying to do. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and started creating pieces so I could participate in my first ever art fair as a vendor. I came to the realization it was not personal, and I couldn’t just fall back and quit.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There’s nothing better more rewarding than seeing your students holding up their creation with a huge smile on their face. There’s been times during class where we all break out in song singing together- its just fun. Connecting with people and seeing other people connecting with one another brings me so much happiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ppaparazzimom.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ppaparazzi_mom_/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ppaparazzimom

Image Credits
Hannah Lee Kuhn Photography