We recently connected with Chanamon Ratanalert and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chanamon, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

You know when your friends ask you, “If you could do anything and money was no object, what would you do?” I used to instantly answer that I wanted to be a children’s book illustrator. In fact, I vowed to be one after I retired from my “real” career in tech. When I was 23, I realized that I was going to wait at least 45 years to do what I actually wanted to be doing. That was a bit of a wake up call and I started pursuing art and illustration on the side.

I didn’t seriously consider pursuing it professionally until I opened my small business of illustrated goods. It was so much more rewarding to have creative freedom and execute my own vision. When I was working on my business all hours outside of my 9-to-5, I started to consider if I could change career paths. After several years of convincing myself to try being an artist and burning out in the tech industry, I finally quit my day job in 2020 to pursue a career in illustration. I wasn’t yet fit to go work for another company with my lack of portfolio and major case of burnout. I worked on my business while slowly recovering until I discovered how much I loved working on it and committed my career to it full-time. I wish I had been able to convince myself that my happiness was worth pursuing before hitting rock bottom in the wrong industry, but I am grateful for all the lessons I have learned. I am firmly dedicated to this path knowing how hard it was to get here.

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

For those who don’t know me, hi! My name is Chanamon. I am an illustrator and designer based out of San Francisco. My full-time job is running my small business, called Made by Chanamon. My brand carries a wide variety of cute and colorful illustrated goods, ranging from stickers and prints to accessories and apparel. With my products, I am to bring more whimsy and smiles to the world.

I am most proud of the community I’ve been able to build around my business and art journey. I know a lot of people are in similar situations to what I was in, working a job for the financial security but longing to do something more creative. The path certainly isn’t easy, so I try to share as much as I can about what it’s like and how I got here, hoping my experience can help someone else. I also like to share about my struggles with mental health and raise awareness to Asian American culture. I have often times felt very alone in the past, so I take pride in starting conversations and letting others know that they are not alone.

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

I was raised by parents that immigrated to the United States from Thailand with very little money. I was taught from a young age, as many children of immigrants are, that financial stability is the ultimate goal in life and that sacrifices needed to be made in order to achieve it. I truly believed that money was more important than my happiness or well-being, until I couldn’t stand the life I was living anymore.

Doing something to make others happy, meet expectations, or make financial gains is a lesson I continue to unlearn as I pursue this career. I of course have to acknowledge that I am in a very privileged position to be able to pursue this full-time. I saved up money before I quit, have a partner who can provide for me, and an alternate career to fall back on if needed. It’s the extremity to which I valued money over happiness that was truly detrimental. I cared more about how my life looked to other people than how it actually felt for me living it. So while I realize that not everyone is in a position to be able to pursue their small business or creative careers full-time, I hope that they don’t make the same mistakes I did, thinking money is the only metric to success in life and happiness doesn’t matter. I’d like them to take away from my experience that your well-being is worth a lot of consideration and making time for, even in small ways.

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

I think society can do a better job at valuing creative work and respecting how much hard effort goes into creative careers. They’re often viewed as lesser or more frivolous than traditional or scientific careers, which leads to underpaying artists and perpetuating the “starving artist” archetype. Working in a creative career does not make someone less intelligent or less serious than anyone else. In fact, with all the effort we have to put in to survive despite the stigma and make it in this society, one could argue we work harder than those on traditional career paths. So please, I would love it if everyone could give artists credit for the work that they do, pay them for what they’re worth, and allow them to freely continue making the world a more beautiful place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chanamon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madebychanamon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madebychanamon
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chanamon
• Other: Support me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/chanamon