We were lucky to catch up with Chontelle Sewett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chontelle , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

People very rarely understand the complexity of my craft especially as a SFX make up artist. The creative process is so detailed and it takes hours of preparation to assimilate the requisite materials for a SFX execution. Typically , SFX projects are handled by a team of people to assist with the content creation aspect of the process but I do it primarily on my own which makes it extremely challenging.

As a graphic designer, people often don’t understand how to create brand identity using visual assets and often don’t understand why we desire the level of remuneration we do. They think it’s just about creating the designs but so much thought about the brand identity goes into every creative decision made.

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.

Growing up seeing my Dad work in a technologically related field made me have a keen interest in graphic design from an early age. While I was still high school, I started entering logo competitions that I would find in the newspaper and I won a few of them. That early triumph gave me the motivation to start my own design company ChanSe Designs.

Starting my design company so young is something I am extremely proud of because it revealed to me that the desire for upward social mobility will only come from making cerebral decisions guided by strong work ethics.

After spending years as a designer, COVID hit and like many others it forced me to explore new facets of my creativity and that’s when I got into make up. Growing up with my Mom as a cosmetologist exposed me to the joy of being in the beauty industry from an early age. Once I mastered the rudimentary aspects of beauty make up , I got fascinated by SFX make up from my exposure to film and love for scary movies. I then got consumed with wanting to learn that aspect of make up and I wanted to share that process with my audience and then it all started to blow up on social media.

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

The element of surprise and satisfaction on a clients face is always the greatest joy in being a creative for me. Seeing that look on a make up client’s face or a graphic design clients’ face gives me an immeasurable feeling of fulfilment. It is gratifying to know that projects we spent hours ideating and executing on are well received by clients. Typically, I am not a people pleaser but when It comes to my clients, I will go all out to make them happy.

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

The first thing that needs to change in our society is the perception that creative careers are not real careers. Being from the Caribbean, we grew up with this misguided notion that adherence to traditional careers such as lawyers, doctors and pilots was what was expected. The creative industry is dynamic and constantly changing, therefore it is noteworthy to encourage more Caribbean youth to embrace the arts as a viable tool for upward , socioeconomic mobility.

Additionally, I think that more grants and scholarships should be offered to creatives to support them in ascertaining the necessary resources and technological equipment, required to create at a high level. Lastly, I think that we need to value our creatives with kindness and encouragement instead of treating them like disposable commodities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chontellesewett.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chontellesewett/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@chontellesewett?lang=en

Image Credits

Jessica Perez