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

Alright, Cynthia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

In the 1970s, when I was in high school, I discovered that I had a talent for music, poetry and the arts. Everything I saw affected my senses; and I had no problem sharing what I saw and felt with others through art.

After I graduated high school, I led a totally different life… with a husband, nine children and aa very full life. I started businesses; then, opened a store that made gift baskets and other handmade items in the 1990s. My husband became ill and we closed the store.

The medical bills from my husband’s illness wiped us out, but we survived. The children grew up and thrived. We settled into a life dealing with his growing maladies. One morning, he could not see. Trips to the ophthalmologist, laser eye surgery… only helped for a while; and then not at all. Then, his kidneys failed.

Three times a week, four hours of soul-shattering dialysis – where he walked in and had to be helped (or wheelchaired out). I fought to have Jim placed on home dialysis. After a year, the doctor consented. The procedure was much kinder to him; he could sleep while his treatments were done in our bedroom surrounded by his family and pets. Everything was fine until the COVID outbreak. It looked as if we would make it through, until I caught COVID. I checked into the hospital and spent 24 hours there until I took an experimental drug and was released.

When I returned home, all seemed well. But soon after, Jim seemed less attentive, less talkative. We called an ambulance, and they took him to a hospital where we were not allowed to visit him. But we talked for hours each day. As he started to recover; the hospital needed his ICU room, but he needed more oxygen than he could receive at home. So, they transferred him to a secondary facility, where at least we could visit him every day. Unfortunately, Jim died hoping that he was about to be able to come home.

For forty-nine years, we had been together… nine days before his 64th birthday, he died. Two nights later, I dreamed of him, telling me to start doing that ‘art thing’ we talked about. I decided to finish my MBA and learn resin art. I did both… and here I am.

Cynthia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a newly widowed mother of nine (45 to 22). I grew up in a middle-class home. Went to a private school in which I was the only African American student at a time when the civil rights struggle was raging… at a time when there were water fountains, bathrooms, movie theaters and eateries that I could not use because of the color of my skin.

I found that by virtue of the fact that my parents (a teacher and a carpenter) could afford my private school education, I did not fit in with my peers; neither did I fit in with my white schoolmates. Some of each group were open in their contempt for me; others were less overt; still fewer accepted me.
I became a social butterfly by high school, doing my own thing; not really caring what others’ opinions of me were. I became a Dancerette (co-head), a Glee Club member (soloist), a church soloist, AAA member (volunteer group), artist, and a poet. I was a National Merit Finalist; listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Students; a Spanish Honor Society and Student Council member. I was accepted to University of Alabama’s Honor College. Then my life changed.

I had hidden that I was being abused… in my father’s absence working in Puerto Rico, my mother was physically abusing me. The day following my graduation from high school, I left home.

So, I did not go to college at that point. I had four children by the time I started college. In fact, I found out that I was pregnant after I was accepted into USF’s Honor College. I attended while pregnant; and while carrying my son to class for a while. Dropped out after three semesters, though. Worked for a while, working my way up. Until daycare injured my child. Then, I became a stay-at-home mother.

I wanted to earn while I was at home, though. Started companies; things worked for a while… then, didn’t. Opened a store, learned the hard way that I should not take the advice of people who do not have the same values and vision that I have. Started school again. Kept going… graduated with an associate degree in Web design in 2014; then a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied business in 2015. I received a master’s Certificate in Fish and Wildlife Management this year. My MBA (Entrepreneurship Concentration) will confer August 1, 2022. All the while, starting companies; some of which are still running.

We instilled a need to learn into our children. I wanted them to sing, dance, paint, play instruments and excel. Some of them have been excessively successful 😊. All of them have a love for life and beauty; and a drive to succeed.

I look at the world and see so much beauty and so much unhappiness. I want to make the beauty something that people can have a piece of… something they can look at to remind them that they are a part of. The same elements that make up the universe are in each of us. The same beauty that we see in a flower, a bee, the stars, the ocean – that’s in us as well. When I create, I want people to see it and feel the connection, too.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I believe that NFTs can be a viable way to store and create value. Artwork can be created, sold and ownership in original pieces can be proven. Also, when pieces are resold, the artist can receive a portion of the sale. What’s not to like?

Here’s what I would eventually like to do with my pieces: The money from the sale of the artwork goes into a fund for an aquaponics farm that will both sell its food products and provide food to people living in food deserts (areas classified by the USDA as a low-income areas without access to healthy food, living in residences more than 1 mile away from a grocery store in urban areas (or 10 miles in rural areas). So, buying my artwork would help people who need nutritious food, get it.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

When I was younger, I read 3 to 4 books a week. I read everything I could get my hands on. If I couldn’t buy books, my husband and I would go to bookstores and read books. If someone was giving books away, I was first on the scene to receive them. For the past 5 years, I only read subjects that were for my MBA (and my husband was sick), except when I read books to him.

Lately, I have begun to read self-improvement, investing, and business books. At this point, Jim Kwik’s Limitless and Jeff Olsen’s The Slight Edge are my favorites. I realize that the human brain is capable of much more than we ask of it. I intend to get the most of mine by doing everything I can to expand my territory – mentally, spiritually, physically – on a daily basis, with consistent everyday tasks that move me one step at a time towards the goals I seek. I will not just pray that my goals are met as a ‘quantum leap’. I will walk towards my goal doing what I can with what I have; knowing that my daily efforts will compound until a critical mass is reached… and I will be able to see the progress I seek.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://DreaminMelanin.com
• Instagram: @DreaminMelanin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DreaminMelanin
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1cynwelch/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A7141123011%2Cp_4%3ADreamin%27+Melanin%27