We were lucky to catch up with FVDGE NASTE recently and have shared our conversation below.

FVDGE , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

My mother raised me to be someone who doesn’t take any BS from anyone. She taught me how to create something from nothing and that is the basis of how I create now. Everything is from resources. I look at what I have and I find a way to work with it to get my desired result. She taught me that the sky’s the limit and believed in all of my creative expressions whether that was dance, making clothes, and creating art.

She taught me that I was my mothers daughter, and to never let anyone forget that.

FVDGE , 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 an overall creator. But I specifically work as a Visual Artist (Painter) and as a founder of my lifestyle brand called Ghetto Heaven NYC.

Ghetto Heaven NYC consists of yoga classes called Hood Yoga NYC, one on one healing sessions called Hood Therapy & Healing Services and lastly a shop. We sell everything from spiritual home decor, to organic body care and jewelry.

I shifted from art to focus more on yoga and healing because as I grew older I grew wiser and used my voice more. I was unafraid to be seen so naturally I started stepping into my role as a leader.

I have been painting since I was 16, and sold my first piece to an art collector at 17. I had a lot of success very early on and directly out of high school I began working for the Brooklyn museum so I would say around the age of 24 I began taking a break. I had no agent and I began to be exploited because of this. I decided to let it go until I found a more strategic way of navigating the art world as a young Black woman in America.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Resilience is my middle name. I don’t think people know how strong I am and that being the reason why I’m so courageous and unafraid. I’ve survived a lot of things and I’m still here to tell the story.

During my junior year of high school, my mother passed away suddenly. She was my only parent present so losing her made my entire family dynamic fall out of place. I had prepared to go away to college but once that happened I just wanted to stay close to my family and the streets that raised me. During the week I found that out, I also found out that I was pregnant. I was 17 years old so needless to say I was not keeping that baby but the stress of handling all these very serious issues was overwhelming and grew me into adulthood rapidly.

Around that time I became afraid that I would stop creating art work. I decided to keep going and had my first solo art show in my moms apartment in Manhattan before we all had to move out. I got some friends together we painted the walls, I bought some wine, hung my work and the place was PACKED ! All with people I did not know. My best friend at the time promoted it to everyone we were following on social media so it was a HUGE success although at the time I was overwhelmed and hid in the back room until it died down.

It was an amazing night and ever since then I’ve been courageous with all of my endeavors. I don’t let critics get into my head. I don’t let people tell me what to do. I do exactly as I please and if it weren’t for my losses I don’t think I would have the confidence to go after my dreams and accomplish them right now.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my social media presence as I do with any of my projects or business endeavors. What would attract me? What would I want to see as I scroll down my social media ? And then I go from there.

It’s lots of trail and error but it’s important to study your followers/customers. What do they like about you ? What are they most responsive to and then keep doing that. Also … less is more. Always keep that in mind when making content. People will see your post for an average of 3 seconds or less. Make it count.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ghettoheavenyc

Image Credits
Photo by Laritza