We were lucky to catch up with Christien Gerrick and Rachel Scarborough of G+RIZZ recently and have shared our conversation below.

Christien and Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Being creative is in your blood but everyone finds their creative voice in different ways. Sometimes you see evidence of your creative spirit from a young age when you find you can draw for hours play your favorite instrument or write about your favorite things. Then as you get older you find that those creative urges are some of your best talents and gifts, and then all of a sudden you just can’t imagine living without them. You feel the most alive when you’re doing that thing and you never want to stop. For us, we discovered our creative passions early on when we were young and as we grew we added to them. G was always an artist and I (Rizz) was always a writer. But as we grew up we added to those talents, he playing with various mediums of art and me branching out and using my writing in nontraditional ways. Now, at the core of it all, we find ourselves here—artists, creators, storytellers. It’s not just what we do; it’s who we are.

Christien and Rachel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We are G+RIZZ, a collaborative art brand of Christien “G” Gerrick and Rachel “RIZZ” Scarborough. With backgrounds in art, copywriting, branding, and design, we create quirky greeting cards, edgy prints, fun stickers, and unique home goods and apparel. We believe in the unifying power of creativity and art and we strive to inspire people to seek art in their lives. We started dating in October of 2020 and we bonded over art and creativity. We didn’t know we’d wind up starting an art brand together but as time went on it seemed to just make sense. It was on our way to a wedding one day that we winded up crafting a last-minute greeting card together and G+RIZZ was born. We started with greeting cards as an accessible means and have started to expand our horizons into other items to bring our artistic twist. We don’t believe in the ordinary when you can be quirky and different and we bring that to our work. Through the art side, G focuses on everyday antidotes and curiosity, working to visually bring stories and shared experiences to life, and through the writing side of things I ( Rizz) work to evoke emotion through words and give voice to feelings people don’t always know how to share themselves.

We are most proud of the impact G + RIZZ has allowed us to make so far. From being at over 80 shows last year and being able to meet and talk with so many different people we’ve been able to create a community of art lovers and other humans that we share art with regularly. We also just partnered with our 10th local store in the city which has allowed us to widen our reach with our art and we couldn’t be more excited about those opportunities.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Some of the best support for artists and creatives is just sharing the art. It’s great when people buy your art but that’s only one portion of the way someone can support you. Especially in the age of social media a like, a share, a follow are all free but they mean a lot when you’re building your network as an artist and working to get your name and your art out into the world!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

We think that people who aren’t in the creative space don’t realize how much of a hustle this life is. It looks glamorous from the outside looking in but when you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard. For us, we are in a unique position because we both have full-time jobs and we also are building our art brand on the side it’s basically like having two full-time jobs plus some but we have a goal to build a legacy for ourselves, and those around us and inspire other people to go after their dreams too. Sometimes you have to just grind for a few seasons to get to where you want to be and we’re both willing to do that. But the creative life isn’t for the weak. You spend a lot of time, energy, and money pouring into your journey and the return on that investment doesn’t come as fast as you’d want.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gandrizz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gandrizz/
• Other: [email protected] for wholesale and custom orders

Image Credits
Chanea Whittington – instagram @_shay_is