We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hillary Bielstein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hillary below.
Alright, Hillary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights 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?
As much as my younger self doesn’t want to admit, my parents’ best was a darn good job. They weren’t prefect, but I use what they taught me everyday. They have always strived to be self-employed and debt-free. But most importantly, they taught me to be myself, be open-minded, and to not care what others think. Being my true self and using the business knowledge they passed on has allowed me to tap into my full potential and take the leap to support myself with my own business.
Hillary, 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 was born, raised, and currently create in the wonderfully diverse and active city that is Austin, Texas. I went to art school at Texas State University where the science that is pottery mystified me. Needless to say, I wasn’t much of a ceramic artist then. I could even say I hated it. Something about the technicality of what I understood about the ceramic processes didn’t click with my free-flowing, creative brain. Fast forward several years and I found myself teaching middle school art, but without a personal art practice. This left my heart craving a creative outlet. Having explored 2D mediums many times over the years, clay arose from the depths of my school memories. I was ready to meet the challenge of clay again, so I sought after a studio I could join and learn from. Fortune brought me to Austin Pottery (atxpottery.com) where I took a class and “POOF!” clay started making sense in the open-minded atmosphere.
I begun to hone my skills and develop my style. One of the amazing instructors I took class from was John Vela, owner of the production pottery studio Sunset Canyon Pottery (sunsetcanyonpottery.com). He offered me a position there after I left the middle school classroom. While working at Sunset Canyon, I had the great privilege of utilizing the studio space to host my own classes and create my own work to sell (#ScraffitoLife Pottery).
I created my own small community of artists who soon grew beyond the production studio’s capacity. I chose the name Rosa, my family name, because it expresses the spirit I hope our new space and blossoming community to represent.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
A lot of patience! First saved whatever I could for several years, though I didn’t know it’s purpose at the time. I put aside any extra money I had into a high-yield savings to start even a small fund for whatever I wanted to do next. Beyond that, though, we needed quite a bit more to purchase equipment for the studio. I started by applying for grants for several months. Not being selected for those, I started applying for loans designed for small businesses, and found success there.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Starting my own studio has felt like quite a pivot. I’ve gone from splitting my time working for someone else and teaching my classes on the side to fully supporting myself with my business. The biggest thing that has triggered the pivot was realizing that my classes and I reached full capacity renting space from others. We are very thankful for having been able to start there, but wanted to fulfill our full potential, and so needed our own space.
Contact Info:
- Website: rosapottery.studio
- Instagram: rosapotterystudio
- Facebook: rosapotterystudio
Image Credits
I took all images and got permission from anyone pictured before taking them.