We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jazmine McFadden a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jazmine, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

It is truly a pleasure to speak with you about risk taking. For me, I take risk daily as an artist and entrepreneur, however my first big risk was the day I became a full-time artist and small business owner. You see, I had spent 11 years in Corporate America as an Auditor with KPMG and Bank of America in both New York and Charlotte. I interned in the space and after graduate school I took off with my career and never looked back. I climbed the corporate ladder to a VP; Audit Manager position and was very comfortable with the career I had grown over the years. However, painting and creating had become which had become a hobby in 2017 has become more over the past two years. 

I chose to leave Corporate America in April of 2022 to not only have more peace but to pursue my passion and dream of sharing my art with the world. The pandemic truly gave me a new perspective on life and what was important to me and my legacy. In a world where art is wonderfully ambiguous, as the artist you are vulnerable and exposed. While you control your success, there is also truly a huge risk as an artist; especially as a black female artist as we continue to find our space in the industry.  I had to have faith that I was on the path that was willed for me. Even riskier was bootstrapping my business (funding my own venture) and believe me, I was extremely anxious about leaving behind a great salary and stability of a “guaranteed” paycheck (although it’s never truly guaranteed). However, I found so much more peace in my new day to day once I finally took the leap. I realized I had to put just as much work and effort into my own craft and business as I did in the past as an “employee”. 

It hasn’t been easy, but it is totally worth the journey. It’s been about a year since I’ve become a full-time artist and entrepreneur, and while there has been many ups and many downs, it has been the most rewarding risk I’ve taken thus far in life.

Jazmine, 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?

My name is Jazmine McFadden, originally from Uniondale, NY. I studied Business Administration at Hampton University obtaining both my BS and MBA from and as previously mentioned, before becoming a full-time artist and entrepreneur, I was a financial and internal auditing expert with extensive experience completing complex audits for banking operations and commercial clients. 

As an artist and entrepreneur, I am a believer in abundance, and I showcase my passion as an artist by serving the world with my unique visual interpretation of “Hope, Culture, and Love”. Along with creating original art pieces that have been exhibited across the globe through collectors and/or events, I have published two career-focused coloring books for young girls and boys, and abundance affirmation coloring book for women, and have an online store that offers a unique display of available art. It is one of my goals to inspire a new generation of young art collectors through affordable art.

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

Growing Clientele:

Over the past few years, before and after taking my art career full-time, I’ve learned that in the world of an artist, gaining collectors and customers  is about the story of the artwork and merchandise just as much as it is about making a sale. It is truly something special to meet someone, in person or virtually through social media and truly understand and connect with who they are, their needs, and desires. 

What has worked for me has been just that, connecting with each customer/potential collector on an individual basis as best as I can. In addition, I utilize social media to simply share and market what I offer from my original art, to prints, to various other merchandise that customers/clients can choose from. I try not to force it because I really want others to love what they are purchasing which ultimately leads to them sharing with their network of family, friends, and associates for me to connect many more people. 

Additionally, with the children’s coloring books that I have illustrated and published, I have begun to build a more program and organization-based partnerships such as schools, libraries, firms, and organizations that service the youth. F

or me, the impact is truly in youth empowerment and starting our children off early with the options they have for how they want to show up in the world; inspiring them to be whatever and whoever it is they want to be despite gender, race, and appearance.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am not exempt from the pressures of giving up my dream due to the complexities of being an artist. Those include maintaining my artistic integrity, ensuring I charge my worth but also enough to make a living, maintaining healthy boundaries with the familiar and unfamiliar, and even maintaining boundaries with myself. 

I was naturally born with a creative drive. In fact, I was a dancer from the age of 3 up until after graduating college; from ballet to tap and more. Many always say “if I knew then what I know now”, things would be different, and indeed maybe they would, but for me taking on art as a career just didn’t seem feasible early on for taking legacy and generational wealth, so I took a safe and extremely secure route career wise. However, had I truly known that with resilience, blood, sweat, and commitment that I could be a successful artist someday, I surely would have just been an artist and even studied art. Sure, my parents and teachers noticed I like drawing, but I noticed a more important need to be financially secure as early as high school. The beauty of this life is that and what many in the world have shown us is that it’s never too late to start, and that is just what I did, START! 

Sketching came easy, but painting was an entirely different hurdle for me, however with practice I’ve become great at it and even found my own style. Sure, there are dynamics at play that can make any artist give up the dream, however, it helps to have a supportive family unit and friends that remind you to remain true to you and that you have support.    

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artofjaz.com
• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/jmcfadden_art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jmcfadden_art
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jazmine-mcfadden-m-88b12722
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jmcfadden_art