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

Karen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

Fortunately, I have met amazing people throughout my career who have left an important mark of kindness in my heart. They have trusted my work 100%, giving me the freedom to express myself in my own way (with their money haha) that is something infinitely valued by artists of any field. Sometimes finding a simple message in my inbox with words of kindness has made my day and has given me a lot of happiness (spread kindness please). But if today I had to mention the person who has done the kindest thing that no one else has done, I would say my husband, totally. In this carreer I live on a roller coaster all the time, and he has been with me from the beginning. Every day, the sad days and the happy ones. He has motivated me as much as I need to get back on my feet again and again, and he has believed in me even when I don’t believe in myself. For me it has undoubtedly been an act of love as a husband, but also unconditional support for my career as an artist (all artists need some kind of support btw).

If you are going to start a project, business, or career, you need to have someone by your side who reminds you how valuable and good you are at it and who hugs you when you need it.

Karen, 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?

I studied graphic design in college, but honestly I never wanted to do much graphic design, at least not what I had in mind at the time. Then I discovered blogs, and I felt hopeful to see that many artists who inspired me were also designers. So I started spending more time on illustration than on graphic design. Most of my career has been spent designing/illustrating whimsical and colorful designs for the children’s sector, sometimes licensing for brands, commissions, designs also for small and medium businesses, and also trying to keep an online stationery store alive.

Throughout more than 10 years my love for animals has been a constant in my work, I tried to have *hidden messages* haha of my personality and my values in my work, but lately I have felt the call to be a totally artist free to spend my time on animal rights activism and education. I’m trying to be more consistent and focus my efforts on that. Even making a better selection of brands and clients I work with. It’s a recharged version of myself that’s getting stronger with time and I’m really enjoying it.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Absolutely! When you love what you do too much, and have a truly passionate and artistic spirit, you think that the good or bad things that happens in your career defines you as a person and IT IS NOT SO! When you have an entrepreneur soul or you are an artist or creative, you must take great care of your mental health, and not allow the good or bad seasons, especially the bad ones, don’t let that control you.

Although start a business is a giant cloud that poses throughout your life, it should not be your 100%, take care of your mind, your thoughts, visit your friends, have fun, share quality time with your family, eat healthy, and separate the work the rest please. Set limits, schedules, and have the ability to make the right decisions as needed.

For a long time I allowed work to absorb me mentally. I don’t want to say that you don’t have to work hard or make some sacrifices, but you have to be careful on that fine line.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

A glorious freedom is a beautiful book from Lisa Congdon that I read recently, are interviews with women over 40 who tell their success stories. I found it a very enriching book since it shows how each story about entrepreneurship is very unique, and there are no rules or patterns to follow to be happy following the way you want. It’s a great reminder for me, at this point in my career.

A wonderful online school that I met in 2015 also gave me the tools that I need to start my first formal projects. Jackie Rueda lessons (in Spanish) gave me the foundations of my career, back then there wasn’t so much content on YouTube, and having that information encouraged me and helped me a lot to be self-sufficient.

To be honest I could list endless blogs, books, podcasts, courses, etc. that I have taken for more than 10 years, but they are not worth it… my conclusion in the last few months has been that now that we have an excess of information available, we become addicted to information, recipes, inspiration, ideas, other people’s lives… and we forget to go out and live our own, we need to take action, go outside, experiment, maybe make some mistakes and try again, and work very hard every single day.

If you are happy doing what you do (and it gives you an economic livelihood) go ahead and be strong! :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.karenthaco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenthaco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenthaco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-karen-perez-61b866259/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@karenthaco