Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karlene Clark. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Karlene, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Any thoughts around creating more inclusive workplaces?
Continuing to share with people the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion is important to me. I’ve worked on front line jobs where I wanted people on both sides of the desk to see themselves and feel welcome in the space. As an artist, having moments such as hearing someone is color blind and being able to find a way to paint something so they can at least see color gradations is so fulfilling!
Same with my writing, to know that not every one of my characters looks like me. Being able to see things from other perspectives creates empathy for the reader.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have been a crafter all my life, usually with the fiber arts. I discovered ceramics, then porcelain, which I worked with for years. During graduate school, I started painting tabletop gaming miniatures as a way to relax and unwind between study sessions. That led to creating Hire An Adventurer – an online shop where my husband and I paint gaming pieces, dragons, and custom requests. We visit comic and gaming conventions, as well as large arts & craft fairs to sell these.
We also both write books, something I’ve also done since I was young. I now have seven fantasy novels, two short stories online, one short story in an anthology, 3 professional articles, 3 chapters in professional books, and I’m completing another novel as we speak! My fantasy is set to include diverse people and characters people can empathize with.
Proud of… I’d say that people are looking for us now! If we “just” attend an event without vending at it, we’re often approached, asking where our table space is! Having a following that has told us how much they enjoyed the characters makes it worth the writing time!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
It took us about three years of small, slow, steady work to build up inventory. When friends and family found out what we were doing, we would be given unpainted miniatures as gifts for birthdays and holidays. We watched for sales. We chose low-cost booths to vend at to start with, ensuring we’d have a return on investment. Once we had enough set aside, we filed the paperwork to be a business and opened a business checking account.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
There’s an instinct to be very protective of creative works, like painting or crotchet. Early on, I thought it was important to keep information about patterns or painting methods to myself, but I’ve learned that while that might work for big business, it isn’t great on the ground. By offering to teach painting classes at some of the shows we work, people have developed a greater appreciation of why the cost is what it is on items. By sharing out a pattern, it allows another person to pick up a hobby – and for me that means its time to choose a more complicated, new item to try crotcheting!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.karleneturaclark.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/HireAnAdventurer
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karleneturaclark/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karlene.t.clark
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlene-tura-clark/
Image Credits
I took the photos