We were lucky to catch up with Karley Hill recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Karley, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I think my most important problem/issue I have faced in my life was when I had to drop out of college 2 days into my last year because of my mental health and the toll it had been taking on me for a year before I made that decision. It’s truly shaped me into who I am now a year and a half later, and I wouldn’t have had any of the career experiences I’ve had within the last year if I hadn’t left school. Those experiences that have now led me into running my own design business studio and working for myself which has always been my dream and goal in life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have loved art since I was 4 years old sitting on my grandpa’s lap on his computer playing a drawing and painting game called ‘Crayola Art’ and then later playing with Paint, and WordArt on Microsoft Word as much as I could growing up. I loved actual drawing and painting too, and really all mediums of art that I tried I enjoyed, but I never found the one medium I was obsessed with. When I was 16 years old, I got a job working the front desk of a local t-shirt store that made all the sports and fun shirts for the high schools in my town (we had about 8-9 high schools at that time) and I would be in awe of the designs on the shirts. I finally got to watch the Graphic Designer create one and within probably 5 minutes I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do. I went on to study Graphic Design at Oklahoma State University for a year and a half, and then transferred to Texas Tech University. After struggling heavily with my mental health my junior year of school, I was unable to complete my last year, and had to move home to get proper treatment. I am since then recovered, have worked as an in house Graphic Designer for 6 months, and now running my own Graphic Design business doing branding and website design, and I’ve never been happier!

Have you ever had to pivot?

In fall 2020, my depression and anxiety heavily resurfaced. I had my mental health struggles in high school, but was medicated and things were going well for about 5ish years. I ended up getting Covid 1 week into my 4th year of college. I don’t know WHAT that did to my brain, but it was a day and night switch. I woke up with crippling anxiety, sadness, stress, and for weeks I was miserable. I also overloaded my plate with school, work, and holding a social media position in my sorority, so that didn’t help. But I could hardly get out of bed, and if I did, there was a mental breakdown involved. Things continued to get worse from there, and I was at my lowest point in summer 2021. hardly anyone knew what I was going through, because I’m extremely good at putting on a happy face. I went back to school for my last year in August 2021, (I was a 5th year) but I had to get through two weeks of sorority recruitment, basically leading the entire thing with a few other girls because I was a senior. I was so mentally miserable, but loved every second being with all my friends. It was the most indescribable feeling I’ve ever felt. Happy and depressed at the exact same time. I barely made it through the first two days of school when I had the biggest breakdown I’ve ever had. My parents decide it was best to pull me from school and everything and take me home. I was devastated. In a matter of 1 sentence, my life had completely done a 360. My college life was over forever and I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I moved home, found a new doctor and therapist, and was on the road to recovery. I cut out gluten from my diet, and my anxiety completely went away. I hadn’t touched my computer in six months until February 2022, when I realized how much I missed it. I found a job in April 2022, and it was fun at first, I loved the people, but the boss was not someone I could work for. So, after 5 months I got so fed up, I left. My plan was to start my branding business full force. I had zero clients. I had 4 branding projects under my belt that were for fun. I still think I’m insane for doing this, but at the same time, everyone starts somewhere and its gonna be bad before it gets better, and I was so much more confident in myself and excited for this to happen, more than I was scared to do it. and that feeling made me start my business. its been just a little over a month since I launched my business and I have 3 clients and current branding projects, and I just started my Etsy shop to make some passive income. Things are slow, but I’m trying to learn to embrace the slowness, and find the good in everything I am learning during this season. I’ve always thought “I’m just not meant to work for anyone, I’m meant to work for myself” and I could never explain the overwhelming anxiety and dread I have always gotten whenever I got a job and had to go work for someone. I never understood why I hated it so much until I became my own boss, and I’ve truly never been happier or more stress free. Obviously I have my days of doubt and stress and worry, but I know those days are inevitable. So I push through. I push through until I’m successful and I don’t stop until I get there. The two things getting me through this mentally are my Faith, and my mindset. I realize how important it is to have a positive mindset or you will not get ANYWHERE. And when I’m really down, I lean on my faith because I fully believe you can do anything and get through anything with the power of prayer!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

It’s always been my dream to be a mom. And if I’m blessed enough to have children I want to be there 100% of the time. my mom worked from home all my life and I feel like it played a huge part in the relationship we have today. It’s also always been my dream to be in the art field, and work from home, and work for myself. When things went south at my old job, I just had this feeling that I need to start my business now. I’m 24, my boyfriend and I have been together for over two years now, so I know that a family is in my near future within the next 5-10 years. I don’t want to be trying to start a business while engaged or pregnant one day. I want to start now, while nothing else is really going on in my life, while I have all the time in the world to make it successful so that when those days come, I am financially stable, AND I don’t have to worry about working and missing out on my kids lives. I want to figure out as much as I can now and spend all the time I can on building this business and my income and set myself up for success in the future so that I can eventually work less, and spend more time with my future family. So essentially, my future is what is driving my creative journey, the goal of having financial freedom to do whatever I want with my life! I don’t believe that you have to work 40 hours a week to be successful/make a living! And I am so blessed I have this talent and passion that I can make money off of!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.karleyhilldesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karleyhilldesign/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karleyhill/