We were lucky to catch up with Kayla Dunham-Torres recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kayla, thanks for joining us today. Everyone has crazy stuff happen to them, but often small business owners and creatives, artists and others who are doing something off the beaten path are often hit with things (positive or negative) that are so out there, so unpredictable and unexpected. Can you share a crazy story from your journey?

Fortunately, I have a positive and crazy story to share. It’s about the time I choked on a sandwich and how it completely transformed my life and creative career. During the height of the pandemic, while I was still attending university and working on more than one small freelance project, I was up late most evenings working and studying until my vision was too blurry to continue. I had a once warm sandwich sitting long cold on my desk I had forgotten to eat for dinner and a Coke whose fizz bubbles were gone. Being the young and determined creative I was, I had no time to stop and eat. Obviously, that led to the combination of navigating the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator with one hand and gripping tight to my dinner in the other. My phone buzzed with a call from an art director I received lots of work from in the past. These jobs were typically smaller like most freelance work I picked up: social media posts, branding for start-ups, quick illustrations, those types of things. So when I saw their name blink across my screen, I didn’t hesitate to answer the call. I hadn’t a second to say “hello” before he was off, anxiously describing a job he needed my help with. But after he said “music video” and “billions of viewers”, the bells in my hand were clanging too loud for me to hear the rest.
And just like that, I wasn’t able to breathe. Unfortunately, it wasn’t because of the excitement or nerves I felt. Instead, I was choking on the cold sandwich I had been chewing when I answered the phone. The art director, fortunately, didn’t hear my coughs and sputters as I worked to force the bit of turkey, bread, and cheese from my lung. I eventually managed to force it out and the projectile of chewed food hit my computer screen. A lovely start to my life-changing event, right?
Of course, I accepted the job and spent the next two months running on little sleep and working towards a quickly impending deadline. While I am sure those months aged me greatly, I am thankful for the experience. Not only was my work viewed by billions of fans and art lovers all over, but that one job gave me the confidence I have today as a creative. I don’t know if I would have gone this far, struggled for so long, and ground so hard had it not been for that one job that gave me the belief in myself to make a life for myself. To build my career from the ground up. A sandwich couldn’t bring me down.

Kayla, 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?

In practice and through years of training, I am an illustrator and graphic designer. Outside my work, I am a major book nerd, an adventurer, a lover of food, and a goofy individual. My name is Kayla Dunham-Torres, but most people just call me ‘K’. I’ve been an illustrator since I was five years old. This greatly infuriated my kindergarten teacher as I’d rather doodle on the corners of my worksheets rather than learn to spell. With a love for all things art from birth, this passion lead me to the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia where I learned what it meant to build a creative career. I received professional training as an illustrator and quickly fell into a love for graphic design as well. After graduating in 2022, I leaped right into the arms of work. I started an LLC and began picking up work wherever I could get it. While illustration will always be my first true love, I find inspiration and an attraction in graphic design. With these strengths in my toolbox, I am able to work nearly everywhere I flex my style and skillset however I need. These two interests have brought me to a variety of jobs from rocking music posters to illustrative and humorous brewery packaging to the conquering of social media. Since I have had the opportunity to dip my toes into many ponds, I struggle to find one that I could call my favorite. If I did have to state what I am most proud of, it would be working for small businesses and positively influential companies I have gotten to serve. In the end, I simply want to do good work for good people.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up in an environment that wasn’t supportive of my dreams. I was belittled and insulted, called “stupid” and “useless” because I had a love for something untraditional and open-ended. While these uncertainties inspired and challenged me, they made me a target for ridicule and pain. When I was a young teenager, after facing years of discouragement, I almost gave up. I thought I would fail because I was always told I was going to fail. It wasn’t until I met the positive influences I have in my life now that I understood my dreams could be achieved if that’s really what I wanted. I wanted to be an artist and I used this desire as fuel. With a newfound sense of strength, I escaped from the torment and found a community of like-minded people also working to make it. I found myself to be astonished by the number of other creatives I met with the same dreams as me. It was truly uplifting and shaped me into who I have today. I am forever grateful for those good people who flipped my world upside down. I am still struggling to unlearn the lessons drilled into me when I was young: that I was born to be a failure. But each and every day, when I wake up and get to live my dreams: I get to win.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I have successfully found that the most efficient way to expand my customer base is to simply be myself. By forming connections both in-person and online, I have realized that people not only appreciate my work but also my personal qualities. These connections have attracted customers to me, as they are eager to invest in someone with impressive abilities and a pleasant personality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kdtorres.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theartistwiththetremor/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-dunhamtorres/
• Other: https://www.behance.net/kayladunham-