We recently connected with Kelcey Esqueda and have shared our conversation below.

Kelcey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Choosing to share my art full time, change careers and put myself out there in order to make it through and support my family.

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?

My name is Kelcey Esqueda. I am a mom, an artist and a yoga instructor living in the Charleston area. I began my creative career as a dancer, believing I would go on to become a professional dancer in a big city after getting my dance degree. Once I graduated, I realized I would not find happiness in the competitive, harsh and often damaging dance world. I had left school sick, anxious and unwell, worried about how I could continue to change myself to fit into someone else’s mold. During a summer dance training in NYC, I stumbled across yoga. It changed my life and opened up my mind to possibilities outside of the dance world. My identity shifted and I began to give myself permission to retry things that used to make me happy. My artwork came back to life through my yoga practice.
Throughout my yoga teacher training the following year, I began to take notes by doodling. I would let my mind wander and let the illustrations, colors and designs flow. My art style slowly started to take shape in that moment.
I continued to play around with art, remembering my love for watercolors and started slowly sharing what I was making with my yoga students. I was terrified, but the openness of the yoga community made me feel so safe to share my work. I began designing journal covers for my students, stickers for my little yogis, whenever I saw something I thought I could make, I tried it.

Fast forward to 2020, my art had slowly become a small hobby. I opened my Etsy shop and was selling hand painted, home printed, hand cut stickers. I had my son in January of 2020 and then the pandemic shut everything down. I was at home, alone, with a newborn, all the yoga studios had shut down a week after going back to work, and I didn’t know what else to do but draw. I made so much art in that year. It was not only a life saver when it came to income, but it kept me confident in my ability to take care of my family. To step up and take the risk to keep moving forward. My art business, A LITTLE SQUID, was born that year.

My business name became a little nod to my family and how important my husband and son are to me. Our last name is Esqueda, and my husband always had the nickname “Squiddy” growing up. So one day, as I was making hand lettered ornaments on the floor with my son beside me, I looked at him and said “I’m making art for you my little squid!” It was perfect and my way of always reminding myself of my why.

I am back to teaching yoga in the Charleston area and have grown A LITTLE SQUID as well. My art has branched out to handlettering, wedding design services, custom water color and digital art and illustration. I love when a client comes to me with an idea and I can bring it to life. I love being able to pour my heart out creatively and am so grateful for everything that lead me to where I am with A LITTLE SQUID today.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

A goal I have for myself during my creative journey is to find my true style as well as continue to find more ways to share my work. I struggle with sharing my art and getting eyes on what I have made, so I hope I can continue to build confidence in what I create. I would love to be a bigger part of the Charleston Wedding circle. Weddings are so beautiful and special and creating pieces for people in love makes me so happy. I also love being someone who can provide ease for a couple on their wedding day.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn at some point, you just have to start. No amount of learning and practice will ever bring perfection, because no one is perfect, and that’s okay. I have a lot of imposter syndrome since I do not have an art degree and am mostly self taught, but I am learning to soften on that some. It’s a hard lesson to learn, especially when comparison is so easy with social media. This is another way yoga has really helped me and my mindset in the art world. Knowing that I just need to stay true to myself and put in the work to always learn more helps remind me of how I am enough and I can let go of the perfectionism a little more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/alittlesquid
• Instagram: @alittlesquid_
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ALITTLESQUID

Image Credits
Rosey Shell Photography, Avec Amour Wedding Photography