We were lucky to catch up with Lainey Hashorva recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lainey, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Whenever I’m nervous or hesitant about a decision or situation, I tell myself that if I don’t take the risk or the opportunity presented at the time, nothing will change. If I choose to opt out or stay home, say no, I know what to expect. Safety and sameness. But if I push myself to say “yes” to new experiences, stepping up or stepping out, then anything can happen. Life is so full of twists and turns and chance encounters that if we do the brave thing and show up, it can lead to so many interesting surprises, experiences, adventures and connections. I hope to make brave choices and risk taking is all about getting out of your safe zone creatively, socially and professionally.
Lainey, 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?
When I was a kid, I was always reading and journaling. It was a great escape to other places and understanding my own feelings and experiences. Making things, painting, sewing, writing have always saved me from being sad or stuck. Painting, writing, collages and creating alleviated loneliness to me all throughout my life amidst various stages of growing up. In every phase of my journey I’ve come back to my alone time and creating something out of nothing to make myself feel happier and fulfilled.
I remember as a kid making a collage all over my closet doors of photos I took of friends and family and things that made me happy. I loved taking pictures and putting them all on display like a puzzle of my favorite people and experiences. I wrote poetry and songs, I made a huge quilt out of pant legs, I journaled, painted and collected all kinds of things.
I grew up on the east coast and at seventeen moved to California to go to college. I had dreams of studying theatre and film though I’d never done plays in school. I took tap and ballet and painting classes as a kid but never tried to do theatre until I got to college.
I was terrified, overwhelmed and lost. It was like moving to a different country and I had no knowledge of the culture or language but my heart wanted to learn so I took the risk and declared my major. I landed at San Diego State University and signed up for everything even tho I was petrified and out of my comfort zone completely.
Leap and the net will appear, right?
My entire life has been a cliff diving adventure in improvisation and trial and error. I loved my college experiences and my creative expansion, the city and the friends I met. Then I moved to Los Angeles to give it a shot at the big time. I worked as a temp for many years in all sorts of various industries and environments. I worked as a waitress, a hostess, a secretary, receptionist, perfume bottle filler, puppeteer, caterer, reader in casting, personal assistant and more. My motto was “if I don’t like it I can leave” and I liked the variety but never knew what to expect. I even got set up on a remake of Candid Camera once by my temp agency and had to show up at a Holiday Inn where they put me in a room I was supposed to decorate for a Christmas party even tho it was August! I was auditioning more and more as I got into a groove. My first real speaking part was on “Days of our Lives” and then my first SAG job was on Doogie Houser, MD. I had a few lines on five different episodes as a nurse then on Beverly Hills 90210 also as a nurse. I don’t know why I was often cast as a nurse, but I’ll take it! I also made more of a career for myself doing commercials, lots and lots of commercials and voiceover work. I was the voice for PayPal and their online tutorials and demos for two years.
During this time, I had also created my own business by painting glassware and making gifts for friends like hand painted glasscandleholders. People really seem to love them, and everyone encouraged me to sell them. So one day I put several of them into a picnic basket wrapped in velvet and called various local boutique stores in the Los Angeles area. I set up appointments for myself with some really nice stores and store owners to introduce my work and the response was amazing. A few of the high-end boutique stores and gift shops started to order my candleholders and marked them up pretty high, as I wasn’t sure how much to set the prices. I had no experience in the retail industry or in manufacturing. It was a handcrafted line of artisan home decor, and I kept expanding and expanding it to include various other items like table top decor, including hand, painted trays, bowls, assorted candleholders, travel mirrors, coasters, nightlights, salt, and pepper, shakers, and much much more. They were all translucent colored hand painted glassware with textural, designs and tiny crystals reminiscent of another time. I was told by a psychic that I was a former painter in a past life in Italy and it really resonated with the things that I was creating. My little home based company was called “The Magic Bean Company” and I formed that in 1994 at my kitchen table which then grew to a warehouse bakery space in Culver City and then a few years later, I was able to buy my first home. It enabled me to quit temping altogether because I couldn’t keep up with the orders that I was receiving and also to move it into my house. Talk about taking risks! It was really exciting and I was in all the finest stores in Los Angeles and across the country. My work was in galleries in Japan and London and I participated in international trade shows in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and more. My line was featured in several trade publications and giftware magazines, in galleries and museum shops. It was truly amazing. I even went to a small birthday gathering for one of my childhood idols – Jackson Browne, with a close mutual friend and I was really nervous when we entered the house in Santa Barbara. As my friend introduced me to the host, I was floored by her decor. Everywhere my eyes roamed held my candleholders!! They adorned the huge dining table filled with food, they were in arched cubbies in the entryway, on the fireplace mantle, on each stone step outside. It was beautiful and so serendipitous! I said, “that’s my work” and she threw her arms around me and said, “Wait til you look around. We are definitely kindred!” Apparently she bought so much of my stuff at boutiques in Malibu and Santa Barbara! Then I was introduced to Jackson Browne and I gave him a set of my candleholders for his birthday! I told him I was so in love with his music since I was a kid, and it was really meaningful to me to give him something I created.” Life can be so interesting and unexpected.
Having my focus on my creative business endeavors took the pressure off my acting pursuits which only opened that up further and allowed more flow from both careers. Timing really is everything and synchronicity was everywhere in terms of miraculous coincidences that circled everything I was doing. It was truly magical.
Then the economy collapsed in 2008-2009 and I was going through cancer treatments for non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I’d never really been sick in my life or in a hospital. Everything came screeching to a halt. Suddenly I was faced with my own mortality and trying to keep my business alive as well. It was nearly impossible to audition as I was so weak and bald and terrified. One of my friends dropped off a lasagna and said, “ Let’s try not to horribilze this Lainey.” Sure. What’s a little cancer to a solo self employed entrepreneur/actress who forgot to get married???!!! 😳.
My motto changed to “Onward we March.” Also I kept telling myself that this was all about “Warrior Training” so as I sat in a bed for seven hours absorbing toxic chemicals to kill toxic cancer cells, I imagined them like little golden goblins devouring all the bad cells and exploding into good energy giving my blood new life. I listened to guided imagery and imagined all the people and animals I ever loved, friends, family, ancestors, pets, or whomever wished me well, surrounding my bed in a circle of love so I could rest and get better. This was the magic healing of the guided imagery. It made me feel better and I learned to stop resisting what was happening- to just surrender to it instead of fight it. All the while I was doing as much as I could to keep my business going and get my orders out.
It made it very difficult though, to be inspired and or inventive when I was dancing as fast as I could just to get out of bed.
After a while, stores were closing and my clients were aging out of the retail business in many ways during the financial crisis. I was struggling to keep up as well financially after being hit so hard by the recession and my health battle. Again I needed to reinvent myself and my work.
In keeping with what I’ve always been passionate about, I began selling my vintage finds and found treasures online. It sort of started with dining room sets. I kept finding vintage dining room sets and chairs I loved and I started flipping them online. Several interior designers were buying my home furnishings and suggested I sell on Chairish.com. I then transitioned to all things vintage and original art and launched my shop called Laineybean Vintage on Chairish.
I’m currently a super seller for several years now on the platform and I love the treasure hunt for unique and interesting home goods, furniture and art work. I also incorporate my own creations and or upcycled items into my shop and I love that vintage is green in terms of the planet vintage and second hand items incur no tariffs incidentally! I love and incorporate so many styles and pieces into my curated collections like Asian chinoiserie, Midcentury modern, Americana, rustic earthy pottery and crockery, artisan paintings, textiles and French farmhouse, cabin or cottage style collectibles. I don’t have one style or time period and I love eclectic mixes of textures and styles into a story or decor styling. One friend said in regard to my home, “Wow. Everywhere you look is something interesting.” I love how the items we love and collect inspire so many stories and come together to be a unique collective of our own self expression in making a home. I surround myself with the art, photography and collected objects that make me happy. I love being home. I love venturing out and I’m so grateful to constantly be able to reinvent myself in so many creative incarnations on this wild twisted colorful journey!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
When I was at a loss for what to do professionally and creatively I discovered “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron in the early 90s. It was a fantastic guidebook of exercises that really got me into rediscovering my passion for making art and writing. The tasks and exercises work on a deep emotional level to stir up stuck energy and clear out old negative belief and blocks. It lead me to a new path that brought so much energy and inspiration into creating a new path for myself and my work. I launched my first business after completing the workbook. It literally helped me turn my creative thinking and process into making it my living.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
As society becomes so much more diverse and complex I think it’s important to consider how much it means to focus on more interesting choices. To simplify life makes it less chaotic and overwhelming. Maybe that comes with age and hindsight. But it really is important for artists and creative people to support each other and hopefully inspire others. It’s important to connect and to share, to make yourself vulnerable through your work and to expose the “truth” in what you know and value.
I know in regard to writing it’s often difficult to expose the shadows in ourselves or the ugly bumpy parts but those are the things most of us connect to and find so human. The flawed parts, the crazy parts, the strange imperfections-that’s the sweet spot.
That’s what makes art and storytelling unique to who we are and how we show up in the world. That’s what artists long for, a tribe of like minded others to make a heart connection. I guess that’s what we all strive for ultimately. Not everyone is creative or artistic but most people find value in what they find beautiful or resonant to their experiences. I hope that more people support small businesses and local artists so that we don’t all have the same same same mass produced posters and baubles in our homes and on ourwalls. There is so much conformity and “influencing” and marketing comping at us 24/7, we need to take breaks and rest. We need to find what turns us on, not what’s just taking us for a ride. I hope more people tune into their own longings and take the risks of failing. Mistakes are the best way to try new things or make changes after discovering they were thrown into the mix to shake you awake. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It means you’re trying. Mistakes keep you learning and exploring. One thing I’ve learned is to trust the timing of my life, to allow delays and to constantly persevere. Persistence and perseverance are more valuable than talent. Pay attention and keep showing up. Make everything around you beautiful and keep on marching forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chairish.com/shop/laineybean
- Instagram: Laineybean Vintage
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Lainey-Hashorva
Image Credits
All photos are taken by me- Lainey Hashorva