Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Loretta Pena. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Loretta, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?

Early on, many years before entering the art world, I had an amazing boss and mentor Connie Norwick. I was an ordinary worker. I never cared to be seen. I just wanted to work hard, be noticed for a job well done and perhaps promote within the company, however, my anxiety and insomnia were a constant in my life and just knew in my heart that these obstacles would get in the way. Promoting within the company would mean responsibilities in training others, participating in meetings and being a leader in the department. These are all things that I was deathly afraid of. This boss of mine recognized something in me that no one else saw. She approached me one day and encouraged me to pursue a promotion for a job that I thought I could never do. She was so convincing that I applied for it and got the position. She did not stop there. She was with me every step of the way. This is where my art journey actually began and I didn’t even know it. I was in charge of training the entire staff. She encouraged me to think outside the box and train the staff how I saw fit. So I created funny, interesting visuals to assist me in my training. I created a visual for every task. She did not only encourage me, she encouraged everyone. All of us loved her. There has not been a boss since her, that compared to the kindness and leadership she exuded. She was sent from heaven.

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 am a self-taught artist that began the journey into the art world about 3 years ago, during the COVID pandemic. I was working for a company that demanded more than I could handle. As it was pandemic time, we were required to work from home. Before I get into that, you need to know the type of employee I was. I was often viewed as a “people pleaser.” I agreed with that assessment as I never turned down a project and always made an effort to complete projects well before the deadline. I was the ultimate “people pleaser.” It was impossible to continue this way when all of this was being done virtually. This finally caught up with me and caused me to have a severe anxiety attack, with a visit to the emergency room. I knew then, that I had a decision to make. Die a ‘people pleaser” or live and do the thing that I loved the most. It was a no brainer. I decided that I would do art and see where this would take me. I use art as therapy. I love to create paintings that are bright and colorful, with each painting being a puzzle piece to my world. It is extremely important to me that my paintings are connecting with the audience and that my creations are authentic and true to who I really am. My art reflects my heart and soul and is not created to ensure that I make money from it. Money helps and is nice, but does not always translate to happiness. My art is unapologetic and uncomfortable at times, to happy and uplifting. If I were to describe my art, I would say it takes you on an emotional rollercoaster and allows you a front row seat into my mind and soul. The concept is not new, just one I would like to always follow. I would like to think that the desire to always be authentic and true might be what sets me apart; the fact that it’s most important for me to create something that connects with the audience, something that is familiar to them but are afraid to admit it. I only care that you feel me and my art, and if someone would like to purchase any of it, great, but it’s not my sole purpose for creating.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As a child, I experienced what it felt like to have anything I wanted. My father had his own business., had a lot of money and never said no to any of us kids. Whatever we wanted we got. I think it was because my father knew he was not going to be around to see us grow up. All of that abruptly stopped. He was much older than my mother and when I was 12 years old, he passed away at the age of 65. My mother never worked a day in her life so when my father passed away, she had no clue on how to take care of us or handle money. Long story short, she blew through all of the inheritance money by gambling it away, which became her new hobby. Suddenly, we were often hungry and didn’t know where our next meal would come from. My mission is to figure a way to use this art to help organizations that work with feeding the hungry, particularly children. I dream of holding an art festival where each participating Artist, including myself, would donate a large portion of their sales to this cause. So if there is anyone reading this, please let me know if you could steer me in the right direction.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I learned was that you can’t believe everything that was told to you. People sometimes say things that they really don’t mean to get their way. I once had a boss that I thought really valued my hard work. He often told me that the department would not be possible without my leadership. He always told me that I was the reason why the department “ticked.” I would feel so proud every time he said this to me. I was so proud that I worked even harder, taking work home with me on the weekends and did not care that I was not being paid overtime for it. I had an epiphany one day, when a coworker of mine told me that our boss said the same thing to her for years. It’s so funny now, when I look back on it, but at the time I was truly hurt. The moral of the story is, do the best you can in anything you do, but make sure you are happy doing it and that you love yourself enough to raise your hand when it becomes too much.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artpiecebypeace.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artpiecebypeace