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

Alright, Malia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from my experience as an artist and starting my own business is to not hold myself back. My advice is not to wait until you “know everything” to get started. It’s impossible to know everything, so if you wait until you feel that way then you’ll never start. Allow yourself to start, allow yourself to experiment and make mistakes, and allow yourself to try again. A huge part of life is trial and error. It’s rare to succeed at something on the first try without failed attempts along the way. As long as you learn to grow from those failures and continue trying, that’s truly what matters. When I first started, my knowledge and skill was nowhere near where it is now. I didn’t have proper supplies, I didn’t have an effective routine, and I barely had a social media presence or the know-how to run a business. All I knew is that I loved painting and I wanted to share that love of mine with those who wanted to receive it. As I’ve been doing this for three years now, I have tried many things, made many mistakes, and learned from those mistakes to better myself and my craft. From the increase in knowledge I’ve gained over time, I have greater trust in myself and my abilities. I have confidence that when I make mistakes, I’ll be able to fix it and come away from it better.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Malia Pope, I am a 21 year old artist and business owner at Customized by Malia. I create custom art pieces on a variety of surfaces- some you may be familiar with like canvases and wood panels, and others are more shocking like sneakers, mirrors, and clothing! All of my pieces are hand-painted and those on shoes, clothes, and things similar are all 100% wearable. I started this endeavor in May of 2020, shortly after COVID shut things down in Colorado and not long before I graduated from high school. At the time, art was just an enjoyable hobby of mine that I’d have fun with in my free time. I am beyond excited for what that hobby has turned into for me, Customized by Malia!
My go-to style to paint is realism, but I can bring to life just about anything you can imagine in a variety of styles! I love to paint lifelike landscapes and portraits, adding pops of color to my artwork, incorporating my love for nature into what I paint, and trying new things to see how far I can push my limits. With everything I paint, no matter what it is, I put my whole heart into each piece.
I am so proud of the growth I’ve made as an individual, as a business owner, and as an artist since starting three years ago. I have such a passion and love for what I do, and I feel so blessed that I’m able to share my talent with the world. If you have a desire to own artwork created by me, please contact me! I would be honored to work with you.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building an audience on social media has been a very slow process and has taken a lot of patience and endurance. It’s something I’m still working on today and will likely continue to be a work in progress for the duration of my business. Here are some things I’ve found helpful in building a social media audience: – Learn about your audience (both your desired and current audience) and post things targeted at them and their interests.
– Interact with and show love toward your current followers.
– Stay consistent in your posting; however, this doesn’t necessarily mean posting every day unless that’s what works for you.
– Sharing projects both those in the works and completed.
– Sharing not only your current projects but also re-sharing old projects (there’s no shame in that!).
– Working with influencers, big or small, that fit your niche and will represent you and your business well.
– Staying up with trends.
In my experience, all of these things have been extremely helpful to gaining and growing a following. However, the unfortunate truth is that there’s only so much you can do on your own, the rest is up to the luck of the algorithm. I’m grateful to have gotten lucky with a few of my videos going viral on TikTok which has contributed to gaining large chunks of followers, but other than that my audience is from years of continuous hard work.
At the end of the day just remember that other people liking your work or how ‘viral’ you go on social media does not equate to your worth or the worth of your craft. Your love for your work is where its worth and success comes from. Don’t get so caught up in the world of likes and views that you forget your true worth.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are countless rewards that come with being an artist. For one, being able to express my love and passion for life and the things in it through my artwork is an incredible feeling. To add to that, seeing people relate to my art and being able to feel their love for what I create is amazing. It is so rewarding to bring a vision of either my own or a customers to life. It’s such a freeing, gratifying feeling knowing that I’m happy doing what I do, and I have no regrets with the path I’ve chosen. Additionally with this path I’m on, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a variety of wonderful people, both fellow artists as well as supportive people following along with my journey, whom I would not have had the chance to interact with otherwise. Lastly, witnessing my own growth both as a creative individual and as a business owner is something so special. It is so fulfilling being an artist- I wouldn’t change it for anything!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://customizedbymalia.wixsite.com/shoes
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/customized.bymalia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/customized.bymaliapope
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@customized.bymalia My Order Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegtv64Rz2tPWcrA-vi526KnYVlv0FxB6Xr84YsIgUTZHtXHQ/viewform