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

Maya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

I was a corporate banker for years. I learned so many lessons in the banking industry. I wanted to do things differently and take great care of my customers. Big Banks tend to be all about profits and what they can get from a customer. I didn’t like that, I genuinely cared about my customers best interests.

When starting HFA, I took a hard look at what I wanted the culture to be and not to be. I believe in servant leadership and always taking care of the customer. I also believe that a team of professionals making decisions as group leads to better decisions. We have a leadership team at HFA that includes corporate staff, franchisees and vendors, allowing us to make better decisions as a whole.

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

My background is in corporate banking and small business reorganization. HFA started by accident. I needed a hobby and took many different art classes trying to find something that I was good at or enjoyed, all of the classes I took were disappointing. I created my own art form and started posting pictures on facebook. Soon people started asking me to teach my art forms. So I opened a studio in my detached 2 car garage. In the first 6 months I taught over 1000 people my art forms. Soon I realized it was time for a retail location. I opened my first HFA store in May of 2021.

The popularity of our art forms grew and the demand grew and soon I opened a 2nd location in Kansas City Missouri.

I then worked on the infrastructure of the business for 9 months prior to offering HFA as a franchise opportunity.

In 18 short months we have awarded over 200 locations to people across the country.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Supporting the Arts is necessary in todays society. HFA features local artists, artisans, jewelry makes, potters and more in the retail space within our stores. It is vital that artists have a place to share their works.

By displaying these locals works in our stores we are exposing more and more people to different forms of art, and inspiring them to look inside of themselves to find the creative.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

To nurture and inspire the human spirit one painting at a time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hawaiifluidart.com
• Instagram: hawaiifluidart
• Facebook: hawaiifluidart
• Other: You can google Hawaii Fluid Art and find a LOT of information as well as photos and videos.