We recently connected with Megan Schiller and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Megan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Growing up, I was heavily influenced by the creativity of my father and my grandmother, who were both artists. They taught me how to use creative materials and allowed me the freedom and independence to explore these materials in my own way. Creative expression has always been an integral outlet for me and I grew up feeling lucky to be born into an artistic family. But after college, I began working in preschools and I realized that kids don’t need to have artistic parents in order to cultivate creative confidence. They simply need access to creative supplies, a little guidance, and the freedom to explore the materials in their own way. With this access and freedom, kids can use creative exploration as a tool to learn about themselves and the world around them. They can develop self-sufficiency, innovative thinking, and maker skills, among many others.

As a preschool teacher, I saw this occur in the classroom every day, but I knew this wasn’t happening at home in the same way. Later on, when I taught art classes to young children, I exposed them to artistic materials, taught them techniques, and then allowed them to explore on their own, with no intended outcome. The final class of each session was an “open studio” class, where kids as young as 2 years old could go to the shelves and collect whatever materials they felt inspired to use. Parents saw this happening and began asking me to help them set up a similar studio setting in their homes. I saw that this was how I could turn my mission into a business.

I wanted to help young kids have more access to art supplies at home, while also being allowed to explore them in an open-ended way whenever they felt inspired to do so. I wanted to give parents the tools to guide their children through this process, without them interfering too much. Helping parents set up an organized and inviting art space where kids have easy access to the art supplies became a great way to do this. Now I constantly hear from parents how much creative confidence and agency their children have around their art supplies. They get an idea, they go to their art space and tinker with the materials. Then they create something and come away feeling proud and resourceful.

Megan, 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?

(The long winded answer to this question has already been answered in the story behind my mission)
Art has always been a hobby for me, but I never thought I’d go into a career in the arts. After college I became a preschool teacher and I fell love with an educational approach from Italy that emphasized creative exploration, collaboration, and child-led learning. Teaching kids in this way—with art and creative exploration at the center of learning—completely shifted the focus of my career and I became an art teacher for young children. This led to helping parents set up art spaces in their homes so that kids could continue this creative exploration outside of our art classes. Over the past decade, I have helped hundreds of parents set up creative workshops in their homes through in-person client work, e-designs for remote clients, my online course for parents, as well as my book, The Art Playroom. My favorite thing ever is when a parent sends me photos or recounts how their young child was inspired to make something and independently went to their art space, gathered supplies, and investigated their ideas- often coming away with a new contraption or art piece that they are proud of.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I have pivoted a few times! I started off teaching art classes to kids, but when I had my second child, I needed to pivot to something that would allow me to work mainly from home. I had a friend who was building an e-commerce software business at the time who offered me to use it at no cost. So I pivoted to an e-commerce model, selling children’s art supplies online. After about a year of hustling to compete with big retailers and free shipping, I was just breaking even and realized I had no interest in e-commerce. By that time, I had begun designing home art spaces for kids and I loved it. So I pivoted once again to focus solely on art space design and have been doing that ever since.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

When I pivoted from e-commerce to designing art spaces, I was in Marie Forleo’s, online course, B School. This course helped me to figure out what was working in my business, what wasn’t working, and what my business “sweet spot” was- the intersection of what I’m good at, what people will pay me for, and what I enjoy doing. After going through this course, I realized that I needed to pivot to something that fell into my business sweet spot and it worked! I have also been greatly influenced by the Mind Your Business Podcast with James Wedmore. He combines business growth topics with personal and spiritual growth in a way that is motivating and inspiring.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theartpantry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artpantry/
• Other: https://www.meganschiller.com Is my website for my non-kid-related creative work (Art, Brand/WEb Design, Writing)