We were lucky to catch up with Olivia Brydon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Olivia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I knew creativity was always a path I could go down because I was heavily influenced by it from birth. Polymer clay was not my first avenue, all throughout my childhood and into my late teens I wanted to be a broadway performer. Theater ran deep in my family, but my passion started to dwindle when I came into contact with multiple teachers and educators that made me feel less than. I knew that creative path wasn’t for me, I moved out of the country for a year and did some soul searching. Upon my return I went into early childhood education and got my degree, which lead me to where I am today. I’ve been a children’s art teacher for 10 years and through that journey I found a deep passion for polymer clay. After teaching a class one day, I came home, sat down at my desk and started messing around with the clay. After hours, I couldn’t put the clay down. Before the pandemic hit, I started making tons of pieces and just figuring out how the medium works. I was so hooked to the touch and feel of the clay, it’s a very satisfying medium to work with. You can seriously do anything with polymer clay, it’s extremely versatile. Then in march of 2020 I had nothing else to do, like the rest of the world, and started selling my work on my instagram stories. A lot of people were buying my work and I was shocked, like “WHAT, you want something my hands made?” I started waking up everyday with a feeling of purpose, it was hard to have that feeling during that time especially, but it brought me a lot of joy. When we started going back to work little by little, I became more passionate about creating my own work. I was also falling out of love with the business I was currently at, so this drove me to want to pursue my own endeavor even more. From then on I continued to grow and eventually began selling at art markets in Sept of 2021. The handmade and small biz community welcomed me with open arms and I knew this is where I was supposed to be.

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 grew up in a very creative family. My business name was chosen as an homage to my family, I am a native to creativity (Creatiive Natiive) I have been surrounded by painters, musicians, photographers, ceramicists, actors, singers, jewelry designers and more. I am currently a polymer clay artist, I handcraft playful and aesthetically pleasing home decor items, with a main focus on wallhangings. Each piece is one of a kind and slow made in my Los Angeles studio. In addition, I have my own children’s art business where we offer private at home classes, camps and parties all around Los Angeles. We focus in on projects that build on a variety of different skills, where children can really expand themselves as artists and take these important practices with them throughout their life. My background is in Early Childhood education and I have been teaching for 10 years which is how I got to this point of fusing art and my passion for kids into one world. I have created a bridge that connects Creatiive Natiive and my children art biz together called Creatiive Natiive Kiids. Creatiive Natiive also offers adult classes and education within the art realm. We are working towards getting our own space and ultimately creating a community art center where artists of all backgrounds can get together and be inspired. Community and connection are core values that are constantly being considered throughout any decision made at Creatiive Natiive. Getting here was not easy, but as so many people say, if you want it, go out and get it. I am a huge believer that if my next-door neighbor or the person I meet at a coffee shop can create a business worth while or make a difference, than I have that same ability. I have created so many systems and habits that I’ve built up in order to make that possible. We have the luxury of creating our own abundance, so let’s make it happen!
My polymer clay business is where all of this has blossomed from, because of that, I have been fortunate enough to be recognized by different companies such as VistaPrint. I am a member of their small business collective that spans all around the country, they help support and elevate businesses to a higher potential. I am also a member of the Polymer Week Ambassador program, which is a group of clayers all around the world that are on the path of mastering polymer clay. Polymer Week is a high end magazine with some of the most well known clay artists in the industry. I have participated in other programs as well, but I hold both of those very close to my heart.
I am proud that I put myself out there to bring joy into this world through art. As a society we are so caught up with the over stimulation of the world, the tragedy’s that take place every day and just the simple mental struggle of day to day life that some people deal with. I’m making it my purpose to connect people through art and surround myself with that kind of open community. I felt very lost for a long time, about 6 months ago I finally broke out and took hold of my life and the way I wanted it to be. My business really lifted me up to a higher potential. I am so grateful to art, family and friends, and especially my small business community that has supported me throughout this time. We are looking to give back to the community in the coming year to show our gratitude by providing art programs to charity organizations. Funding is starting and we hope we can get the support we need to make this dream happen in order to reach as many people as possible.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn doing this purely for money. When I first started and I began to see money come in, I got really excited and wanted more. I previously came from a job where the question was “how do we make more money?” Instead of “how can we serve our community and clients?”. The idea of being driven by money can be poisonous. Don’t get me wrong, do I enjoy vacations and buying things, of course. The difference is the way you go about making the money. Go in with the intention of serving a purpose, find out your why. Our purpose is connecting people through creativity and uplifting our clients with artwork they can keep for generations to come. When I was in the money driven mentality, I was receiving less because thats what I was putting out into the world. Once I shifted that mindset to not chasing, but attracting, the opportunities started rolling in.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Some of the books that really steered my vision and inspired me on my entrepreneurial path were The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, this book is so great for people who are right on the edge of taking the next step to fully jumping into their business. I was taking a small biz class from Lisa Cook the owner of Kids Swim LA, she has had experience with small businesses for over 20 years and launched a mentor program about everything she has learned and experience during that time. It was at a time I really needed get my feet wet on how the hell I was to be an entrepreneur. She recommended The Big Leap and it’s a book I can always go back to when I need reminders of why I took that leap in the first place. I also love, E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. It surrounds itself on why most small businesses fail. I recommend this to everyone who I know that is in the first few years of businesses. It creates a shift in the way you view and conduct your business. My business consultant Jessica Millhiser sent this book to me for my birthday, which was 6 months after fully launching Creatiive Natiive and going full time as a business owner. WOW has this carved out such a good mindset for me. I bought it for my head of operations and marketing so we could both be on the same page of how to run this production. For creatives I love Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I couldn’t put this down. I think it’s important to read in this day in age because of how many rising artists there are and because a creative job is a path a lot of people want to be on. Especially with the rise of social media, the mass amount of content put out there, this shows you that creative paths can cross over and you don’t even know. It also talks about the difficulties and persistence it takes. A few others that I won’t go into huge detail about are Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones. Start With Why by Simon Sink (its a bit heavier to swallow but great info) and The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.creatiivenatiive.com
• Instagram: @creatiivenatiive @creatiivenatiivekiids
• Facebook: Creatiive Natiive
• Other: TikTok @creatiivenatiive