We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Olivier Duperval a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Olivier thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I knew that I wanted to pursue a creative entrepreneurship path when I started to see the impact that my story, my art and my ideas have on the life of both people that I know and people that I’ve met in passing. I’m grateful and honored to have gifts and talents that can reach a multitude and wide range of people. It’s a big responsibility that’s to be taken seriously while at the same time learning to have fun in the process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My business Fruit Over Phonics started with a thought that God placed in my heart. Fruit is a metaphor for the result of our actions and Phonics is the way we teach people through words and sounds. So the theme of our brand is to let our actions speak louder than our words. Although words have power and meaning to them, our actions affect people alot more. We tend to believe what we see and what people do over what people say.

Our clothing brand has faith-based and inspirational designs that help people express themselves and share their faith. As a Christian organization, we seek to give our customers great evangelistic tools and help them look stylish while boldly living out the Truth of who God has called them to be!

I’m most proud of and driven by the testimonies of what God has done through the brand! We’ve had customers share powerful stories of how wearing the merch led to new friendships, evangelistic opportunities, building self confidence, and we even heard about a near death experience! It’s pretty crazy what can happen when we step out in faith and do what God places on our heart!

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

I’ve had to constantly unlearn the lie that I’m insignificant. Stemming back to my childhood, I always had a deep rooted sense of insignificance that lead me to acting out for attention or isolating myself due to low self esteem. Learning that what I do matters not only for my life but for the lives of others has been challenging, yet rewarding, in seeing how I can affect people in a positive way.

Many of my brand’s designs (Worthy, Famous in Heaven, etc.) come from what God has shown me in my personal journey to embracing the new identity He’s given me. I believe that a lot of trouble can be avoided in our lives if we truly believed what God says about us.

Obeying God in starting this brand and seeing the impact that it’s had has been a huge part of unlearning the lie that I’m insignificant. Our lives matter way more than we know!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

What a great question haha! There’s a couple things..

1. the emotional toll that being a creative has on us is pretty overlooked. Most creatives create from the heart which is the core of who we are and the seat of our emotions. We make art that we’re deeply connected to and it takes a lot of courage to put it up for sale or to be judged (good or bad) by our audience. It’s not easy to constantly have to put yourself out there and experience rejection or disappointment but that can make us more resilient. Nonetheless, our emotions are more than likely at risk whenever we create.

2. Inspiration isn’t always there. Especially as a high achiever or a top tier creative, it can be a challenge to meet the demands of social media and overcome the comparison to other creatives in your lane. Sometimes we genuinely aren’t inspired to create and that’s okay. We don’t need to force something to happen because then it’s not genuine. The caveat to that is that if we continue to wait for inspiration to create we may not create as often. It’s pretty much a catch 22.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whoisolivier.com
• Instagram: @OlivierOnline
• Linkedin: Carl Olivier Duperval
• Twitter: @OlivierOnline
• Youtube: OlivierOnline
• Other: www.fruitoverphonics.com

Image Credits
LDejuan – https://www.ldejuan.com/ Ericka Hartzell – zelleriweddings.com