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

Paige, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

I was so lucky to have the most creative mom growing up! We did crafts literally every second of free time we had, from sewing plushies to helping her renovate our house. She has always taught me how to use what I have or be thrifty instead of buying new & expensive items. She has always inspired me to use my creativity & I wouldn’t be where I am without her! I never went to fashion school, I learned sewing from her, YouTube, and trial and error!

Paige, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into upcycling because I was already sewing game day clothing as a side hustle. When the pandemic happened, I started to open my eyes to all of the problems in the world; one of them being fast fashion and just general overconsumption by humans. This made me inspired to upcycle everything from clothing for clients to DIY thrift flipped home decor for my own house. I’m proud and thankful that I have the opportunity to teach others how to do the same through social media.

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

So many creatives and artists struggle to make a living, especially with the cost of living these days. It can be pricey to support creatives or brands with ethical practices. The best thing you can do is amplify your favorite creatives by sharing their posts, comment on their work, and just spreading the word about them! Social media has so much power so even if you can’t afford to directly support an artist, they appreciate the shares just as much!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think a lot of non-creatives view my job as easy or not a real job & sometimes I honestly feel embarrassed telling strangers what I do because I think they won’t take me seriously. While being a self employed creative has so many benefits, it can also be super scary/unpredictable at times. Also, it might sound silly but sometimes I wish I could just clock into a job and kind of zone out. Working as a creative, I constantly am trying to find inspiration for my next project & there is so much work that’s unseen. I’ve pulled countless all nighters working on projects and I think about work all the time because I can never really “clock out”. That being said, I’m so grateful to do what I love & I recommend taking the risk to do what you love too.

Contact Info:

• Website: Remygirlreworks.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/paigesechrist
• Youtube: Paige Sechrist
• Other: Tiktok: paige.Sechrist

Image Credits
First image of me & the mannequin is from the Associated Press