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

Patricia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

It wasn’t a single lightbulb moment. It was a slow remembering.

Art has been whispering to me since I was a child. I grew up in North Carolina, where my father, a preacher, would fold and tear sheets of paper to teach faith lessons at the kitchen table. I watched how something ordinary could become extraordinary with just a few intentional folds, and I think that’s where it started, even if I didn’t have words for it then.

As life unfolded, I carried creativity quietly in the background. I built a long career as an executive assistant and nurtured other people’s visions, but my own creative voice stayed tucked away under layers of responsibility and survival.

Then came the unraveling: divorce, the passing of my oldest sister, and a deep sense of loss that left me breathless. One day, I sat at my kitchen table surrounded by torn paper and paint. I began gluing pieces together without a plan, just trying to make sense of my grief. Hours later, I looked down and realized I hadn’t just made art. I had made prayer.

That moment changed everything.

What began as therapy became a calling. Paper became my language. Color became my healing. The work of my hands became my ministry. From that day forward, I stopped trying to return to who I was before the pain and began creating from who I was becoming.

That is the day SaKredJoi Art (pronounced Sacred Joy Art) was born—out of ashes, out of loss, but mostly, out of love.

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

I am Patricia Efunsade, a self-taught mixed-media artist, author, and creative teacher, and the founder of SaKredJoi Art—a joyful studio rooted in color, spirituality, and story. My work lives at the intersection of art and soul, where creativity becomes both healing and offering.

Through SaKredJoi Art, I create handmade greeting cards, layered collages, affirmation decks, and small-batch art collections that invite people to slow down, breathe deeply, and reconnect with their own sacred rhythm. I also write reflective books and devotional-style pieces that blend art, storytelling, and faith into everyday life. Each work—whether visual or written—is designed to remind people that beauty is a form of medicine and that joy is a spiritual practice.

My audience includes women, creatives, and seekers who long to reconnect with their inner peace, faith, and purpose through creativity. My mission is to help scatter joy like confetti through handmade mixed-media art and sacred paper experiences that invite you to slow down, breathe, and remember your sacredness. Because in creating or receiving art, you rediscover your joy—again and again.

I currently teach community art classes that focus on intuitive, accessible mixed-media practices. My plan is to expand into more in-person experiences and sacred creative gatherings while also developing several online classes that bring this work to a wider audience.

Looking ahead, my vision is to host SaKredJoi Art Retreats throughout the United States—spaces where participants can rest, create, and reconnect with joy in a soul-nourishing environment. We also welcome invitations to bring our workshops, talks, and creative experiences to other locations, faith communities, and retreat centers.

What makes my work distinct is the heart behind it. Every collection carries an emotional truth. Every piece is layered with story and spirit. My art is not just meant to be seen; it is meant to be felt.

What I am most proud of is the growing community of hearts who have found healing and courage through this work. SaKredJoi Art is more than an art business. It is a living ministry of color, resilience, and joy—a sacred reminder that creativity can restore, reconnect, and renew the spirit.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A few years ago, my life fell completely apart. I had just come through a painful divorce, my health was fragile, and grief arrived again with the unexpected passing of my oldest sister. It felt like everything I knew had been dismantled. I kept showing up for work, for people, for responsibility, but inside, I was barely breathing.

One afternoon, in the quiet of my kitchen, I reached for what I had on hand: scraps of paper, glue, paint, and silence. I began tearing and layering pieces without a plan. There were no words, no rules, no expectations. Hours later, I looked down and realized I had created something beautiful from fragments that didn’t seem to belong together.

That was my first collage, and it changed my life.

Through that process, I discovered that healing is not about erasing what hurts; it’s about embracing what hurts. It is about transforming it. Each torn edge became a metaphor for the ways we are all remade by grace. That experience became the foundation for SaKredJoi Art, where I now teach others how to transform their own scraps —emotional, spiritual, and creative —into something sacred.

Resilience, for me, is not about strength or perfection. It is about softness, surrender, and choosing to create anyway. Every piece I make and every class I lead is rooted in that moment at the table, where I learned that art does not just express healing. It creates it.

That experience still guides me today. Every card I make, every collage I teach, and every circle I lead is a continuation of that first quiet act of survival. My mission now is to help others find that same sacred space, to scatter joy like confetti through handmade art and soulful pauses that remind us to breathe and remember our worth. Because healing is not only something we receive, but also something we create, again and again.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn is the idea that I needed to earn rest and joy. For most of my life, I equated worth with productivity. I believed that if I was not constantly doing, achieving, or serving, I was somehow falling behind.

That mindset came from years of being the helper, the fixer, the dependable one. I built a long career in administrative leadership and took pride in being a reliable individual. However, over time, that constant pace began to wear me down. After my sister passed away, I realized I had been holding my breath for years, always waiting for permission to slow down.

It was art that gave me that permission. Sitting at the table with torn paper and glue taught me that creation requires stillness. Healing happens in the pause. Through the process of making art, I began to see that I am not valuable because of what I produce. I am valuable because I exist.

That realization shifted everything. Now I teach others to incorporate rest into their creative rhythm. In my classes and retreats, I remind people that the sacred and the simple belong together. Rest is not a reward; it is a requirement. Joy is not a luxury; it is a way back to ourselves.

Unlearning the need to constantly prove my worth has been one of the most liberating and healing parts of my journey. It is also what allows me to create from a place of peace instead of pressure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sakredjoiart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joypriestess5/
• Other: Podcast on Spotify
  Chronicles of a Preacher’s Daughter: Faith. Art. And Some Sassy Spirituality

  https://open.spotify.com/show/2SCXUU1e56wBkmJGDgR3Aw

Image Credits

Patricia Efunsade