We were lucky to catch up with Peyton McElvy recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Peyton, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
When I was very young— just old enough to paint or draw— I took to art passionately. Then as a kid dreaming of what I wanted to be, a professional artist was always the answer. That was the beginning fuel for my business, and I constantly delved deeper into my artistic skills & expressions as time went on, intriguing a lot of the people around me. Along with my drawings, I explored a lot of self-expression around this time as well. I was, and always have been, very unique & varied in my style and belief. Though this made me not fit in much and did give me a good bit of ridicule, it helped to build the person and creator I am today.
As I was deep into the pit of peer pressure and finding myself as a teen, a vision had come to me. Not some kind of idea that I conjured up, but a true, uncontrolled, ethereal vision planted itself in my head and eyes. It was a vision of people— human, animal, some cross between them, and many others— of all beliefs/religions, races, sexes, and cultures. They were all circled around a large fire, dancing and sharing stories, with no dismay put upon anyone. And if someone did disagree, is was not protested out loud; they would simply observe and respect the others’ life, without taking it to heart or personally.
The ridicule I received in youth is what drove me to create a safe space for people to express themselves freely. The vision gave me a spark of hope. These, my hate for racism or any form of segregation, and my love & respect for nature gave me more purpose in my passion.
This is why you will find I offer a lot of pieces that are original, culturally-inspired, and include a lot of subjects on ethnicity, sexuality, identity, body positivity, and the like. I also use my creativity and unique expressiveness in modeling, reaching out more with these ideals and connecting my art to it as well.
Seeing a world where yeses and nos can both exist fluidly, like in my vision, is what I dream of.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
A little bit about me: I’m a nonbinary (he/she/they), pansexual artist & model based in VA, USA, and an upcoming writer. I enjoy culture, diversity, and nature, and a lot of that shows through my works. My business is an online art shop, where I offer a variety of original pieces— from jewelry & accents, to paintings & drawings. I take commissions for any of the medias I use, and excel most in boho, abstract, cultural, and fine detail.
I am also fresh in the modeling business (as of 2022), and offer these services for photo/videography, promos, branding, and similar. I am big on body positivity and giving the “lewd” side of things a healthier, more spiritual outlook/relation.
I got into these trades mainly by personal means, but between my family & friends I’ve met along the way, I’ve gotten a lot of help in growing my repertoire.
Starting with drawing at a young age, I got to making a lot of creations for the people around me, then began posting some of my work on instagram in about 2018. I opened my Etsy store in 2019, and finally created my own website late 2022. All throughout, I’ve been to several in-person events as a vendor or pop-up feature, which helped to grow my business.
A lot of my creative time has also been spent in personal photography and capturing whatever visual magic I was excited to express/create. This lead to my interest in modeling. When meeting another fellow artist who had connections to such, I asked her if she could help steer me in the right direction. This has led to multiple photoshoots, a music video, and fashion show entry.
Writing and literature has always been another strong suit in my childhood, as it helped channel & cultivate my vivid imagination. Though it is a smaller hobby, I have my first publication to be seen by mid 2023!
All of my work is circled around inclusiveness, diversity, and expression. When people come to my artistic world, I want them to know this is a safe space for endless potential!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
First of all, I’d like to preface this with: >>TRIGGER WARNING. (depression, suicidal mention)<<
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As I mention in my origin overview/introduction, I was a very different individual from my peer groups at a young age. This too-complex persona of mine was what set me apart from others and sent me into depression at about 13 years old.
I had built too much of my identity on other people’s foundations. So when they broke away, my building crumbled and left me with no foundation of my own. I was a blank slate, a ghost image— there was no “me.”
I battled with a deep depression I hid from everyone for 4 years. There were several nights I remember asking the god(s) or whoever was up there to end my life. Then still other nights I had spent in raging anxiety and self-loathe, punching or smacking myself. I hoped and prayed for something to end my life. But I never made attempts or obvious self-harm because oh no no— I was afraid and had to keep it hidden!
I am ever grateful for that one fear, and my goddamned relentless hope that went on without my intention.
Fast-forward to New Years of 2017-2018, I made myself a promise and mental note that I was going to drop my depression. Just leave it and go. I had found acceptant and active communities, connected with myself & explored spiritualities, and was on the road to healing.
In the span of the next couple years I had gone through more friends and an s/o that gave me a small relapse, because my periods of shifts and growth always dropped dramatically large amounts of people away from me.
But through these trials I became incredibly independent, and had been advocating heavily in mental health awarenesses which helped a lot of others around me to grow too.
Here I am today (2023): growing my own business & mission, expressing myself brightly, engaged to an amazingly supportive partner, still vibing with the one best friend that’s seen it all with me, and feeling genuinely happy finally.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still so many stressors in my everyday life that trigger anxiety, but it’s nothing as helpless feeling as I had long ago. It has left me with a resilience and mindfulness that pierces through everything I face now, and my experiences have helped me inspire pieces & examples in my business that touch the lives of others in raw, real, positive ways.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social media is a big challenge in and of itself that even I still struggle with. While my follower count is nothing to gawk at, there are plenty of tips I can give for improving social media audience. For one, you want to consider how you want your page to look/be themed. Here are things to take into account:
– Your product’s/content’s main or important factors/highlights
– The vibe, energy, or atmosphere you want your work to create
– How often you can offer new content (ties into posting frequency later)
So— for example— a more colored theme may want to follow a posting pattern, while a more ASMR themed page may want to have high quality photos that focus on the texture aesthetics. Definitely take a look at other pages that have a visual appeal to you for ideas of themes & layouts.
Another factor to weigh in is how often you post. Frequency and consistency in posting is very crucial to social media algorithms. If you want consistent or increased traffic on your page, having regular/scheduled posts will help significantly. Now this may rely on a few things including:
– What content you offer & how quickly it can be prepared
– Your personal life (and/or if this is your full-time gig)
– How/when your followers are active
Posting once a day is fantastic, but we know that isn’t always possible. So long as you create a pattern of planned days to post, the algorithm will start to catch on and adjust the traffic accordingly. Be sure not to post TOO MUCH either, or you may get shadow banned or unfollowed from spam annoyance. Twice a day is not horrible, and is probably a good cap/limit.
Something else you need to watch the limit of is hashtags. Hashtags are a CRITICAL part of exposure and traffic, and are essential to master. They direct people who are looking for a certain category of things to pages that offer the same feed. The following are notes to keep in mind for hashtag usage:
– Amount of hashtags
– What hashtags are relevant
– Which category & popularity of hashtag to choose
– Where to put hashtags
Using too many hashtags not only floods your page and is not pleasurable to your readers, but it may also get you shadow banned. Limit yourself to only the relevant and more specific tags, without getting too detailed. Don’t use really basic tags such as “#art” or “#music” unless the basic category is not as generic/popular of a subject. Instead, try something more pointed so people can find what they’re looking for (i.e- “#beadedearrings” instead of “#jewelry”). This also prevents— you guessed it— shadow banning. You can use more specific hashtags, but too much detail in one tag extremely limits its exposure. Finally, please place your hashtags at the end of your post, and not smack in the middle or beginning. A sporadic tag placement here and there to continue a sentence is fine, but putting more hashtags early on subconsciously makes people skip over text because tags aren’t generally important to your followers.
Next up, you really want to create engagement. Interaction really draws people in and positively affects the algorithm. Likes are good, Comments are awesome, Saves are great, and Shares are fantastic. Ways you can create more engagement are things such as these:
– Ask questions/debates, create polls, suggest challenges, etc.
– Make remixes or collaborations with other creators and icons (remixes w/ popular pages get more traffic because it directs their follower count to your related feed)
– Join some trends (make them your own!)
– Interact on other pages! Give some love by liking, commenting, and sharing others’ posts!<3
Ultimately, a lot of it is what goes around comes around. The more you engage, the more honest & real you are, and the more you put into your social media— the more the algorithms recognize you and send people through your feed. It also determines what YOU see as well, so keep in mind what you click and scroll through!
And again, draw inspiration from those around you!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thefreespiritsart.com
- Instagram: thefreespiritsart
- Facebook: thefreespiritsart
Image Credits
Jess Photography, Adaolisa Photography