Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rebecka Rubio. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rebecka, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Well, I believe like so many other creatives, we can all thank the pandemic for being able to tap into our creative sides. I’ve always been creative and artsy but I never would have thought that it would have led me on this amazing adventure. I believe everyone has the opportunity to live so many chapters in their lives, this adventure just turned out to be my next chapter. I don’t wish it happened sooner, I think it happened when it was supposed to. Alleviating stress when nothing in our world seemed certain. Art created the temporary escape I needed, it was the one thing that I did have control over. I would get lost in new projects and very soon realized what had been missing in my life.

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

I had started Left Brain Creative Mama about three years ago during the pandemic. I was working in the healthcare industry and with all of the uncertainties surrounding Covid, I felt that I needed an escape. I needed something to take my mind off of what was going on in the world and that’s when I turned to the other side of my brain to rescue me. My husband had bought me some watercolor bookmarks and a new paint set. We all jumped into our new hobby quite effortlessly, but I kept going. I kept creating and nothing could really stop me at that point at all. I started with watercolor bookmarks for my teacher Best Friend’s sixth grade class, but before giving them to her, I had a crazy idea. I quickly started to stage each bookmark on our kitchen table, taking pictures of the assortment and feeling accomplished for actually thinking of all of these random layouts; admiring just how cute they had all turned out. About a week later I worked up enough courage to start a business profile on Instagram and started going wild posting it all. Before I knew it, so many of my friends were ordering custom bookmarks for themselves and their kids. We worked up quite the collection! I soon started to venture out of my comfort zone. A few months had passed and I started to venture into making custom postcards and greeting cards. I soon started exploring different mediums and canvases. Tagging any and all art supply companies of the products that I was using on the daily. It was my mission/goal to be in their Instagram inboxes every single day. I started drawing my designs on small canvas bags, but I quickly started thinking on a much larger scale. That’s when the recognition started. I was being contacted by companies like Sharpie, Michael’s Arts & Crafts, Posca, and King Art Company to name a few. They started reposting my stories and featuring tagged posts and the followers just flowed in! My account flourished and blossomed. I started meeting other creatives online and I’m still just so proud to be apart of this community. The amounts of talent that I’ve had the opportunity to meet is wild, some of whom are now my best friends. Not only having the support of my immediate family but the support of others in the same line of work, many who had also left their 9-5 jobs as well, it was the support I was looking for and will never turn my back on.
I’ve had the opportunity to completely venture out of my comfort zones. Considering where I started this crazy adventure making watercolor bookmarks on my kitchen table with my Husband and toddler as a way to escape and find calm; I’ve been able to complete projects that I thought I’d only be able to dream of doing! I’ve completed a few wall murals for some of my neighbors and they get noticed every single day. I still, to this day, get daily tags or random strangers in our neighborhood walking past the first floral mural I ever completed, asking me if I can also paint their walls. Going from such uncertainty to being recognized for my art work is something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to.
About a year into my artistic adventure, I decided I wanted to start doing local Pop Up shops and farmers markets to get my name out there. I started drawing my custom floral art on Hats and bags. Even still when I see someone wearing one of my pieces in the wild, I get so excited, The shock of seeing someone willingly wear my art is so amazing. Being constantly contacted to complete custom pieces of art work will never get old! You can find us at least once or twice a month at various Southern California markets. I’m so proud of how far we’ve come in just a short almost three years. I can’t wait to see what else the future has in store for us!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Being able to work from home has certainly fueled my constant drive to grow as a person, as a parent and especially an artist. Being able to stay home and spend this time with my daughter has been the absolute best. Seeing not only mine, but her creativeness flourish has been eye-opening and completely amazing. At a time when I felt just so lost and that I had lost myself, art was able to bring me back. It helped me realize that living and being in the moment was what mattered. It helped me grow and become a better version of myself for myself and for my family. I will always be forever grateful for the journey. It has not, by any means, been easy. Quickly learning the ins and outs of becoming an entrepreneur is crazy. There are just so many things to learn. But you learn as you go, especially from other business owners. The most important thing to remember when starting fresh is to keep going and keep growing.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Post, Post, POST! Building an online presence for an audience on social media is not easy. Start out by planning out your posts daily for at least a month in advance. That way you can stay organized, and you can create depending on your schedule that you have created. Try planning it around the holidays or observed holidays to work them into your posts as well! For example, if you’re a painter and Christmas is around the corner, try to run your posts how they would roll out seasonal items in a retail store. People love getting their shopping done early and they can see ahead of time what you have cooking behind the scenes for the upcoming holiday. Next is tagging! Tag the companies of the supplies you use…relentlessly! I would tag the paint companies or the stores of where I had purchased my supplies. If you’re consistent, they will come! I’ve been featured numerous times by companies like Sharpie, Sharpie Worldwide, Posca, King Art Company, Grabie, Sakura and Michael’s Arts & Crafts stores. They give me coupon codes for my followers to buy and save. They also send me free art supplies to try and review! Just remember that it takes time. Success doesn’t happen over night. It takes hard work, determination and tremendous discipline, but if you’re willing to put in the work, it’ll happen naturally.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LftBrainCreativeMama
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leftbraincreativemama/
• Other: TikTok: @leftbraincreativemama Linktree: linktr.ee/Leftbraincreativemama

Image Credits
Photos: @ilianagarciaphoto @seafordsoap @leftbraincreativemama