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

Hi Renee, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I hope my legacy will be to be remembered as a facilitator and cultivator of community. I hope my businesses are where those communities convene to continue to build on the foundation those spaces provide.

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

I started out my career as a young Artist, still in middle school, going to an after school program called 901 Arts. The connections I made at 901 Arts allowed me to apply for several scholarships to cover art programs I was interested in. I was able to take fundamental drawing, expressional drawing, pottery, and photography classes at local Universities, Towson and the Maryland Institute of College and Art. The scholarships also allowed me to go to an art and film focused summer program, Steven Yeager’s Young Film Makers Workshop. This program opened the possibilities of making art my career. I had so many memorable experiences there, some that I carry to this day.

I was taking open studies classes, selling commissions, and applying for grants during the school year, all kinds of opportunities where I could make art I was passionate about and develop my own projects. As a multidisciplinary Artist I got to work with several different mediums, such as podcasts, short films, pottery, photography, graphic design, and illustration. I wanted to work with it all. Those experiences gave me the confidence to build my own creative process and cultivate my creative problem solving skills. As I progressed in my craft my experiences made me want to sell products, so I joined a Youth E-commerce program, called Baltimores’ Gifted. That’s where I learned to model and scale a business to make profit off of my art in all of its mediums. I had learned about digital marketing and marketing design to increase engagement and sales. When I was twenty, I was so confident in my skills that I wanted to share my knowledge with my community. So I became a Teaching Artist at the same after school program where I got my start in my creative passions, 901 Arts. There I taught art and culture, and how to profit off of that art with youth and young adults. My experience as a Teaching Artist also gave me a lot more opportunities to participate in more community based work and grow as a professional and an Artist.

At 901 Arts, I grew into the position of Youth Program Manager. This title change allowed me to be in a more leadership position and pursue projects I was passionate about for my community. I was able to organize, facilitate, and plan for community events. My first event was putting on out door movie nights for the community, Summer Movie Night in the Sculpture Garden. This position also pushed me to learn how to manage professional social media pages, expense reports, budgeting and more skills on the technical admin side of running a business, specifically a non-profit. As I grew into this position I learned how to book venues, travel, perfect my grant writing skills, and other administrative skills.

All of my experiences have given me a unique background that helped cultivate my skills as an Artist and Entrepreneur. My skills in communication, time management, organization, adobe suite, customer relationship systems (CRM’s) and Project Management Systems, are what made me want to build a business as a support mechanism for entrepreneurs, other businesses, and my community. Last year, I made changes that allow me to be more independent in how I manage my time, projects, and business.

As a freelance Artist and Entrepreneur, I strive to be helpful, creative, and informative. My goal is to make sure that I understand the needs of my community and possibly even reach beyond the communities boundaries to invite like minded others to the table. I have been working as a (Teaching) Artist and Entrepreneur for thirteen years and have gained valuable experiences that I believe will propel me in the direction of bringing positive change to the world.

I am most proud of my work as an illustrator and designer for my apparel brand, Out of Grace apparel. The brand allows me to combine my some of my passions illustration and streetwear. The apparel medium allows me to reach my audience and connect in cultural ways. Most of my work centers around the queer people of the global majority (PGM), although I know people who are not queer can still connect with my work. I take in a lot of pop culture influences from all periods and other concepts that inspire me from psychology, philosophy, astrology, and spiritualism. My favorite genre to work with currently is afro-futurism mixed with aesthetics from ancient civilizations. Specifically, ancient Native Nations (including Pacific Islands, and Aboriginal Nations) African Nations, and Asian Nations.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

To grow my clientele I do some research on local businesses to see how new they are, how developed their online presence is, and whether or not my skills will be of use to them. If so I go to those establishments in person, or cold mail them to see if they are interested in any of my services. Whether it be logo design, brand building, developing their social media presence or even admin, the answer is usually, yes. When I was first starting out I would approach these businesses and offer my skills for free, usually a logo. Then if they like my work and my process I would offer my skills again but with my artist fee. Usually by this point we’ve built enough rapport where they feel comfortable to move forward with a new project. Rinse and repeat. There were times where I was rejected, and they hurt. There’s a lesson in rejection though, personal or professional, you can’t take it personally, because, more often than not, it has nothing to do with who you are or what you produce.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Last year, I had come to the realization that my boundaries were consistently being crossed by someone I’ve known and trusted since my pre-teen years. Though I have much love for this person, the longer I stayed in that dynamic the more resentment I started to build for them and the work that we did together. The timing couldn’t have been better, it was around the time when I had to start thinking about renewing contract or moving on to other opportunities. In years before, there was no question on whether or not I would renew, but this time there was no question that I wouldn’t. I didn’t feel respected, cared for, or heard. It was time to go.

Started saving up so that I can start focusing on my business again and develop it further than ever before. I was so excited to finally be doing the work I wanted without compromise. I had saved up two grand for my website, LLC, supplies for product, and a new laptop I desperately needed. Everything was ready to be put into action when my contract for the year was up. Then my birthday came. My partner wakes me up. I’m thinking she’s waking me up with breakfast and a big “Happy Birthday!” But no, she tells me the TV is gone, and so is the Nintendo Switch I had just bought to celebrate the exciting change I’m making. Then we notice our car keys are gone. Both of them, gone. On my birthday.

Living in Baltimore City, this type of violation isn’t new, but this felt personal. It cut deeper than the times before. I was inconsolable fed up and tired. After I had explained what I had woken up to to my principle she asks if I was coming in that day. That felt like a slap in the face. Why would I come in, HOW would I come in I have no car, we can’t leave the apartment because the landlord has yet to come and replace the lock and give us the key, and my Father is telling us to move out in the midst of all that. So, no I wont be coming in today.

As the day went on it did improve. My Dad took us out to eat after he replaced our lock himself. By then we had decided that moving is the best option in order to get out of this space of violation. Then my partner had a birthday surprise for me in the evening. Pottery making, something I haven’t done in so long. To call the experience therapeutic is an understatement.

The days after we had dedicated our time to apartment hunting, and open houses. We find a great place right on budget in less than a week. An awesome loft style space in a quiet saf(er) neighborhood, that fit both me and my partners needs. A blessing. I wound up spending my savings on the move and falling into a state of hyper fixation on getting my website set up without my “start up”money. It wasn’t healthy, literally. I would break out in hives because of the stress. It got so bad that my partner and one of my best friends supported me in getting the site I had planned to build before the move. I have a lot of trauma when it comes to money and asking for financial help, even allowing financial help. So accepting their help took a tole on my pride for a time, but that also gave me the opportunity to appreciate the community I’ve built for myself, and address the trauma I have with money. I got so much more from the decision to go full time with my business than I could have ever imagined.

We eventually got our cars back after a few months of surfing the city’s system for a while. By this time we had developed a new sense of normalcy. After receiving our cars from the impound we both did a spiritual cleanse and reflected on what had happened and how much of a blessing the day of the theft really was. We are alive, we live in a better space, and we are both better off than we were before that day, and we are grateful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.andersonrenee.com
• Instagram: @mx.anderson_renee