We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sachem Dahn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sachem below.

Hi Sachem, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

About everything that I do creatively has been self taught. From photography to editing to graphic designing and so on. I’ve taken a couple courses in college on graphic designing but it was only the basics. But before then, I really didn’t have any technical learning experiences on a lot of these things. It’d always be through spending countless hours, messing around with softwares or gear I had, that would help improve my knowledge. Once I started to learn the technicalities of certain things, Youtube University became another major source of my learning. I’m not sure if I could’ve sped up my learning process because I’m not the type of person to rush things. I believe everything I’ve learned and still learning is aligned with my timeline as a growing artist. The most essential skill within the world of a creative is being open and receptive to new ideas. There are so many ways to learn in this field that it’d be wild to think that only one way would get the job done. You have to be a sponge, taking in and learning from every new experience that comes your way. Along the way, a major obstacle that stood in the way of learning more was not being able to pay for things like Adobe softwares or my own gear. I would get by just using free versions of these softwares or renting gear which turned out to be very helpful. As I started to learn the basics, this would later help make the transition to paying for software and gear slightly easier.

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?

My name is Sachem, a multifaceted creative involved in many different fields being visual arts, fashion, modeling and designing. My intro into the creative world all started off with picking up a camera back in college as I dove into the world of photography. From here, I started to meet people in the creative scene or even notice more creatives and their work online. This opened the umbrella even more as I started to realize that there was more out there than just photography. So out of curiosity, I would tell myself that I could do these newfound things too. These things being editing, shooting videos, graphic designing, just to name a few. This is where I would start to learn a little bit of everything, interested in certain things over others.

My interest in fashion has also been something I’ve always enjoyed about myself but at the time, I never really knew where it could lead me. All I really knew was, I enjoyed buying clothes, mainly thrifting and getting dressed however I wanted. Slowly this lead from me being behind the camera to wanting to be in front of the camera to take fit pics for Instagram. Once again, meeting more creatives in this scene allowed me to explore more options with fashion and modeling, doing shoot collabs with photographers that helped build a portfolio and led to getting signed with my first agency here in the city. My growing knowledge in fashion and design has also allowed me to start my own brand A Piece For You, which has been in the making for awhile. But with the start of that, I can finally challenge myself even more by bringing more of my ideas to life.

As a creative, pretty much everything listed above is provided as a service to some capacity. Depending on what I want to focus on during a certain period, I channel more energy into one of two things over the others. I find myself now doing other things like creative consulting, styling, sewing and still creating content for myself as a brand. Through it all, I’m most proud of my ability to juggle all that I do and that’s all thanks to God for giving me the gift to do so. Sometimes it becomes overwhelming but as time goes on, I’m finding more balance with it all.

If there’s one thing I’d want anyone to take away from me and what I do as a creative, it would be that everything I strive to do has a purpose bigger than me. Sometimes it may not make sense to anyone but myself and I’ve grown to be okay with that. I think I’ve figured out my role in this game of life and if what I set out to do inspires at least one person then that’s all I need.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspecting of being an artist or creative is that there really isn’t a right or wrong. Try not to overthink it but we know art is subjective and it’s really about how you appeal to those taking in your work whatever it may be. There’s room to try things and fail, learn from and make adjustments. The process isn’t cookie cutter, there’s no checklist formula so not everyone comes out with the same results. This is rewarding because it really depends on you. If you feel like your work is like that, meaning you believe it’s worth being recognized, then it’s really up to you to use your resources, skills and knowledge to take things to the next level. But like anything else, not everyone makes it so you must be willing to put those hours in without question.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

There’s definitely a few goals that drive my creative journey, one being the ability to create freely. I would want to reach a point where I could have an idea or concept and there’s a way to get it done. As in I have the resources available to me or the connections to help me accomplish whatever it is. Also the goal of being able to sustain my lifestyle and provide for those around me through my art would be a blessing. I want to let the ones that come after me know that it’s possible, despite the odds of art not being looked at as a “real job” you can really get to the bag. Trying to reach those like me, who didn’t have handouts and really had to build from the ground up keeps me going for sure, no question.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sachemdahn.myportfolio.com
• Instagram: @sachie_hndrxx
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachem-dahn-252202202/
• Twitter: @sachie_hndrxx
• Youtube: The Sachie Show
• Other: Clothing Line: A Piece For You – https://apieceforyou.square.site/