We recently connected with Srimoyee Acharya and have shared our conversation below.

Srimoyee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I started my art small business as a portrait artist. My very first order was a pet portrait of my friend’s beloved dog sitting in Alamo Square Park with the iconic Three Sisters of San Francisco in the background!

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’m Srimoyee, and my brand, Srimoyee Handmade, offers joyful illustrated goods featuring whimsical and sweet designs that showcase nature, backyard wildlife, and pets. I want my art to be accessible and offer my designs in large-format fine art prints, as well as stickers, magnets, keychains, and greeting cards. This way, anyone can enjoy my work irrespective of price point.

I’ve loved making art since I was a little girl. Growing up my household was very chaotic, and I used art as a way to escape and calm my mind. While my background is in science and product development, I found myself feeling more fulfilled and more like myself when I was making art. I’m also hugely passionate about animal rescue and care, and my life was fundamentally changed after I adopted my cat Morris. I wanted to find a way to support the incredible organizations that care for and house animals until they can find their forever homes. In 2021, I started my art small business, Srimoyee Handmade, to not only share my art but also to support animal rescue groups. A portion of each Srimoyee Handmade sale is donated to animal rescue non-profits, and I have donated almost $15K since starting my small business.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

During the first couple of years of my business, I probably spent the majority of my time on social media. The instant gratification of getting likes made me feel productive. I was also unfortunately very influenced by seeing videos of other artists going viral, specifically the ones where viral artists showed their printers printing out long rolls of address labels for all the orders they received. This fostered a pretty unhealthy relationship with the platform, and if a post didn’t do well or if someone unfollowed me, it would take a toll on my mental health.

I later realized that by focusing on social media, I wasn’t making art, and I wasn’t actually putting effort into growing my business. My content was also feeling flat because rather than focusing on presenting my authentic self, I was presenting what I thought people would like. At the beginning of 2022, I decided to do a reset and read Austin Kleon’s series of books on creativity in the digital age – “Steal Like an Artist,” “Show Your Work,” and “Keep Going.” This helped me shift my focus back to my art and my small business and helped me show up authentically to both my customers and social media followers!

Have you ever had to pivot?

In January of 2023, I had my son! I had no idea how motherhood would impact my small business, all I knew is that parenthood seemed very intense! While at times it was very intense, it was also very fulfilling and joyful. After having him, my priorities drastically shifted to how I could live my life in a way where I could always show up as a great mom to him. And that meant running my small business in a way that felt true to me, while also still making time for my family. I’ve learned a lot over the last 2.5 years of being a mom, and now I have certain boundaries in place that let me maximize my time with him while also pursuing one of my passions. One meaningful change is that I am very choosy about which markets I participate in. The markets either have to be for part of the day so I can spend the remainder of the day with him (thank you Hollywood Farmers Market for creating this environment!), or have to be well established so I know the time spent away from my family will result in decent sales. While this sometimes leads me to say no, the tradeoff is so important, especially if it means I even get an hour or two with my little boy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.srimoyeehandmade.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/srimoyeehandmade/

Image Credits

Danielle Spires, Steve Meier