We were lucky to catch up with Tess Hansen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tess, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

No, I don’t wish I had started sooner…that’s the short version but the longer version is a story:

Upon graduating from college I took a trip with my mom. A complicated excursion through the Netherlands and Belgium. Throughout the trip, my mother pointed out things. “Look!” She’d say and I’d see a famous museum, a historic building, or classic sculpture. She’d point and I’d look. Then I’d point. “Look!” I’d say and it would be a funny window display, a painted advertisement, or a piece of graffiti. Where she would rush past, I would stand overlong. We were obviously different.

For years I had struggled through school, choosing a major I thought I was for the rest of my life. I had taken the path set out for me. I wanted to be successful as other people see success. But out of every job, I enjoyed the ones that were least restrictive. The jobs where I was the first in the role or where I could employ my own vision or process. It took time for me to build confidence in myself and my way of thinking. I have always looked at things a bit differently, but now that is my strength.

Now, is the right time for me. It’s perfect timing because I had the courage to start!

I started a business. My business. I started it the way I wanted and I’m following my own views. As a gallery owner people pay me for my vision. I said, “Look!” and people look where I point.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Tess Hansen and I love art. I love that the art community is filled with interesting people and beautiful things that I’ll always have less time than I want to look at. I started Curate NJ so that I can look at said beautiful things and surround myself with warm, welcoming people.

Before I started this business, I got an invitation to a gallery art show. I had never been to an art gallery before so I thought about what a gallery looks like on TV. Snooty people dressed in black, sipping red wine, and talking about art. I was excited about the show and dressed to the nines. I wore high pink stilettos, put on my best jewelry, did a full face of makeup and blew out my hair into soft curls. When I got to the art gallery it was nothing like I imagined. It was packed. Most attendees were drinking water from reusable water bottles I’m sure they brought from home. The art collectors were people in sneakers, sweatshirts, and jeans. It’s understood that my perception did not match reality.

Because of my experience at that first art show, I felt more welcome to create a space that is for all art lovers. The gallery hosts work from contemporary, local artists with a variety of price points. Customers walking in will find art prints similar in price to a fancy cocktail and original framed work for what might be the price of a nice meal. We encourage art gallery visitors to fall in love with having a good time. We want to create a happy, encouraging environment.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I think it’s better to give rather than receive. That’s how I use my social media. I give likes away, I comment hearts and fire, I love every story of people and things I admire. I do this unconditionally. I am a super-fan!

This happened pretty organically – I started liking every story of artists I admire. I was crazy inspired and excited about their work. There’s a strange kind of social media etiquette where, if you share someone’s post, it’s curtsey to say thank you. Those DM thank you’s mean a lot to me. I started sharing more content and then making videos about why I liked certain people’s things. When the DM ‘thank you’ came I’d be so excited that I’d say more than just ‘you’re welcome’. This was very important to building an audience. Sure, anyone can share a post, but giving out likes and comments and DMing? That’s something that builds a friendship (or at least camaraderie). Now, when I go on social media it feels friendly. It feels like the voices I interact with are supportive and that means more dedicated listeners than just ambient followers.

My instagram is relatively small. I have about 500 followers and believe it or not, I know most of those people personally – or at least a very large portion of them. The other people are like ghosts. They watch from distance with little to no interaction.

Actually, one time I attended a live art party at a local brewery. I was standing next to the painting chatting with a friend when I looked over at the entryway. There stood a woman eagerly waving in my direction. I looked around, having a bit of a ‘me?’ moment, but waved back. As she approached, I knew for sure – I have never met this woman in my life.

“You’re Tess right?” I frowned a bit but nodded desperately trying to place her somewhere in my brain. “I see you on instagram all the time! I’m so glad you’re here! Now I can say I actually know you!” To say I was shocked is an understatement.

I’m absolutely flattered to get recognized and I love that I created an online community that translates to in-person.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I opened the art gallery. I called upon many different artists to submit artwork for the first group show. I leveraged friendships and called in lots of connections as you have to when you first start. One artist was a long-time very prolific woman who came to the gallery one day to drop off her painting. In dropping it off we chatted about the space and my ideas for the show. I told her about my love for graffiti. The interaction was stilted. She was wary of my opinions.

Two weeks later when the gallery was hung she came back to look. She looked at all the pieces of the show put together and called me up. “Tess,” she said, “I’m really impressed by you. The show has a flow and a harmony that’s not seen a lot these days. I’m proud of this. You really pulled it off.” I thanked her. I didn’t know she had previously doubted my abilities that severely!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.curatenj.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tesselating/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tesshansen/
• Twitter: @tessalatte