We recently connected with Tzu Ching Chen and have shared our conversation below.

Tzu Ching, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission as a visual creator evolved along with my journey of pursuing my dream. It started as utilizing my skills as a creator to support and implement others’ ideas, I want to provide works that truly illustrate and represent their stories and visions. Therefore, my freelance career started with working with small businesses across industries, mostly in the food & beverage, hospitality, entertainment, and wellness industries. Collecting these experiences of serving others, I started thinking deeply about my value as a visual creator “Who am I? What else can I do? What can I bring to society?” I asked myself. That’s where my mission elevated to a wider perspective. I believe all of our history and experiences are the generator of the present.

Therefore, as a creator, staying authentic and optimistic for collaborations is more important than curving my creative mind to fit others. New doors opened to me after I shifted my mission. I started to produce works that are heavily inspired by my childhood and culture, I developed styles, and values that represent me, and revealed myself as an individual via my creative work. I am diving into this long-term project of cultural communication, to share, express, and develop the beauty and diversity of Asian culture through visual presentations in a modern take.

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.

This is Tzu Ching Chen, people called me Jessy. I spent the first half of my life in Taiwan, and the other half in New York. I started getting into art when I was in elementary school. The young me decided to pursue art as a career, and here I am spending most of my time and energy creating.

I started working part-time during my last two years of high school and through my entire college time. I worked as a teacher, a restaurant manager, and an architect assistant/construction project manager before I commit art & design as my main income source. People questioned me about my decision on the job and potential career contradiction. They wondered why I picked these jobs that have no direct relation to art & design. The answer is crucial; it is because I need financial support. I need to survive before I can trace my dream. However, part of me also believed that no experience would go to waste. All that I have learned and done became part of me and will only lead me further. I never felt apart from art or my dream, even when I was fully occupied by other responsibilities in life. I know the temporary breaks occur to set me off better.

Life is tough and full of uncertainties. Sometimes we need time to accumulate, prepare, and settle ourselves for the opportunity to come and have the ability to grab it. Therefore, patience and passion are the fuel in this marathon.

As mentioned in the mission story, there are two main revenue I generated in my business, the first part is my art & design services for others, collaborating with clients to execute their visions. The other part is producing culture-related works to share cultural values, and awareness, in the form of 2D arts, workshops, and exhibitions. I’m in the progress of finding the sweet spot between the two categories, maintaining that fine balance of being sustainable as a business, yet, something beyond that.

Vision alignment is a big factor in my services, it’s an ideal necessity. I always find art as a powerful tool in communication, and how deeply it can touch people’s hearts, hence I aim to perceive and represent others’ inner world with my services. And vision alignment is the first step of this journey. The chemistry of collaborative minds sparks when all parties are on the same page of understanding and share the same perception. This is the rule of thumb when I work with others, disregarding the scale or industry of the project.

All in all, the current goal is to form a niche between serving others and cultural communication development. Seeking the needs in the market who share the same vision as I do on cultural communication development. And merge the two threads into one string to maximize the influence in the community with art & design.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Having the consciousness of not leaving a piece of work that I’m not satisfied with in the market, is my fundamental practice of constructing my reputation. Thenceforth, consistency of good service is the path to building a reputation. My understanding of service is a wide vision, providing good work, active listening, clear and helpful communication, having a positive attitude, valuing clients’ words and time, keeping my word, and staying honest. All of my presentation is a part of my service, which will eventually contribute to building a good reputation.

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

The most rewarding aspect of a creative is to have the chance to stay true to myself most of the time. Disregarding the fact that there are many gives and takes in life, being a creator has the luxury to decide more for me with the mindset of “who am I” and “what I want.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tzuchingchen.com
• Instagram: tzucc0201
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TzuHako

Image Credits
Michael Yu, AB.Frames