We recently connected with Victoria Weatherspoon and have shared our conversation below.

Victoria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I think a lot of creatives, career creatives, can trace their point of origin back to their childhood, right? A lot of us can say “I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I remember when I was a kid I used to…” fill in the blank. And as much as I’d like to say I’m some unique and special flower, in that regard, I’m just like many of my peers. I fell in love with creation as a child and it’s stuck with me ever since. When I was younger, my grandparents’ house had this perfect setup where there was a den, then a long hallway, and then a family room. And I remember I would design whole shows, whole extravaganzas, if you will. I would “sell tickets” in the den and then run to the end of the hallway and act as the doorman, taking tickets, ripping the stub off, and saying “Thank you, please take your seat. The show will begin in a moment.” I would write epic dramas and hilarious comedies. Well, they were epic and hilarious to me at the least, and to my grandparents. As I continued to do creative things like being in and doing plays and I loved every second of it. I’ve always known this is what I was going to do, in one way or another. I write, I paint, and draw, if it has to do with creation I’ve dabbled in it at some point in my life. I love art. I love creating art.

Victoria, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an artist to my core, and I absolutely love creating art of all kinds. So when I got the opportunity to become the co-founder of a theater company, and then a Graphic Designer, and now a marketing manager on top of my performing arts, well, sometimes I truly have to pinch myself. I couldn’t be more grateful for the life I get to live. I get to create art all of the time. Whether it’s in my day job when I am creating integral resources for our members at Astra, when I’m creating things for the clients I have under my LLC, or when I’m volunteering with the Noisy Nest, an incredible theatrical production company and non-profit I get to work without here, every day I get to bring ideas to life and it is a dream. I’m proud that no matter what I’m doing, I am working towards bettering my community. My LLC clients are always small businesses, nonprofits, foundations things like that. The theater company that I confounded specifically works towards healing through art and the company I volunteer with brings free art to different communities throughout the area. My day job is a nonprofit that works to bring play to the lives of children of all ages. I’m proud and honored to be able to bring joy through my art in all forms.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Let me tell you something: The Four Agreements. The Four Agreements has changed my life in more ways than I can even express. It’s by Don Miguel Ruiz, and at first glance, you wouldn’t think that it would be the type of book that would change or impact management or entrepreneurial thinking, but the truth is, as an entrepreneur, you are your entire business. So the more together you are, the more together your business is. The more focused you are, the more your business is. And that’s what that book did for me.

Check this out the four agreements are be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best. Those four simple concepts can revolutionize the way you create art in a world that has seemingly unreachable standards everywhere you turn. If you live by the concept of being impeccable with your word, you pause before you speak, and you make sure that your business relationships are based on your impeccable word. If you don’t take anything personally, you are not held back from creating art. Criticism is good to you because you know that nothing is personal. If you don’t make assumptions you’d go into a creative situation with an open mind ready to see it from different points of view, and if you always do your best, the other four things will fall into place.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn my obsession with perfection. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make things absolutely perfect, but perfection can be the enemy of art. It can keep you from seeing the beauty and the thing that you’ve made, and you find yourself obsessing about this 1 mm here or this one color there, and you can’t truly then progress to the next stage of creation or development because you are stuck in this one thing.

I had to unlearn that need for perfection, allow myself to make mistakes, and allow things to be slightly off sometimes because that’s where some of the truest and most unique art comes from. That’s where the most creative ideas can come from.

If I’m being honest, it’s really a recent lesson that I’ve learned. I had to create a lot of different assets in a short period of time and my wonderful boss for my day job reminded me that it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be good. And that allowed me to let go of some of the anxiety I had about making sure that those items were perfect and once I let that anxiety go, I was able to think more freely, more clearly, and more creatively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vrwdesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sometimes.tori/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-weatherspoon-marketing/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sometimes.tori?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Image Credits

Carson Nicely