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

Hi Wendy, thanks for joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

It was a few years ago. My brother had passed away, and I turned to art to work through the grief. Wasn’t really sure what I was expecting, except to process the loss, and hopefully design something that could resemble a memorial tattoo, then give it to a “real artist” to create the actual piece.

But the more I drew, the better I got. I was actually pretty good at it. It started small, listing homemade prints on Facebook and craigslist. I had listed ads for quite some time, and hadn’t received any inquiries. I began to question if I was actually good at it or not. I mean I thought I was good, but what if I wasn’t?

Then one day, I get an email from someone, requesting to buy not 1, but FOUR different prints. I was so excited! I met him at the closest grocery store, shared my story with him, and he wound up giving me something like $30 as a tip. I had just made $100, and in that moment, my hope wasn’t lost that I could do something meaningful with my art.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My journey started in 2020 when my brother passed away of an overdose. His passing sent me on a new path that led me here.

My brother, Brad, was one of the lost souls who was failed by everyone who was supposed to be there for him. My self-included. His passing made me learn so much about myself. I learned along the way what kind of person I wanted to be, who I should have always been.

I decided that I wanted to try and help people with the art that came from the grief of losing Brad, but I didn’t know how.

It started with just art, and vending at shows, telling people his story and hearing about theirs. That morphed into T-shirts and hoodies, and eventually, painted shoes.

I think what sets me apart from other is that I want to make a statement. I want to make a difference. I was to reach as many people as possible and show them that they matter. So many people have lost hope and faith in goodness and love. My hope is that I can start a ripple effect in spreading love and nonjudgement of others, and that they will pay it forward, 2-fold.

Recently I did a custom pair of shoes for a woman. I quoted her the fee for painting them but didn’t actually plan on charging her. Once the shoes were complete, I told her that I wasn’t charging her, and that I hope that she will take this blessing and use the money to pay it forward to someone else who needs help, and I’ll accept “word of mouth” as payment for the shoes.

My goal is to be secure enough in painting that I can begin giving back more than I keep, because that’s the only way that we can heal our world.

The long-term goal is to be able to donate 51% of all revenue back to one of several non-profits that I support. I chose 51%, because it fits the “give back more than you take.”

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There were times when I thought I was just wasting time and money in trying to make a difference. The amount of people that I encountered at shows that just didn’t care or would respond with “good for you.” It got rather discouraging for a while.

There was one time someone told me, “You know, you could sell more art if your art wasn’t so ‘scary.” My art is my own, and this was like a stab in the ribs for me. I knew my art wasn’t for everyone, but it just felt “rude” to me.

It took a while for me to work through the criticism, but the biggest challenge I run into is people see the company name, and IMEDIATELY jump to conclusions, because it has the word “Demonz” in it.

It’s not about anything dark, it’s just about acknowledging that we all have some sort of “demon” that we fight with. It could be childhood trauma, addiction, mental health, any anything else. And they all have some sort of emotion attached to them, and that hurts.

I had a woman tell me one time that her “demon” was chocolate, and she was dead serious. She said she just couldn’t stop eating so much of it!

There have been MANY times that parents see the name, grab their children and high tail it in the opposite direction, muttering something along the lines of, “That’s too dark,” under their breath.

I miss out on a lot of opportunities in connecting with people because of this, but I’m hoping that my story spreads enough that people can be a little more open minded about my goals, and see past the initial name.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Honestly, my entire life has been at a pivotal point since Brad passed away. That loss showed me all of my shame. All of my wrong doings, all the things that were holding me back, and where my heart was.

I made so many life changing decisions after that. I started looking at all my toxic decisions and began working on correcting them, to be a better person.

I started spending more time with my kids, who I felt I had emotionally neglected for a time. There’s no going back and getting the chance of a “do over.” We have to just work with what we have, accept our mistakes, and work to be better. That being said, it wasn’t easy, but I’m in a much better place now with my kids.

I decided not to focus on work so hard, and start doing things that matter to me, and that I could use to help others.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emotional-demons.myshopify.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/emotionaldemonz
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/emotionaldemonz
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/emotionaldemonz
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@emotionaldemonz
• Other: www.tiktok.com/emotionaldemonz clapper: Emotionaldemonz Snapchat: Emotionademonz