We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Winnie Tataw a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Winnie, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
I would say my parents being supportive of my art career is the first thing that comes to mind. Both of my parents are Cameroonian and as most American-born children of immigrants, parents aren’t very supportive of creative lifestyles or careers, especially Africans. And you can argue that there’s good reason why that is but regardless it happens and I have seen first-hand how it can be so hard and gut-wrenching to have to pick between being accepted and approved by your parents or family and following your chosen path in life. So, I’m always so thankful that my parents are my biggest fans and supporters when it comes to all my artistic endeavors and are willing to help support, advocate, and help out with my dreams. I don’t think I would have gone as far as I did with my artistic career if it weren’t for their love and support of it.
Winnie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi everyone, my name is Winnie Tataw! I currently live in South Carolina. I am a self-published author and artist and it’s great to meet all of you. I have been making artwork since the first grade, and I’ve been writing since I was in middle school. I published my first book in 2019. It is a fantasy novel called Child of Tempus. Most of my artwork deals with bold and bright colors with sprinkles of surrealism and feminine depictions of humans and nature. I am such a big lover of nature and everything femme from the colors to our emotions to the stars in the sky. I find beauty and all of it, and it all inspires my work and helps me grow as a person as I get to dive into these different concepts and recreate them in my pieces. I love to travel and meet new people and understand new cultures and communities because I think that’s how we can be more connective and supportive of each other as a whole. I can’t wait to continue to see where my artistic and creative journeys take me in this world!
Now let me talk more about my two businesses. So, I have two separate businesses for my writing and my artwork. My artwork business is called Win’s Artistry LLC, and that is where I create and sell my artwork, art prints, and drawings. Soon I will be adding commissions to that pile! It’s also where I publish any of my art-related events, blogs, and content. Now on to the big one: Win’s Books LLC.
Win’s Books is my author universe! It’s where I publish my fantasy novels and other writing as well as help connect and support fellow indie authors writers and creatives. I do author and creative marketing such as website design and branding, as well as manage a membership site called Mystic Writers. I have continuously expanded what we do at Win’s Books. Back in 2019, it started as my blog site where I would upload content about my writing journey and publishing journey during the pandemic and expanded to providing free interview services for authors, and now it’s a full-fledged connective network for authors to meet other both businesses, collaborate, host workshops, sponsor events and go to in-person events such as book fairs, conventions, festivals, expos, you name it! Win’s Books is growing rapidly and I’m so excited for it and I can’t wait to see where it takes me because it has taken me some places! I encourage everyone to always keep searching for what makes you happiest and find ways to invest in it because something beautiful will come out of it, just like it has for me!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think what society can do is understand and accept what we do as a true career path. A lot of times the only time we are accepted is if we are in the bigger spheres or niche groups. I think society’s best way of supporting creatives and artists is to give a name to our claim. When we make work when we do projects credit us. Pay us our worth. If you don’t accept the price of something that has been handcrafted or made and decide to go with a cheaper alternative that’s fine but it’s not your place to diminish that person’s hard work just because you were able to find it cheaper (even though we all know how it got that cheap in the first place). I want society to understand that we are all human and work at different paces, have different ideas, intellects, and backgrounds that make us who we are as artists, and that needs to be respected and accepted. We should not put down another creative because we don’t understand their work not everyone’s work is made for everybody to understand and that’s okay. All in all, I believe that we should just be more accepting of people’s creative ventures and have the willingness to understand them, support them and pay for them!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I think the most well rewarding feeling is when you have completed a piece and your vision has been realized in physical or digital form! It sometimes can take so long and so many hours, days, months, and years for artists to create pieces that we deem as “finished” or completed. And the best feeling I have is when something I have struggled with, I have completed it and seen it in its final form and can say that it is done. I have conquered another hurdle another mountain and I’ve learned about myself I’ve learned about, my creative process, things that work with me, things that don’t work with me, etc. It’s such a good feeling when you get to put down your materials and look at the beauty you’ve just created and just absorb it and know that this may not be the replica of what you envisioned but it’s a vision that you saw through, and you love. And you should be proud of that!
Contact Info:
- Website: winsartistry.com
- Instagram: @winsartistry
- Facebook: @winsartistry
- Linkedin: Winnie Tataw
- Twitter: @winsbooks
- Yelp: Win’s Books
- Other: book website: winsbooks.blog
Image Credits
Winnie Tataw