slow inside

When Alexandra Bowman isn’t working her 9-5, she’s an illustrator. She draws all kinds of pictures, many of them women of color who are artists, writers, activists, and leaders. She “ focuses on ways to celebrate the female and illustrate her as a focal point of the community and social movements.”

Alexandra's work has been featured in The New York Times, Edible Magazine, Pop-Up Magazine, Food 52, and the BBC.

Some of the things we talk about:

Melissa Dinwiddie is an amazing talent. It’s like everything she touches becomes beautiful. At 12 she was in adult-drawing classes. At 19 she was a dancer at Juliard. When she was 27 she was in galleries for her paper cut art and by 29 she had her own business making commissioned calligraphy and papercut art for clients all over the country.

Now Melissa runs the Creative Sandbox. It's a community, a consulting agency, retreats, and playdays. But most of all it's a way of life where art is just art and creativity is (almost) always fun.

Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha, The Abundant Artist, Creative Pro, and Life Hack.

Some things we talk about:

Allie Monday is a woman-centered high-end boudoir photographer who believes women are "badasses and should be photographed that way." She doesn't airbrush, photoshop, or gloss over a woman's beauty. Instead, she highlights it, exactly as it is.

She has learned that when she gives other women a chance to see and know themselves through the lens of a loving camera and a compassionate photographer, a woman transforms.

And she has learned that every body is a canvas and every woman an amazing piece of art.

Here Allie shares it all: her truth, the truth of the women she photographs, and the undeniable truth in the beauty of every woman who lets herself be seen just as she is.

Some things we talk about:

Sonal Nathwani is an artist. She was born in Africa to Indian parents who fled to England to escape bad things in Africa. She grew up in England before moving to Belgium, Florence, and eventually, Vienna.

Sonal Nathwani is old enough to know that it doesn’t matter what someone else tells you matters. That when you make art, what is most important, is that you make it for you, that you do it first, for yourself.

Sonal has been making, selling, and teaching art full-time for over 20 years.

Some things we talk about:

Ash Sierra dropped out of college her sophomore year to explore herbalism. She began making salves and tinctures for friends and family. It was never meant to be a business.

Today Ash runs Ritual Botanica, a private consulting practice and a thriving business selling tinctures, salves, dried herbs, oils, teas with over than 55,000 followers on Instagram and customers all over the world.

Some things we talk about:

Lanecia was born the daughter of a pastor. As a young adult, she chose to study divinity and become a pastor herself. But then, at 36 years-old. Lanecia found out she was pregnant. And, as many expecting moms do, she started to examine her life in preparation for parenthood. She began questioning things in the church she hadn’t questioned before, and she started to re-envision who she was and what was possible. And that is when Lanecia began the journey into life as a full-time artist.

Here Lanecia shares her story as honestly as she does her art, her struggles with the church, her loss around her daughter, and her new life as a full-time artist who is finally free.

Some things we talk about:

In three short years, painter Amira Rahim went from painting alone in her room to selling art in galleries and online, having licensing agreements, and being recognized the world over for her talent .

Amira's work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Time Out, The Chicago Tribune, Ebony and in galleries and personal collections around the world.

Amira spends every day living out her mission: using her art to make the world a more colorful place.

Some things we talk about:

“Honey-drenched maker, sister keeper, and gentle spirit badass mother fucker,” Jennette Nielsen, creates from just about anything to make just about everything. From goddess mugs to witches salves, from bags and hats to rattles, and inks, Jennette makes to mend and turns rubbish into beauty. When Jennette was four years old her step-father began sexually abusing her. He stopped when she was ten. Jennette found refuge in creating and today makes her living from the art that keeps her breathing.

SOME THINGS WE TALK ABOUT…

Addye Nieves is a self-taught visual artist, writer, and mental health advocate. Her work focuses on trauma, healing, and how both shape who we are and who we become. She “empowers women to transform brokenness in their lives into power and beauty, and amplifies the voices and experiences of those marked as Other in society.” This is her story from broke to beautiful.

In this conversation we talk about:

• the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father

Actor, advocate, singer, and author, Kimberly Beaman, was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was five. She was humiliated, threatened, and segregated in school. By middle school, her self-esteem had plummeted. By high school, Kimberly was officially depressed. Today

In this conversation we talk about: