Meet Destiny Darcel | Digital Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Destiny Darcel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Destiny, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor is hands down, consistency. Consistency is extremely difficult when starting anything. Let alone a business. You lose motivation, life happens, you get discouraged, etc. As cliche as it sounds, successful people don’t speak very highly of consistency for no reason. Aside from me being talented lol consistent is the biggest driving factor of my success. And I must add that it’s something that I had to teach myself. Discipline in that consistency is another thing I had to teach myself over time. When the consistency factor is mastered, so is discipline, and so is patience.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is all about Black women all of the time. I’m most proud of the community I have created around my art. It’s very authentic to me and a lot of the time I feel like I’m drawing myself lol. I can’t say it was hard to get to where I am today professionally because this was not apart of my plans at all lol. It wasn’t something I invested any time or thought into until I started investing all of my time and thought into it, if that makes sense. However, I have grown tremendously over the course of the last two years in that I had to learn to be a professional. I had to teach myself to work for myself as if I was working for anyone else. I had an incredibly hard time garnering discipline and motivation to keep going. It’s (sometimes) much easier to work for someone else than it is to work for yourself. When you grow as fast as I did, the lessons come fast and the mistakes come even faster, But it has taught me to be patient with myself and my evolution. Two years from now I’m going to be thankful for all the lessons I’m learning today. I want the world to know that I want every Black woman to feel like they see themselves in my pieces. I want them to see their hair, their shape, their mantras, their childhood, their future, everything. And I want that to uplift every Black woman everyday.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have extensive restaurant and fun things to do lists for this very purpose! Say less. The itinerary is as follows:

Thursday: Arrival (evening)
– The Boiler seafood (On Thursday they have half off margs)
– Top Golf

Friday:
– Joy Cafe (for breakfast)
– Girl Mobb Museum
– Yebo Beach haus (for dinner)
– Rose Bar (for turn up festivities)

Saturday
– Another Broken Egg (for breakfast)
– Ponce City Market (rooftop carnival, shopping, and lunch)
– Boogaloo (club/restaurant. Their fried catfish is great)

Sunday
– Ms. Icey’s Restaurant (for brunch)
– Take a walk and buy smoothies at Piedmont Park
– Apt 4B (for dinner)

Monday
– Book massages at Treat your Feet
– Shop around Atlantic Station and grab salads at Salata
– Painted Duck (for dinner and bowling)

Tuesday
– Morning Yoga at ATL Kula
– Grab donuts at Sublime Donuts
– Visit High Museum
– Happy Hour at Iberian Pig

Wednesday
– Toast On Lenox (for brunch)
– Henri’s Bakery (for tasty treats)
– Mic’s Karaoke

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
LISTEN!!! I would be NOWHERE without the support that I’ve received over the years. I can literally describe each one of the chain of events that got me here today. Natasha Saunders (advisor in undergrad) who insisted I pursue my first graphic design internship, Kahlil Baker (MLK Center Director) who hired me in my first graphic design role, Ali Abdullah (CEO of the startup Claimit!) who hired me as a summer intern for graphic design and showed me how to hustle for the dream, Kyle Upshaw (manager at Apple) who pushed me to go full time and immerse myself in my business and brand, and most importantly my mom and dad (I like to call them my COO and CFO lol). Their support has meant so much to me and has really changed my life.

Website: destinydarcel.com

Instagram: destinydarcel

Facebook: Destiny Darcel

Other: Tik Tok; DestinyDarcel.com