Meet Pkay Oldham: Maker, Designer, & Illustrator

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

Hi Pkay, looking back, what do you think was the most difficult decision you’ve had to make?
One of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make is putting myself out there. I’ve always been very protective of my art, designs, and crafts. I used to second guess myself so much, think my projects weren’t good enough, and often wondered if people would like my art. I used to design and create things that were relevant to what was trending in the world and it didn’t make me happy or motivate me to keep creating. Once I finally let all that self-doubt go and trying to please others is when I finally started to be happy with my art. Once I started to create the things I loved and that was important to me is when it became easy to put myself out there and genuinely enjoy doing the work. I also noticed an increase in my business, sales, and engagement on all my social media platforms when I started to be true to myself. I didn’t realize how much I was hindering my own growth.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Outside of crafting and running an Etsy shop, I am a full-time photographer at my corporate job and I love it so much! My Bachelor’s Degree is in Graphic Design & Photography and after leaving college I never thought I’d find a full-time job in my field and when I did I was super excited. I work on a team of videographers, designers, and motion graphic artists and we usually work together on all of our art projects to help brand our team and the company. My favorite thing about being on a creative team is I’m constantly learning new things and even new techniques that I can apply to my own small business. One of our videographers taught me how to operate a new software to help me with editing my photos and videos for my own Etsy shop and even someone from the audio team taught me how to do voiceovers for my videos. So not only am I learning things that I can use at work but I’m also learning things that I can take home and apply to my small business and to me that’s the best of both worlds.

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.
If I had someone visiting Detroit, I would definitely take them in the Downtown and Midtown! To me, that’s the life of the city. We’d first do brunch at PJ Lagers House, Walk around the riverwalk and possibly take photos, Do lunch at Green Dot Stables. If it’s during the Fall season, I’d definitely love to take them to a Cider Mill nearby. For dinner, I’d say Central Kitchen because it’s one of my favorite spots to eat it, and it’s super elegant inside. For a chill night out, I’d take them to Ready player one or Pop Offworld for drinks and old school arcade games. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I definitely want to give a shout to my mom and sister. They were the ones who bought me my first Cricut machine! I didn’t even realize how much I needed that machine until I got it. I would not have gotten into crafting if it wasn’t for them gifting me a Cricut for Christmas in 2018. They have been my number 1 supporters throughout my whole crafting journey. I’d also like to thank my best-friend Brittney, When I doubt myself or a project I can always count on her to get me out of my head and let me know that what I’m doing is amazing. She’s my biggest cheerleader and I’m thankful to have her in my corner!

Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ProjectChickco

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectchickco/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectchickco

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@projectchickco

Image Credits
All image credits belong to me, I photographed myself in all of these!