Meet Jackelynne Damota | Artist & Small Business Owner

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

Hi Jackelynne, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
So even though I was introduced to art at a very young age and immediately fell in love with it, it was never something I considered a job per se, I always viewed art in any way in my life as a hobby, but never as something that I could make money from. Then, in 2020 a few months before I graduate high school covid hit, and I just felt like everything I considered “normal” had changed, then I found myself on my first job, constantly working and always too tired to do anything come the weekends, never having time to do any of the things I loved the most, and I just knew that that wasn’t how I wanted to live for the rest of my life. At that time, I was just starting to use digital art, and I quickly learned that digital would be the easiest way to continue to have art as a part of my life since it is easier to take a phone or tablet to work than it is to take a sketchbook with pencils or paint, and since I already had an Instagram account for my sketches I just continue posting them, that’s it. I just wanted to post them with no other motive in mind, until one day my sister, who had just opened her small business, came to me about opening a shop where I could sell my design, but even though I liked the idea I was still a little reluctant about it, as I always was when someone talked to me about selling my work, but at that point, I knew that working for myself doing what I loved most was what I wanted, so I decided to take a risk and see when God would take me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
At this very moment, I would say that what I’m most excited about is the new website that will be lunch in a few weeks as well as the new collection that I’m currently working on. Honestly, I’m a firm believer that the people with who you surround yourself will ultimately make or break you. I wholeheartedly believe that I only got to where I am today both in my personal and professional life because of the people who were by my side at all times believing in me, supporting me, and giving me the strength to go on when I thought about giving up, and are still by my side today as I work on becoming the professional I want to become because I think there will always be space for improvement be that on a business or professionalism as a whole. I personally think that nothing long-term that is worthwhile comes easy, there will always be challenges and obstacles that we will need to overcome, and I like to think that in the end that makes it a more rewarding experience. One of my main struggles was to find my mark, the constant question about whether I was drawing certain designs because that was my style or because it was what others would expect of me or because it was what it fit the “theme”, and this year I finally feel like I have started to overcome this specific obstacle which is why I’m so excited for the new website and products because it is a step toward what I want people to think when they think about expelliarts. And because of this I have learned that the key to overcoming many challenges is patience and perseverance, something a lot of credit is given to perseverance but not enough is given to patience, and unfortunately one doesn’t work without the other because we work constantly on the things we want but we forget to give it time to grow. That has been my biggest struggle as well as my biggest lesson, to give time where time is due.

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?
Above everything, and everyone God, for giving me an out in art, giving me a place I could go to when things got dark in my life, a place where I could be myself. Secondly, I’m forever grateful to my family for always believing in me supporting me through all my crazy ideas and giving me the strength to move forward. I’m also incredibly thankful to the art community, especially on Instagram, because when I started to post my work for everyone to see I was so scared and they just welcomed me with open arms and were so caring and supportive when I was just starting and receiving the messages that I did, gave me hope to continue pursuing what I wanted, so thank you. Finally, the book community as well, mainly because I love reading, besides everything related to art, reading is another huge hobby of mine, I just love bookish merchandise, which inspired a lot of the current and future product choices in my shop, and the books I read are a massive point of inspiration for me, I just love being part of the book community, and for being accepted so openly by them as well.

Website: Www.expelliarts.com

Instagram: Www.instagram.com/expelliarts