Meet Milly Vanderwood: Art Dealer & Gallery Owner

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

Hi Milly, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I always hated working for others, I wanted to provide my own opportunities for others as well as myself. I always felt that having a 9 to 5 or “regular job” stifled my creativity.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Well, I’m not a visual artist for the simple fact that I don’t draw or paint but a lot of people say my art is the ways I help & bring people together. My art gallery/creative space is a big, physical piece of art displaying hundreds of art pieces. I got to this point in my life by doing what I wanted to do and not being afraid to do it. It all started in 2015, I had 4-5 business partners.. we got some office space for meetings and creative activities, nothing too crazy. I was managing a visual artist at the time and he had some of his art hanging on the wall and I looked around like; “hey, this could be an art gallery!” — 2 months later that’s exactly what I turned it into. Fast forward, 5 years later I’ve hosted 400+ events, opened the worlds first ‘Mini Hip-Hop Museum’ and helped numerous visual artists to be seen + make money from their art. Along the way I’ve learned that you can’t trust or depend on many people and that being an entrepreneur is a lot of hard work and dedication! I love what I do, wouldn’t trade it for the world. You also can’t let too many people in on your vision because their mistakes could ultimately mess up what you’ve built. My main brand ‘The Gallery About Nothing’ is a one of a kind art gallery/creative space and you won’t find anything like it in the world! Visit us soon!

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.
Well, I’m originally from Baltimore and that’s where my gallery is so lets start there.. “The Gallery About Nothing” (lol) I don’t go out much so I could recommend the Inner Harbor + great food spots like ‘Blue Moon Cafe’, ‘Paper Moon Diner’, etc. — I honestly just like to eat and stay away from people so good food and a quiet place to chill away from the world is usually where you’ll find me and as far as Atlanta (my second home) FOOD = Seafood Cafe, Kelz Kitchen & Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks! =)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people! My mom, My son, The best business partner I’ve ever had Jazz! All of the dope visual artists I’ve had the pleasure of working with (Kydd, Bey, X, Tyra, Keva, etc etc.) lol, just to name a few… there’s so many people I need to shout out but I’ll stop there because I’d definitely leave too many names out as I’ve done already 🙂 but special shout out to Drea Mack who is the reason I’m even being able to type this right now in the first place lol

Website: https://www.instagram.com/milly.brendanawicz/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mhhmuseum