My next adventure: building a startup
TL;DR: I’m co-founding a startup dedicated to fostering creativity as a form of self-care. It’s inspired by my 2023 sabbatical, where I discovered the power of creative hobbies to heal burnout and bring joy.
After 18 years in tech and nearly 6 years building a design team at an ag tech company, I was laid off in late 2022. I decided to take a break from startup leadership.
During this break, I reconnected with my creative practice and fell in love with making dollhouse miniatures (check out my work @minihouseontheline and minihouseontheline.com).
I also realized how burnt out I was from leading my team through Covid and acquisition growing pains. Miniatures brought me incredible relief and joy, and I became obsessed with helping others experience this same joy through creative hobbies.
But this obsession actually started when I worked at a paint-your-own pottery studio in high school. I loved seeing adults enter the studio hesitant about their ability and leave it proud of their creations. In college, my fellow art majors and I thrived in the infectiously creative environment of the art building. In business school, I explored “enabling creativity” and designed a subscription service for creative prompts. And, as a design leader in tech, my job has been all about nurturing creativity in others.
It dawned on me that my life has always been about creativity and the joy it creates (this of course was obvious to my husband, career coach, and friends…but somehow I missed it 🤦🏻♀️). And it’s always bothered me that creative hobbies are seen as frivolous, childish, or as an activity reserved for professional Artists (with a capital A) or solely capitalist pursuits. When, in reality, being creative “is a thing humans do, the way birds sing and bees make hives.”
So, “bottling creative joy” felt like it was my fate! I wasn’t sure what to do with this realization, so I brainstormed with a friend for a few hours, and at the end of our session I was like: “hmmm, so, I’ve…invented hobbies?” which didn’t feel particularly profound 🤣. So I continued making dollhouses and sharing my progress on Instagram as I worked as a product and design consultant, all while daydreaming about ways to spread more joy.
And then earlier this year I reconnected with a college art major friend who had also found peace and joy in creativity by assembling and painting Gundam models during a stressful move and job loss. Our creative hobbies had helped us in profound ways and we wondered if this was true for others. We did some research, talked to folks, and found scientific studies that demonstrated that it wasn’t just us: creative hobbies are clinically proven to reduce stress and improve people’s lives.
We soon discovered that despite the massive size of the craft and hobby market in the US ($49.4B in 2022, and growing) and the large percentage of US adults who report already having creative hobbies (depends on the study, but we’ve seen 19% to 38%), there isn’t a lot of tech that supports folks as they engage with creative hobbies and build their creative practice. Of course, you can cobble together bits and pieces of the following:
Instagram and Reddit have thriving hobby communities where folks can get inspired, share progress pics, and ask for tips, but they are not focused on supporting other aspects of practice building
Strava helps athletes track their runs and rides, but there’s no way to track non-athletic hobbies (without some hacking)
Calm/Headspace focus on mindfulness and meditation, and recommend trying creative hobbies, but don’t go much beyond that
Niche hobby suppliers provide access to materials via e-commerce, and some even provide inspiration through partnerships with skilled hobbyists
Etsy helps creatives sell their work, but that’s a bit different from focusing on joy :)
etc.
There’s no effective, purpose-built tech focused on helping others grow their creative practice as a form of joyful self-care. Yet. So, we brainstormed a name, bought a domain (website coming soon!), and our startup was born.
I’m so excited to be working on something with my co-founder that aligns with our passions and experience. And it helps remind me of the importance of making time for my creative hobbies since they’re (arguably) as beneficial to your health and wellbeing as working out and other forms of self-care.
I’m thrilled to help others build a joyful creative practice. More to come soon!