We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittany Hawkins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittany below.
Brittany, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
As I grow in my journey I have realized that burnout happens to the best of us. Whether you are far in your career or just starting out, everyone hits a wall at some point. To overcome burnout, I learned to just accept it and listen to my body when it is telling me it needs rest! In a culture built around perfectionism, especially in my experience of being a black woman, we often neglect our self-care. I am learning to take time for myself, free of guilt and to just refocus my mind when I need to. That can look different for everyone, and for myself and as I change, how I care for myself also adapts and changes. In this stage in life, I have found meditation and self-reflection allows me to connect a little deeper to my emotions and learn more about what tiggers both positive and anxious feelings for me. Understanding these feelings then allows me to start to recognize how I can resolve them in moments of burnout, by listening to what my body needs. My emotional state deeply drives my creative process, so it’s simple, when I take care of myself my production of work is better.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Black Angel Creations is more than a freelance design business, but represents my passion for art and telling my unique story as a female black designer in a white male dominated field. I am blessed to have the opportunity to create personal art that reflects who I am as an artist, and design work for others and make an impact in their own journeys. In this next phase of my career I am excited that I am now also using my talent as a freelance graphic designer for a company focused on utilizing state-of-the-art deep learning to personalize advertising creative across digital platforms. This has allowed me the opportunity to work and connect with more clientele and other designers as well. In the next phase of my career I am excited to continue to build connection, which I feel is a very important next step in my journey. Learning that I am not alone in figuring out my experience as a designer, and opening up to new avenues of creating.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
In my creative journey, I always thought is was about being the jack of all trades and having as many skills creatively as I could. However looking back I realize that the most important skills revolve around interpersonal skills. There is always an opportunity to learn a new skill when it comes to my career field, between the ever changing nature of technology, and trends that come and go in the art world. One thing that will not change in this lifetime is having to work and deal with other people and life circumstances. So three qualities I believe will always be necessary is strong communication, empathy and adaptation. Being a person who is able to adapt and think quick I learned is what most people are drawn to. How do you react to conflict and problems that arise? Because no matter how much we plan our life there is always going to be a curveball thrown our way. So being a person who can understand and accept change is important, and that skill comes into play with being able to communicate. Communication is not always easy and I know this first hand, especially in moments of conflict or confrontation. It is however necessary to help build understanding and another important quality all creatives should possess which is empathy. All of these qualities effect how artist create and design, and skills that always will require constant work to improve. No matter if you are early in you journey or established in your life goals, taking time to learn new perspectives and listening to peoples experiences, I feel is a great way to continue developing communication, empathy and adaption to better serve the world around us.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
The key in this particular question focuses around the word balance. At one point in my life I wanted to be able to do it all and be strong in everything creative. I was experimenting with painting, drawing, photography, illustration, and so many things. I do believe this exploration is what helped shape myself into the artist I am and who I’m still becoming creatively. There is nothing wrong with exploring multiple ideas and trying new things, in fact I believe that is what helps with self discovery. How else are you going to know what you are passionate about in life without exploring your options first. However there was a point in my life that I did realize what I was most passionately about creatively and could see myself doing everyday as a career which is design. I think it’s good to have a balance of knowing the difference between your strengths and hobbies. I know I am strong in drawing and painting but it was not until I worked in an environment where I had to paint everyday, that I realized that creative part of myself is more personal and sometimes I don’t want to have to feel pressure of painting what is expected of me. Just because art is my passion is does not mean that burnouts and moments of uncertainty in my creativity does not arrive. So it is great to be well rounded and explore new things, but not until the point of stress and frustration trying to go after perfecting everything. A great quote I use to remind myself the balance between perfecting my strengths and challenging myself creatively is this, “a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brittany-hawkins.myportfolio.com
- Instagram: @blackangelcreations
