We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kait Culbertson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kait below.
Hi Kait, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
I find journaling to be a great tool for exercising optimism daily. Optimism is an outlook, but it’s also an exercise! I like to note where I find gratitude, new ideas, and the little things there are to celebrate day-to-day. It’s fun to look back, to see what I’ve accomplished and noted as “important.” Of course there’s an ebb and flow to everything. But I truly believe that when your outlook is positive, you naturally tend to find more sunshine in your everyday life. Anything is possible if you believe that the best is yet to come!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a bright-eyed 25-year-old Illustrator and designer from Little Rock, Arkansas. A little backstory: as a longtime creative who had an affinity for paper but never really took myself seriously, I put a bunch of love into designing a playing card deck in early 2020. I spent hours and hours illustrating each character, all of whom were based on people in my life. The project came to be named Posse Playing Cards. The cards became the first product I made to sell and lended the namesake of what would become my art brand: Posse Paper Goods. Once knowing I was capable of taking something from idea to production, I was hooked on the creative process! Since then, the brand’s product lineup has grown to include fine art prints, journals, woven blankets, and more! The ethos of Posse Paper Goods is to make the world a brighter, more inspired place—one piece at a time—through brightly-colored expressions from the human experience.
Currently, my business is focused on art licensing, wholesale/consignment stock, and attending various expos to sell my work across the USA! This year specifically, I hope to create some concert posters and have my art stocked in more shops.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three qualities: 1. Optimism
2. Self-assurance
3. Openness
My advice for folks early in their journey is to believe in the work that you make and tap into your feelings. Absorb like a sponge, be open to experience and be active in your local community! Everyone has a creative voice, but the power of embarking on an artistic journey is finding the best way for your voice to be heard and felt. Participating in vendor markets to show and sell my work is definitely something I wish I had started sooner as an artist. I recommend this to any up-and-comer (when you feel ready), as markets are a great avenue for sales and engaging with potential customers and artists. For me, markets have led to networking with shop owners, receiving wholesale orders for my products, connecting with fellow artists, and growing my audience!
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
My biggest obstacle is finding a balance between my work and creative life. I have found this to be a recurring challenge. Life just keeps coming, and there’s only so much of me. Between my full-time job and art business, I found myself being spread quite thin up until the end of 2023. To start 2024, I am trying my best to prioritize healthy habits—visualizing where I want things to be and reallocating my time in a more effective way—so I can accomplish creative goals and get back to making things for fun!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://possepapergoods.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/possepapergoods/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/possepapergoods
