We recently connected with Audrey Tappan and have shared our conversation below.
Audrey, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My mom, definitely. She’s one of the most hardworking people I know and she always seems to have a solution for technical problems. I grew up on an agricultural farm in Duette, Florida where I had lots of space to run, play, and most importantly, flex my creative muscles. There was always hard work to be done around the house but my mom was fairly reasonable with her terms, teaching me that you don’t need to work a long time if you do it right the first time. Meaning, that the more effort I put in on attempt 1 reduced the amount of attempts I needed to make. She also let me experiment with my hobbies and sports, never forcing me into a sport she wanted me to do. She’s also a good leader and is always involved in the community. As the youngest child, I would tag along to events she was volunteering at or visiting people to see how they were doing. I’ve always had a fire inside me but my mom showed me how to direct that light into the things I’m passionate about.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Hi, I’m Audrey and I’m a colorholic. I live in NYC working as the Chief Creative at Hued helping brands refine their visual identity and stand out from the crowd. Expressing myself through color is a personal passion that I’ve turned into a career by creating playful and bold graphics solutions for brands. I utilize photography, graphic design, and animation to empower brands and individuals to embrace their colorful, unfiltered selves. I also enjoy hosting events for freelancers who are looking to improve their own personal message and level up their own business. Recently, I hosted an event at Shopify giving out free headshots to NYC entrepreneurs along with a creative workshop. Monthly I work with The Freelancer’s Union to organize Spark:NYC.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My journey has had a lot of twists and turns and at the end of the day I learned I needed to remain flexible. Not try to force a narrative or predisposed idea of how something should go. With time, you’ll arrive at your destination. To support my flexibility I had to become very organized. It’s gets pretty messy when you’re going with the flow and so are your bank statements. Don’t wait until you need a job to make your resume, small updates every once in awhile is better than all at once. The area of knowledge that best supports these two qualities and skills is a knowledge of business. I don’t mean get a degree in business, but have an idea of how taxes work and join a webinar about how to build a budget for your business. When you’re on a journey of change or establishing something new I highly recommend finding a community of like minded people that can relate to you and provide feedback on your projects. There will be highs and lows and having a group of people who can help you see the light at the end of the tunnel is huge, the feeling of helping others is also up lifting.
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?
In the beginning stages of your business you may try a lot of different tactics to see what works best for you but eventually you’ll need to niche down. At the beginning of my career I photographed weddings, real estate, families, and occasionally something creative, but slowly I began to lean into what I loved. Early on, I wanted to be hirable by any one that saw my website but without knowing it that was devaluing my brand. When I owned what I enjoyed and crafted a website and service list to reflect that, I was able to raise my prices because I had become an expert in a few things instead of being above average at many things. In the beginning we’re establishing ourselves and trying to make rent but eventually you’ll be able to flip the switch and focus on what you love. Once you master one niche then you can begin to expand again using all of the knowledge you gained from doing it once before.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.huedhuedhued.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/audreytappan.creates
- Linkedin:www.linkedin.com/in/audreytappan
Image Credits
Images taken by me. Georgi Annenberg (white woman on silver backdrop) Irene Fernandez (Woman with slinkie)
