Meet Liz Karney

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liz Karney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Liz , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

If I’m being honest- I still have imposter syndrome! I wouldn’t say I have overcome it but over the years I’ve learned and created tools for managing it. The primary one being- I don’t think I value “expertise” in all sceneros. I think there is a place for an amateur or untrained eye and a lot of creativity and freedom can come from that place. So when I’m struggling with imposter syndrome, I try to remind myself that my ignorance, in that moment, can be a useful asset in certain situations because I’m not encumbered by what everyone expects the answer to be. As long as I’m not ashamed that I don’t know the traditional answer, I can feel comfortable saying, “I don’t know what you’re suppose to do here, but this is what I feel would be cool here…”. Then I can feel free of imposter syndrome because I haven’t pretended to be anywhere except exactly where I am now.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

What I do is sell eclectic and creative homewares. It’s a collection of vintage, artisan and repurposed finds, as well as, a collection of goods made by me in a workshop in the back. It’s playful and unexpected and I love being in this space everyday! The thing I feel most excited about is showing people how you can use old things in an updated and elevated way, while giving people the encouragement and permission for them to play in their own space. Whether it’s putting unexpected things together, or taking things you love apart and only using pieces of them, I just really love allowing people to use their imagination and creativity to make their home a reflection of them and the things they love. We’ll be having our first Lamp Workshop June 22. People will be able to bring in something they think would make a good lamp and we’ll help them assemble and wire it!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I feel extremly grateful to my time working in collectives to show me the inner workings of business operations. It took the mystery out of running a business and made it feel very accesable. I feel equally grateful to my time working doing home repair with Tim McNerny(sp?) from The Repair Collective. Working with him helped demystify the process of repair and creation in a way that made it seem like- our built world is just that, built by other people and that means it can be taken apart and rebuilt by you! It just gave me the confidence to think that with enough time and patience I can figure out just about anything if I really wanted to.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

My mom modeling a creativity with materials. Throughout my childhood she was always making the impossible possible using found objects. For example, once she found a big pile of safety netting and she strung it from the trees for us to play in. She also used PVC pipe to make a net cube frame and strung it in the trees for us to play in. She was always thinking outside the box which allowed me the opportunities to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sticksandbricksshop.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sticks.and.bricks/

Image Credits

Jo Chapman, Bree Kerr