Meet Tiffy Sea

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

Tiffy, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

It’s always awe-inspiring to me that at thirty-one years old, I am the most confident I have ever been. Now I don’t give my trauma a tight and tear jerking hug, but I do plant flowers where credit is due; because even through my trauma something has grown from it. That something, is me.

I’ve learned that when you are able to meet your reality and emotions head on, you are able to sit with them for awhile. You start to go through these parts of yourself that you never knew existed. And so you begin to build again, and sometimes it is more than once. But you’ll reach a point where each step, each moment you take you feel a strength and motivation that continues to push you when you can’t fathom waking up another day. You somehow, just get it done.

And instead of allowing those times to keep control over me, I took it back. When I was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer at the age of twenty-nine in 2022, it stripped me of everything I thought I was…or even could be. But in those moments of questioning it all, I found the confidence to tell myself, “get up”. The tone I use to give those around me the confidence and self-esteem that they need, was now being told to myself, by myself.

My inner confidence and self-esteem is the most powerful thing I have come to own.

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?

Art was and will always be the love of my life. There have been times where we have spent time apart but, we always meet back in the middle.

Painting, sketching, drawing, and watercolor were the mediums I was most familiar with growing up. In school we would play with pastels and pottery, and soon realized that pottery would soon join the rest of the family. My grandparents would place me in art classes, where I would sit and admire the elders working their hands, “ouu-ing” over one another’s work (including mine, could you believe it?), and giving tips of guidance. And so pottery has always had such special place in my heart.

So while I continue to create within those mediums, in 2023 I was quickly introduced to the worlds of graphic design, website design, moodboards, and everything else you think a social media manager might even have to glance at (minus numbers, math is not my friend!). My best friend asked if I would take on the spot of being her social media manager and virtual assistant for her photography and videography business in Columbus, Ohio. Not having any knowledge of website design was a fear of mine, because I wasn’t sure if I was capable of doing something as intricate as that, while going through breast cancer treatment. But we did it!

Because of that I am now able to step fully into graphic designs, aesthetics, and still pouring my passion of art into those things. Art can be found and put into anything…it is resilient throughout time. Keeping my art by my side is leading me into new directions and projects that I never thought I would get an opportunity for.

Such as being the manager of the upcoming Dear Kandi Podcast!

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?

Comparing myself to others was such a natural thing to me and it has taken me years to accept that, my different is good. My different is good in my own way. When you have something that is only meant to be yours, nobody can take that away from you.

If someone doesn’t understand my art, that is okay. There are pieces and articles of art throughout this world that isn’t created for their eyes or their journey. It doesn’t take away from the parts of you that you put into your art.

Fear will always be there and waiting for you, but you can’t allow that to stop you from moving forward and creating your space. You need to stand in front of it, because you and your vision are bigger than that.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Journaling is something I’m doing my best to get more consistent with, but the times where I do it is the most helpful part for me. A piece a paper has no judgement to how I feel. There is no biases. There is no one telling me I’m being to loud and open with my words. So I turn my room lights on, put my headphones in, or sometimes I’ll even sit with nothing on and I just go at it. Even if I can’t read if the next day, it feels freeing to just let it out. And if I’m unable to to figure out the words, then I go back into my doodling and let my thoughts dissolve into the pages.

I love a good cry. And teenage me is probably looking back at me like they don’t know me, but if I knew how relieving it is to just have a good cry, I think I would have done it more often rather than holding it all in. You aren’t weak. You aren’t a baby. You aren’t crazy or silly. Please allow yourself to cry a little more. It’s my way of resetting.

Asking for help is okay. I know that I have a few friends that know me and are emotionally equipped, that are willing to listen or give advices if I ask for it. Making sure you have a safe space surrounding you to be able talk about your emotions and feelings.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/datiitz_