Meet Simone Atkins

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

Simone, 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?

These are 2 things I’m currently working on right now for myself. It can be really hard being confident if you’re always looking for outside validation. The way I’ve been able to build my own self up is by constantly creating my own ideas and following through with completing them. That’s allows me to push my self out of my comfort zones and believe in my own creativity.

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?

As an artist my focus has always been around educating people that are struggling with their mental health. I create pieces that touch on difficult subjects such as anxiety, depression, or suicide, but with the use of my vibrant colors and surrealist landscapes I’m able to get the message across in a better way. Currently I’m focused on expanding my creative academy, SoulArtBeauty Academy, in my city as well as create an SEL curriculum that is inclusive to all ages. When I’m not creating I’m working on curating art shows, event planning & installations, and teaching the youth in my community. The next goal is to be able to have a physical space!

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

I’ll start with some advice. When finally starting my artist journey I had to 1st be honest with myself on my skill level and dedication to being an artist. Once I was realistic I went to school and took some classes to develop my skill, but to also be around other artists, learning their technique or how they think outside of the box. So, being humble, realistic, and determined are the 3 skills I know have been most impactful in my journey.
In order to grow we have to be honest with ourselves or we won’t know what to fix, I say try different things out when trying to find your niche. Finally know that being an artist isn’t all about money, or even at all, so make a personal choice. Am I doing this to make money, to create, or both? Then just start.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

These past 12 months have been the most revealing in my life so far. I’ve learned so much about myself as well as those around me. Personally it has been a struggle trying to find myself in the midst of trying to be better as an artist. My biggest area of growth though, is business wise I have developed more of solidified plan to connect each of my businesses. I’ve also been able to build on my resume by working on my own shows, classes & camps, as well as creating a better portfolio for my artwork.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Simoonnee__

Image Credits

@QParadise on IG