Meet Bianca House

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bianca House. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bianca below.

Hi Bianca, 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 want to start off by saying that many of the questions I could choose from definitely all may fit into what I’m sharing. It was super hard to choose just one!

Plain and simple, my optimism stems from my life experiences, my family, especially my grandmother, my friends and most importantly my relationship with God. Now, just like any other person, I have been through a lot of things in my life. Lived through a lot, like most of my millennial counterparts. However, for every single bad thing that’s happened, something good almost always came out of it. Because of the reasons I stated above, I’ve always been able to look at the glass half full. Most people know that one scripture, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Even more than this scripture, the one I hold dearest in my heart that contributes to my optimism is Psalms 46:5.

When I was 16, I almost passed away because I was living with Crohn’s Disease and was very unaware. I went through a period of time of mood swings and bad eating habits that I thought was normal as a hormonal teenager. The year I turned 16, I had to have a life-saving surgery that removed six inches of my small intestine, along with my appendix. The situation was more severe than my family or I realized, but God indeed is a God of miracles. Though I was going through all of that, though I was in a lot of pain, my family said I always kept a smile on my face. To this day I still don’t think I processed how ill I truly was, but it did not matter because my faith in God kept me focused on Him, and He brought me and family through that trying time. Because of that, I know I can face anything, no matter what challenge is presented to me. Psalms 46:5 is the scripture that my mom wrote on my arm before I went into surgery and forbade the surgeons from wiping it off my arm. It reads, “God is within her, she shall not fail. God shall help her, and that right early.”

I may get stressed, I may cry, I may get angry, but I always know to take a step back and remain optimistic even if the odds appear stacked against me. My family and friends are always praying for me. Though my grandmother is no longer with us, I know the prayers she prayed over my family and I still carry us through to this day. Being surrounded by so much love, support and encouragement, even if they are absent, helps fuel my optimism day after day. I truly know that everything is going to be all right.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

My career has definitely taken a lot of twists and turns, and it probably still is not done twisting and turning, haha! When I was younger, I desired to be a veterinarian, however I am highly allergic to cats and dogs so I had to leave that dream in the drafts. I’ve always been a creative and technologically inclined individual, being inspired by the things my parents, siblings and other family members have done.

My grandfather on my dad’s side was a chemist, my dad also worked heavily with my grandfather back in the day in his trade. My dad currently helps with building finishes and designs as his main job. In his free time he’s done and continues to do many things from video editing to professional photography and more. My mother dances, sings, sews, plays the piano and more. She always had us watching crafting and food network shows growing up. To this day, I always find her making something, and my dad building something. I truly believe this is where my tinkering habit came from. On top of this, they are both huge nerds, and this contributed to my love for gaming, anime, technology and more.

Around the age of 13, I was heavily involved in a robotics club, and this is where my technology interests truly blossomed. At 15, I started working at Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated in Charlotte, NC as a paid summer intern in their Information Systems & Security department. I majored in Information Systems & Supply Chain Management with a minor in Spanish while at UNCG, having graduated in 2017. I currently work for Red Hat, Inc., based out of Raleigh, NC which is an open source Linux software company, as an engineer. Through the years, I also have been and continue to be a dancer and instrumentalist. At one point I was heavily focused on becoming a cinematographer (I still have not given up on this!), and have even produced a couple of projects.

In present time, I am focused on an artistic and technological career. Currently I am pursuing the Project Management Professional certification as I desire to pivot my IT career into IT Project Management. Having over 10 years of experience in the field has been the biggest blessing and to my greatest advantage that I am super grateful for. On the artistic side, I would love to become a costume designer and special effects artist. I currently am a cosplayer, studying these things, and ventured into this hobby around 2019. I’ve competed in several competitions, and although I have not yet won, I’m determined to keep trying. Aside from this, I am learning to 3D model in Blender and just this year I built my first 2 ft. tall articulated cosplay prop. To help pay for my hobbies, I sell various items on my Ko-Fi, and soon I will have a dedicated online shop for apparel and more.

The things I’ve been exposed to and the things I’ve been able to do are incredibly special to me because it fuels my excitement that is associated with continuous learning. I am a hands-on learner, and once something grabs my attention, I’m stuck there for hours on end. The online communities I’m a part of can attest to this. One time I spent two full days sewing together some pants for a cosplay with minimal breaks as I was that hyper-focused on the project. I’m not quite sure what triggers it, but it most definitely has something to do with the environment I grew up in, and the gifts God has blessed me with. Outside of those cool things, I spend a lot of time with others within my communities sharing the knowledge I’ve learned, or providing encouragement or just assisting with whatever projects they may have coming up. I’ve always had a heart of service and giving back, as it’s one of the things that brings me the most joy.

As I am a multi-faceted person, always trying out different things and wanting to learn more about anything, one of the newest ventures I’ve stepped my foot into is travel. I’ve recently become an independent travel agent, and currently am in training to do more. I chose to add this to my list of skills since I love to travel myself, but also because I want to secure several streams of income. Not only for myself, but to continue to help my family, friends and give back to my surrounding community. Also, the creative projects I work on tend to be quite expensive, haha! If anyone is interested in learning about how I was able to do this, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

For future plans, projected in 2027, I would love to re-open my non-profit. In 2022, I opened a non-profit that was aimed at providing financial aid to individuals living with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. At the time I did not have the support I needed to fully push the organization so I had to temporarily close it down. I am however, determined to bring it back to life. I believe I heard somewhere that, delayed doesn’t mean denied.

Aside from all those things, in my free time, I am a HUGE gamer. I’m heavily addicted to RPGs, open world adventure games, and more, especially Destiny 2. I’m hosting an online Destiny 2 game event on December 14th at 12:30 pm EST called the Heroes of Sol Raid Race with the company I’m on a stream team for called Blerdz Unite. It will be benefitting the Blerdz Unite Opportunity Grant that I created and refined with one of the founders of Blerdz Unite, Brandyn Mitchell. This grant was created to help fellow Blerd content creators access career-boosting opportunities at conventions, covering travel costs to local and national events.

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?

The three qualities I believe that have been the most impactful in my journey are: being determined, having a developability to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you want to do it or not and perseverance. Without these, I’m sure I would’ve given up a long time ago. It’s easy to just sit around and do nothing, and let life pass you by. However, I know that God wants more for us, and being lazy does us and our communities no good.

For those who are early on in their journeys, please please make sure you align yourself with people who care about you, respect you, love you and most importantly have a good work ethic. Align yourself with those who are compassionate, but will correct you if you’re wrong. That will give you worthwhile feedback and not just be a “yes person.” Not only this, but be willing to fail, look forward to failing often. Success usually follows a failure if you remain dedicated and open to adapting and learning from the failure. Fail forward. Don’t be afraid to try new things. You’ll never find what you’re good at if you’re afraid to take risks. Most importantly of all, be patient, take care of your mental health, take breaks and believe in yourself. Don’t try to cheat your way to the top and use others as a means to your end. We see too often how this backfires on people, and you don’t want yourself in that position. The best way to develop and improve on these things is to surround yourself with those I mentioned above. We aren’t supposed to go through things alone, so make sure your support system is strong.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

Always believing in whatever crazy idea I’ve had, and asking how they can help me achieve them. Sure, they may always look at me with a “bombastic side eye” when I present them with something new, but they laugh and say, “okay, what’s next?”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.1190studios.com
• Instagram: IdiosynAnca
• Twitter: IdiosynAnca
• Youtube: IdiosynAnca
• Other: https://beacons.ai/IdiosynAnca
  https://www.blerdzunite.com

  For those that would like to contribute to the BU Opportunity Grant, they can use this link:
  https://tilt.fyi/k9SSQgLku7

Image Credits

VelvetVanHelga
YvesstLawrence – Lawrence Perry
tlynn.photo