We recently connected with Sicily Hegge and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sicily, 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.
My optimism comes in large part from the idea that everything will be ok in the end, and if its not okay, then it’s not over. As everyone does I have moments of self-doubt, fear, and anxiety. I counteract these feelings by thinking of the worst case scenario. For example, let’s say I lose my scholarship or my federal assistance. This would force me to drop out of college, as I cannot afford it and neither can my parents. So I drop out, then what? I either return to my hometown or stay in Savannah with my girlfriend, then what? I get a job to help support us or live with my parents and help fix up our family home, then what? I try to find an alternative path towards my dream careers whilst working a regular job. In the end, I still have my loved ones. I’m still alive and healthy and the world is still beautiful. My optimism does not come from the belief that everything happens for a reason or theres always a silver lining, my optimism comes from my belief that theres always somewhere to go, every time you get knocked down you have the choice to either stay down or get back up, and I choose to get back up.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Currently I am a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), studying Illustration and Thematic Entertainment Design. It’s been a long road to get here though. I used to be a tiny girl attending the Northeastern Academy for Aerospace and Technologies (NEAAAT), it was a fine school but it was entirely science based so I hated it. I felt like it wouldn’t help me get to where I wanted to go. When I was 13 I decided that I wanted to be a Visual Development Artist for 2D animated TV shows, I didn’t think NEAAAT would help so I took matters into my own hands and applied to the Elizabeth City Early College. I made a 3 year plan intending to graduate with my associates of arts; and I did it. I skipped a grade, graduated top of my class, got my degree, and applied to SCAD. During my childhood I worked many jobs in an effort to build my resume and earn some money. This included working at a potato farm, a hair salon, the YMCA (my favorite), a custard shop, and starting my very own business (@novaember.arts on Instagram). I also participated in my school districts musical productions, The Wiz, Into the Woods, and Mama Mia; and now I’m here at SCAD.
My goal now is to work and collaborate. I genuinely love working, even small jobs are enjoyable to me. I love talking to people and connecting so I thrive in customer service jobs, and I definitely intend to keep all my first responder certifications from lifeguarding because I think they’re good life skills to have. Preferably though I want to work in the creative industry, my time as a swim instructor gave me a passion for teaching children as well as water safety. I’m currently working on a children’s water safety book, and I hope to donate some of those to local schools, maybe read to children in my free time. I’d love to work on some films and theatrical projects as well, and eventually maybe theme park design. My dream company would be Universal or Warner Brothers, but I would also love to design for Dollywood or Busch Gardens. It’s a big world, I want to connect with people and make it a better place through art.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities and skills I would say are the most helpful on my journey is definitely a strong work ethic, a passion for your work, and dedication to improvement. Be like a shark, in the sense you should never stop moving even if you have to backtrack a little. Loving what you do is. a little bit of a hack, because if you love what you do it’s much easier to have a strong work ethic and dedication to improvement; but along with that you gain the unique ability to inject what you love into everything you do. For example, I love being a lifeguard, but I’m also able to inject my love for art into lifeguarding by taking inspiration what what I see, the water, the people swimming, water toys. I then take that inspiration, turn it into art, and then give it back to the Y. I do this by making tiny books with the rules to read to the kids or painting the water and hanging it in the lobby, using my work as inspiration for what I love and bettering my community in the process. As for dedication to improvement, literally just do research, study what you love and why you love doing it. Watch videos, talk to professionals, visit offices if possible,
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I think it’s better to be well-rounded. As lovely as your strengths are, and as important to your career as it is to be strong, I think as a person it is more important to be well-rounded. You’re alive, and you have the ability to live, so do it. As an artist, I spend a lot of time indoors looking at a tiny screen and obsessing over details of composition and anatomy. I COULD spend my entire life obsessing over the perfection of those details, but why would I? What is the benefit to stressing about your strengths rather than experiencing other areas of weakness and improving as a whole? I would not enjoy art if I spent my life perfecting my ability to create art, and even then you cannot perfect strengths since they’re subjective. Go outside, tell your family you love them, feel the sun on your skin or look at the clouds or touch a plant or do literally anything to remind yourself of the gift you’ve been given; and don’t squander it.
On a much smaller scale, being a average at everything is so much more fun than being really good at one thing and trash at the rest. Being the best rocket scientist means nothing in a cooking competition.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://heggesicily.wixsite.com/website
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novaember.arts/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sicily-hegge-93a62432b/
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