Meet Pam Smilow

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

Pam, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

I’m actually not sure where my optimism comes from. In many ways, I think one is born with it and it is part of one’s personality. Some people are just prone to see the glass half empty and some see it half full. Even in my own nuclear family, two of us (my Dad and I) were the positive thinking ones (even on a day of skiing where it was pouring rain and the mountain a sheet of ice, he would come inside after a full day and say “Great Day! and truly mean it. I inherited that attitude from him. My mom and sister were more reserved and ended up looking more on the negative side of things.

Aside from being born with an optimistic spirit, I attribute this to having been blessed growing up in a Frank Lloyd Wright cooperative community of 47 homes in the middle of the woods with many supportive “parental figures” around me, giving me love and encouragement. Usonia was truly the embodiment of “it takes a village” and a great place to raise children and instill them with confidence… My nuclear parents were also totally encouraging when it came to my career choice. Many would discourage their kids from becoming artists–you can’t make any money, it is too unstable, artists are weirdos anyway. My dad was just the opposite–he wanted to be a fine artist himself but lost his dad at 16 and had to take over his father’s job as a furniture salesman. He ended up making lemonade after being dealt a lemon–he became a prominent mid-century modern furniture designer with six retail stores up and down the east coast, selling just his own designs…I think I follow in his footsteps–I have had a lot of grief in my life–losing my husband to an aneurysm and my only sibling to ALS, but I have remained strong and still standing after two major losses…

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?

Would it be possible for you to listen to these two recent podcasts–it will explain me a lot better than I can do right now.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-169192407

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

I had the good fortune of being surrounded by a lot of people that were supportive of me and what I wanted to do with my life. Believing in myself enabled me to think outside the box and follow my own path. And I never underestimated the importance of environment and Surrounding myself with good people that inspired me..

Pursue your passion..
Don’t let anyone talk you out of doing what you want to do with your life.
Where there;s a will, there’s a way…
Have confidence in yourself.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I would spend the next decade doing exactly what I am doing now. Living my life, painting, travelling a bit, loving my friends and family and living between New York City and the mid-coast of Maine.
They say if you never want to work a day of your life, do what you love, and that is what I am doing…

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