We were lucky to catch up with Alexa Strotman and Colleen Luksetich recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Colleen and Alexa, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?
We had met during a time where the two of us had been experiencing our longest creativity block. We both connected through our struggles and pushed one another to pursue art again. Surrounding yourself with many different people help me to become more inspired. I have also found by asking for input on things can help with expanding my imagination. Alexa inspires me with how she views the world. She’s a problem solver, and so determined to accomplish the goals she sets out for herself. That pushes me, (Colleen), to be my best self & creative self. She’ll suggest things that make me go “why didn’t I think of that?” We bounce off one another well, and I always feel that my art looks better when we collab on the piece. -Colleen
I have gone through many phases of my life where I’ve struggled to keep creativity flowing but have been able to persist through my friends or aspects of pop culture. I’ve always been interested in darker and moody styles of art. One of my favorite art inspirations are Chateau ball jointed dolls. I’ve found that it helps with my perception of natural and unnatural ways for posing. I also have found that my biggest art block had started once I had graduated from high school and no longer had access to free supplies and support from teachers. Once I had met Colleen it had definitely helped me flourish to be the most as an artist and be able to push my self in ways I had not previously been confident about. -Alexa
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I started to become burnt out with school, constantly finding myself in a cycle of struggle with my mental health. By having Swe3t T00th as an outlet, I’ve found myself being able to manage my mental health more. I never thought Alexa and I would have a small business together, let alone a successful one! I’ve always wanted art to be apart of my life, regardless if it could be my career or not. But the amount of support Swe3t T00th has gotten has blown both of us away, and defiantly keeps me going on my rough days. When I’m having those moments to myself where I doubt everything, I can always look at this business and know that I did at least one thing right. This brand is really special to Alexa and I, not only in the aspect of successfulness, but also it’s something we genuinely enjoy and love to do. It certainly has its ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Being able to show our passion for art through jewelry, canvas paintings, and sewing/ painting on clothing has challenged me creatively. I’ve really enjoyed picking up sewing again. By re-vamping an old piece from the thrift store and turning it into something new, it always makes me feel accomplished. -Colleen
I found myself really inspired by the up cycle culture that has started to make waves online. It really struck an interest in me because I’ve spent most of my life buying things secondhand or creating much more edgy items through distressing, bleaching, painting, or putting my artwork on clothing. It has definitely been such an exciting and fun journey being able to do this as a career! I am also a hairstylist and being able to juggle these two very creative jobs have definitely caused a lot of exhaustion and burn out at some points. But I found that I excel in creative spaces and I don’t see myself ever being able to be in a space that doesn’t allow me to create my art. Definitely one of my favorite things I have learned by starting SWE3T T00TH is creating jewelry! I love up-cycling and making unique pieces that people can wear and appreciate. I find it so flattering when people will buy the art we make or jewelry and give it as gifts to love ones or use it for a special event. I definitely see us creating much more diverse items in the future. I actually had decided to cut my hours as a stylist to be able to pursue SWE3T T00TH more as a career and it’s something that I’ve been very excited about! I have been commissioned many times for my painted denim and it’s some thing I really want to create more of because it’s definitely a very neutral way to share my art and it’s such an easy way to produce a wider size range and still be able to be completely creative and use it as a canvas. -Alexa
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?
Three qualities I try to live by day-to-day are:
– Being open-minded
– Patience
– Creativity
These three qualities have helped me become a better person and artist, and have helped me grow along with the business. I’ve found that I can be stubborn at times, but having a business partner you’re constantly bouncing off one another with ideas to make things better. I had to get over my stubbornness quickly if I wanted this business to be successful. By doing so, my stubbornness turned into becoming more accepting to help and suggestions. Going into things with an open mind can open up more opportunities to succeed. In part with that, you have to have confidence and patience to let things grow at their own pace. If something isn’t working at first, try another way, and try again and again. Allowing yourself to be open to failure can lead to a path of success. -Colleen
I definitely carry a lot of qualities similar to my dad. He is an extremely good problem, solver and great at creating concepts with no prior knowledge. I definitely feel like I’ve carried that into my life pretty heavily. The downfall to that is we are both so unbelievably extremely messy and scatterbrained. But with that, we are very creative and able to see the beauty in things and repurpose anything. He actually found a bunch of sandpaper at a landfill and took a bunch of it because there is nothing wrong with it and I think that is really awesome to be sustainable when something isn’t broken or perfect It can still be used and that is something that I’ve also learned from him.
I would say three qualities/skills that I carry through my life would be:
Creativity
Problem Solving
Persistence
-Alexa
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
We both work at Heroic Hair salon in Ames Iowa. We have been able to create this business and get a lot of support from our boss Megan Mumper and coworkers. Megan being our boss and still being so willing to help us achieve other goals in life is such an admirable thing for a business owner to others. She helped us with our LLC, registering for certain documents so we would be a legal business, and just giving us so much advice on how to run a successful business. Having such a great support system in a career that’s built on creativity is such a good way to flourish in other aspects and still feel supported and loved by people. By surrounding yourself with other successful people and fellow creatives it helps to push you to be the best that you want to be. We’ve absorbed so much advice from fellow business owners and artist friends so we can continue to gain more knowledge on how to continue on this path of success and growing as not only a business but artists too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.SWE3TT00TH.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swe3t.t00th?igsh=MXY2bWgxcDU3amsybw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560606629096
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