Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brigette Hernandez . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brigette , first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is something I dealt with a lot, especially as a young entrepreneur. I felt like I wasn’t qualified enough to be helping and making decisions for people that were most times more than twice my age. What helped me was realizing that I had acquired knowledge that the people that looked to me for help knew they didn’t have. I not only had knowledge but connections and an underlying understanding of the art market, access to artists and catalogs that they wouldn’t have with out me as their art advisor.
This understanding and change of mindset really helped my business because it gave me confidence knowing that I posses true value to my client and that’s why they come to me.
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?
I always knew that I would one day own an art Gallery, What I didn’t know was that it would at the age of 27. I always envisioned myself spending my “retirement” days in a beautiful gallery surrounded by art, but when I moved to Newport Beach in 2017 that plan came to life much sooner than anticipated. I had always had a passion for art since I was a child, I loved visiting museums and I completely fell in love with art history during my junior year in college.
When I moved to Newport Beach I started working at a gallery in Laguna Beach. When the director had me help him open his new gallery in New York, it was then that I knew I could and would open my open my own.
I found very quickly that Laguna Beach Galleries were mainly owned by artists, including the one I worked for. I found that artist owned galleries always had their consultants push their works and I didn’t find that to be fair to other artists represented by the galleries. I wanted to change this. During my time working for other galleries I coined myself as “ The Most Enthusiastic Art Consultant in Laguna Beach” because most of the consultants were more than twice my age and seemed burnt out. I also found that most art in Laguna Beach was all the same, Seascapes in gold frames. I wanted to give the entire Laguna Beach art scene a makeover, by offering new exciting shows every Thursday during ArtWalk and represent new emerging artists from all over the world.
And that’s exactly what I did. In March of 2019 I opened Five 3 Gallery on PCH in Laguna Beach. We now represent over 200 emerging and established artists from all around the world and specialize in helping clients purchase contemporary artworks that bring them joy for many years to come. We connect clients with artists they wouldn’t have discovered on their own and our simplified process makes art buying fun, understandable and exciting. After art purchases we oversee all post-sale details including packing, transport, and installation. We work on both residential and commercial projects. We advise companies on curating collections that speak to and further their brand and vision and bring joy to clients and staff.
We believe in transparency, approachability, and quality service. Our clients are thrilled with our service, but above all else how art makes their space personalized and full of life.
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?
I believe the most impactful qualities to poses for any entrepreneur are belief in one’s self, tenacity and passion. My mom had always told me, “If you don’t believe in yourself, then who will”? Which always made so much sense to me. If you don’t believe in your own abilities or that you are the person to get the job done then who will believe you? You need tenacity because there are many, many days you will want to give up but you have to think that you have no other choice than to make work. That will get you to where you want to go. Passion is important because you have to have a “why”. Your “Why” will keep you going, and excited and that really shows when you are in sales.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
At the moment we are looking to partner with more interior designers and interior design firms. I had come up with this idea of helping design firms to develop and add an in house art advising division to their business. I have worked with interior designers who’s clients appreciate and would like to acquire original artwork compared to mass market prints. This adds so much more work to the designers plate. We would love to step in and assist the designer and their client by finding the perfect pieces for their projects.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.five3gallery.com
- Instagram: @five3gallery
Image Credits
Kelvin Cheng
