Meet Fox Smith

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Fox Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Fox, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

To be perfectly honest, my resilience comes from trauma – mixed with a healthy dose of therapy, deliberate gratitude, closely curating my media content, and a strong support system.

Resilience to me is like a muscle. It’s the ability to adapt and recover from difficulties, which we can’t learn to develop and hone without going through it. Trauma sucks. Challenges, life changes, the things outside of our control that seems to have so much control over us, everything the universe seems to relentlessly throw our way- none of us can completely avoid the hard parts of life, how ever they show up in each of our stories. We can, though, work to build our resilience.

I mention therapy first because regardless of situation, I think the right fit of therapy can help us all improve not only resilience but also learn valuable tools and coping strategies to live our best lives. We can never know what we don’t know and having a trained professional to offer support, guidance, a listening ear can be invaluable. As someone who’s been steadily in therapy throughout my entire life, I’ve learned so much about myself and had the opportunity to process through some really difficult experiences and trauma. All said, I realize that therapy can be a grueling process – it can be hard to get into, expensive, and it’s really important to find the right therapist for you (which can mean meeting up with a few until one clicks). While there are resources, it does take work and it’s not necessarily a fun or easy experience. Still, it’s so valuable.

As far as the rest, I find that being deliberate about gratitude helps me to maintain a more positive attitude. It’s important to acknowledge things we aren’t happy with in life, but it’s also important to maintain hope. Which is also why I try to be really careful about the media I take in – whether it’s on socials, in books, film, podcasts, etc. I am a firm believer that what we take in on a consistent basis shapes our views and attitudes, so I try to maintain a balance of informed and realistic alongside uplifting and optimistic. And, of course, having a strong support system is such a gift. We are social beings by nature (even for those of us who thrive with one-on-ones, smaller groups, and solo time). Having trusted people we can rely on, even when it’s not pretty or easy, is so valuable in being able to move forward through hard times.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Those close to me would probably answer the “What do I do?” question with the response “What don’t I do?” I definitely tend to keep a lot of plates spinning from illustration and tattoo artistry to storytelling and performance to currently having gone back to school for my masters in Art Therapy & Counseling. I always discover new interests and possibilities, and I can’t seem to keep myself away from maximum activities – much to the detriment of my sleep schedule.

As a biracial Korean-American queer woman, I’ve lived my life on the fringes between groups and communities – never completely belonging or separated from each of my identities. It’s allowed me to find a passion for creating spaces and opportunities to uplift diverse ideas and encourage others in their own journeys of expression, self-love, and radical authenticity through work that meets at the intersection of strange, dark, whimsical, and quirky.

By day I am a tattoo artist and freelance illustrator/designer crafting pieces that tell stories and hold meaning for my clients. While I have been illustrating and designing for over 20 years, I am still relatively new onto the tattoo scene. I mentored under an incredible artist, who I am so lucky to still work alongside, named Jackie Rabbit (specializing in black and gray work). My own tattoo work pulls from my illustrative background, using varying line weights in part inspired by classic woodcut imagery, though I am thrilled and willing to work across many styles and featuring a variety of subject matter. Currently, I am working on a series of tattoos featuring animal skulls and florals in black and gray and have been having a blast!

By night I can be found on the local stage in theatrical productions, online alongside a talented cast streaming live role playing games, or working events as a fortune teller, caricaturist, and even mime. I love the power of stories and connection and constantly am working to find that sweet spot at the intersection of my areas of expertise.

Looking forward, I am hoping to come back to producing new seasons of my podcast, Fantastically Strange, as well as continue to pursue my art on skin and on the page. I am about a year out from completing my Masters, after which my goal is to continue on the academic path and research new therapeutic modalities. All in all, it doesn’t look like I’ll be slowing down any time soon, which I’m pretty excited about.

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?

If I had to name three qualities, skills, or areas that would be the most impactful for me, I think the first would be flexibility. Having a clear goal and direction matters, but being able to pivot when necessary is also so important. I always remember this clip of Stephen Colbert giving a commencement speech in which he was talking about following his dreams – he spoke about how if he had fully committed and followed his dreams when he was younger, he would currently be a beat poet in a smokey club. We can never know exactly where life is going to take us. We can point ourselves in a direction, but if we are too rigid along the way we may miss out on some really rich opportunities.

The next for me would be finding what you’re passionate about and exploring why. It’s a common saying that “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” What I’ve found is that if you love what you do and make that your job, you’ll discover all of the things you really dislike about what you once loved. I’m not saying it’s wrong to pursue the things one loves, by any means! But once it becomes work, you’re no longer doing it just for yourself. As a freelance artist, it can be hard for me to separate pieces I create to express myself and those I create to try to make a living – not that those things have to be mutually exclusive, however it can add a layer of pressure when creating. Additionally, there is so much more to being a working artist than drawing or tattooing. I now also have to take on the role of marketing specialist, business manager, bookkeeper, and beyond. It can be hard, which is why I think it’s so important to take the time to circle back around to what drives you, what matters most, and why. Even if your job isn’t your passion – say you’re just there for the check, still having something to invest in and really care about matters. It can help us discover purpose, live well, and knowing the ‘why’ can help keep us going even when things are tough.

Lastly, I’d say taking time for self-care. As much as I’d love for self-care to be weekly massages and pampering sessions, realistically it’s much more – some of which doesn’t always feel fun. Caring for yourself means caring for your body, your space, and your mental health. It’s making time to rest even when the world tells us to constantly keep going, discovering what brings you joy, and sometimes eating that last cookie while other times exercising instead. It’s so easy to get swept into constantly pushing ourselves and criticizing our shortcomings that we forget to love and show love to ourselves during the process.

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 honing our strengths is so important, but I think that also investing in areas we aren’t as strong in is equally vital. As I mentioned, many times when going into a field – such as being a working artist – you’ll discover how much work stretches beyond just pen to page or brush to canvas. One lesson I remember from college was when a professor (also a working artist) took a day in our Sketchbook class to go over contracts, reaching out to agencies, and getting our work out there. You can be the best illustrator in the world, but if you don’t know how to effectively get your work in front of the right eyes, it won’t help you advance. Plus, the world is constantly changing. AI, regardless of your thoughts on it, isn’t going away. It can be helpful as a tool but also is changing the landscape of so many career fields. Staying on top of current advances or changes in any field is vital to staying relevant, even when that means investing in areas that don’t seem as interesting off the bat.

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