Meet Irina Patterson

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

Hi Irina, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I grew up in Soviet Russia and didn’t leave it until I was in my late twenties.

My home city is Izhevsk. It is over 600 miles East of Moscow, near Ufa, the childhood place of Rudolf Nureyev.

As a kid, I dreamed of living in Moscow. I thought life in Moscow is awesome for everyone.

I did leave Izhevsk eventually but it took some time. First, I graduated from the Izhevsk Medical School, 6 years. Then,  I completed the 4-years of mandatory service as an Emergency Physician in that city.

I never got to live in Moscow. It wasn’t in my cards

In July of 1992 I ended up in Miami. In August, just one month later, Hurricane Andrew blew in. I love my South Florida.

I think my resilience comes from all the challenges I faced growing up in Russia.

But we never thought of it as hardship. We thought that that is how life is. For everyone. Period.

My dad was an engineer. My mom taught English. Between the two of them, they earned barely enough for the family of four — my sister Natasha, me and themselves.

My parents. Both wonderful humans. They made each other miserable.

They screamed a lot at each other. Then, mom cried. In her support, Natasha and I cried too.

They never divorced. We all survived.

We ate a lot of potatoes. Boiled. Baked. Fried. In salads. In pies. Lots of potatoes.

We wore shoes until they fell apart.

There was endless sewing and knitting by everyone. By Grandma. By our Mom. Natasha and I were sewing as soon as we could hold a needle, at age 5.

We had a tiny plot of land called dacha. Every family in Russia had one.

Rows of potatoes, tomatoes, raspberries and strawberries on a small square of the land in the deep Russian woods.

I was so bored in the woods. I needed my city lights.

Now I appreciate gardens.

One day, on Tinder, I saw a picture of a guy. He lived in a fancy rose garden. His dogs roamed around making faces.

Ohhh! What a beautiful life, I thought, and swiped away.

Still too busy for this lifestyle. Still love city lights.

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

I am an entertainer. I love that. I am known as a Variety Entertainer.

Birthday parties, corporate events, social events.

I have quite a list of services that I provide. I have no staff or associates. If I am booked, I provided every service myself.

Balloon Art, Facepainting, Mime, Balerina. Storyteller. Live Sketch Artist.

Since 2004 I have been booked to over 3,000 live events.

One of my cherished clients is Norma Jean Abraham. A prominent Miami philanthropist.

She read a feature in the Miami Herald about me and called my number. That was in 2005.

I entertained kids for her in 2005. Those kids now have their own kids. I now entertain their kids.

One of my new and exiting services is Live Sketching at Events.

In October 2023, I did sketches for the VIPs at the Red Cross Dine & Dock Signature Event. It was a joy.

On New Year’s Eve, I sketched at two fabulous restaurants in Bal Harbour Stores. LeZoo and Makoto.

Sketching at a busy restaurant is a skill in itself.

You can’t just sit in the corner and wait for someone to come by for a sketch.

I had to move swiftly from table to table and sketch quickly while people dined. We laughed a lot.

I felt as if I had my NY Eve dinner with all of these wonderful families.

I am eager to do more sketching gigs, so I am reaching out to most likely prospects.

In philanthropy, there are committees. They make the decisions of what entertainers they will book for events.

I also offer a $1,000 Gift Certificate to South Florida auctions at charity Galas. The winner will get sketching by me at their event and the charity could have my contribution that way.

As for my commercial prospects, they are the luxury brands: Tiffany, Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Kenzo, Celine, Sephora, Bulgari, Gucci, Hermes and Prada.

I love reaching out, love making connections, love presenting myself and expressing my desire to be of service.

In my research, I saw that Louis Vuitton has in-store Artisans. I didn’t know that.

Those Artisans paint anything a client wants on their products their purchase at the store.

I saw intricate paintings of dogs and butterflies right on the sides of a Louis Vuitton luggage.

It takes weeks to complete one of such paintings by hand. They are fascinating.

And… This is not what I would enjoy.

My skill set is different. I am a fast artist.

I sketch live and fast in a crowded party space and love that.

A party guest sits across from me.

We chat and laugh. I sketch.

In 7 min I hand over my sketch. We laugh again. I am ready for the next one, I never get tied.

There is a special energy. It flows between me — the artist, and the person I am sketching.

It’s magical. A special feeling that can’t be achieved if you sit in a studio and paint alone. That’s why I love it. For that special energy.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

It is very hard to sustain any commitment if you don’t enjoy what you do.

This is what I think works for me.

One, I am always learning.

Two, I enjoy being of service.

Three, I am taking proactive steps.

They might be the wrong steps, but I am taking them. I will see what works and what doesn’t.

So here is what I would suggest based on my experience, Learn. Take steps. Create Happiness.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I would love to her from luxury brands, their marketing teams, whose job is to innovate through use of art at events.

Small independent luxury hotels around the world are also very interesting to me.

In South Florida, I would love to hear from the Bal Harbour Stores, the Merrick Park Mall, the St. Regis Hotel, Bal Harbour, The Biltmore, Coral Gables, The Breakers Hotel, The Colony Palm Beach, the Brazilian Court Hotel, Palm Beach.

I am easy to find. The link to my Google page is below.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Images by Irina Patterson

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