Meet Jamie Koplin

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

Hi Jamie, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I was born and raised in and around Chicago, IL, where a lot of hearty people are. Not only does the weather make it challenging to leave your door sometimes, but almost always the employers will still be open during those storms. There aren’t any “rainy days off”, and barely any “Snow Days”. Just about everyone there works harder than I’ve seen almost anywhere else. Those are the people that raised me. Those are the people that instilled a strong work ethic in me. I watched these people struggle for the lives they have, and they have nothing but love and gratitude for having that hard work to provide for them and their families. You have to work for what you love. Nothing comes easily. You just have to put the work in if you want to be great.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve always been an art lover. As a baby, my first word was “pretty”, and I’ve always been finding the beauty in the world, since. It takes a lot of work to do that, though. It’s a mental health exercise. I do struggle with depression, and art has saved my life over and over. Naturally, I love spending time making art. I love learning new techniques, and working with all sorts of materials and subjects. I absolutely love making something from nothing, and having something I created shared with others. I love bringing joy to other peoples lives through my art.
My most recent endeavors have been commissioned animal portraits. I really love capturing animals personalities in a painting. I’m always available for commissions of landscapes, pets, people, botanicals, and still life.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Honestly, the three most important things in my journey include being able to push myself outside of my comfort bubble and take risks in life and art, being in animal medicine my whole adult life (which taught me discipline, fed my love for animals, and also taught me flexibility) and my willingness to put in the hard work it takes to achieve my goals. My advice to anyone on a new journey is to remember that it will take a lot of work, sometimes it’s tedious, but if you put the work in, you will get there.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
I’m a big book lover. I do read a lot. One book that I buy every year to give to gift someone new is Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I found that I could identify with Pi so much because of the obstacles he had to overcome to just survive. Even after, he develops love and new respect for his foes, and friends, He learns to let go in order to become this amazing survivor and beautiful person with acceptance in his heart. Every time I think of Life of Pi, I’m immediately inspired and comforted that I can make it through whatever hardship may come my way (and there have sure been a lot of them). It made me realize I have to feel gratitude for all experiences, and to learn from them. It’s a very beautiful book.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All images taken by myself.

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