Meet Lola Yates

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lola Yates. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lola below.

Lola, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

This is an excellent question, I keep my creativity alive by people watching. I love to people watch, I love sitting at this beach, coffee shop or cafe. I also observe nature by watching butterflies and hummingbirds play, watching the sunset at the beach. I love listening to music it brings a certain element of creativity to my mind. Watching people and observing my environment free‘s my mind and opens my creative lens.

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

I’m Lola J founder of Rainbow Drip LLC, I’m an artist, stylist and creative director. I started my business in 2015, I saw a pair of custom sneakers on social media and was inspired. As a child I always painted and I always was a creative among other things, so I decided to venture into shoe customs. I worked and practiced on the craft for years, all my family and friends got custom sneakers for their birthdays. But, Rainbow Drip is just not sneakers it’s custom clothing as well. I’m also working on a clothing brand that consist of capsules that represent my life style, the community I was raised in Compton, and the 80 and 90s. Rainbow Drip is just not shoe customs it’s a movement.

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?

Ambition, perseverance, authenticity. I think finding your purpose is paramount. I love being a creative, it’s easy, gives me a sense of freedom it allows me to be my authentic self. Once you find your niche work at it, develop you business and brand. Ask for help.Its okay to collaborate there’s room for everyone.

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?

I give that credit to myself. I stayed up late after my day job, working on projects that didn’t have a monetary gain. I push myself to research more about fashion and sneakers, My partner at the time was helpful and gave me Critical feed back that allowed me to develop my skills. My best friend also was helpful in the process. Both inspired me to keep going and to let me know that I was going in the right direction.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @_rainbowdrip

Image Credits

Photo credit: Lola Yates