Meet Shannon Bulrice

We recently connected with Shannon Bulrice and have shared our conversation below.

Shannon, 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?

I think my resilience was born from a mix of chaos, necessity, and love. I grew up in an unstable environment with adults who struggled deeply—my mother has schizophrenia, and I was raised primarily by my grandmother. I became a mom myself at sixteen, which pushed me to grow up quickly, but also gave me a drive to create something better. Raising my daughter became a kind of healing for me—a chance to build the safety and love I didn’t grow up with. That experience taught me to keep going, to find strength in softness, and to trust that growth doesn’t always look like progress. Over time, resilience stopped feeling like armor and started feeling more like roots—deep, grounded, and still growing.

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

I’m an artist, advocate, and creative technologist. Professionally, I work as an independent creative consultant, partnering with brands to bring their ideas to life—everything from websites and campaigns to large-scale event graphics. I’ve been in design and marketing for most of my adult life, and now I focus on helping clients tell their stories through thoughtful, visual solutions that align with their goals.

My personal work lives under the name NoParadox, where I combine digital tools, AI, hand-drawn elements, and storytelling to create art that feels both surreal and deeply human. One of my most resonant series, A Garden of Us, explores connection, healing, and identity through lush, symbolic portraits. It’s been featured in several group shows and continues to spark emotional responses from viewers, which is the most rewarding part for me.

Alongside NoParadox, I’m developing The Quiet Power Project—a space centered around softness, affirmation, and emotional safety. It’s still unfolding, but at its heart, it’s about showing up for each other with care and intention.

Whether I’m supporting a brand or creating personal work, I aim to build things that feel honest and grounded—things that invite people in and remind them they’re not alone.

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?

1. Adaptability.
Life rarely goes the way you planned, but that doesn’t mean it’s going wrong. Learning to adapt—to new tools, new roles, new chapters—has been key for me. I didn’t set out to be a creative technologist or to blend AI into my art practice, but leaning into curiosity instead of fear opened doors I didn’t know existed.

My advice? Stay open. Learn how to learn. The tools will change, but your flexibility is what will keep you growing.

2. Emotional Intelligence.
Understanding people—what motivates them, how they communicate, and what they need—has been essential in both client work and art. It’s also been a big part of healing myself. Being able to empathize without losing your own sense of self is a superpower.

For anyone starting out: spend time getting to know your own emotional patterns. Self-awareness creates stronger relationships and better work.

3. Creative Independence.
Being self-directed has helped me trust my own taste and create work that feels aligned with who I am—not just what’s trending. Especially in creative fields, it’s easy to chase approval or algorithms. But the most lasting work comes from clarity.

Start by creating for yourself. Build a body of work that reflects your voice, not just what you think people want to see. That authenticity will carry you farther than any shortcut.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

The biggest shift for me this past year has been fully stepping into my identity as an artist—not just as a designer or a creative for hire, but as someone who creates for the sake of expression, connection, and truth. For so long, I prioritized client work, deadlines, and deliverables. That part of my life still exists, but I’ve also made intentional space to center my own voice through NoParadox and The Quiet Power Project.

Letting myself create without needing it to be “for something” has been a huge emotional and creative unlock. I’ve also grown more confident in using AI tools as part of my process—not as a shortcut, but as a collaborative medium that helps me explore ideas more fluidly and intuitively. That growth has reconnected me to my joy, and honestly, to myself.

It feels like I’ve stopped asking for permission and started trusting my own rhythm—and that has changed everything.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://noparadox.ai
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/momhugsss

Image Credits

All images are of my own artwork.