Natalie Dohman of Paris and United States on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Natalie Dohman. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Natalie, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
I am most proud of the building of the community that has come together because of my art and also my art gallery. People do see this but I believe it can be seen even more.

I have strived to create a creative space where people can be themselves and express themselves in a way that feels safe, natural and stable.

Building the creative space took years of my life to reach to, in fact I’ve been cultivating it since I was a child. I always knew it was “OK” to be myself but it was constant anxiety and stress and working on my self-esteem and self-worth that I finally got to a place where I said, “You know, this is me. I don’t care if you accept it or not but this is who I really am and I’m proud of who I am.” By reaching this state of being, I was also able to inspire others to do the same and be the same with themselves also.

People see this characteristic of me, my radical self acceptance, which also helped me build an actual business that is now turning into a franchise. People see the art hanging on the walls and the classes offered but people don’t see the late nights. early mornings and literal blood, sweat and tears that went into it.

I am not only proud of being a successful and international artist but also a successful International business owner.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Natalie Dohman and I am a multi-media artist. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania in the United States and in my 30’s became an Internationally recognized fine artist and performing artist specializing in painting, dance, photography and graphic design.

I also own and operate an International arts gallery called nDesign Art Haus where we showcase artists from around the world both digitally and in person, offer art classes and also offer services in graphic and web design.

I currently am living in Paris, France and will have 2 locations for my business- one in Paris and one in Pennsylvania that will be owned and operated as a franchise.

My art focuses on the concepts of healing the Self through exploration of various forms of artistic mediums as I had been diagnosed with cPTSD as a child and it took until my late 20’s, early 30’s that my art career really started taking off and I was able to publicly speak on the effects art had on my healing and how expression allowed me to reflect and heal past trauma.

One of my college degrees is in Health and Human Services (so Social Work and Therapy essentially) and I believe this training has helped me in reaching a broad audience while also being able to give back to myself with every interaction I have made.

I never expected to own a business, let alone an International one and never expected to be living and working in Paris as an artist either but my dreams became much more than a reality in 2022.

I wouldn’t even say I chose Paris rather Paris chose me as I had been awarded into a Residency program in 2021 and after finishing the program I came to Paris for 3 months and fell in love so I closed my business in Pennsylvania and moved.

But the local community missed what I had to offer and people came together to keep it going and now it will be re-opened by someone that was essentially a client and will now be a partner.

This has been incredibly humbling, awe inspiring and even more as when I was a child, one of the effects of the cPTSD had been seizures and the doctors told me I would never have a substantial job, they wanted to do brain surgery on me and my future looked bleak. In a matter of years, my seizures stopped, I became healthy both physically and mentally and really attribute it to my focus on art.

There had been moments where I sat in front of the canvas or paper or even danced where I could literally feel myself put myself back together. It was as if I confronted things that I had essentially pushed into the back of my psyche head on but with the power of transformation that came from drawing, painting or dancing and those memories simply faded into nothingness.

Art taught me how to fully evolve into the person that I truly am, not just a person living a mild experience but fully me.

This is what I hope people pick up not only from my art but from my story also – the joy that is hidden in the brushstrokes.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
This is a question that touches upon the very essence of my art.

I saw myself before anyone or myself could see myself.

Basically, my Spirit saw me and led me to where I am today.

I believe everyone has access to their Higher Self but very few people really get to know “themselves.” Often, we are distracted by one thing or another and oftentimes it is materialistic in nature and we don’t really know who we are.

If you ask most people a series of questions about themselves, they can’t really answer them honestly because they don’t know the answers.

On my own journey, I think some of the challenges I faced allowed me to really reflect on who I am and what I am really about. I journal almost daily and I am very task oriented so if I have a goal, I write it down. Or, if there’s something I don’t like either about my situation or myself, I write down how I can improve and I work on it,

When I would reflect on some of the challenges I experienced, it allowed me to get to know myself better thus I could see clearly who I was and even where I still needed to improve in my life.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
All of these questions have been powerful in nature and all kind of go together.

As I had mentioned, I am a survivor of many things, one being several traumatic experiences. Of course, throughout my life there have been times where I have struggled with my mental health and wellbeing and have even struggled with suicide – many times since I was a teenager, Those times have been rooted mostly in giving up and not continuing on with mere life.

I feel this is important to be transparent about because a lot of people see your success but don’t see your challenges and honestly, a lot of people don’t know this side of me. They see me living in France and probably think my life was easy as pie when in reality, my life was a living hell most people wouldn’t have made it out from.

Another time I almost gave up were the numerous times I wanted to quit being an artist.

I would talk to my friends and they’d ask me “So…if you quit what are you going to do” and I’d tell them I’d work in a warehouse or something. They’d tell me I can’t simply work in a warehouse and they would ask me “Do you know who you are?”

These experiences also met me at entrepreneurship also as there had been many, many times I wanted to close my businesses doors and just not focus on anything art related.

I learned that there will always be struggles in your life, always. No matter who you are, you will challenged but there are ways to get beyond those challenges and a lot of times, the way through is in. What I mean is that everything you need is already inside of you.

For me to get over these challenges and continue pressing on, I did some practical things and some not so practical. For instance, for my mental health I sought therapy because I didn’t want to feel the way that I was feeling. I wanted to heal.

For my business, I sought people that knew business and even other artists that could mentor me and from there I learned ways to help continue not only growing but expanding.

When you have a plan for things, the outcomes seem easier and easier and when you have a plan it also helps you not want to give up and continue working.

But the most important is that I prayed and I connected with God. I pray every day, sometimes 3 times a day and I also sit in meditation. I listen for the answers and when I don’t have them I ask.

My connection to a higher power literally saved my life more times than I can count.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Again, all of these questions are poignant.

This is kind of a strange question for me as the term “smart” doesn’t really mean educated but I can offer some of my own insights for how I’ve interacted with people and even colleagues from academia.

A lot of times people think their degrees or their advanced education makes them “smart” when really, it just makes them educated,

Being smart is the application of knowledge and being educated is the acquiring of knowledge. A lot of people forget this and get trapped inside and led by their ego,

Some of the most absolute intellectually stunted people I knew were ones with advanced degrees and some of the most intelligent were ones without.

Intelligence comes in many forms and what I have seen are some people absolutely miserable in their lives outside of their work and careers. Their work and career happened to be their entire presence and persona and beyond that they had nothing.

So I would say that they’re getting it wrong in not connecting with their heart, their spirit. Because when you actually connect with your true essence, not only are you able to live more peacefully but you’re also able to tackle challenges and things you never would have thought possible.

People think emotions are bad or showing vulnerability is a weakness but it actually is a strength. When you truly live who you are, then what is there that you fear? Nothing really.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I absolutely am doing what I was born to do and also what I was told to do.

It took me until my adult years to really realize that about myself and that I was in alignment with my true calling. It was also at the point where I was propositioned to open my business as a franchise that it clicked for me that people really did value the artistic community that I created and people really saw value in what I did and do.

I also found people connect with my art on many levels and its people all over the world. I have followers and dedicated followers at that sure but I also realized people are paying attention to me even when I don’t realize the depth that they are watching.

People comment on aspects of my art that feels like my soul is breathing because it’s saying “A HA! They see it!” Or, they comment on how my art makes them feel which is exactly the point of what I do.

I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else and being not only successful but happy.

I really am happy with where my journey has taken me and can’t wait to see where else it will take me.

Image Credits
Natalie Dohman – nDesign Art Haus
Israel Sarria