Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ioanna Tsaousidou. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ioanna, 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?
Being a content creator requires constant creativity and of course there are times that you run out. When I feel this way I simply give my self a break for a couple of days. I noticed that there are some days that you can feel your creativity flow and I try to find as many content ideas as possible and write them down. Another way that I keep my creativity alive is by collaborating with like minded people. Sometimes you have a vague idea in your head and you talk about it with people with the same aesthetic and you get the answers you were looking for. If I work alone though on a project and I feel stuck I always think about the result I want to achieve. Not the process of how I will film, what I will wear etc. but instead the feeling I want people to get when they see the content. From there I think about little details that could help me achieve the feeling and then Pinterest, other social media, TV series, movies, nature or even random objects can spark the creativity.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Hi! I’m Ioanna, a Greek dreamer who moved to the Netherlands to chase her dreams! I’m an optimist, I love to hype people up and I always need a creative outlet. I studied esthetics and cosmetology in Greece which I loved but my daily life in the beauty studio is far from creative. Yes, I could focus more on makeup but I always loved fashion so I’ve decided to start my blog in 2014 too. Now I do both as a job! Being an esthetician made me realize that I like making people feel beautiful both on the outside and inside. The happiness you get when you see people starting loving themselves and feel confident is unmatched! Being a content creator fuels my heart with creativity! I always liked to create, it makes me happy and gives me energy even when I’m tired. Being able to have a platform where I can inspire others to dress the way it makes they heart happy is amazing. I’m a confident person now but it took me years to accept that I’m short. I struggled a lot when I tried things and never looked the same as on the model. But that’s ok! I want to show to the world that you can be fabulous no matter your size, because being awesome comes from within! It’s the way you treat other people, your kindness, your compassion. I recently changed the name of my blog and all social media from The Colourful Bouquet to Joanna Tsaousidou. This year I want to show more of my life & the funny side of me to the people who follow me on social media! I debated whether or not to have another generic name. The Colourful Bouquet doesn’t feel like me anymore. It would have been a pink bouquet, not colourful! But there is nothing better than my name to represent me! My Greek name is Ioanna(ee-o-ah-nna) Tsaousidou(ʧa-u-SSI-du). ʧ sounds like ch from church! I chose Joanna though because it’s easier, plus was available in all platforms!
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?
The most important skill I developed was patience! I used to be a very impatient person but after moving to a different country and having two jobs you learn to be patient about timing. You can’t rush things and everything will come to you as long as you work for it on the right time. The second one has to be confidence. I was always confident thanks to my parents. They taught both me and my brother that we are capable of doing anything we put our minds into if we work for it. So with years I learned to believe in my abilities, knowledge and trusting my gut when it comes to getting important decisions. Last but not least are my communicating skills. I’m a people’s person! I’m honestly the happiest when I’m around others and I’m also quite extrovert. This helped a lot when we moved because you need to start building again a community around you but also helped with both my jobs. As an esthetician you have to make people feel comfortable and trust you and as a content creator you need to be open to meet other people and create a community as well. When it comes to the patience my advice would be to let go of the things you can’t control and trust the work and effort you are putting into something. You will achieve what you want sooner or later! The confidence I think is the hardest of the three to achieve but fake it till you make it! Try to go out of your comfort zone and once you achieve something, even the smallest thing reward yourself! I always buy me a present like a piece of jewelry to celebrate my bigger achievements and a chocolate for the smaller ones. It might sound silly but by rewarding myself the thing I achieved becomes instantly real and it boosts my confidence that I made it! The communication skills I think you can again improve them by going out of your comfort zone and by surrounding yourself with people that like to do the things you are afraid of. It’s always less scary to do things with other people!
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I believe be well rounded is the way to go! Why? Because being well rounded makes your strengths even stronger and neutralizes your weaknesses. Let me give you an example. I struggle with anxiety, a lot! I was always an anxious person but after a health scare and not working on my trauma immediately after that made my anxiety bigger. It all exploded when my boyfriend and I moved to the Netherlands. Everything was new and the majority of my support system was kilometers away. The stress of building a new life from scratch with all the uncertainty it had made me lost control of my anxiety to the point of having many panic attacks in a week. As I said I was always confident in my abilities but with anxiety I started doubting every decision I took. I didn’t feel myself at all. It was only after I started working on myself and improving the way I interact with my anxiety that I stopped doubting myself. My confidence came back in full force again and I could see clearly that I was happy with my decisions. I couldn’t have done that without learning to control my anxiety. And not only control it and stop the panic attacks but also make it work in my advance! I came to the conclusion that anxiety is not always a bad thing. It keeps me on my toes and alerted which means that I’m more likely to see an opportunity and not stay in my comfort zone. Of course I’m talking about the nice little anxiety that is thrilling, not the crippling one I still get from time to time. But it’s a work in progress!
Contact Info:
- Website: joannatsaousidou.com (still working on the website so is not active yet)
- Instagram: joannatsaousidou
- Youtube: joannatsaousidou
- Other: Tik Tok: joannatsaousidou
LTK: joannatsaousidou
Image Credits
Chloé Hollman, Alex R.
