We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shenequa Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shenequa , first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome a lot, sometimes I still have it. One way I overcome it is by realizing it’s a normal thing, everyone is hard on themselves it’s a part of life. Another way is using a lot of positive affirmations and speaking life into myself. I am great at what i do and the world can/will see it.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Art has always been apart of my life. Since I was a child i’ve been drawing and i’m so happy that part of me stuck, Making money from the creative industry is something I am extremely proud of because a lot of people think it’s not possible and discourage kids from pursuing the creative industry as a career. I have been designing for over 5 years and have worked with so many entrepreneurs to help brand their businesses.
I am also an artist and have really tapped into my art in the last 2 years, I love illustrating and creating products for women who look like me. My art has given me a lot of opportunities such as my illustration being displayed in the Puma flagship store, I’ve launched a new coloring book this year called Sjohnson Colors VI and my newest collaboration with Walmart for Black History Month of a line of Journals.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Time management is an important quality to have as a designer and business owner, Things can get busy and knowing how to balance and manage your time is key to meeting deadlines. Passion is another important quality if your are just doing something for a check and your head isn’t really in it, nothing you do will feel fulfilling. Building a Community is also important, in order to grow as artist or designer making friends and networking with others in your field can be so helpful and is needed.
My advice is to never stop learning, youtube, skillshare and Tiktok to name a few, are places that are helpful in improving your skills as an artist/designer visually seeing others journeys can help you improve yours
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The number one challenge i am facing is growing my social presence, I want to gain an audience and community of people who enjoy my art, design skills and me as a person this would lead to more clients, customers and ideally more revenue. I plan on gaining 10k followers on instagram or Tik Tok by the end of 2024 by consistently showing up. “Without a struggle, there can be no progress” I have make a schedule, prepared content and have already seen some progress. Trying to grow on social media can be difficult but if you show up and remain authentic anything is possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: sjohnsondesigns.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sjohnsondesigns
- Facebook: facebook.com/sjohnsondesigns
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shenequa-johnson-365741b1
Image Credits
Pierre Louis Visuals, Diversion Photography
