2015 has been a whirlwind of a year—full of incredible opportunities, scary moments, and amazing growth. More than anything, I think this was a year of getting a little bit closer to my vision of creative entrepreneurship. Here’s a recap of the good, the bad, and the awesome:
1. In August, I ended goINVADE, my 5 year passion project. (single thug tear)
2. Wesley Verhoeve photographed me for his One of Many campaign along with a group of my favorite creatives in New Orleans.
3. I presented a workshop at The Blue House called “The Self Promotion Project” and helped a small group of creative entrepreneurs find confidence in telling their stories.
4. After a full year of planning and after raising $12,000 from Kickstarter, Kristy, Ciera, and I produced VenturePOP, the first ever creative entrepreneur conference in New Orleans. It was literally one of the most beautiful days of my life. We’ve already started planning for 2016 and tickets go on sale in January.
5. There was soooooo much client work through Creative Lab, including working with clients: Church Alley Bar, Cafe Hope, Lucid, Nola Baby and Family, Sankofa, Sculpture for New Orleans, Calliope Consulting, Columbia Film Festival, Knot and Wood, and American Friends Services.
I definitely need to update my portfolio.
6. My studio mate, Tippy and I opened and closed a physical shop. Then she reopened it as The Good Shop. It’s pretty awesome, you should stop by.
7. I attended Circles Conference in Dallas. It was literally amazing.
8. AIGA invited me to be the opening speaker for their national conference in New Orleans and it was one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever spoken to. I loved it.
9. I started drawing again and released my first series of greeting cards. (I’m planning to release another new series in 2016, but more on that in a future email.)
10. Loyola University hired me to teach Advertising and I freakin’ loved learning from my amazing students. I think I was made to teach.
11. I finally left the country for the first time! I attended an epic conference in Dublin called Web Summit and visited the college homie in London.
12. I published my first-ever ebook, “The Ultimate Guide to Branding Your Small Business.” Here’s a link to download it.
So yea… all that happened. I am humbled to have the opportunity to work for myself for the first full year and I am looking forward to reaching new heights in 2016.
TALK BACK: What are you most proud of accomplishing this year? Let me know in the super secret Facebook group.