Serendipity Lettering: Our Story
Hey there, dear reader. Thanks for stopping by! I’ve done little since launching Serendipity Lettering to really connect with my audience, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that a meaningful connection can make all the difference. So I’m going to start sharing a bit more about myself, and also some more about the business as it grows. Today, I’m going to tell you about my creative awakening, and how Serendipity Lettering came to be.
The Backstory
In the sixth grade, I had a teacher named Mr. B who changed my life. I thought he was the coolest of teachers even then, but I wouldn’t fully appreciate his impact until many years later.
Along with more typical courses of study, he taught us things like global geography, American Sign Language, and my favorite of all — drawing and graphic lettering. He encouraged students to bring their own unique talents to the table, and was always generous with his praise and warm smiles. In addition to being a fantastic teacher, he was an exceedingly kind human being, and always went out of his way to make his students feel special. With his guidance and encouragement, I felt myself truly excelling at something for the first time in my life, and he gave me the courage to really believe in my skills and abilities. I was bullied often as a girl, and lacked self confidence as a result, but Mr. B — knowingly or not — helped me to see past that to the strong, talented, and driven person I truly was.
Fast forward several years, and many attempts at different career paths later. With my 30th birthday quickly approaching, I felt like something had to change, and fast. It seems the older you get, the faster time flies, and when you don’t love what you do, true happiness feels elusive. For me, the thought of letting life pass me by without ever being fully present — or fully happy — was a terrifying one, and I knew that I needed a change.
For the past couple years, I’ve thought about Mr. B and all that he taught me often — how to be authentically myself, how to express my ideas with pencil and paper, how to create artwork that gave me something to feel proud of, and how to use that pride for good. As I started to reflect on my past work experiences, both the things I hated and the things that I liked, the things I was poor at and the places where I excelled, I found two common threads that were totally missing:
- I want to help people, or do something that makes people happy
- I want to create things with my hands, that both myself and others can enjoy
Since graduating college, I’ve held no less than six different jobs, and through each one I’ve felt creatively and emotionally stifled. And more than that, I’ve felt like my work has had no meaning in the real world. No matter how valuable my contributions have been to each company, I’ve often felt like my time could be so much better used, and like I could be giving so much more back to society. My work has been a means to a financial end, and while I do love money and stability, I also love the feeling of giving, the feeling of creating, the feeling of owning my time and controlling my happiness. The corporate world has often taken those freedoms from me, and this last year, I finally decided it was time to get them back.
And so I went on the ultimate pursuit of happiness — which for me meant assessing my passions, my priorities, my interests and wants and needs, my greatest skills and my assets, and then figuring out what to do with all of those. While I still don’t feel like I’m where I want to be yet, I’m getting there, and forward progress is always worth celebrating.
How We Arrived at Today
Serendipity Lettering was born out of a love for, and skill at, creating art with words. For me, the most valuable “possessions” in life aren’t actual tangible things, but the conversations we share with close friends, the stolen words we share with our partners, the banter we share with our families, and the pleasantries we share with complete strangers. Words and expressions, experiences and moments, are to me so much more than tangible objects. I do have a small addiction to my iPhone and my art materials, which are things I can see and touch, but beyond those I love my family and friends most, my horse Goose, my two cats, and any time I get to spend in the car or on a plane traveling to my next adventure.
Being able to capture those moments, those experiences, and those feelings with words, and to bring them to life on paper — it is my greatest joy. And to think that with enough time, and effort, and unrelenting passion, I can turn this joy into a business that allows me to spread joy far and wide? That’s the motivation I have every day, pushing me forwards.
I hope that you’ll stick around to be a part of this journey. It’s guaranteed to be a bumpy ride, but I am so ready!