Be as Free & Creative as a Child.
I am the owner and creative director of a marketing firm. Our team is full of seasoned writers, professional designers, photographers, and coders. All of this talent but my true star employee (sorry, guys) is my 8 year old daughter, Rylee.
She was 4 when I ventured on my own. In many ways, she has been raised and is being raised alongside my struggles and successes as a business owner. I went from working at our kitchen table, to taking over her and her sister’s playroom, to getting a shared office, and to finally moving into our own office where she is currently seated in the conference room.
She is not only my star employee because she has helped me decorate each space or move my computer a million times but because she has kept me pure.
The photo below is the banner for our new website, launching this week, but I didn’t make it. Rylee did.
Like you, we were home for the past few months juggling office and school work. I started carving out times that Rylee could use my laptop and play with Illustrator and my other design programs.
On the day she created the banner, she propped my laptop next to me while I was reviewing a website on my desktop. When she opened Illustrator, a design was already there.
She looked at the random colors and brush strokes with confusion and partial-disgust (ha!), “what is this?”
I grunted, “I am trying to make a new banner and look for the company’s website. I hate it. Just open a new file.”
She shrugged and ignored me for a good hour. We sat listening to The Smiths and worked quietly.
“Hey, Mom. I think I got it.”
I leaned over to see what she was talking about and the banner you saw above, was right there. Simple and bright and representing the digital world. I had been thinking and planning alongside my emotional pressure for my own brand that I missed coming from the part I yell at everyone to do…the gut.
It won’t be a surprise for me to tell you that children are unapologetically themselves. I know you have dealt with meltdowns about the most random things or have questioned whether or not to let them out of the house in that costume one more time, or cover up one of their honest opinions about Aunt Sally over dinner…they just are who they are.
This is because they are constantly inventing themselves. They are making up who they are and what they care about on a minute by minute basis. They are experimenting and discovering new parts of their personality alongside their emotions.
As adults, we have already decided — or society and responsibility has already decided — who we are. Generally, we go about our day to check off boxes. We apologize for being too loud or not loud enough, for coloring outside the lines, for not dressing to code, for not saying what everyone wants to hear…we just stop creating who we are.
Rylee is by no means an extroverted kid but that doesn’t have anything to do with pure expression. Her favorite accessory when she was 6 were her Doc Martens. No matter the occasion, they were on her feet. She wears my old glasses with the lenses out, she dances in the car like no one is watching, and when I pause to catch these moments in the making…I can see her light up with internal inspiration and happiness.
This is where creativity comes in. If we can pull from that same space, no matter what our role is, we have the opportunity to be our own making.
Today, let’s be kids…
Anastasia
Momality Guest Blogger, Anastasia Guadron
Anastasia is owner of thevividmark.com, a marketing firm based in Westchester County. She spends her time with her kids, running her business, painting, writing poems, and exchanging Momality text strings with Nicole and Lyndsay. You can check out marketing information on her instagram page @the_vividmark and her adventures with her kids on her personal page @anastasiaguadron.
