You want it? She can make it! Probate gifts, dorm decorations, party decorations, signs, banners, shirts, you name it. Her Campus sat down with this talented artist to talk about her business and her plans for the future.
Name: Michaela Yant
Nickname: Mickey
Major: Entomology
Hometown: Jackson, Mississippi
HC FAMU: Tell us about your business
MY: Well I paint everything. I paint people, faces, bodies, dorm decorations, Greek decorations; I’ve been asked to do everything under the sun! But basically just anything I can paint.
HC FAMU: What made you get started?
MY: I’ve been doing art since I was three, and one time my Mom asked me to draw an animal kingdom. And you know how when three year olds draw it’s like “Well what’s that?” [my drawings] were distinguishable. You could tell what everything was. So it’s kind of just something I used to do for free back home, and people would just ask me to paint. But then when I came to college and it was a struggle for money, instead of doing it for free, I just started charging for it.
HC FAMU: Why do you think people should come to you over someone else?
MY: I do everything by hand, so you’re never going to see the same thing twice. It might be the same concept, but no two things are exactly the same. I take my time and I hand bead everything, hand rhinestone everything, and hand pearl everything. I don’t do plastered on, spray paint, stick and glue; everything I do is by hand so it’s unique.
HC FAMU: Where do you see your business and yourself personally being in 5 years?
MY: In five years I still want to keep it small, I don’t want it do become a big business because then it becomes unoriginal. So I kind of want to keep it where it is, but I want it to be global so more people know about it, rather than just people in Florida and Mississippi. So I want to expand and have more income, and then more [output]. Myself in five years, I hope to be graduating and in Medical School; I want to be a body examiner. I know that has nothing to do with painting at all! [Laughs] But I want to become a medical examiner and eventually open a funeral home which has nothing to do with painting; but [painting] is my passion, so that is something that I will always want to keep on the side.
Instagram: @_MICKIPEDIA
For artwork inquiries email mick6794@gmail.com