Halie’s Story

Growing up, Halie never saw art as an actual profession that she could pursue. As she had dreams of becoming a doctor, art was the furthest thing from her brain. However, after spending four years in undergrad and still not knowing what profession to go into, she decided to go to graduate school to get her Masters of Science in Business Management to make her resume look more reputable to possible employers.

The graduate program offered Halie extra time that she did not have during her undergraduate degree. To take advantage of the excess time she was given, Halie decided to start painting for the first time in her life. Art had always been involved in Halie’s life in some shape or form throughout her life. She was in drawing classes through middle school, spurred on by a passion in Manga drawings; she took more drawing electives when she reached high school and even joined clay club during her time there. Art was something that always calmed her down and helped her mind relax when the rest of her life seemed as if it was going a million miles at once.

Even though art had always been present in Halie’s younger years, she never had the chance to paint and had not been in touch with her artistic side in four years since she graduated high school. Now in graduate school and presented with the time necessary to delve into the arts, Halie started painting for fun. This simple fun turned into painting on jackets which then turned into selling a few painted jackets to family members; which then turned into starting a TikTok account that led Halie to realize that art was her real passion. Now faced with the understanding that she wanted to be an artist, Halie was faced with the brutal reality. Being an artitst was not easy and Halie did not have any schooling geared toward the arts. However, through the online encouragement from her growing following on TikTok, Halie saw that there was a market for her work. Now she aims to reach even higher heights with her art and show others that going after your dreams are worth it no matter the challenges. She wants to prove to others that it is better to have tried and failed than to never try at all.