“From the point of view of one who creates, everything is a gamble, a leap into the unknown.”
YAYOI KUSAMA.
At the age of 8 I sold lemonade at 50 cents a cup and for a $2 Canadian bill you could get a beautiful dandelion bouquet with your lemonade. At 15 I was the largest seller on eBay in Canada, at 18 I bought and sold over 200 domain names, at 20 I sold my first business and went on to build over 20 different companies. I love business. It is in my soul. You probably think at this point I will say I went to Harvard or Stanford business school, however, I did the opposite and went to art school.
It is amazing how much opening I have found from refusing to go into patterned thought or action and exploring my curiosities.
To most, going to art school did not make sense. My friends, colleagues, and family knew me as Tiff, the entrepreneur or Tiff the techy or science nerd. Why was I going to art school? And a very expensive art school too.
At the time, I was living in Philadelphia and my apartment building was overflowing with Wharton MBA students. I would ask my neighbors to lend me their books and notes so I could study them — just for fun! The most valuable part about MBAs is the network, however I was already a great networker and I knew so many just by chatting with those in my building! Despite knowing I would absolutely love taking an MBA and following the crowds, I’m best known to do the exact opposite of everyone else.
Each weekend, I would take the train from Philadelphia to NYC to visit with friends. One weekend while in NYC, I visited a close friend of mine who was at Parsons in the interior design program and my body glistened with joy listening to her talk about her experience. She showed me her model, cut on a laser cutter, to show the interior architecture of a champagne lounge she had designed. I was obsessed with this model and the digital 3D renderings she had created to show the concept of the design for the lounge. I wanted to do this too.
And as my friends would later say: in typical ‘Tiff’ fashion, I decided to apply and told no one. For the application, I needed to include a portfolio of my artwork. My undergraduate degree was in biology and I was currently working in pharmaceutical consulting, I did not have any sketches or art for a portfolio. I am not the best at drawing but am a really fast learner when it comes to technology and quickly became an expert at digital art and design software. I spent the next 72 hours learning a 3D design software program called…. And created four interior design projects. (insert image)
The design for a jewelry retail store, a residential apartment, an office design, and I created 4 material board swatches. To fulfill the drawing portion of the portfolio, I added in a floor plan and an elevation plan (all produced directly by the software but they looked hand drawn.)
The day I got the acceptance letter, the adrenaline rush through my body felt like I had just jumped out of a plane skydiving. I enrolled, packed up my Philadelphia apartment, left my high paying consulting job, and set course for the Big Apple.
Art school opened up a new and powerful tangent of design and out of the box thinking to my skill set. I launched Roomhints Mobile App after graduating from art school. The app was an out of the box idea where the user uploaded a photo of their room to get interior design ideas.
The most successful businesses I started lied within the intersection of science and art. There was a creative opening from going to Parsons, The NewSchool, that made me a better entrepreneur.
To rank #1 for the keyword “interior design” in the Appstore in 2014, through experimentation we found out the search algorithm’s ranking of apps was based on the frequency of updates. We built and launched the app within a month and continued to update the app every three days. To move at this speed, on a bootstrapped start-up budget, I did everything myself; designed the user experience, user interface, logo, brand, color scheme, icons, website, email newsletter, blog, profile pictures, you name it, I designed it. I found real efficiency and power by not having to translate my design ideas to someone else who then would have to read my mind to come up with the design.
Today, the conceptual and design education I got from Parsons is the foundation for every business, creative campaign, or idea that I start. There was a creative opening from going to Parsons, The NewSchool, that made me a better entrepreneur.
During covid, I was curious about 3D printing. I bought a 3D printer, learned how to print resin models, and launched a jewelry company to create awareness about how the bees are dying and what we can do to support them. I DJ and spin techno sets on Wednesdays, everyone this Christmas will be getting a pottery mug from my throwing class, and this summer I had my first contemporary art exhibit. I continue to explore my curiosities, question my patterned thoughts or actions, and do things don’t make sense but speak to my heart.
