Women in the Arts
Through our Creator Spotlight series, we celebrate successful creative women and girls by sharing their inspiring stories. The series also helps debunk the myth that you can’t have a successful career as a creative.
When she was four years old, Ishida Dance founder Brett Ishida remembers putting on ballet productions in her bedroom, where she simultaneously was the choreographer, director, and prima ballerina. “I would have dreams about my own productions,” she remembered. “I realized I needed to be doing this. People haven’t seen things like the stuff I …
Female entrepreneurship and creativity were far-flung ideas to Deborah Cole growing up in 1960s Texas. She remembers playing “What Shall I Be?”, a girls’ board game that limited players to “choosing” careers as either a teacher, nurse, model, ballerina, actress, or airline hostess. Owning a business was not an option. Today, as a photographer, motivational …
During Erin Cronican’s childhood, she watched a lot of musicals, a lot of Disney and was a constant audience member at the local youth theater in her hometown of San Diego. Somewhere during those years, she realized being up on stage was what she wanted to do with her life. In fact, despite a hatred …
As a young girl, Isis Asare never shied away from making reading recommendations to her younger sister or neighborhood friends through a self-started book club. Her passion for sharing literature continues today through Sistah Scifi. The online bookstore is self-described as a “cauldron of all things afro-futuristism casting spells to uplift literature written by Black …
For nearly two decades, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan has been making documentary films that focus on gender, death, and the Latinx community. Guevara-Flanagan remembers seeing a lot of movies with her family as a child. Her stepdad was in the Directors Guild of America, and her mother was a high school English and drama teacher who poured …
ZuZu Perkal first arrived in Austin to pursue an advertising degree at the University of Texas. After graduation, Perkal spent several years working at various creative agencies and organizations before realizing her dream of becoming a full-time visual artist and muralist. She is also a yoga instructor and serves on the Board of Directors for …
Before launching The Elephant Organics clothing line, Elizabeth Kakar worked full-time in the fashion industry. Her career path evolved after becoming pregnant with her first child, and Kakar began shopping for baby clothes. She was dismayed at the lack of choices regarding sustainable, organic items, so, together with her father-in-law, she decided to do something …
Author Lisa McGuinness’s latest book Mother Daughter Activity Journal: Connecting Better with Each Other, offers mothers and daughters a new supportive place to share thoughts, dreams, worries, cares, life experiences–and have fun while doing it. McGuinness is the author of Catarina’s Ring, Meaningful Bouquets, Hoppy Trails, Caffeinated Ideas Journal, and the co-author of numerous children’s …
Storytelling has been key to all of Rebecca Moses‘s creative endeavors. A designer, author, and artist, Moses created murals for the iconic Ralph Pucci building during Art Basel in December 2021. The exhibit, her third, titled Bubblegum, Lipstick, and Hope, contained pieces that reflected Hope, passion, determination, and the desire to stay true to one’s …
Music has the power to heal. It can tell stories that reach an audience the way the words can’t. Tamika Love Jones is a firm believer in this theory. Jones is a singer/songwriter from Washington, D.C. Growing up, she could always sing. Yet, it wasn’t until her classmates and teachers encouraged her that Jones decided …