With COVID-19 popping up to interrupt my senior year, I have had to face a lot of facts. Graduating college is already daunting—Do you go to grad school? Do you have a job yet? How are you going to navigate the job market post-COVID? – there are so many questions and they are pretty much ridiculous. No one knows how to navigate any of this right now. Grad school is wonderful for some people, but I also don’t want to go to grad school right away if that means spending the fall semester online not getting the experience I am craving from a higher-level institution. Those are the questions that have consumed me for a long time and they still do sometimes. But this quarantine has taught me so many things. One of those things is that, life is too short to sit here and do what is “right” or “smart” when those things don’t make you feel fulfilled somehow.
Growing up, I saw my mom have her own business. I have seen the ups and downs, good moments that have made me celebrate and moments that have made me want to take cover and run the other way. But I have also seen the relationships she has made. People have come to trust her and vice versa. She has people that she can rely on, that she has become friends with and that have truly become family. I have always admired that. When I got married, I looked at what I wanted from my life—I know that I want to be an actor and that I wanted to do something with my art. I paint, I draw digitally, I have learned how to work with resin and I am pretty much always finding a way to work on something crafty. That is how Amanda Brinlee Designs was born. I knew that I needed a place to put all of these things and I couldn’t think of a better way to share it. In all honesty, I am nervous. I don’t know how all of this will go, I don’t know how to gauge how people respond and I am taking a risk. But if I don’t do it now, then will I ever? If I don’t work at this now, will I ever work on having the confidence to do this? I can’t promise myself that I will, so here I am, sharing this with you and hoping that some part of this resonates with you.
This week, I graduated with my Bachelors of Arts in Theatre with a concentration in Acting. I love my degree, and I am so grateful for my time at my university, the people I have known so far, the lessons I have learned and the career I have ahead of me, but I also know that I have other passions. So, I’m going to do it. I’m starting a business. My business. I have so much support from friends and family, but what I am learning is that means nothing if I don’t start believing in myself. No one else is going to do this for me so I am.
I am so excited to learn about what all of this means—how do I run a business? How do I share my products? What do I need to do to make sure my socials accurately reflect me, my brand and what I want to put out into the world?
The truth is, right now, I don’t know all of the answers to those questions, but I am doing to figure it out. I am going to figure out and I am going to share it. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok (I can’t believe I’m putting my TikTok out there wow), YouTube (soon, v soon) and Etsy. :-)
Instagram: @Amanda.Brinlee_ / @Amanda.Brinlee.Designs
TikTok: @Amanda.Brinlee_
YouTube: Amanda Brinlee
Etsy- Amanda Brinlee Designs