Rising Stars: Meet Whitney Panetta of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Panetta.

Hi Whitney, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have been interested in art for as long as I can remember. I was raised by an art teacher mom and an engineer dad, art and design have always been a part of my life. I decided to pursue art in college and intended to focus on graphic design, but education is in my blood, and I ended up in the art education program. I graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s and master’s in art education. While teaching professionally, I focused on high school art, and I quickly realized that when you are hired as an art teacher, you are given little to no resources to guide your classes. You are provided a course schedule with class names, but that is it. There is no book, curriculum, or timeline on what to teach. I spent many hours designing lessons, activities, presentations, and more from scratch for my classes. After I created a bank of resources, I discovered a website, Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), where teachers can purchase resources from other teachers. I started my store and the rest is history! After 12 years in the classroom, my TPT store had grown enough to allow me to quit teaching and focus on my business full-time. I am now in my 5th year of being my own boss, supporting art teachers globally, and I love what I do.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think any business venture always has a smooth road. My biggest hurdle was getting my business off the ground. I knew there was a need out there for these art resources, but my time was limited. For many years, I taught school from 7:30-4 and spent every evening creating resources for my classroom and TPT store. Juggling kids, homelife, work, and trying to grow my business was difficult, but worth it now that I am where I am.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a former high school art teacher turned curriculum developer. Over the last 13 years I have built my own business that designs and sells art lesson plans, full art curricula, and activities for elementary through high school art teachers. I am most proud of this business because it allowed me to quit my full-time job, support art educators globally, work for myself full-time, and support my family. I also still love to create artwork in my visual journal, through mixed media works of art, and more.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the diversity in Atlanta. We have a wide range of food, music, art, transplants living here from all over, it’s a true hod podge, and I love it. I especially love being in the city and seeing the vibrant murals and amazing people who live here. I dislike how disjointed our city is. We have some amazing transportation options that have been developed over the last few years, such as the Beltline and the trolley. However, we are lacking in connection points. We need the beltline completed, with the rail line included. The trolley should be expanded so it can actually function as a transportation option. We also need additional Marta line rails. As the largest city in the southeast, we are severely lacking in public transit compared to other major cities in the US.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lookbetweenthelines.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/look.btwn.the.lines
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lookbetweenthelines
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@whitneypanetta
• Other: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/look-between-the-lines

Image Credits
Meagan Brooker Photography (final image of my family)