Life & Work with Nia Paul of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nia Paul.

Hi Nia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
From a young child I knew I wanted to be an artist. I would see my sisters drawing extremely well, watching next top model & project runway & I wanted that. On my dad’s side, all of his siblings were taught how to sew & cook from a young age, growing up in Trinidad I guess it was a necessity to survive. On my mother’s side her & all her siblings would crochet as kids & make their grand mother crochet tissue holders. I vividly remember seeing them in my great grandmothers home later down the line. My mom’s late sister Joan grew to be a designer in New York & My dad’s sister still sells her artistic creations to this day. My mom would always be recording us & taking pictures on her Cannon Camera as well. I like to joke & say she was the original Youtuber before Youtube. So, as you see from a young age art surrounded me & still does. My mom always told me I could be anything I wanted to be. I was the youngest of 6 kids in our home so maybe I was a bit spoiled in a way. I would draw off and on for years but when I grew frustrated with achieving perfection I would stop for long periods of time . In middle school I had a bow business my mom would buy me the ribbon and hot glue to make them , she even bought me my first purple sewing machine. I would also make bleached sweat shirts for me & my friends. We weren’t rich but we always had enough & we learned how to use what we did have.

After high school I started a YouTube channel that grew to have 30K+ subscribers & over 3 million+ views on different videos teaching hair braiding, travel, self help & other creative things. After a surgery I had to have I started watercolor painting to pass the time & have been exploring different mediums ever since, I picked up fashion design & poetry again along the way as well.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No not at all. I’ve experienced bullying, multiple surgeries from childhood accidents, lost a lot of family members that have passed on , lost friend groups because of jealousy, growing up with a single parent & so many things. But i’m thankful for it all because it built my character.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m known for being a YouTuber, Artist & Designer. I paint with acrylic & watercolor. I also do digital art & poetry and lately I’ve been customizing prom dresses. I’ve done two prom dresses this year for two girls senior proms. I also sold my first painting last year to my therapist for an event that she was featured in. I’ve also been taking multiple crochet orders. I’m originally known for my braid tutorials on YouTube that has reached over 3 million views in counting. I think I’m most proud of just taking risk on myself artistically without really knowing the full outcome, having an idea but not fully knowing I think what sets me apart from others is that im boldly unapologetically myself and I’m learning to be okay with being misunderstood publicly

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I see people being less performative in my industry and more authentic, even if it brings more ridicule, I see more people showing more emotion in their work and being more human, even though we’re moving into a more of an AI/technology era of life I feel like that’s gonna open the door for people to be more human to show the difference. I feel like there will be a big difference in who is being Programmed by a system that seeks to control & tame and who’s being programmed by themselves.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @niabiatv
• Twitter: @niabiatv
• Youtube: @niabia_tv