Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexa Paul.
Alexa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve always been an artist, no matter what I dabbled in. From the time I was 5-8 years old, I threw plays where I hand wrote scripts and would perform them in front of my family at every event. I also had my hand in lead roles for my school’s plays. I just wasn’t a shy child. When I turned eight years old, I joined a dance academy that regularly put on musicals and performed in competitions. I got major roles in each play and was always required to dance, sing and act. This heightened my sense of creativity as I became exposed to so many different genres of music and artistry. I grew up with a relatively religious family and all that my parents played on the radio was Christian music, so that’s all I knew until was introduced to the different types at my Dance Academy. I got an agency, Houghton Talent, at 12years old and continued to be under that agency until about 16 years old. 16 is when I didn’t want to act anymore. Instead, I released all my frustrations and teenage angst into a different medium, painting.
Looking back, I was a horrible painter until I got into my dream school The Savannah College of Art and Design. And they gave me a scholarship for the artwork I had in my portfolio. They definitely made me a better painter and I was introduced to so many ways of honing into my creativity and drawing anatomically correct. I had a life drawing class where all we did for the whole Quarter was draw nude models. I still don’t know how people are able to find gigs like that! I left SCAD without finishing my Advertisement degree because it was too expensive for me, and I just didn’t want to go to school anymore and developed Imposter’s Syndrome, so that really threw me off my course. I had no idea what I wanted to do or be. So I took a gap year off, worked unsuccessfully as a freelance illustrator, and took on jobs as a hair store supervisor and then worked for my mom at her law firm.
During this time, I stopped doing Art and just focused on earning a stable income. Naturally, I lost all feelings of what my purpose in life was. Because from the time I was 5 to 18 years old, I could never understand why people worried about their futures. I was pretty secure in what I wanted to be. When I left SCAD, I finally understood the insane feeling of self-doubt. The real world will do that to you. But as time went on, I got back into just creating art personally, still not acting, I honed in on my painting skills. I got really good because I was able to tap into my emotions and really display that on canvases. Music has helped me extremely in expressing myself. I listen to various genres based on my mood and every time, music really has as a way of pulling everything I’m feeling out of me.
Next thing I know, I’m featured in 6 art shows at Gallery Events: Metanoia, Artista 1&2, and The Atlanta Gallery. And I illustrated a children’s book for Emmy Award Winner Hank Stewart. But even with all these fun accomplishments, I still felt empty because it wasn’t like I had a sense of self yet.
Fast forward to me being 21, I’m still working at my mom’s law firm, and have returned to school, now at Georgia State. I’m more confident in wanting to be an Art Director in Advertisement but GSU doesn’t have an Advertisement program, so I’m majoring in Graphic Design and Marketing. Towards the end of 2018, I decided to create several shoots for myself to launch my Creative Direction career, and I’m pretty proud of the concepts I’ve created. You can check them out in my story highlights on my Instagram. But I still felt lost, having no opportunities in my field, I prayed to God every day to just grant me an opportunity for a career in doing something I loved. At the beginning of January 2019, I reached out to one of my mom’s clients who happened to own a luxury athleisure company, Dayo. I had an interview the following week and got a job as a creative media and social media managing paid intern. Now I have two jobs: One in law and one in Creative Direction. Both occupations are on two totally different sides of the spectrum but they’ve helped instill things in me that make me more and more confident for my career each and every day.
Great, 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?
Nothing, by far has been a smooth road. I will sugar coat nothing. For all the good events that happened in my life and budding career, there were about a thousand and one things that caused me to fail miserably. Being an artist, you are susceptible to any and everything. One event can throw your whole mojo off and cause you not to be able to create. Creating has always been an outlet for me, so when I went through various depressive episodes throughout my life, I wasn’t able to create any more. I didn’t make any pieces for a year because of these episodes. I developed an intense form of Imposter’s Syndrome. It crippled me to the point where I didn’t network with anyone or branch out into different areas of art interests because I felt I was incapable and people would find out that I wasn’t capable. So I did nothing for quite awhile.
byAlexaPaul – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I don’t own a business but I think of myself as my business. I’m the entity. I’m a walking billboard for myself. I’m currently earning a degree in Graphic Design and Marketing so I can have a successful career in Art Directing for Advertisements. Whether I want to own my own company is hard to say, but I probably will because both of my parents own their own companies, and that’s all I’ve grown up around. So without a doubt, I can definitely confirm that Design and Art Direction is what I specialize in. I’m currently known for my creative shoots, and paintings. I’ve done a self-portrait that got me quite a bit of attention on Twitter as well.
Some will say I’m known for my viral selfies but I’m rebranding as a means to show that I am capable of so much more than just phone pictures. I’m most proud of myself. For really getting myself out of my fears and becoming the best version of myself. For taking the leap into my career, and for taking my own life by the horns. I’m a Taurus. I live in Atlanta, so there’s so many exceptionally creative individuals like my friend Jamal who did an interview with you, Auri the Exhibition owner of Metanoia, Tay and Courtney of Pussy Power, etc. I could name a bunch of people here, but the one thing that I would say that sets me apart is, I’m just myself. I have my own process of doing things, I curate what I want, and I’m not afraid to toss everything if it no longer serves what I feel my purpose is.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Getting a job in creative media at Dayo. It’s by far the highlight of my career because I’ve just begun and have already been granted such an amazing opportunity to further my growth. Shoutout to God.
Contact Info:
- Email: byalexapaul@gmail.com
- Instagram: byalexapaul
- Twitter: fineartsmami
Image Credit:
“The Gods Were Always Women,” Photography Ryan Stokes, Concept and Model by Alexa Paul, Makeup by “Hali Dehan”, “Unfold,” Photography by Aiesha Janae, Concept, Model and Makeup by Alexa Paul, “Dayo Dove Logo,” by Alexa Paul for Dayo, “the Girl Feed Podcast,” by Alexa Paul, “Self Portrait,” by Alexa Paul
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