It’s strange but not surprising that, during a time as disruptive as the one we’re currently experiencing, the possibilities for creativity seem endless. Perhaps it’s because we’ve all been shaken to the core, discovered new interests, and become more engaged with our senses, and in the process, poured it all into different pursuits.
One of the most refreshing changes over the past year and a half has been the emergence of new creatives and entrepreneurs. Many of these individuals maintain day jobs, all the while managing passion projects they’ve sustained to express their interests or even turned into fully fledged businesses. These include (but are not limited to) online furniture dealers, home chefs offering weekly menus, and visual artists sharing their one-of-a-kind works with the masses.
Finding room to play is critical to your growth as an individual, even if you don’t end up monetizing it in the long run. To witness people exploring more than one path and putting their interests out there in a big way has been really inspiring, and impacted our approach to our latest Fall issue and choice of who we wanted to profile.
No one exemplifies this multi-hyphenated, unapologetically expressive lifestyle better than our cover star, Tracee Ellis Ross. She is unfiltered, effortlessly stylish, and has established an authentic career that spans film and television while paving an inspiring path for future female founders with her successful haircare brand, Pattern Beauty.
Elsewhere in the issue, we profile creatives such as Montreal-based Lauren MacLean, an IT professional who documents her impressive interior design journey on her blog and Instagram account @LivingbyLo, and artist Sean Brown, whose career accomplishments include a successful fashion brand, creative direction for P. Diddy, and a recent foray into housewares and unique objects.
In the face of uncertainty, the most comforting remedy to feelings of unease is to live life authentically and without regret—transforming that what if into how to. So, whether you want to make your dream a reality or explore an interest of yours as a means of self-expression, there’s no better time than now to take that little chance.