the ABCs
Well, a lot has been going on lately.
In addition to creating a digital coworking community, I started a podcast with my best friend for the first time, recorded vlogs for the first time, got pregnant for the first time, had a baby for the first time, renovated like half of my home for the first time, and in the midst of all that, I got laid off of my job in tech. But I might be getting ahead of myself.
Hey! My name Asia, and I am just so excited that you are here! A little over 5 years ago, I started working remotely for the first time, just like many other individuals. While this kind of occupational setup may not have jived with some people, I LOVED the opportunity to work this way. The flexibility to work from home and use my time I would have spent commuting towards sharpening my serial hobbyist qualities and empowering my homebody nature.
While I did love those aspects of the WFH (“work from home” if you are still catching up) lifestyle, I encountered a couple different issues that I could not get past.
First, I did NOT love the environment I was working from at home. Like many others at that time, I was thrusted into a WFH gig overnight, so I did not have a dedicated space that would empower and inspire me to get all the things done that I needed to do. My husband, Luke, had a tiny gaming area that occupied one of two bedrooms in our humble, petite apartment, and he graciously offered me a corner of that teeny space. Then I’m not sure if it was a combination of the size of the room and us having to share that space doing entirely different work, but it was clear that working from that room together was just not going to work. So i moved cumbersome desktop setup to our old dining table filled the entire dining area of our apartment. It was one of those counterheight tables that looked like solid wood, but it definitely wasn’t. We bought it off of a florist that spilled one too many vases on it. Anyways, I would sit there and send [SO] many emails to customers apologizing that manufacturing had yet to resume, so their orders would take longer than anticipated to be fulfilled. To make that sad, sad task more life-giving, I started creating and hanging up art in that little dining area. It was the one thing I could do in that space that would make what I was doing feel less tragic.
The second issue I met was the loneliness I felt working from home— which is saying a lot coming from an introvert. While I always want to work hard and have great professional integrity, I never was one that felt like my career needed to fulfill me. However, what I did find gave purpose to my days-in and days-out were the people that I interacted with in those professional settings. Suddenly working from home in isolation reminded me how much of an impact the social aspect of work had on me. To combat this, Luke and I took to the internet universe and found people who enjoyed similar interests or were in the same line of work as us or just wanted people to connect with. We found a special kind of connection through engaging in livestreams and livestreaming ourselves. I, along with many, many others, found that a healthy online community was a great garden to cultivate meaningful relationships and connections.
Fighting those issues helped me discover a facet of myself that allowed me to connect what I did and what I loved to do in a whole new way! I was able to create art that inspired and build a community with people I had come to love.
Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, while enjoying many new things and a whole new human, I found myself jobless — but not hopeless.
While I was decorating my baby girl’s nursery, I found an alphabet poster I had created, and I decided to print it and hang it up in her room. Everyone who passed through that space encountered that piece experienced a joy that I felt when I originally created the piece! Luke ended up asking me why I don’t share that art with others to add some joy to their spaces! That question gave new life to what I want to do in this digital space.
I want to create pieces that inspire and connect people in a world that could use some inspiration and connection. My hope for sharing my art is that these pieces help bring joy to the mundane and the downright hard, and I hope that sharing this art brings our digital community even closer together!
while I continue to look for work, I can’t wait to use this time to share my art with this community, share what I am learning from you all, and foster this community, wherever you find yourself working.