We have invited Princella Seripenah, a medical student in Russia who is originally from Ghana. Princella is a freelance artist. Today, Princella shares what inspires her to step beyond her comfort zone and show off her creativity. She’ll also give you some suggestions to help you attain your goals.
Mentioned in this episode:
- https://www.artbyprincella.com/
Amora Brown (00:10):
Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Corpartainment. I am Amora, your host, and today we have a wonderful artist on the line today. She is a medical student in Russia and she's originally from Ghana. Her name is Princella Seripenah. Welcome to the podcast today, Priscilla.
Princella Seripenah (00:32):
Thank you Amora. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be interviewed by you.
Amora Brown (00:38):
Oh, that's so nice to say. I was on your Instagram and the way that I found you was I, you popped up in my, uh, my recommended like, and I was just like, "ooh, look at these pictures like paintings or of black beautiful women. Just, they look very peaceful and elegant and the colors are very neutral". I was like, whoever drew this picture know how to make me look good. And so I was just like, this is so pretty. But you don't really see a lot of art. I think what like black art so much. Like you're starting to see it a lot more now, but it's just, I've seen a lot of like, what is it? It's digital art, right?
Princella Seripenah (01:21):
Yeah, digital art, digital painting.
Amora Brown (01:24):
Yeah. Digital paintings. How did you get into digital paintings? Like where did you learn this skill to be so good?
Princella Seripenah (01:31):
. That's a great question. I taught myself out of boredom in quarantine . Yeah. So I basically started after one of my stressful exam periods that was like from exam. So I needed something that would like help me relax and then calm down. And because studying for that exam was really hell. And by God's grace I passed excellently so I needed to like calm down. So I found, uh, myself. Okay. I studied with my iPad and somewhere along the line I downloaded procreate. It was by accident and-
Amora Brown (02:13):
Just playing around. Just playing around with it.
Princella Seripenah (02:16):
Yeah, I decided that I'm not just going to waste my, cause, you know, procreate costs like $10 or so. I didn't want to waste my $10. So I kind of forced myself to like try to play around with it. And then I saw a Pinterest tutorial on how to make these digital paintings and I was like, "Hmm, I can also do that". So I started practicing. Practicing and yeah.
Amora Brown (02:39):
Oh wow. Yeah. How long did it take you to get that good?
Princella Seripenah (02:42):
It didn't take me that long because I'm an artist. Like I used to draw on paper, but like I stopped for a while because school, so let's say a month, I don't, I don't think it really even took up to, because I already had some skill with with drawing. So it didn't take me so long. I was, another thing was I was drawing every single day, like yeah, every, cause I really loved how it came out.
Amora Brown (03:08):
Doing that every single day, it's like a little bit at a time, especially if you see it as a way to relax that it's like an easy practice. It's not something that's forced. It's like, especially like with studying a in a medical school, like , like I, I can imagine how stressful that would be. Does your classmates know that you're an artist as well too? Is that something that people know you for in addition to medicine? ?
Princella Seripenah (03:32):
No, no one actually knows me as- it depends, most people know me Okay. From high school. Most people know me as a poet, and people from university know me as a dancer so-
Amora Brown (03:45):
Really?
Princella Seripenah (03:47):
Yeah. I dance at church . So this part was kind of not known to many people. I mean, a few of my friends in high school knew that I could draw, but they didn't really, yeah. Pay attention to that side of me. They knew me as a poet, so I didn't also really want to expose that part of me cuz I was shy. I didn't know if I didn't know how people would respond to it. So..
Amora Brown (04:11):
How did you get out of your shyness though and kind of put it on Instagram? Because you have like over 14,000 followers on Instagram. That is not a small number. So what kind of gave you courage to start putting your stuff out there?
Princella Seripenah (04:26):
A friend actually stuck me out of it. She said my work is good, I need to get more people saying my work. So I just created the account just to store, like for myself. Actually, I did it for myself initially, but like other people found my page. So...
Amora Brown (04:42):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. A lot of us found your page because it's so pretty. It's like, I saw it and I was like, "Ooh, this is, this is cute". Like, "I wanna look like the model" that you drew, it's are, are those real women or are those women that are from their imagination that you just draw?
Princella Seripenah (04:59):
So I draw based on references. So I see some qualities that I like in different pictures and I try to merge them sometimes to, I get from my inspiration, but I always need a reference, I feel like, so that it looks human. I don't want them to look like caricatures or something. I always love my paintings to look as close to life as possible so that you can relate to it.
Amora Brown (05:27):
Yeah. So now this is like a little side business for you while you go to school?
Princella Seripenah (05:32):
Mm-hmm. , I never expected anything like this. I really never- I started out, um, drawing for myself as a way to get rid of my stress from like the exam I told you about. And then later on people were like, "Ooh, this is so nice, can you do this for me? Ooh, this is so nice. I want a picture of me". And then it, it became into an art business that way and then more people came and they were like, "oh, I need a drawing for my business. Could you like",
Amora Brown (06:00):
Oooooooh.
Princella Seripenah (06:01):
Yeah. And it keeps going up and now I have brands asking me to do some illustrations for them and like, that is really mind-blowing. I never knew like all these opportunities existed, so I'm really, really grateful.
Amora Brown (06:13):
What would you tell someone who, like, there are people like my sister for example, she wants to be an artist too, and so she does a little bit of art and she does Instagram live. So for someone that's like you who was shy and you kind of stumbled upon this opportunity to make money just doing something that you like to do and doing something that's relaxing, drawing and creating art, what are some things that you learned that you didn't expect to learn but that actually benefited you a lot in getting the attention of people? So I know one of them is just putting your stuff out there, but is there anything else that you think really contributed to people like trusting you to work with you?
Princella Seripenah (06:55):
Mm-hmm. , that's a really great question. One thing I would say I really had to learn was not saying yes to every offer that comes my way. I had to like pick out the ones that aligned with like the goals that I had for my business and trying to not lose myself in the process. You know, you can get carried away with the money and like everything and every offer that comes with this opportunity, but I had to learn that I need to take care of myself. I need to stick to my goals. I need to basically not lose myself or something. You understand what I mean by that? Like yeah, stay true to myself. I hope that answers the question.
Amora Brown (07:39):
. Yeah. It, it does help answer the question, but how do you know what your, like how did you come up with like the idea of what the goal is for your company or for your brand since you didn't start off thinking like, oh, I wanna have a business in art. Like how does you come up with like, what is important to your business? Where do the ideas come from?
Princella Seripenah (08:01):
To be honest, I'm still learning. I'm still really learning about it. But like, one thing that I really wanted to, to stick with my company was representation. Like you said, there's not a lot of, um, dark-skin art represented and all of that, so I needed to step in that way. And also there isn't really that, like most of the time when you see black art, okay, from my side of the country, when you see black art, it's, it depicts women in this, um, suffering, carrying the whole world on her shoulders kind of image like, yeah.
Amora Brown (08:42):
Yeah I do, like, like black women are just so always tired and worn out and just heavy. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just, I just, I think that's also what caught me to your art too is it show black women being vulnerable, gentle, soft, like just delicate and I don't see a lot of that. And that's what also connected me to your art too, is just seeing like black women, you know, a delicate flower, you have to be gentle with her. Not so much like I'm a strong black woman all cause you know, we are that too. But it's also, no one ever sees that vulnerable, gentle, she's a pillow, she's a, a flower. You can break a flower if you're too rough type of person. So that's, I, that's what I liked. And so yeah, ,
Princella Seripenah (09:33):
Yeah, that was very important for me. So, but also like for personal illustrations, just to overall make the client happy. Like I know people like to see digital versions of themselves, so . Yeah,
Amora Brown (09:48):
Well I suppose now I'm wondering, this is another question from the previous interviewee that I interviewed. He is an actor and he used to be in the military for 21 years, but now he's a full-time actor. His name is Aaron Pina. And this is what his question is. If you could work at any place in the world, and it doesn't have to be a nine-to-five job, but just anywhere ever in the world, what kind of company would it be if there were no boundaries?
Princella Seripenah (10:26):
One thing about me is I would love to travel. So hopefully anything that wouldn't restrict me from traveling a lot and caring about people and their mental wellbeing, their how they are feeling and all that. So my job would have to center around that. Like my art for instance, empowering women, making them feel special, making them feel like they can, they're capable, they're loved all around that. And I know for a certain that being an a freelance illustrator would be able to give me all of these benefits. So I think maybe being a freelancer is that job .
Amora Brown (11:06):
So you would, you would rather just be remote and not be stuck to a single company.
Princella Seripenah (11:12):
Yeah. For me I feel like, yeah, .
Amora Brown (11:15):
So do you think you would like to continue working for yourself if you could just have it your way is to continue working for yourself or, or would you, or if there was a company that allowed you to be remote, you would do that?
Princella Seripenah (11:27):
I would love to work for a company. If they're going to give me all those privileges, why not ? And if they're paying, well , why not? So yeah,
Amora Brown (11:36):
I wonder how you can incorporate art into medical?
Princella Seripenah (11:41):
Medicine. That's really a tough question that I'm still asking myself and praying about because I really don't know. I really honestly don't know how. But let's see.
Amora Brown (11:51):
There's some way, I'm sure, you know, maybe the, the technology that is gonna help you do that is still being built today.
Princella Seripenah (11:59):
Exactly. Or maybe all the knowledge from here is going to help shape my art.
Amora Brown (12:04):
Yeah, because it's like a traveling doctor and artist. I'm trying to imagine what that would look like. What type of, uh, medical are you doing? So are you doing like a surgeon, like a surgeon or what type of medicine?
Princella Seripenah (12:22):
Okay, so we haven't yet specialized in like, we haven't yet broken into specialties yet. I'm still doing general medicine. So when I graduate I'm going to be a general practitioner and so I, or therapist. So I have to decide afterward, like after I get into practice and like in the hospitals and I'm working in various fields, then I'll figure out which one I want. But I know for sure I don't want to be a surgeon.
Amora Brown (12:49):
But if you're, okay, so then if you're not a surgeon, is it the type of work that you could theoretically do remotely?
Princella Seripenah (12:55):
I guess like being a family doctor, family medicine, you only work certain hours and then you have the rest of the night or afternoon to yourself or you can be, uh okay- in the UK and in Ghana there's this, you can be a local doctor like you decide what hours you want to work and then you have the rest of your day, the day to yourself. So maybe something like that could help or work out. But then usually those doctors are like therapists like you go for a consultation and stuff like that with them. So, but they still have to specialize. They still have to specialize in maybe gastro like about your stomach.
Amora Brown (13:37):
Oh, okay.
Princella Seripenah (13:38):
Maybe like neurology you specialize in maybe, um, heart problems or lung problems, pulmonologist, stuff like that. Pediatrics, obstetrics.
Amora Brown (13:48):
Yeah. Cause I was thinking, I was like, I wonder if there's a way, because you know what covid happened right now, a lot of doctors are working remotely, so you know, they don't really have to be in the office, but they still do be in the office for when you, when they need to like physically see you,
Princella Seripenah (14:00):
Yeah. The thing about medicine is you need to also see your patients to like assess them physically. Not only cause some patients be lying and you need to see-
Amora Brown (14:14):
You said some of these patients be lying.
Princella Seripenah (14:16):
They lie. So you have to assess them, like check their skin temperature, blood pressure, you check, you palpate, orate, everything you have to do physically.
Amora Brown (14:27):
Okay. That makes sense. Now, what is a question that's very creative that you might think is good to ask the next interviewee? . It could, it could even be, you know, I had a, um, an analyst on my, on my show too. And so they, they had like, like a very technical mindset as well. So you can think like a doctor or you can think like an artist when you ask your question. It doesn't have to be something simple, but just something creative that maybe no one would think to ask.
Princella Seripenah (15:06):
Okay, what is one thing that they would consider their true gifts or talent that they have to offer to the world?
Amora Brown (15:19):
Okay, that's a good question. Now, you know, the thing with that is that a lot of people on the show might say exactly what they're on interviewing for. They'll say like, if you, you'll say it's art or medicine. So I imagine that they might say the, the career that they're going after, but I might be surprised because they might say something that they never mentioned in the interview.
Princella Seripenah (15:44):
So then maybe to make it, to make it interesting. You don't, you have to exclude like whatever they're on the show for .
Amora Brown (15:52):
What? Okay, so I, so then so the question would then become, what are you passionate about outside of what you're doing and what is it?
Princella Seripenah (16:03):
Okay, so let it be. What would you...
Amora Brown (16:07):
"What would you do if you couldn't be the thing that you're currently going for?"
Princella Seripenah (16:14):
That's close, that's close and "would still bring you fulfillment?"
Amora Brown (16:19):
Ooh. And what would still bring you fulfillment?
Princella Seripenah (16:21):
Mm-hmm. .
Amora Brown (16:23):
Hmm. That is so hard. I like that question. I like that question because it's like, yeah, singing would just, I was like, okay, so what else would you do? And that would still bring you fulfillment because now they might actually,
Princella Seripenah (16:35):
Like if you lost your voice Yeah. If, and you lost your voice, what else could you do that would still bring you fulfillment?
Amora Brown (16:43):
Ooh, . I like that. Yeah.
Princella Seripenah (16:47):
I can't wait to hear . I can't wait to hear answers.
Amora Brown (16:52):
Princella Seripenah, thank you so much for coming on the show and talking to us. It was so fun to have you on. Awesome. To hear your perspective. Thank you so much. And can you tell the, oh, absolutely girl, you are just, you are awesome and very smart and intelligent and creative. Now how can we support you? I mean, I know how I can support you, but how can you tell the audience how to support you while who's listening in? Who wants to buy some beautiful, elegant designs, elegant art,
Princella Seripenah (17:23):
. Okay. First they can follow me on Instagram . Yeah. I have my links there. They can buy my art from my website. It's www.artbyprincella.com. And that would really mean a lot to me. If I see your art in your homes and you taking pictures and showing me how you framed them, it would really means so much to me. So, yeah. Buy my art .
Amora Brown (17:54):
Yes. Thank you so much. Well, I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day.
Princella Seripenah (17:57):
Same to you. Thank you so much.
Outro (18:04):
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