What is your current career, and what do you do on a typical day?
I am a painter. Typically, I get up at 4am, wake up my body with some yoga, and then jump on my road bike for a 2 hour ride with friends. I try to get to my studio by 8am and use my most energetic self to paint, uninterrupted. Around 2pm I certainly need a break. In the afternoons I work on email and social media. By late afternoon, I get a second-wind and return to painting and often make the day’s most important moves, changing the artwork. I make sure to take photos of the wet paintings so I can look again before bed. This allows space for my subconscious to work out some of the problems I need to face the next day.
What were you passionate about when you started your career?
I love art. I love painting and most creative media: drawing, ceramics, sculpture, installations, etc, etc. Anything that brings the viewer and maker into the realm of the imagination. That being said, I am also passionate about my independence. I have been an entrepreneur since I was a teen. I like to say I’ve never had a normal job.
And where did you start?
I started studying art formally when I was 20 years old. After an initial attempt at engineering college, I began to study technical theater: lighting and set design. Once I recognized my creative self, I didn’t really want a director to tell me what to make, and I enrolled in a painting program at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore.
What was involved in getting your first job?
My first job after college was finding a way to make a living through art! I formed a decorative painting company, Twin Diamonds Studios Inc., and trained in traditional crafts like gilding, Venetian plaster, wood graining, and mural techniques. I was lucky enough to make sure the company provided supplies for my personal painting as well as a painting studio large enough to house the business and my artwork.
What did you do there?
Well, I formed the business, and started selling! I created a portfolio of painted finishes and reached out to area interior designers and architects. We started to get decorative painting jobs, and I quickly hired friends to help. Within a few years, I had a staff of 10 and we were busy with residential and commercial interior finishes in the Baltimore-Washington DC region.
How did it work out/what did you learn and where did it take you?
Decorative painting was a lucrative business during the housing boom. It facilitated the purchase of a 5,000 square foot carriage house in Mt Vernon, Baltimore, where we managed the business, made samples, and I continued my personal painting. Of course, during this period I learned a great deal about hiring and working with staff, their training, and then how to sell the finishes we created. I began to understand the importance of networking and of always putting the client first. Of course, I learned everything there is to know about running a small business from the ground up.
What was your next job and did it flow from the first or was it a fresh start?
Haha: the answer is Both of these! My next job flowed from the first AND was a fresh start! During recuperation from a serious injury in my early twenties, I discovered how beneficial yoga was for me. In turn, this led me to complete yoga teacher training and my wish to help others through this incredible practice.
The upper floor of my Mt Vernon building was unoccupied, and so my husband and I converted it into two yoga studios. Starting in 2000, I began offering yoga in the building along with a few area teachers. It boomed. The demand for yoga was such that I had to start training new teachers myself, and so my next passion and business began, and it was called Charm City Yoga! I sold Twin Diamonds Studios around 2004.
But, you know, painting kept tugging at me, and in the end, I returned to MICA and pursued a Masters of Fine Art in the Hoffberger School under the tutelage of Grace Hartigan and Joyce Kozloff. After graduation, I tried to pursue a new, fresh art career while also leading Charm City Yoga.
And then what happened?
By 2015, we had 7 separate locations with 12 yoga rooms throughout the Baltimore area. We employed 167 teachers, most trained by me. We were at a crossroads trying to continue growing while maintaining our sanity. We received an offer to sell Charm City Yoga to YogaWorks. It took a year of negotiations to settle; when the deal finally concluded, we moved to Southern California.
Since arriving in Coachella Valley, it has taken me several years of painting full time to feel as though my work was ready for public viewing. I opened a new studio this year, called the Manfredi Grupe Studios on Perez Rd. It has experienced a wonderful start. Now I am painting full time, showing my work, and living with a community of vibrant artists.
What was the best thing that happened as you started your career?
I followed my father’s advice: delegate, delegate, delegate. From deciding to hire friends on my first decorative painting job to promoting teachers I trained, delegating made space to expand my interests. I did not stay tied to the day-to-day of my businesses but allowed myself to explore the idea of growth and opportunity for my employees. This gave me freedom, not only to increase the size and income of the business but to develop new passions and change.
What was the worst or most disappointing?
For me, the worst part of being in business is being a boss. I vale\valued the artists, but could only pay them so much. Once they reached the salary limit, I knew they had to move on. This required tremendous boundary setting and could be lonely. The same with the yoga teachers and students. I had to make decisions that were best for the organization as a whole. Sometimes this meant a teacher I liked would not be invited onto the schedule. Those kinds of decisions are really hard for me because I value personal connections.
What is the most fulfilling part of what you do today?
I am still my own boss! I no longer take commissions and simply focus on making what I would consider mature works of art. They stand on their own and have a voice in the art world at large. I am proud of my painting, although they are difficult and all-consuming to make. Painting immerses me in a concentration that fills my life with joy.
What advice would you give to other young women beginning a career in today’s world?
I would advise anyone beginning to follow their passion to give it everything they have. Find a way to make your self-care part of your work. Don’t put limits on your success, immerse yourself fully in serving those who are benefitting from your business. All of my career choices have been for the betterment of others, bringing creativity, joy or health. If you can wrap your life mission into your career you will be more likely to immerse yourself in your career and as a result experience success. Develop a community around you that shares your dreams.
Where are you headed next/what is your ultimate dream?
My ultimate hope is to continue to contribute to the conversation of the art world at large. I want my paintings to cultivate a visual language that is uniquely mine and offers communication in its own way. I want the work to be essential and raw. I want it to be honest and moving. I hope these characteristics make me successful enough to paint and exhibit my work for a long time.
What do you do that you personally love?
Well, I love to travel in the US and Europe, visiting art museums and exhibitions. I love riding my bike, covering 200 miles per week, and enjoying the Coachella Valley landscape. Every evening, I spend an hour reading new literature and the New Yorker. I paint most days, including weekends! In the evenings I like to cook and enjoy dinner with my husband.