Today we’d like to introduce you to Alice Cha.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Funny as it is, I didn’t have any intentions of taking an artistic path as a career. As a senior student that felt pressured to choose a path for my future after high school, I saw art as a last resort. Therefore within the next few months before graduation came, I enrolled in after school art classes to create a portfolio for all the art colleges I kept an eye on.
The whole process felt like a blur, and before I knew it I was accepted into one of the top schools that I chose: Art Center College of Art and Design. From there on, I forced myself to pick up skill sets that I thought I never had in me and learned to love art through a (frankly) difficult process.
Not only did I grow as an artist during my time at Art Center, but I also grew as a person in those four long years. I made great connections with people that I proudly can call friends now, and it shifted my perspective in the options I had for career choices. For what I thought was such a narrow and lonely path was all proven wrong with the help of advice given by professionals in this field.
Thanks to some of the connections I had during college, I was able to quickly pick up a freelance job at a virtual reality company through a dear peer of mine. Currently I help create beat boards for their games, as well as design merchandise such as t-shirts.
Of course, I wouldn’t recommend anyone rushing their decisions in life (especially during high school), but had it not been high school me rushing and choosing a profession back then, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And I am very grateful for the position that I’m in and hope to continue striving further than I am now.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My life has been anything but a smooth road. One of the many struggles that I encountered back then and still do is questioning my self worth as an artist. To be frank, it’s hard not to compare myself to many other talented artists out there, and thanks to social media, it makes it all the more difficult not to. Even back when I was in school, it was always nerve wrecking for me to show my piece to the entire class when I knew there were others that were far more talented than me.
The lack of self-confidence I have from time to time is an obstacle that I’m still battling to this day, but each time I overcome it, I only become stronger and more assured of my own self-worth.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success when you are at your most content. Whether it’s having the best job, or finding peace through hobbies–as long as you are happy with yourself, then I find that the most successful. If I have to be specific about my personal definition of success, it’s when I’m able to not give up and provide to those I cherish the most, and in order to do that I seek for stability in my own life.
As long as I’m able to take care of myself by maintaining a stable job and not quitting even when times get rough, then those already check off most of the things I expect from myself. I strive to keep making goals and personal challenges for myself, so that life will constantly be interesting and exhilarating for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: alicejcha.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/shinyshariot
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/
shinyshariot
Image Credit:
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/escape-vr-westminster
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