Rising Stars: Meet Zoë Cain

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zoë Cain.

Hi Zoë, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In 2019, I had just recently graduated in psychology from UCLA. I intended to apply to grad school for a degree in social work because of my passion for creating more accessibility and inclusion in mental health care. Once the pandemic started, I put a hold on my grad school applications and started drawing consistently for the first time in years. Within a year of posting my work on social media, I started gaining a following and getting offers for illustration work and content creation. Before that, I had never seriously considered a creative career or believed it to be a viable source of income because of everything we’re told growing up regarding starving artists. Once I was confronted with that possibility, I decided to pursue art full-time and just see where it went. Two years later, I was invited to the White House as a mental health advocate to speak with President Biden and Surgeon General Murthy regarding the state of mental health in the US. So far, I’ve been featured by Pinterest, MTV, and Rare Beauty for my advocacy work and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My artistic career and freelance life has been extremely challenging. There are inherent highs and lows with freelance, given that opportunities are not guaranteed at any point and things frequently don’t turn out the way you’d hope. Learning how to be my own agent, marketing manager, and social media manager while creating consistently is an extremely steep learning curve that I’m still figuring out. The biggest challenge I’ve faced as a creative that I know many other artists personally relate to is self-doubt. It takes an enormous amount of self-confidence and assurance to sell your own work. With social media constantly bombarding us with the work of other skilled artists, it’s impossible not to feel inferior at some point. Finding your own strengths and trying to learn every day helps combat that. For me, focusing on illustration work that highlights advocacy and social justice has helped me feel like my art serves a purpose beyond simply aesthetics.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an artist, illustrator, content creator, art teacher, and mental health advocate. I specialize in creating comics and illustrations for social impact. I’ve worked with nonprofits including TaskForce, All Above All, Letters2Strangers, Half the Story, and Asian Mental Health Collective to create art with impact. On social media, I’m known for comics that reflect my personal experience surrounding relationships, boundaries, trauma healing, and living with mental illness. I’m proud that I’ve built an online community surrounding mental health and that I can spread messages that normalize and destigmatize neurodivergence. I think what sets me apart is that I am not afraid to discuss the more difficult and unhappy aspects of living with mental health challenges, but I’m able to do so in a more lighthearted way. I think we are frequently bombarded with hyper-positive messaging on social media regarding mental health, but that is often not the reality and it is not always helpful. I strive to connect with others through shared experiences and make people living with mental illness feel less alone.

How do you think about happiness?
Immersing myself in nature is guaranteed to make me happy. It helps me to be more present, more positive, and less anxious. I am often moving my body more in nature and more focused on my surroundings than my inner monologue.

Spending time with my dog makes me extremely happy. She comforts me when I’m upset and making her happy brings me so much joy!

Contact Info:

• Website: zoecain.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/zoecainart
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoecainart?lang=en
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/zoecainart/

Image Credits
Photograph of Zoë was taken by Will Kubley. Photographs of models were taken by Suenito Media