The Business & Inspiration :: A Timeline Story
2004 - While in my senior year of undergraduate school (shout out to my folks at WashU!!), completing a degree in Psychology, I tried something new and took my first ever “serious” art class - 2D Design. It was then I secretly fell in love with the simplicity of color & form, as well as our ability to express & interpret creatively.
2005 - With my degree in hand and happily in my first year of graduate school (George Warren Brown School of Social Work), I still couldn’t ignore the strong creative internal call towards art - jewelry in particular. I was already a self-proclaimed “earring freak” (my funky earring game is strong, baby) and thought it would be cool to learn how to make them. So, I took a beginning jewelry-making class at a local bead store (Lady Bug Beads - Thanks, Shug!) and I got hooked. A whole new world opened up.
2006 - While finishing up graduate school (MSW, specializing in Children, Youth & Families), I was organically creating earrings and necklace designs with wire and beads. After my confidence grew, I started selling them to framily, at local fairs and, eventually, in boutiques. I felt balanced having the freedom to use my mind and abilities to both create unique & beautiful jewelry, as well as problem-solve and imagine a better future for humanity. Weirdly enough, the two made complete sense to me. I realized that I was a Creator.
2009 - After I made my way to NYC (Brooklyn where you at?!! Harlem, stand up!!), I landed a dream job as the Youth Social Worker at Jacob A. Riis Settlement House in Queensbridge, LIC (ALL my love!!!!). After the grant funding my position wasn’t renewed (the system is trash!), I decided that life was telling me to make a change. So, I put my dreams for humanity on hold, and jumped into my art full force. I opened my first Etsy site, Unique Kreations, and got a sweet gig as a jewlery maker/designer to sharpen and hone my skills and artistic point of view.
2010 - A year later, I was quickly forced, in the best way, to shift my focus to my second shop, (originally Your Unique Kreations, later Swap the Drops), which featured my unique and original line of interchangeable jewelry (funnily enough, inspired by an Exes’s mom…tell ya that story another time…). To my surprise, the interchangeable idea caught on, and before I knew it, I had a full-time business. My line was picked up organically through Etsy to be featured on The Today Show, and that solidified, at least in my mind, that I had stumbled upon something real good…
2015 - For 5 years I ran and grew my business (over 17,000 sales & 6,000+ 5-star reviews on Etsy alone), enjoying the changes in pace and embracing all the bumps, bruises, glory, blood, sweat & tears that comes with running a creative business. Then on August 15th, a beautiful thing happened, and my daughter Nova M. Linzie graced us with her presence on this Earth. What a joy! (She’s a beast!!!) So, I shut down my shops (rather unexpectedly) to take pleasure in raising and spending time with her, including radically homeschooling her for a few years. Best decision I ever made. #libertad
2019 - After the hiatus, I began to feel that same artistic inspiration creeping up I had felt years before, but this time, jewelry wasn’t satisfying it. So on a lucky trip to Vegas I had an impromptu acrylic pour lesson from a friend (hey Mimi!), and that set me off on a whole new colorful adventure. You can call me Alice in WONDERland (get it? Stevie!! lol). I yearned to paint. So I did. And it felt real good. Still does…
2020 - 2023 - We’ll call these the WTF and recovery years…My art and imagination, once again, literally freed and saved me as I painted with nothing in mind. It created a space for pure abstraction, feeling and expression. I didn’t have to be rational. Art rarely is…
2024 - After life settled a bit, I knew it was time to jump all the way back into my creativity and fully claim my role as Artist & Visionary. Not one to limit myself, I decided to combine it all (paintings, jewelry and music…more on that later) into one entity - Kameleon Arts. So, here we are today. Welcome, my friend. XO - COOP
2025 - 2/22 :: AS IS :: THE DEMO released
