Meet Chandra Chatmon | Content Creator, Artist, Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chandra Chatmon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chandra, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have a short answer and a long answer to this question.

The short answer is that I’m an artist at heart and the older I had become the harder it became to deny myself the full expression.

The long answer involves my background. Both of my grandmothers were very artistic. My maternal grandmother was an excellent baker and cook. She prepared five-star holiday meals and I have yet to taste a coconut cake as good as hers. My maternal grandmother was an amazing quilter and seamstress. They each passed down their artistic ability to my parents. My father had the ultimate green thumb and a backyard garden overflowing with fruits and vegetables. My mother just seemed to be able to perform all of the above effortlessly, and what she couldn’t initially do she quietly studied until she was able. Growing up being surrounded with so much talent, it was only a matter of time before I had to allow my own to flourish.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My artist career feels like a long and winding road. I used to say that I did nothing remarkable artistically before attending college, and even then I treated my art as a hobby. Looking back now I can say that I was in the kitchen a lot, following fairly complex recipes and executing on them to my parent’s delight at the tender age of eight. I loved cooking then and still do now, but that isn’t where I began to excel professionally. (At least not yet). I had also learned to crochet when I was around five years old and I began crocheting as well as knitting clothing more regularly on breaks from college. I handed sweaters and scarves out to family and had considered selling my work. But seeing as how I had just graduated and had no capital to speak of, I had to find a way to support myself so I headed back to school to learn business and put myself in a position to make more money in the long-term.

Several years later I found myself going from corporate job-to-corporate job and exceedingly unhappy. But during this time I had promised myself I would write a book and I began writing a novel. Coincidentally I got laid off around the same time and had decided to finish writing my novel, and my self-published work became the first creative work that I made available for sale. From there I continued selling my book while returning to yet another desk job, but I ran into the same problem – I honestly just needed to embrace myself as an artist. I began designing jewelry, I am self-taught and everything just seemed to fall into place once I brought on knitted and crocheted items and formed an apparel and jewelry business.

Since then I’ve added content creator to my artist resume, which is very helpful because it keeps me on my toes with technical skills. I’ve felt the urge to start writing again as well, so I will be reaching back to the beginnings of my artistic career. None of this has been easy, but it has been extremely worthwhile. Nothing is worse than spending all of your time doing something that doesn’t bring you joy. I overcame the challenges that being an artistic entrepreneur brings by just being faithful and consistent. Things always have a way of working out if you believe they will. I confess I’m a multi-talented artist that hasn’t always known which way to turn, but the best part of it has been the journey as far as my personal growth goes. I believe in myself so much more now than I ever have.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There’s so much to get into here in this city. I would take my friend to Santa Monica and Venice beaches for that real southern California experience. If she were in the mood to shop, we would head off to The Alley so she could find things to make her look like a celebrity on the cheap. My next stop would probably be to Griffiths Observatory for some views and to relax a little and finally off to my favorite mall, Del Amo Mall for a bite to eat, a movie and more shopping.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I surely thank God and my parents and I want to say a special thanks to my husband Charles. He is my biggest supporter in all of my artistic pursuits.

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