Meet Fay Kanevsky | Content Creator, Artist, and Small Business Owner

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

Hi Fay, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I’m a first generation American. Both of my parents are Jewish refugees from a Russian speaking part of Ukraine. They came to the US in the 90s and I was born in San Diego. They refer to me as “local produce”, so that’s what I say. My first language was Russian, but my parents both stopped speaking it when I went to school. I’ve tried to keep my Russian skills but all I have now is that I can understand a lot but barely speak conversationally. I think that growing up with immigrant refugee parents, especially of Jewish Soviet descent, really shaped who I am in so many ways. I grew up watching these old Soviet cartoons from the 60s-70s, which I still love. They have extremely captivating, trippy, sometimes horrifying animation with some charming but often very odd stories. Both of my parents have had to fight for a lot of things in their lives and have very different philosophies but I’ve learned a lot from them. My mom is a psychology professor and a content creator. She has gone through a lot, she’s incredibly strong willed, smart, kind, and determined. She has always shown me to fight for what is right. My dad is also incredibly smart and had to go through very difficult things, though he is much more private. They are both very odd and funny.

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.
I’ve been doing art in many different forms my whole life. I’ve tried a little bit of everything: acting, singing, painting, knitting, and crochet. I still love acting, comedy specifically,, and drawing or painting. I started out just doing theater and visual art. Theater usually required song and dance, so I tried to learn both. I’m not particularly graceful, so the dancing never got very good. .I am hard of hearing and I have something called vocal cord dysfunction, which can present like asthma but resides in the vocal cords, so singing was also a challenge. I took lessons for 10 years to improve. I have been a part of over 100 theatrical productions. I have been leads, ensemble, villains, and sidekicks. I love comedy so those are great. I started doing improv when I was young as well. In high school I competed with my school’s Comedy Sportz ( competitive improv) team all four years and was a captain my senior year. I was also a part of the thespian club all 4 years and became an officer in my senior year. In my senior year of high school as well, I taught my first class of beginner improv to young students. I was also a camp aid at a theater camp for 2 summers. I started improving my art daily from middle to high school, especially when I found my love for Doctor Who when I was 13. I went to my first Doctor Who convention at 14 and began selling my fanart there the next year. I have been doing it every year since. Many of my pieces go to auction and I’ve had them sell for hundreds of dollars. In my Junior year of high school, a few people from the Kaman’s Art Shop at legoland came to my drawing class to demonstrate how to draw caricatures. They invited myself and two other students from the class to interview with them for a position. This involved a work interview and live drawing caricatures of the interviewers. They then offered me to participate in the 3 week “audition” process where they trained me how to draw caricatures in 10 minutes. Those who were too slow were kicked out of the program. I learned a lot working as a caricature artist at legoland for 2 years, but ultimately, I moved onto other things. In my Senior year of high school l, I started my small business, Chaotic Bling. I started to make my own jewelry and I ended up making some extra earrings. I posted on my social media if my friends wanted any, and when they ran out, people wanted more. I started making more jewelry to sell through a new instagram account. I started selling my art and conducting my art commissions through my business as well. I went through Instagram first but when I was getting too many orders I moved to etsy, then shopify where I sell my fiber arts, art, and jewelry. I have sold at fairs, markets, and social media. I started stand up comedy in high school when my mom signed me up for a state talent showcase as punishment, long story, and I placed the first year and did it again the second and won the state wide talent competition. I did open mics through college and recently just performed in my first booked standup show at Three Clubs Hollywood and I have my second booked performance coming up September 14th at The Ice House. I have had very immense challenges going through acting and theater as a disabled person, especially as a disabled person with a service dog. My goal is to act and voice act and I have gotten past to callbacks in many screen acting auditions but have yet to be cast, but I still have hope.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Food:
Borosu Ramen
Aroma Coffee & Tea Co
8oz poke

Drink:
Boba bear
Borosu Ramen
Muzen Roll & Boba
Compelling Coffee Roasters
Moby’s Coffee & Tea

Desert:
Awan

Places:
Descanso Gardens
The Getty
The Getty Villa
The Natural History Museum

Thrifting
Valley Valley Center Thrift
American Cancer Center Discovery Shop
Jet Rag

Shopping
The Altered Stitch

Events:
Groundlings shows
UCB comedy shows

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My parents, 100%. It’s very typical of immigrant parents to disapprove of a child’s want to be an artist, but they are very supportive of my passions and want me to be happy. It hasn’t been easy. I have had health issues, both mental and physical, but they’ve always been there for me. e. Last fall, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and has now undergone several surgeries all while continuing to be a supportive parent and doing what she loves. She is extremely passionate about raising awareness for what is going on in her home country, Ukraine. My dad is very supportive of all of us in the family. These past few years, he has taken up outrigger canoeing and it has been wonderful to see how much joy it brings him and to see him compete in races. I have huge love for my parents and family and am incredibly grateful for them.

Website: https://linktr.ee/Faythegay

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faythefae/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fay-kanevsky-75903a303/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fay_the_gay

Image Credits
The photo with the hot pink background was taken by Abigail Gorden
The photo with the soft pink background where I am wearing a crochet top was taken by Brent Bailey
The two photos with the grey background were taken by Chanelle Barona