Today we’d like to introduce you to Nisha Btesh.
Nisha, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
In 2014, My Senior year at the Academy of Art University as a Textile Design student I collaborated with student and Designer Jackie Hodges to create a Women’s Wear collection that successfully walked the runway at New York Fashion Week. It was an odd feeling to be graduating already having had shown my prints and designs at the highest level any designer could hope for. What was I going to do now? I moved back into my parent’s house in San Diego to regroup and figure out my next moves. As job offers rolled in, it became clear that for the most a Textile Designer in today’s world meant generating repeats on a computer. I wanted to get messy and work with my hands. My family saw me struggling with how to accepting this and encouraged me to try a different entrepreneurial route and start a studio of my own, and that’s exactly what I did. In 2016 I launched Nisha Btesh Living, or NBL, where I created boutique textiles for the bed, body, and home.
Mostly purses and pillows, a random duo I know. It was a really great way for me to experiment first hand with different products, printing techniques and overall how to get a business off the ground. I learned how to create my own website from scratch, grow my following on social media, and get my product stocked in local storefronts around San Diego but ultimately I wasn’t making enough money to sustain my passion and had to shut it down in 2017. After that, I became obsessed with following Artists who were successfully turning their passions into paychecks, and the idea for Hola Gwapa was born.
Starting as an Instagram account, I wanted to feature artists via dedicated posts and takeover stories 1. To give them the exposure and community that I wish I had had with NBL and 2. I really genuinely wanted to figure out how they were doing it. Where they working side jobs? Where they waking up at 5 am? What materials were they using? Did they ALL have Pinterest worthy studios? I knew that if that if I was eagerly seeking this information out, then there must be tons of other artists out there in my same position who would benefit from the information as well. Ultimately I will design and create a textile driven product line again, as being an Artist is my truest calling. However this time I have the support of a community of badass Artists who get to help be a part of the narrative. Hola Gwapa has now evolved into a blog, the features are more in depth, and I’m journalinag along sharing my own process of building a website, starting a blog and in the very exciting near future begin the beautiful process of creating my very own line of products all over again.
We’d love to hear more about your work. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
What I do is connect, celebrate and support successful up and coming artists and entrepreneurs. Currently, this all goes down on the Hola Gwapa IG account and most recently on The Hola Gwapa Blog and online shop. This all started when I saw a need for community and education amongst young female Artists and Entrepreneurs as I wish I had had when I started my previous studio and line. I hope creative minds can come to Hola Gwapa to be inspired by other Artists stories and to actually reach out and connect with one another. I hope they find it as a safe space to share their flaws, exchange tips, and tricks and ask each other tough questions about money, time management, process, and strategy. What you should know is that there is a tremendous power in community and building a foundation of genuine connection and relationships. Having a mentor is such a valuable part of growing as an individual and as an entrepreneur. Hola Gwapa is a digital destination providing hands-on peer to peer mentorship by real women in the trenches hustling to turn their passions into paychecks and candidly sharing their process with one another.
What do you think it takes to be successful?
I think if you would have asked me this question a little over a year ago my answer would have been very different. When you’re desperate to make money off of your passions, money = success and that’s what it boiled down to for me, and I hated that feeling. The ethos of Hola Gwapa though is to flip this notion on its head.
To me now, success means making progress, adding value and giving your efforts 110% every dam day. I think everybody’s different, and we all have our own way of arriving, but for me, the single most essential characteristic I possess in achieving my own success is that I’m focused and determined. I want it so badly that I’m willing to sacrifice what I am for what I want to become. I’ve miss whole weekends of festivities with my girlfriends and for sure plenty of sleep in order to keep putting that time and energy into cultivating this community of badass talent. It sounds so corny, but when you believe in something bigger than yourself and feel like you’re truly adding value, you can’t stop. You have to keep going till you get there.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you?
People can support all the artists and businesses apart of the Hola Gwapa collective by following us @holagwapa or by visiting our newly launched blog, Holagwapa.com. Most importantly, don’t passively like or follow anything. Instead, truly engage and create a connection with like-minded women. The only way to truly reap the rewards of these connections is to throw yourself into the Hola Gwapa community genuinely and authenticity.
Contact Info:
- Website: Holagwapa.com
- Phone: 8582042662
- Email: Nisha@holagwapa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holagwapa/?hl=en
Image Credit:
Nisha Btesh
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
