In June 2019, Skillshare reached out to see if I could paint a mural for their New York headquarters. I had been a teacher on Skillshare for a few years by then, and I always liked working with them. I was more than happy to take this project on.

As it happens when excitable people work together, one mural quickly turned into a three-part project: paint the mural, give a presentation at their company meeting, and shoot a video interview. It was to be executed in under 48 hours and we had less than one month to plan. It was tight but we pulled it off!

Part One: Mural Design

The design was finalized a few days I flew to NYC. I did it entirely on iPad Pro with Procreate. They gave me a lot of freedom on what to draw, which I always appreciate. It ended up being very aligned with the message behind their 2020 brand redesign. Total coincidence!

Due to the tight timeframe, I ended up having to purchase the paint in LA and bring it in my suitcase. That was a first! One popped a little bit but it otherwise was fine, in case anyone else wants to give it a go sometime ;) The rest of the materials they were able to gather for me ahead of time. I had a such a pleasant time painting in their brightly lit space. 

For painting, I used the same method I described in my subsequent Skillshare class on painting murals. Full circle! Everyone was happy with how it turned out :) 

Part Two: Company Presentation

Skillshare was holding their annual company meeting at the same time, so they asked if I could give a talk on my career journey. By nature, I'm a reluctant public speaker but I think being able to communicate well is really important, so I've been training myself to get more comfortable with it. 

Because I was focused on the mural leading up to the event, I had put together a deck the day before and practiced in the evening in my hotel room like a nerd (shoutout to Freehand New York). The talk ended up going really well and supposedly there were even some tears :) Always a sign of success to me!

Part Three: Video Shoot

After the talk and mural, I could relax! Kind of. The content team at Skillshare asked if they could shoot a video interview together, so I had to keep it together :) Thankfully they ended up being the easiest people to work with, and made it so comfortable for me. 

We shot the interview at the office and then picked up some shots around NYC. I had so much fun with them! I wasn't sure what it was going to be turned into, but it ended up being one of their featured ad campaigns for the new year.

It was honestly a relief to meet the people behind the scenes and find they are just as sweet as you expect them to be. This experience was a much needed energizer in the middle of a hectic year. I'm grateful to the whole team for making everything happen so smoothly.

Finally here are a couple fun IG posts from the event!

Thank you