Interview with Didi dos Santos

This talented artist hails from the NETHERLANDS!! I found her on Instagram on someone's page. I saw her drawings and I was attached. I contacted her and had her draw my LOGO (that's on my front page!) She is very sweet and patient. She has a true talent and I'm blessed to have worked with her. I plan on working with her again for an upcoming project. Please read and enjoy!!!

SoBeautyMarked: What made you decide to pursue your brand?
Didi dos Santos - Drawing has always been my passion, but I never thought of it as a professional career. So I've worked 7 years for an engineering company and as the years went by I felt like this wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I took a leap of faith and went back to school and enrolled myself in courses like Fashion Design and Fine Art. By doing this I slowly began to realize that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

SBM: What/who influences you? What/who doesn't?
DdS - I get influenced by a lot of people and things. With my art I focus a lot on fashion and natural beauty. I get my inspiration from beauty and fashion bloggers, but also from someone randomly walking down the street. I also like photography, and I get a lot of my inspiration from photos and advertorials. At the moment I’m very inspired by the natural hair movement, particularly because I went through a hair journey myself, so I can relate to that.

SBM: Where did your passion for drawing come from/begin?
DdS - It started in a plane when I was a kid traveling from Africa to Europe for the first time. I never had a pencil let alone a paper to draw on. I was pretty nervous flying for the first time so the flight attendant gave me some crayons and a notebook to draw on. And I was amazed of all the colors and what I could create. From that moment on all I wanted to do was to draw.

SBM: What was the biggest struggle with developing your passion? What was the best part?
DdS - The biggest struggle is finding answers to all the questions you have. “How am I going to get my brand out there, How am I going find collaborators, How am I going to do this or do that.” The best part is that I get to do what I love and what makes me happy.

SBM: What about drawing/art inspires you?

DdS - Everything! I’m such a sucker for art and beauty. I get carried away so quickly. I get really inspired by old time artists like MC Escher, Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali, but also artists that are now very popular on Instagram like (@ts_abe). They draw with so much detail, it’s insane. It inspires me to draw with a lot of details and to pay attention to the little things. And like Dali I like the use of colors and the fact that his painting are so dreamy, 'cause I’m a dreamer.

SBM: How do you advertise your brand?

DdS - At the moment I advertise true social media like Instagram (@dididossantos), Pinterest (@ddossantosencar) and Facebook. I also have an Etsy (@DidiSantos) and my website- www.dididossantos.com.

This year I want to start visiting more events.

SBM: To what do you attribute your success?

DdS - I think my talent, ambition and the drive to keep on going no matter what.

SBM: How do you handle life with so much negativity?

DdS - I am a very spiritual person, so I try to stay positive. I tend to ignore a lot of negativity and focus mainly on positive things. Whenever I’m down I start reading spiritual books or I ‘ll just help out a friend in need. Just by doing the things that makes me happy.

SBM: If you had any advice for someone starting their own business, what would it be?

DdS -  Get real clear what you want to do or offer to the world, research your market and set up a plan of action and never ever give up!

SBM: Describe your brand in THREE words:

DdS - Natural, creative and Frolicious!