Life After Mac: Real stories of alumni finding their way — Stefanie
In high school, I was all about the arts. Fine art, music, photography, vocals — you name it, I was actively involved and loved to be creative. However, when it came to deciding what I wanted to do for my career, I told myself (based on what I heard from others) that art was not a feasible career to pursue and that I should do something more practical. It wasn’t that I didn’t have supportive parents, they probably would have supported me in whatever I wanted to do, but it was something inside myself telling me that I am not good enough to be a professional artist. So, I made the more practical decision to go into business and get a bachelor of commerce.
McMaster University was the best decision I ever made, it was a fantastic business school and I was actively involved in all of the many extra curriculars throughout my undergrad.
When I graduated, I landed a job in the fashion industry working in a corporate office. Fashion was another passion of mine and I was so happy to have landed a job in what was my new dream. However, when I was in that job, I quickly learned that being creative was a part of who I am and this job was the exact opposite of that. The fashion industry was not as glamourous as I had pictured in my mind. I tried really hard to stay focused on excel and do tedious, computer focused tasks however it didn’t fulfill me. I always found myself painting at home and looking for creative hobbies.
One day, I decided to paint on something new — a denim jacket. After showing a few of my friends who all loved it, my mom told me that this was going to be my ‘thing’ and I can sell them. I thought she was nuts. She believed in me though and bought me 25 jackets the next day and signed me up for a local street market so that I can sell them. Turns out people wanted my art and in disbelief, I sold quite a few jackets that day.
From there, I decided to name my brand and start an Instagram account. Over the years I would sell 1–2 jackets a month and enjoyed the creative outlet that this hobby offered me. From physically painting jacket to taking fun pictures with my friends and posting them online, it was something that I kept up for about 4 years because I simply enjoyed it.
Fast forward to 2020, I was now in my 3rd career after trying multiple different jobs and still trying to figure out what I enjoyed best. In April I lost my job along with many others due to COVID-19. As I am sure you know, at this time there were no jobs to apply for and everyone was just trying to ride out the “two weeks to flatten the curve.” I had nothing else to turn to but putting all of my efforts into my side hobby.
After seeing a need for human interaction, I decided to pivot a bit in my products and also offer online paint nights. I wanted others to experience a creative outlet just like I did. As the year went on, I had so much support for customers who were looking to support local and my 1–2 jackets a month slowly turned into 5, then 10 and so on.
In 2020, I had sold over 100 jackets and hosted over 700 guests in virtual paint nights. After an incredibly busy holiday season, I finally realized (what took me so long, right) that I have found my calling and expressing myself through art is what I am truly passionate about. In January I was offered my full time job back, but I decided that I needed to bet on myself and give my “side hobby” a real shot.
In this journey I have learned a lot about myself and what “success” means. To many, success means landing a job in your field after graduation and working your way up to manager/director level in an organization. While this is a great idea of success, I have learned that it is not what success means to me. Success is waking up every morning and having the opportunity to work on something you absolutely LOVE every day. Success is watching yourself grow daily, learn and master your skills from the efforts and hours that YOU put in every day. If I can give anyone advice it would be that if you are not happy, change your life until you are. Try new things, fail, make mistakes and find what you are truly passionate about… I promise you, that is more valuable and will shape you more than any job will.
Stay creative,
Stefanie Furgiuele
BCom. ‘15
