Special Edition: Women Rule Web3 — NFT Artist Izzakko

down for you through interviews with incredible leaders, experts, and artists. Today, I'm speaking with the taco Is for Short. She's a twenty year old multimedia artist from the Bay Area creating visually vibrant works that seek to uplift the beauty of a black community and illustrate the black experience. Is one of the six amazing artists that we're featuring in the Seneca Women Equality Collection, a special NFT collection with nifty Gateway.

I spoke to Is about her work. Here's what she had to say, Well, Is, thanks so much for joining us, Thank you, thank you for having me. Well, we absolutely love your work. We are so excited that you're going to be part of the Seneate woman a quality collection, and we'll get into the piece in a little bit, but first, you're certainly the youngest member of this collection, and your work is so incredible. When did you discover that you were an artist? Pretty much from a really

young age, maybe around eleven or twelve. I've always just gravitated towards especially in school art classes, just because I felt like it was the one place where I could express myself in other ways that you know, you can't really do verbally. So yeah, I just sort of like built up upon that as the year has gone by, and you know, now we're here working together, and tell us a little bit about your background. Are your parents artist? How did you get into this? So? My mother is

a professional dancer. She's gotten to that point where like if you name a dance, she knows how to do it. So she knows salsa, she knows zoomba, she knows tap dancing, flamenco hula, she's a kuma hula, she knows she knows every single dance. So actually watching her teach and put together work, it took me on an artistic trip more musically, so I feel like I was able to travel the world with her. You know, while staying in one place.

As for my dad, he now works in the wood business, but he's always had a really huge passion for art. It was just more of a hobby, so it was definitely something he kept on the backburner despite how good he was. But yeah, they've been really supportive. When did

you start doing art generally? Um, I've literally been an artist my entire life, So I've been just like doodling, draw doing whatever I could throughout middle school, high school, and then of course when COVID hit, you know, we were all like bounced back to plan one essentially, and I decided to choose art. So you started really doing a lot of drawing and you got kind of more into your own artistic vision when you were young twelve thirteen years old and through your art classes. When did

you get involved in digital art? And why? So? My aunt is she always valued making sure we all had updated technology. She felt like it was something that was really necessary, especially staying on top of the industry. So I was working with the pen and paper for years and years and years, and I was very comfortable with it. And then I she gifted me an iPad for my high school graduation, which was June twenty twenty. Oh wow.

At first, I didn't really see it as an art object, even though that's what she got me, that's what she bought it for. But eventually, you know, when you're bored, you start going through the settings and playing with buttons, and then I found procreate, started praying with the buttons, and I was like, you know what, I could see myself actually drawing with it, and discovering that I could make money from it became a whole completely different story.

That was another roller coaster in itself. We want to hear about that. Tell us about that too. Well. I worked at a gift shop because we are in the Bay Area. Everyone loves postcards and you know, stuff like that. So I was laid off twice by the same company because of the COVID pandemic, and unfortunately, everyone at my location was laid off, including the people who had been there twenty fifteen years. So when I was laid off, I was back again at Square one and that was

my third job. My first job was at Starbucks, my second was at Coles, and then I ended up working for the gift shop and I just decided I hated retail and the whole customer service thing. It was just I was good at it, but I didn't feel like that was my happy element. So in between that gap and I would say December of twenty twenty, I was a bit idle. I was also trying to finish high school during a pandemic, which was kind of stressful. Yeah,

my neighbor or like a door over my neighbor. He was a field hockey provider, so he made the sticks in the packs and the bags and stuff like that, and his team that he was sponsoring was going to the Olympics that year in Tokyo, so he commissioned me to create, you know, a logo that was within the Tokyo's regulations and something that suited the company. So that was I don't know, my first project being for the Olympics was kind of crazy, I do. I don't think

I really understood that in its entirety. I just thought it was cool, even though the limits were eventually canceled. That was my outlet to discovering that I really had a passion for designing on an iPad. And what I learned along the way from commissions is that you gain a lot of skills you didn't plan to because you

have to get it done right. You know. It's so interesting too that what you're saying about how kind of what you don't expect you know, we don't what you don't expect to be the result becomes the result and how you learn along the way. I mean, I think that's pretty important. Yeah, and that's interesting how like the Tokyo Olympics kind of forced you to have a product that showed you more about yourself, that you learned more about yourself through that process, especially given that it was

a logo. I think logos are one of the most stressful type of commissions because you know, sometimes a client doesn't know what they want and you have to create that and make it what they want. If they don't like it, you have to go all the way back to square one and figure out, you know, how are you going to make this idea someone has and make it real life and make it look good. So it was a great learning experience. We'll be back after this break.

So you're doing the logo, you kind of discover the iPad. It's now COVID. Everybody's getting laid off, and when did you realize the potential of NFTs? So I learned that further along the way. This is fast forwarding to about last year. Literally a year ago, I had begun going viral with my art style. I guess it was news fresh, something you know, most people hadn't seen before, especially since my goal as an artist was to draw people who looked like meat in a very positive light, so I

think that also gravitated towards viewers. I started getting an influx of comments and dms and like, hey, you should ment this as an NFT, and like you should do this and do that, and I seen them and I really felt like, I don't know if you've ever seen the four x trader spam comments on Instagram, but I felt like it was literally that, but just Twitter, and it was something I didn't understand. It was something I

didn't have any interest on. I kind of hopped on the bandwagon that NFTs were terrible for the environment, people were going to die from it, and I was just really really under the whole thing exactly. I saw one of my artists friends he I guess, I don't know how the wall the hole came to be, but I guess he kicked a hole in the wall by accident, and he put a frame on top of it and he minted it. I believe this was on open sea

and it sold for seven thousand dollars. Wow. When I saw that, I was like, you know, that's kind of like effortless art. I think I can do that as well. And also at the time, I was trying to move out to my house so I needed a down payment and sales print cells hadn't been going the way I wanted them too, so I'm like, you know, we're just gonna try out into We're just gonna try it out, you know, test the water if it's see if it's

really worth the hype. So I had gotten an invitation onto Foundation, so I minted my first NFT there and if I'm not mistaking, it sold within twenty four hours for one point five ethereum. Wow. Yeah. And at the time I didn't know that you're supposed to start low and then work up high, so I guess I just I just went for it. But yeah, that was a start, and I was like, yeah, I'm not I'm never going back.

And your work is totally taken off. I mean, it's just amazing and the fact that so many people can see it so quickly. I mean, is that something that appeals to you in terms of the NFT world. One thing that I also I always value is that I don't really like shilling. I would rather that you know, the viewer saves my art and actually feels drawn towards it and you know, has curiosity and has you know,

wants to know what's inside my world. That to me is way more than hopping in a Twitter space or a clubhouse room and like, hey, this is my project, is what I'm trying to do. I feel like everyone's doing that now, so you know, they're becoming less and less and less trustworthy. But yeah, if you feel, if you feel drawn towards my art, my price is thrown out the window. I want you to just be able to enjoy it. Well, it is so incredible, it really is.

At the piece that you've done for the Seneca Women in a quality collection, it is really exquisite. Can you tell us a little bit about how you thought about this piece? Of course, the prompt was to show us how you envision a quality tell us a little bit about the process of making the peace. I knew straight at the gate I wanted it to be a very powerful woman I didn't yet know how that was going to be. M I just I was I was just sketching. I was just like, hum, what should I do kind

of hairstyle blah blah blah blah. And I came across this picture of these bullhorns and it was it was the same um posture I should say, that was, you know, in the woman that I had illustrated, And I was like, this is actually really sick, and you know it, it sort of portrayed like a sense of strength. It would be cool. I thought it would be cool to like put a horn on a woman, but not actual horns.

So I ended up um making the braves the horns, and I wanted them in a certain way that made them look like they were really thick and strong and like, you know, can hold on their own. Once I have a pretty solid idea of what I want to illustrate, the rest is completely freestyled. I think I went through about eighty different color changes, just because I wanted everything to be very specific, very important. Yeah, I was just

I don't know. I was really going for that simple yet very detailed look and it really shows and it's super powerful. I mean, I think you really captured that with the work. How have you found the space in terms of women's art and the general NFT market. I think, you know, the women who get it get it, and what that means is you know it doesn't I don't. Personally, I wouldn't get into a space and start complaining. I would rather just be that confident person and do it myself.

And there's some women, there's a lot of women actually in the space who understand exactly what that means, and they're doing incredibly amazing. They know how to maneuver through these male dominant spaces and just be themselves and be very authentic. I had the pleasure of working with World of Women several times, and you know it always it's a great reminder that you know, there are there are

spaces for us that allow us to completely flourish. I think it's just really a matter of confidence and knowing that you are that person. I'm not going to cuss, but yeah, it's just knowing that you know, we're the reason why there are men at the moment. I love it. Yeah, I think I think you're going to be an inspiration for a lot of people of all ages who want to get into the space. It's moving so fast, and so yeah, I guess you have to be brave to

beeo willing to jump in. And it's just kind of amazing that you went from drawing to you know, the iPad to what you've done in just such a short amount of time. Did COVID have a big impact on yougoing digital? Um, not really. I've always admired having cool technology, you know, learning different stuff. I do think I missed out on the in person aspect, so like now you know, meetups are normal, and I just feel really uncomfortable, Like I don't think I've been around that many people in

a single space since my sophomore year of high school. Wow, And because I was mainly homeschooled throughout high school, but we had weekly classes where you could be on campus with a bunch of kids, and that was my only source of social gathering in that time. So now it's just really weird. But I don't think it had a huge impact on, you know, how I progressed, maybe more so on the entrepreneurial side, you know, learning how to

actually make money from home. I think that was definitely a challenge, but yeah, it wasn't It wasn't hard well, I tell you this collection. I think what's exciting for us about the collection is that we're representing, you know, all different countries and we're talking to women who are kind of representing their culture and being able to share

it across the world kind of instantaneously. I'm really excited to see all the different work and to see it come together and then to celebrate, you know, to continue to add new women artists, and I think I think you're inspiring to so many people, and your work is extremely moving and we appreciate so much what you do. So thank you so much for joining the collection and for joining us today. Thank you so Lage. I am so honored. I'm really excited to see you know everything.

It's so amazing to meet Is and her work is incredible. Go to Seneca Women dot com to see her work and the other artists in the Seneca Women A Quality Collection, and join us tomorrow for another Women Rule Web three conversation. Have a great day. You're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on power and Purpose, brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and iHeartRadio with support from founding partner of p And. If you'd like to Join the Seneca

Women Network. Go to Seneca Women dot Com. There you'll get access to exclusive events and workshops, plus updates on new podcasts and other opportunities to get involved.