Creativity and a Mission with Olivia Martins
Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly and the most understated agent of human change - Bob Kerry.
Olivia is a special education teacher by day, and a creative by night - and weekends. During the day she teaches students with developmental and intellectual disabilities and that is really where her passions lie and the real reason why she became a creative.
What is the reason behind starting your own creative business? “ I went to college and got a master’s degree in special education, that's my speciality and what I know - but - I didn’t really want to be a teacher forever and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to work with people with disabilities but I didn’t really know how. Teaching was the first way to get hands on. As I went through college, I realized what I truly wanted to do was help people with disabilities get a job and learn job skills.”
How did you discover that you wanted to design welcome mats and doormats? It was so random! I needed to think of something that was easy enough for people with disabilities to make because that’s eventually what I want it to become. I needed something I could do and something that was easy enough to teach individuals with disabilities, and then I was like oh my gosh I love this.
Honestly, my mom bought me door mats and said “I think you should paint on these, “ and that’s how it started. And through that, is when I started to become even more creative. I love that it’s the first thing people see when they come to your house. I love that it can be cute or really quirky and totally weird.
What has been the biggest learning curve for you? I think not following into the comparison hole. It’s so easy to just search and see what everyone else is doing and saying “oh my gosh that looks so good, I could never make that” I came to terms that what is mine is mine, and people come and buy my mats and they buy my mats because of the story behind them. The money I make from my mats doesn’t go to me, it goes to creating and learning so that I can start a business for people with disabilities.
Olivia was such a gem to chat with! She is such an incredibly giving person. She’s thoughtful, gracious and creating a base for her dream business. Taking the step to become a creative is brave and extremely rewarding, but thinking of others and that being a drive to become a creative - that’s true passion.
Listen to the full podcast!
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Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Oliviaroseshoppe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviaroseshoppe/