#338: Stephanie Diamant (Fashion & Serial Entrepreneur) (pt. 2 of 2)

This week on the podcast is part two of our interview with Stephanie Diamant. She has a background in fashion and worked as a sales and brand ambassador at Saks Fifth Avenue, and in visual merchandizing for Chanel. 

Recognizing the collaboration between corporate executives and artists, she decided to become an artist and ultimately worked with many fashion brands to design their illustrations, custom signs, murals and pop-up stores and events.  From there she expanded her arts offerings by creating original art, exhibiting in galleries and designing installations for homes, brands and special events.  

Join us to hear how Stephanie applied what she learned in the Fashion industry to all her other entrepreneurial pursuits, including art and real estate. https://www.pinterest.com/mixedmediabysteph/ and https://www.instagram.com/mixedmediabysteph/?hl=en

Transcript

Introduction to Stephanie Diamant

Announcer 0:19

Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast. Making art work. We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry, passion and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts. The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts. The appearance of a guest on the podcast, the venture they represent or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute business advice. Here are your hosts Andy Heise and Nick Petrella.

Andy Heise 1:01

Hi Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners. My name is Andy Heise.

Nick Petrella 1:05

And I'm Nick Petrella Today. Today we're joined by arts entrepreneur Stephanie Diamant. She has a background in fashion and worked as a sales and brand ambassador at Saks Fifth Avenue and in visual merchandising for Chanel executives and artists. She decided to become an artist and ultimately worked with many fashion brands to design their illustrations, custom signs, murals, pop-up stores and events. From there, she expanded her arts offerings by creating original art, exhibiting in galleries and designing installations for homes, brands and special events. She continues to grow her brand and recently added real estate investing to her portfolio by applying the business skills she learned in fashion and art. We'll have her websites in the show notes so you can check out her art and designs. Thanks for being with us, stephanie.

Stephanie Diamant 1:56

Thank you so much for having me

Andy Heise 1:57

Well that poses an interesting question, and maybe it's more of a business administrative type of thing. But how do you, at what point does you know a contract and money start becoming part of the conversation?

Stephanie Diamant 2:13

That's a tough one, I think a really tough one. Yeah, Um, cause you don't want, like we were saying earlier, people who can't visualize what you're doing. You have to be able to sell it for free essentially before they're willing to pay for it.

Pricing Art and Setting Expectations

Stephanie Diamant 2:29

So I think it's a matter of like how did you meet them? What are they looking for? Like you really have to understand the ask so that you can present it in a way where they know they're going to get what they are looking for. So that you can present it in a way where they know they're going to get what they are looking for. And I think that ultimately makes it a quicker process where either you learn like hey, this is something that they would want, or this is definitely not what they want. And also one thing I learned more recently is to make sure that you're like very clear, upfront, like not necessarily one price, but like a range of prices at least.

Stephanie Diamant 3:04

Because, yeah, I mean, I've met with people who the job I'm quoting in my mind it's like $3,000 or $5,000. And they're like oh, I only had $1,000. So I just wasted so much time.

Andy Heise 3:17

Right, yeah, and that's what I was thinking about is you spend a lot of time working with someone and then you realize that they don't? Yeah, and so I suppose it happens both ways, right, they come to you and say I have a $5,000 budget, what can we do? Or it's like back to your other point. It's like they can't visualize it, so they don't really know what goes into it, and so you don't want to scare them off with a price. First sell the vision and then start talking about budgets.

Stephanie Diamant 3:46

That's definitely it, especially if it's a bigger job, because they don't realize how big it is.

Andy Heise 3:52

Right, I want a mural. Okay, Well, you can't just start painting on the wall, right? There's a lot, a lot of prep work and time that goes into into just just that piece of it before you even yeah.

Stephanie Diamant 4:05

It just doesn't appear, and a lot of times, yeah, and a lot of times too, um, when they realize that it's not just like murals that I do. I can do a lot of other things, like the home decor, all of that. So I'll get into a space and they'll say, oh well, I wanted the mural here, but can you also like fix this room, or like do something in here? And and then it just becomes this ambiguous request. It's very hard to price that.

Nick Petrella 4:30

Change orders.

Andy Heise 4:33

I like this mural, but I have this really ugly couch sitting in front of it and you're like you know, so then it becomes part of like. Well, if we're going to do this, maybe we should address these other things as well.

Stephanie Diamant 4:43

Yes.

Andy Heise 4:44

Upselling right.

Nick Petrella 4:45

Exactly I was just going to say that, yeah.

Stephanie Diamant 4:48

Yes, back to my sales days.

Nick Petrella 4:52

Stephanie, in your bio it states that you've lived on four continents and have traveled to dozens of countries. How has that shaped your approach to entrepreneurship?

Stephanie Diamant 5:06

So I think, as an entrepreneur, it's so cool to see so many other entrepreneurs in different places and like how they're living and how the cultures vary. And I think it just goes back to what I was saying before like these people who are doing this are location independent. People who are doing this are location independent. They probably haven't always lived in the country I met them or they just decided to like pick up and leave, like what I did, and it's super cool to see. So it's just like like that constant reminder of this is the life that I always want to have, unless I'm, like, working towards a long-term goal and I have to be in one place for a while.

Nick Petrella 5:46

You speak any other languages?

Travel Impact on Entrepreneurial Mindset

Stephanie Diamant 5:48

I speak Spanish, yes. Oh, nice Not great anymore, to be honest.

Nick Petrella 5:53

Yeah, conversational though.

Stephanie Diamant 5:55

I was. Yeah, I mean at one point when I was, because a lot of the countries I visited I was in for at least a month at a time and I was planning my route essentially on Spanish speaking countries. So I did like a lot of Latin America, um, south America, central America, and, for that reason, so like there was a time when I could sit in a car for eight hours with a Spanish speaker who didn't speak any English and we would talk the entire time. Yeah, and now it's been a while since I've done it, so I'm very shy about it, but yes, like.

Stephanie Diamant 6:27

I understand everything.

Nick Petrella 6:28

Yeah, you get rusty.

Stephanie Diamant 6:30

Yeah, it's sad.

Andy Heise 6:32

And so in your travels, were you, were those mostly just, were those like just personal traveling adventures, or were they? Were there business purposes behind them, or what was the inspiration for the travel?

Stephanie Diamant 6:45

So I it was a lot of bucket list things- Um it just happened during COVID so. I mean a year after, when people could travel again.

Andy Heise 6:54

Sure Sure.

Stephanie Diamant 6:55

Um. So I just knew I was like this is the time, my job is remote, I don't need to be in any one place, and then I just started checking off places I had always wanted to see. And then I realized like if I learn this language, learn Spanish I'll have. It was also kind of a safety thing at first, like not just to have a leg up and like learn new language, but like I'm by myself and.

Stephanie Diamant 7:19

I want to know what are people saying around me. So I think that's why one of the reasons why I picked it up so fast, cause I really, really wanted it.

Andy Heise 7:28

Totally, yeah, yeah. So you touched on this a little bit ago and you said something about like when you, when you feel stuck, it's time to move on. But that's the question I want to ask is how do you, how do you, decide when it's time to move on from one project or one business idea, uh, to a new one, to focus on something else?

Stephanie Diamant 7:49

So I think the stuck thing it's just something that I don't do well with. I just know when I have that feeling that there's something that I can do better or that I need to try that I haven't done yet. So it's usually it's a mindset, I think for me, I guess is the best way to put it it's not that something is over and I need to start something new. It's I'm learning to relax in that space too. When one project is over, I can just kind of be calm and like really like look back and see like what went right, what went wrong, instead of just jumping. But in that time frame it's when I'm thinking like okay, what would I like to try now?

Knowing When to Move Forward

Nick Petrella 8:33

yeah, so you have a lot of irons in the fire, as we've discussed and talked about being a producer. So I'm wondering how you keep track of everything and you run multiple projects simultaneously or you focus, say, on one at a time.

Stephanie Diamant 8:51

Yeah. So I hired a life coach a year and a half ago now maybe, and it was one of the best things I ever did, honestly, because she I'm my like roles in corporate world were also like project management, right, like I was producing things. I'm very organized myself, but I needed somebody to kind of show me like a bigger picture, like I was only thinking like in the next six months in the next six days like more shorter timeframe.

Stephanie Diamant 9:19

So when I hired her, one of the things we did was she helped me work on like a one year, two year and five year plan, and that's something that now, even in like these small projects where things are not going well or I'm just feeling like a lot of chaos, I'll go back to that, a lot Like okay, even though in the moment something isn't working out like this is still like where my one-year plan is, or this is on progression route to my two-year plan, and it just helps me to kind of stay on track.

Nick Petrella 9:53

Yeah, and so do you select opportunities that help fit into those plans or that plan, or do you just? How does that work?

Using Life Coaching for Business Planning

Andy Heise 10:04

Yes, it's kind of like an org chart that I have where it will be like one job, and then there's like two things that I want to get out of that one job and it just kind of keeps going from there, like a little chart job and it just kind of keeps going from there like a little chart, so that long, longer term plan sort of like not the guide star but sort of the, the thing that kind of directs your day to day work and the types of projects that you work on.

Stephanie Diamant 10:29

Yeah, right now yes.

Andy Heise 10:31

Would. Can you? Would you mind talking about what was the impetus behind hiring a life coach? Why did you like? Why did you decide to do that at the point that you did?

Stephanie Diamant 10:42

Uh, I wanted an accountability partner because when I had done all of my like own branded projects, freelance projects, I was having a hard time just moving forward, like when I would achieve the goal. I didn't have like those longterm goals, like my goal was like to show in a gallery and I did it, and then I was just like, oh, what do I do next?

Andy Heise 11:02

Now what?

Stephanie Diamant 11:03

Yeah, right, exactly. So I just needed like more clarity on the why behind what I was doing.

Nick Petrella 11:12

Yeah, and sometimes an objective third party can see things you don't.

Stephanie Diamant 11:18

Yes, they are very good they make.

Andy Heise 11:20

They make you explain why you're thinking something and then yeah, which helps make sense of it, right, yeah?

Stephanie Diamant 11:27

Yeah.

Andy Heise 11:28

It's, you know, I don't know, I think it's. It's hard, you know, especially given current circumstances in the world, it's hard. Long-term planning is difficult, I think, for people right now, particularly young people, I don't know. Just sort of an observation, I think.

Nick Petrella 11:49

Well, we deal with a lot of young people.

Andy Heise 11:51

Right, yeah, right, and I don't know if that's been your experience too, stephanie, or not.

Stephanie Diamant 11:58

I do think we're living in a very different world, like with social media especially, but I think it's great to hear like these podcasts are a great example, great to hear from people who have been in their shoes already and just kind of be inspired by what they're doing, instead of just like looking on TikTok at a video. I just I think there's more substance to like hearing a full talk or meeting someone in person. It's why I wanted to do that talk back in December when we met Nick.

Stephanie Diamant 12:27

So I just feel like, yeah, I think it's good to be able to. I don't like to talk about myself, but I do like to put things into a perspective where what I did can help someone else. Right.

Nick Petrella 12:38

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the impetus for what we're doing. People with your experiences are doing this and the more people listen, they can recognize patterns and see differences and things like that.

Stephanie Diamant 12:55

Yeah, I think it's great.

Andy Heise 12:57

So, as we've, as we've discussed, you've taken some big leaps throughout your life, throughout your career uh, leaving corporate jobs, traveling solo, Now you're getting into real estate. Um, do you think courage is something that you build over time? And we've we've sort of already talked about this confidence thing, but courage and confidence kind of go hand in hand, or have you always sort of been wired that way?

Stephanie Diamant 13:21

I think it's a little bit of both Um, with the longterm goals that I'm working on now, like the real estate portion of it all. It's something I've always wanted and something that I never thought I could have. I don't know why where that came from, but, um, I could have. I don't know why where that came from, but, um, when I realized, like this is like the time to try and get this, I just went for it. So I think it's also just knowing that what I want is definitely within reach. I just it's a mindset thing again Like I kind of have to talk myself into.

Stephanie Diamant 13:55

if someone else did it, why can't I do it?

Andy Heise 13:57

Yeah to talk myself into. If someone else did it, why can't I do it? Yeah, yeah, and in my experience it's, it's, you might have the idea, but then just it. All it takes is one person to say, oh yeah, that you should do that, or oh yeah, that's, that's a really good idea. And here's why I think that's a good idea. And you're like, oh yeah, of course, yeah, cheerleaders, good idea. And you're like, oh yeah, of course, yeah, cheerleaders.

Stephanie Diamant 14:22

Cheerleaders. A little bit of external validation maybe. Yeah yeah, it's good to have cheerleaders.

Andy Heise 14:26

That's why. That's why Nick keeps me around, yeah.

Nick Petrella 14:29

We're our own. We're our workout buddies. You can see what kind of shape we're in Moving on. So we try not to talk about AI a lot, but I don't remember asking we don't.

Andy Heise 14:44

It's not a conscious decision.

Nick Petrella 14:47

Yeah, well, I try to make it because it's like, everywhere you look it's AI, ai. Right yeah, but I am wondering have you incorporated AI into any of your processes or as a prompt for ideation? Have you ever done that?

Stephanie Diamant 15:01

I haven't yet, but I've kind of dabbled in to how I could. So maybe more to come on that.

Nick Petrella 15:10

Okay, yeah, that's fine.

Andy Heise 15:12

Yeah, I mean, it's the Wild West still. So yeah, I think people are still figuring out how to? You know, it's a shiny fun object at this point and people are still figuring out.

Stephanie Diamant 15:25

Yes, I agree. I mean, I have friends who have built entire companies on AI. So, it's incredible. I just haven't really done anything so much myself.

Andy Heise 15:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You mentioned, I think, again in your bio or something. Somewhere I read you dream about owning your own creative space someday, and so I'd like to hear more about that. If you could, if you could make that exist right now, what would it look like? What types of things would be happening there, et cetera.

Stephanie Diamant 15:57

Yes, I can try. Okay, this is something that is definitely in my mind often and I just I don't know, I wonder, maybe it's it's in my five year plan for sure. So in another four years we can have this podcast again and I will be able to tell you all about it, because I know I will achieve it. But right now I'm starting to see.

Dream of Creating a Creative Space

Stephanie Diamant 16:23

So I own a multifamily property. One of the units I Airbnb, the other one I lease full time, and so I've seen different ways of doing things and I really want to build some sort of space where maybe it's like you check in for the day into like a creative space where you're around other creative people, or maybe it's like an overnight hotel, like it could be a boutique hotel I've had a lot of different ideas but where you're catering more to artists, like you book it, you write to me and you say like hey, I'm a painter, and then I'll set up a room for you where it's like there's all paint supplies, whatever you ask for, like I'll make it more of like an experience for who you are and why you're coming. Um, but yeah, that's just a little bit of my, my brainstorm ideas.

Nick Petrella 17:12

That is interesting.

Andy Heise 17:14

Yeah, no, I think that's. I think it's a really cool, and I'm thinking about, like you know, audio or podcast producers or whatever. Like you know, having you could be a digital nomad, as you know, as we described. We do this virtually all the time. Anyways, you can do this from anywhere in the world, Uh, and there's a lot of people that do that, Right, so it could be a space for, for people like that.

Stephanie Diamant 17:35

Yeah, and I think too a lot of those people. I mean, I know I was like this when I was traveling. I'm always looking for just a community. So to have that kind of space, but not have like the financial um, like not putting down a lot of money, like it's a one day thing, $200 or something, you know it's not going to break the bank to do it, I think could be interesting.

Andy Heise 17:58

Yeah, yeah, didn't these types of arts destination arts, hotel, community things? Didn't that used to be a thing? I feel like somebody was telling me there's a, let's see. This is how my stories usually go. There's this place in Chicago where people would travel. Anyways, never mind, I think it used to be a thing, but now, with real estate being so expensive and it's such high demand that the business model just didn't work.

Stephanie Diamant 18:31

Yeah, I could see why, but I want to hear more about that offline, andy.

Andy Heise 18:34

Well, I'll think about it and there's one specifically in Chicago that I'm thinking about, and maybe it was the Chicago Athletic Club. I don't know, I'll fly it, andy. Well, I'll think about it. And there's one specifically in Chicago that I'm thinking about, and maybe it was the Chicago Athletic Club. I don't know, I'll have to look into it. Yeah, anyways.

Nick Petrella 18:44

Cool. So before we get to our final three questions, I just wonder what you'd like to be doing professionally in the next five years. You think you'll eventually focus solely on real estate, or are you going to continue with a?

Stephanie Diamant 19:04

I think I want it to be both. They're definitely both in my five-year plan, but I don't know exactly how I'm going to achieve it yet. So I mean why I moved back to Cleveland. That's where I am now is basically to own property.

Stephanie Diamant 19:21

So, in 2023, at the end of the year, I bought my first multifamily and I've been looking now to buy another one, so that's definitely my biggest goal. Like, even my like full-time job that I have right now sometimes takes the backseat to that. To be honest, like this is my baby, it's something I always wanted, and I just feel like that's the path to what everyone talks about this financial freedom idea.

Nick Petrella 19:47

Right.

Stephanie Diamant 19:47

So it's something I really, really want. So I definitely want to have multiple properties.

Andy Heise 19:53

Yeah, and we've sort of been dancing around this, but would you just give us a snapshot of, like, what is your career right now? What today? What is? Do you have a full-time job? Are you all doing all freelance? Obviously, there's the real estate. What's that look like for you right now?

Future Goals and Current Career

Stephanie Diamant 20:09

So right now I'm working full-time for a beauty brand where I'm the project manager for, like, the design team and I work with the packaging engineers. I got into this world back in New York a long time ago. Before I started doing my own thing. I had a job doing this type of work and it's very I'm very honestly, I'm pretty good at it. So it doesn't take a lot of effort on my part anymore, which is good and bad, because I don't feel like I'm growing as much in my career, let's say. But, like I said, the real estate thing is my big goal.

Stephanie Diamant 20:42

So that's why I am doing what I'm doing now, just so I can have the time to look for more properties and maintain the properties I have, and I'm a super host on Airbnb, so that takes up a lot of time.

Nick Petrella 20:55

Sure, yeah, and then so with the brand that you're with, do you have a non-compete if you want to produce another show, or how does that work?

Stephanie Diamant 21:06

So I'm not doing any production work.

Nick Petrella 21:08

So that would be like kind of irrelevant.

Stephanie Diamant 21:10

now it's more just. I've run like the day-to-day product launches and like the timing for that and overall just the execution.

Nick Petrella 21:19

So that'd be okay if you were working with a different brand, as long as it didn't impact. Okay, gotcha.

Andy Heise 21:25

Yeah Well, Stephanie, we've reached the point of the interview where we ask all of our interviewees the same three questions, and the first question is what advice would you give to others wanting to become an art entrepreneur?

Stephanie Diamant 21:40

So wanting to become an art entrepreneur, I think the best thing I could say would be to just not let anyone stop you and I know that's easier said than done but when you really want something, you just have to go for it. It's as simple as that.

Nick Petrella 21:58

What can we do to ensure the arts are more accessible and reaching the widest possible audience?

Final Advice for Arts Entrepreneurs

Stephanie Diamant 22:05

So, like I said before, I think you guys are doing a great job and what I would like to see more of is more people going into like colleges, or going into even like schools, grade schools, just to kind of like get people and even I think the younger, the better kind of exposed younger generations to that type of work. And especially now with what's going on with the government, I think it's very important to just make it clear that you can have a career in art, like especially with social media, you can pretty much do anything you want, like I wish. Sometimes I don't have any regrets, but being in fashion and then not going into that, like now I don't do as much fashion. I kind of feel like if I had pursued more of the fine art from the beginning.

Stephanie Diamant 22:54

I could have been like one of those like fiber artists or anything else, where I have like 200,000 followers and my whole business is online now, and that just wasn't the path for me, but I think that you can literally do anything you want now. So to be, more exposed to people who are doing it, hear people talk about how they did it. I think that that education is more invaluable to me than just any class you can take.

Nick Petrella 23:21

Yeah Well, there's not an end date. You can still do it if you want.

Stephanie Diamant 23:25

I know, yeah, maybe I will.

Andy Heise 23:31

Lastly, what's the best artistic or entrepreneurial advice you've been given?

Stephanie Diamant 23:37

Yes. So I think I will have to say you have to spend money to make money, which is why I hired a life coach. Um, and just in general, like you have to put yourself first, make sure that you are, like able to do what you're trying to do. Um, yeah, I think that's my best advice. I know it's hard, especially when you go out on your own. Like, just don't cheap out on the things that you know, long term, are going to be something that you need to have.

Nick Petrella 24:08

That's great. Well, Stephanie, I really love hearing your sense of adventure and tenacity to achieve goals. Thanks so much for coming on with us.

Stephanie Diamant 24:18

Thank you, Nick. I really appreciate it. I had so much fun with you guys.

Andy Heise 24:21

Thanks, Stephanie.

Announcer 24:25

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