Hello readers, today we bring you the story of a small woman entrepreneur – Poulomi Bose, who gave up her teaching career to follow her passion for art. She found her love for art amidst the pandemic, and that’s what gave her life meaning.
The Winged Women recently interviewed this talented woman, who is now running a successful business on Instagram, named ‘Pouls.of.art’. We are sharing these details here hoping that many women will know that it is OKAY to do what you want to do and that it is never too late to start. Happy reading!
Hi Poulomi, tell us something about yourself.
I identify myself as someone who has always known what I want from life. I am driven, resilient, and someone who likes to learn.
My father was into a government job, and we kept on shifting from one place to another. So, I have always wanted to ‘be rooted’. Shifting every two years was a big challenge because you lose connectivity – with people and places.
What did you want to be growing up?
It was pretty hard for me to choose a career as my parents always wanted me to be a civil servant. Since early childhood, I have not been too religious but ‘conditioned’ to pray. I used to pray to be a civil servant because my family wanted that. In college, I realized I wanted to take up something more creative.
Coming from a small town, the kind of growth I got there was tremendous. Being a literature student, I started questioning my career choices and decided to go for the CAT exam. Nevertheless, I took up master’s in literature at JNU, Delhi. Completed further studies and worked as a professor at Delhi University.
What made you start the pouls.of.art?
When the pandemic struck, it was hard to manage the pressure of online teaching along with Covid stress. So, I started exploring a way to feel sane. In June 2020, I picked up the brush to ease myself and then I painted every day for 100 days! At the end of the 100th day, I realized I could find ‘my roots’ in art.
Also, I didn’t ever get any art training. When I was a child, we didn’t have access to the internet, and classes weren’t readily available. I didn’t have the liberty to fail. When I started learning art as an adult, I had access to stuff that made it easier to grab techniques. Also, I could fail and not take the pressure for it.
How did you finalize the name of your business – Pouls.of.art?
Well, it was quite easy. I made my Gmail id back in 2006. I wanted to make an intelligent email ID, so I made it as poulsapart. ‘Poul’ coming out of my name and ‘apart’ was because I wanted to be different. When I started creating artwork, my personal Instagram profile was full of it, and I realized the need for a separate space. I wanted to name it something that my current audience can relate to and the new people who are interested in art.
When did you decide that I can earn as a small woman entrepreneur?
It was when a friend of mine asked me to make a portrait of his cat – ‘Toffee’. Although I made it, I showed it to several people to confirm it looked like a cat. She insisted on paying for it but I denied to accept it, so she gifted me some cool art supplies. After that, I started getting enquiries from friends. Initially, it was one order in a month.
In September 2020, I launched my calendar, the first monetized project, and people loved it. So, then I realized that okay, I could do this. Also, my family could support me, so I decided to move out of my job and take up art full time. Today, I am a small woman entrepreneur who gets about 30-35 orders a month.
Your artwork shows unique visuals of women. Tell us more about it.
Conventionally, the artwork had women who were not like real-life women. Women are always shown with perfect bodies, as an object of the male gaze only. I want my art to resonate with the way I imagine myself to be, and also, my art shows a young woman of today.
Any artists you look forward to?
The raw nature of Amrita Pritam’s work really appeals to me. I can look at her art for hours. Frieda Kahlo influences my art a lot. There is also this artist with an Instagram handle – Artcartbydeeksha inspires me. She is quite creative & her drive to find the art in everything is fantastic. She is maintaining a social media visual and working on unique stuff simultaneously. It’s impressive!
Poulomi’s story tells us that a woman can always follow her dreams if she has the will to do hard work. She chose to be a small woman entrepreneur over a teacher because she knew where her heart wanted to go. Through her art pieces, she is beautifying so many homes today.
If you enjoyed reading this story, check out other stories on our site. You’ll be surprised to know how some influencers and warrior women can inspire you into being better in life. Drop a comment below if you liked reading this one.
If you have a story that can inspire others, feel free to reach us at thewingedwomen@gmail.com.
I absolutely lobe the story and how you showed them to us. Its a beautiful storyt of hardwork and dedication.