Theresa Baxter: Illustrator Who Believes in Body Positivity
We’ll be straight with you, Theresa Baxter from theresabaxter.me is the illustrator you should keep an eye on.
Why? One look at her online portfolio reveals an artist whose illustrations are bold, striking, emotional, raw, vivid, stimulating, vibrant, thought-provoking, inspirational, intense, and powerful enough to make you question your perception of yourself and others.
A member of our ME team, Theresa is a successful digital artist who understands the importance of having a personal brand that reflects the real you – your passions, fears, desires, dreams, and all the little bits and pieces that make you exactly who you are.
About Theresa Baxter
Theresa Baxter is an illustrator, graphic designer and a creative entrepreneur who lives and works in Los Angeles. With a background in psychology and art therapy, Theresa uses her work to connect with her inner-self, improve her mental and emotional well-being and to increase awareness of herself and others. In nutshell, she uses it as a form of expressive therapy, which she hopes to turn into a career of its own later in life.
Theresa considers her art to be the source of her inner strength and emotional superpower which has helped her come through her darkest hours and taught her to nurture the relationship she has with her body and embrace all the little things that make her who she really is – both on the inside and the outside.
She uses her creativity as a way to express her feelings and share her experiences, passions, fears, happiness, darkness, and light with the world. To show us her true colors without any pretences, in the hopes that by doing so she’ll challenge the “status quo” and help people feel seen, heard, understood and validated.
And she is doing a truly amazing job!
About Theresa Baxter’s work
Throughout the years she spent in the industry, Theresa specialized in creating illustrations that will help develop a brand’s visual identity and voice, as well as in creating visual materials that aim to change and transform the world around us.
Theresa took her first entrepreneurial steps in 2015, as a co-owner and an art director of Allmost – the art studio that became a meeting point for all the artists, creative entrepreneurs, and creative enthusiasts in Los Angeles.
The experience helped her launch her own online store – reesabobeesa.com – which sells vintage and thrift T-shirts designed and printed by Theresa and her team. Theresa loves the whole printing process and sees it as a perfect platform to create her art and give back to her community. First off, printing allows her to create new illustrations or repurpose old designs. By using thrift T-shirts that are hand-painted by the local screen-printing business, she helps reduce waste and supports the local economy and small businesses, while delivering truly unique and authentic products that make a difference in the world.
What can we learn from Theresa Baxter?
As a body positivity advocate, an inspiring artist, a talented illustrator, and a successful creative entrepreneur, Theresa is a jack-of-all-trades and her story hides some valuable lessons we could all benefit from.
Love yourself
The first and foremost thing we should learn from Theresa is the importance of self-love.
As someone who has long been struggling to embrace her own self-image, Theresa went a long way from hating her body and trying to change it to fit the “right” size, shape, and texture, to learning not only to accept it as it is but to find it pretty darn beautiful.
What helped her was a project she refers to as “the muse project”, which involved drawing naked female bodies just the way they are – curvy, soft, and dimpled – without the need to change them to fit unrealistic body standards imposed upon women.
This experience helped Theresa realize that the beauty of human bodies (including her own) lies in their uniqueness, and she’s been working on self-love and self-acceptance since then.
Follow your dreams and be passionate about what you do
No matter whether your dream is to become a wildlife veterinarian, a travel reporter, a digital marketer, or an aspiring designer, you need to be passionate about your job in order to succeed and manage to leave a mark in this competitive world.
When you love what you do and when you immerse yourself completely into your job people will recognize it, just like they recognized the tremendous passion and love Theresa has for her creative endeavors.
She loves every aspect of the creative process her work entails and is equally passionate as an artist as she is as an entrepreneur. Every project is a new opportunity to create something magnificent and to do something that truly matters to her, and that approach has surely proved to be working for Theresa.
Create a strong personal brand and showcase your work
If you want to become successful in what you do and make your work stand out (regardless of whether you’re in the creative industry or not), you’ll have to invest time and effort into creating a strong online personal brand.
This is just what Theresa did: she created a website that is all about her – a .ME website – which was the first step in building a unique and authentic brand. She then used her highly personalized online home as a place where she can showcase her work and introduce us to some of her most beautiful designs and illustrations.
Being the real Theresa is the most important thing for both Theresa as an artist and Theresa as a woman, and creating a personal brand helps you show the world who you truly are. Especially if the home for that brand is a highly-personalized .ME domain that includes your own name – it’s hard to get more personal than that.
In addition, Theresa uses social media to connect with her followers and potential clients, keeping them updated, promoting her work and reinforcing her online presence even further.
One Last Thing On Theresa Baxter
Without a doubt, Theresa Baxter is a very brave young woman – it takes a lot of courage to face your fears and even more to overcome them. Not to mention the strength needed to learn how to embrace the real you – your body, your mind, and your feelings.
Theresa did all that and even more – she turned it into stunning art, and we can only wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors.
Building an online personal brand is not an easy feat – the competition is fierce and the audience is picky. There are, however, those like Theresa Baxter who manage to pull it off and stand out from the crowd.
