It's been a while since I posted on the Q&A blog, but I have received quite a few questions, especially since the podcast I launched this Spring. So, I want to bring this back! I have a few Qs to answer/catch up on, but if you happen to be reading this and have a question for me, I operate AMA-style! So either post in the comments or email me. Be sure to let me know if you prefer to remain anonymous or if you want to be mentioned by a specific name, initials, etc.

R.L. asks, “Jaimee, What are you up to lately?”

That’s a nice question, R.L., and thank you for caring enough to ask!
I feel like I’ve done quite a lot since the last Q&A post back in 2016, and with such a gap in the Q&A posts, I feel like I should do a quick overview of then—> now, then dive into the current details.

I had just left my post at MartianCraft to focus on Picture This Clothing, which was strong and all-consuming from 2016-2018. 2019 brought a big slow down, then the pandemic came along and shook us like a snow globe in the hands of a four-year-old, and the little blizzard is still kinda settling. Sales in 2020 were more substantial than in 2019, but we had an onslaught of personal health challenges on top of global pandemic stuff, and re-prioritization rippled through everything.

When sales slowed significantly in 2021, Ken and I decided to take a step back to focus on more/other things, like health and bike riding, starting new ideas, and closing the loop on a few things left open pre-Picture This (PTC.) PTC is still going, and our outstanding teammate Wilson runs the day-to-day manufacturing component. We also manufacture a few other things (e.g., pixelthisclothing.com, sambarskyoriginal.com)

The printed replicas of internet-famous Sam Barsky's unique sweater art sell very well and have been on the rise in popularity since January '22. It's a very exciting turn of events to see such growth! You can visit Sam's t-shirt store here.

What else are we doing?

Trucks. We bought four Chevy P10 trucks of the 1960s era to overhaul and turn into food trucks. We’re learning a ton in the process, like, everything will take 10x longer and cost 10x more than planned. Normally I would have said 3x longer/more costly. But right now, even 10x feels like a generous assessment. Pshhhh. Learning a lot, though!
Writing. I released my first book in Jan with the goal of releasing my second in March. I miscalculated by a lot how challenging it would be to translate all the learnings and feedback from my first book experience into making the second one way better.
So, I’m behind and a little intimidated by it, but slowly chipping at it between self-doubts and distracting myself with other “priorities.”
Family. I’m a mom. Sophia and Zia are 17 and 13. I decided I wanted to just be present at home more instead of spending so much time at the shop. Sometimes that’s just hanging out at home. And sometimes going on food adventures and little mini-vacations.

Faraway Gas Station. Zia and I started doing this during the pandemic. We get in the car, decide how long we want to be gone (1 hr, 2 hrs, all day, etc.), we choose a direction (N, S, E, W) and we drive until we reach a gas station. Often, one we’ve never been to before. And we have the constraint of making sure we can charge the car somewhere so we can make it back home. These have been really fun adventures that give us great one-on-one conversation time.
Foster-Fail. Ken cares for a couple colonies of street kitties, feeding them every single night, and organizing a lot of TNR for the areas surrounding our Picture This office. My role in this is more a support role, and one of being a really terrible foster parent to cats. We have taken in several that were in really rough shape, with the objective of rehabilitating, then finding forever homes for them. When you foster but grow too attached to these little creatures to let them leave the safety and love you can offer them, it’s called “Foster-fail.” Turns out, I’m super good at this!
People. I have low-key been collaborating with CPO’s and HR teams to assess and offer feedback on their training and development programs, specifically for Design + Developer leadership within agencies and non-tech industries. THIS is where I have found my strength (or calling, if you will?)
This work builds off of my entire tech career history, leverages my coaching and personal life-design experience, and challenges my growth by learning more about how the HR side of companies works. At first, I felt a little like a designer infiltrating HR to help them understand how tech folks are a little different (because tech people are my people, and I have quite a history of not-fitting in traditional corporate structures, hence designing my own paths/ways.) But I’ve learned so much and I’m grateful for more opportunities to grow in the “people” direction.
To the credit of those I’ve been lucky enough to work with so far, it takes a very open-minded HR team to be up for this kind of respectful collaboration and being open to a UX-design person’s perspective to collaboratively “up their game” on employee development and engagement. I am LOVING IT.
This work is leading to more great things I didn’t really see coming, which I’ll share in a future post (or multiple posts.)
Travel. Ken has a lot of anxiety around travel, so the girls and I have done a few trips on our own. We took a road trip to Monterey, CA, singing in the car the whole entire time. We decided our in-car band is called “The CarGoyles” and we only perform while in transit.
We also made a trip out to Wisconsin to visit baby-CoCo, the new daughter of Josh and Angela (Ken’s sis). We stayed with them in their lake house. It was such a relaxing trip. I had no email to check or work to think about. I was just PRESENT in the moment, and every bit of it was fresh air.
On another mini-getaway, we got a hotel room about an hour away at a Best Western in Boulder City, NV that has a sweet indoor pool. It was a Tuesday, and we had the place completely to ourselves for all but an hour or two. I’m in Hawaii this week. I booked “The Onion House” all to ourselves, and I’m very much enjoying hanging out with my girls by the pool, writing, and eating for five days. We have a rental car for misc island travel, so it’ll also be an opportunity for The CarGoyles to perform. We’re not doing a lot of touristy stuff, but mostly hanging out in relaxation in the quiet of our AirBnB, and venturing out to experience local foods and coffees.
Feeling. I’ve been taking more time to feel my way through things. This is how I designed exactly the life I wanted (to a point) before, which erupted into Picture This Clothing. It’s amazing what the universe will serve up and how fast, when you are mindful and open–everything you think you want can happen so fast it knocks you off your game. So, now it’s about practicing and being even more mindful than ever before.
I am practicing being thoughtful about what I choose to bring into each day. I’ve been writing down the things I love doing and welcoming more of those things into my life. I’ve been using my morning coffee doodles as a form of creative release, journaling, learning, and intention setting. It’s helping me shut out the noise and ugliness of the world, so I can focus on my part of contributing something good/kind/positive to the world. That does not mean I’m denying or refusing to see ugliness that absolutely exists. I’m choosing how I handle and process it, so I can be a more effective change.
Playing into the whole feeling thing is a weekly experimental video-chat I have with my friend Stephan. We record every call, and we’re calling it “Unconstrained.” If you want to check that out, you can find it here on YouTube. Note: we’re figuring out the tech and the video bits as we go. Your patience is welcome. :)

That’s a pretty hearty run-down of what I’ve been up to, especially this year. I’d love to hear what YOU are up to!

Have a question for me? Email me here! I truly love hearing from you and answering questions is a lot of fun!

<3 Jaimee