A few years ago, I came across the term "multipotentialite" — a term used to describe people who display aptitudes across multiple disciplines, popularized by Emilie Wapnick at Puttylike. In her words, a multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits.
It put into perspective what I'd felt for so long — that design was my career; painting, my calling; travel, my schooling; women's rights, my stake in the ground.
For years, I'd kept each of them mostly separate. I designed for local tourism bureaus, I traveled, I painted, and I stood up for women's rights when and where I could; but there was always a sense of compartmentalization that didn't quite feel...right.
And yet, I approached each with such impassioned fervor that it seemed impossible to give any up. Even more so, it became my goal to somehow bring them all together as much as I could.
Then, around this time last year, I was asked to not only design the official visitors guide for Seneca County, NY...but to commission a painting of the historic meeting between Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton that could be used on the cover.
For me, this was a pivotal moment. One where I could bring all of these interests, aptitudes, and passions together as I flexed my design muscles in creating a visitors guide that would promote travel to our beautiful Finger Lakes region, honored the women that changed the course of history across the country from their base in Seneca County, and allowed me to express the energy of that moment in a painting on the cover.
In that convergence of design, painting, travel, and women's rights, I felt the synergistic magic of passions intersecting; when we can live, work, and play in our zone of genius.
Fortunately, these opportunities to live in that synergistic magic seem to be more frequent these days.
In April, I kicked off my Travel Through Art: Finger Lakes video series, where I choose a destination and record a time lapse video of me painting a scene from it, then turn it into a 1ish minute video.
In September, I had the opportunity to host a "Meet & Paint" event for Visit Finger Lakes where 13 meeting planners from across the country met virtually as I walked them through the creation of a plein-air style painting from the comfort of their own backyards.
And earlier this month, the National Women’s Hall of Fame featured photos of my trip to paint there on their Facebook page.
More and more, I see my passions intersecting, and the magic that makes me feel is only akin to the magic that makes it happen: An unrelenting dedication to stoking each of the fires.
While I know I can’t always be working at that perfect intersection of all of my passions, I know I can appreciate each of them for the light they bring to my soul.
For my fellow multipotentialites out there: I urge you to keep pursuing your passions; to remember that it's not all or nothing, but instead, maybe it's a little bit of everything you love.
Now more than ever, we need to spend as much time as we can in our zone of genius, bringing light to our souls, and feeling the magic that only we can create for ourselves as our passions intersect.