Annie Riker is an artist and designer who loves exploring mountains, forests, coffee shops, and the unknown. She works from her home studio and lives with her husband and son in beautiful Asheville, NC. For 15 years, she served clients in design firms and ad agencies, and for a big nonprofit in Washington DC. After the birth of her son, she felt a strong desire to spend more time with him—but that meant making the tough decision to leave her big career behind, and it also made her realize how attached she had been to her professional identity. She spent the first year of her son’s life as the primary caretaker while trying to get in a little drawing time during his naps. As much as she adored her new beautiful baby, she felt a loss of identity and missed having time to create. Over time, she gave permission to herself to have both. With dedicated morning time to herself to create art, she feels like a better mother. And having afternoon time to play with her son makes her a better artist.She’s currently working on a personal Asheville illustration project called “100 Reasons I Love Asheville,” which is self-initiated, but in tandem with a global creative movement called “The 100 Day Project.” #The100DayProject is open and free to anyone who wants to create and share something of their own choosing each day for 100 days.Annie loves this 100-day challenge because the energy of knowing so many other people are participating keeps her accountable with a strong reason to follow through (which is hard with self-initiated projects!). While some might see posting daily as a lot of pressure, she feels a release of pressure to make something "perfect" because she just has enough time to keep making and see what happens and maybe edit later. This is Annie’s third year participating in the project. Last year, she created #AnnieChoosesJoy which was an inspirational handlettering project. The year before that, she created #PaintingsOfThingsIKept , a series of watercolor paintings of items that she and her husband kept in their house after going through a 6-month “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” decluttering process.We discuss: 1. The importance of sharing one’s story.2. Annie’s story of becoming an artist and designer.3. What it means to follow your heart in the design world.4. Owning the role of “expert” and what happens when you step into your greatness.5. The Joy of Stickers6. Balancing Motherhood and the Call of an ArtistShow Notes:The 100-day project is first known to have been started by a famous designer | Michael BierutElle Luna, author of | The Crossroads of Should and Must NPCA Logo Project | https://www.annieriker.com/npca-logoNPCA Magazine Cover | https://www.annieriker.com/national-parks-magazine-cover-illustrationFranny’s Farm Goat Yoga | https://frannysfarm.com/goat-yoga-asheville/Stickers:Annie never thought she’d get into stickers so much, until she moved to Asheville and discovered it was part of the culture! It has been a really fun way for her to be able to share her art with everyone in an affordable way. And sharing her art brings her just as much joy as making the art. You can currently find them locally at:Zen and Now | @zenandnow_ashevilleAsheville Community Yoga | @ashevillecommunityyogaDuncan and York | @duncanandyork ETC Consignment Asheville | @etcconsignmentashevilleMountain Merch |@mtnmerchBaked Pie Company | @bakedpiecompanyBad Craft Black Mountain | @badcraft828 You can follow Annie’s latest work on Instagram @annieriker or visit her website at www.annieriker.com to see her full portfolio.