Community Spotlight: Dena Jane Leone
Dena shares valuable guidance for individuals looking to sustain their creativity, find meaning in their work, and prioritize their well-being as part of their creative journey.
Greetings,
For this month’s newsletter, we shine a light on community member Dena Jane Leone and have a wealth of insights from her to share with you! Dena is the multi-talented artist, designer, and founder of By Hand, a creative studio and online shop where she transforms her distinct creative vision into art, handmade goods, apparel, custom designs, and visual identities for wellness, beauty, and retail brands. Dena and I met last fall when she joined me for Portfolios & Coffee, and I’ve since become a huge fan of her work and the message of connection, motivation, inner-wisdom, and abstract, organic beauty it expresses.
I reached out, hoping to learn more about Dena’s unique approach to creativity, design, and running her own creative studio. What I received in return was an insightful trove of supportive practices that have helped her thrive as a creative, which I am excited to share with our community!
Dena’s insights offer valuable guidance for individuals looking to sustain their creativity, find meaning in their work, and prioritize their well-being as part of their creative journey. Enjoy!
With Grattitude,
Shawn
Community Spotlight:
Dena Jane Leone
With everything that goes into managing your own business and earning a living, how do you sustain your creativity and prioritize time for creative output?
Creativity runs the show for me. I always let my imagination run wild whenever it needs to. To do this, I document what crosses my mind in many ways. It could be a quick sketch on a notepad, a voice note detailing an idea during a walk, a flowy yoga practice with pauses for journaling, or conversations with a friend that inspire a new concept. I believe that true creatives never stop creating. Yes, we may have to pause to do the more managerial tasks of our business, but our brains never stop creating. I’ve noticed over the years that when I draw a fine line between “non-creative” time, not only my mind but also my body get frustrated. I get stiff, and everything feels forced, so I have to take breaks.
My approach is sort of a Pomodoro method for creativity. Traditionally, you’d take a 15–30 minute “restorative” break in between work. Creativity is my restoration, so I pepper it in fluidly throughout the day. To fully stop or block creative thoughts for extended periods of time is unnatural for me. I find ways for creativity to come through, whether I have 30 seconds or 1 hour; this has been the most effective way I’ve noticed to prioritize creativity.
For days that are just so heavy with the business side of life, small breaks and something to look forward to will keep me going. A drive to a new town the next day to sketch from inspiration is always a favorite move to reprioritize creativity. It’s sort of like saying, “Thanks for waiting; here’s a treat; run wild.”
Your work contains affirmations of positivity, inner wisdom, and connection. I know you have a passion for yoga. Has practicing yoga affected your art, message, or creativity?
I'm a trained yoga instructor, but ironically, I don't feel connected to teaching it the way our modern world of athletic-driven asana studios teaches. I'm much more connected to the spiritual and philosophical side of yoga. When I took my teacher training, I heard the instructor say, "Just by breathing, you are doing yoga," and that alone made every bit of me connected to the yogic way of living.
The asanas, or physical poses, are so beneficial yet such a small portion of what yoga can offer. Yoga is a practice of self-study, and it’s been such a pillar in keeping me grounded and finding my way to a deeper purpose.
Growing up, I was classically trained as a ballerina and became very able-bodied, powerful, expressive, and graceful. When I found my way into a yoga studio, I witnessed everyone in there moving so fluidly, making such unique shapes. I saw all of them unifying over deep, reverberating, loud breaths, and I think my brain had a mini-eruption. I was so well physically trained, yet I could barely keep up in class. I was used to structuring and holding everything in, but to do yoga, you need to release and let your inner self decide what happens on your mat. Yoga was a cerebral experience, and ballet was very physically focused. In ballet, you are taught such amazing things, but you are also taught nothing less than perfection when you put that leotard on. I think I’ve been fighting against that perfectionism since I put my leotard to rest.
My art has a very obvious hand-drawn quality to it. Despite my deep love for ballet, nothing should ever feel perfect or ideal. It should feel transient, malleable, and fluid. Even though my patterns are usually made from broken parts, I disassemble and resemble unexpected views of a shape that’s taken on many lives. If you were to deeply inspect some of my art, you’d notice a single shape is reworked many times to reinvent itself with new meaning. That’s exactly what I aim to do with my life and what I hope to inspire others to do who feel stuck in a pattern they feel they need to break. I never want to be just one thing. I hope we all get many chapters in the story of our lives. Just like that single shape, we are just one thing, but how we shift, reframe, connect with others, disconnect with those that break us—all these parts of life make our story and let us become our next best version of ourselves.
Towards the end of 2023, I was feeling very disconnected from what I was creating. I was making things everyone really seemed to like, but they didn’t have much meaning behind them. My goal from the start of By Hand has always been to reflect the places and organic parts of life we love that make us feel most alive. As I’ve transitioned into 2024, I've started to create less of what I assume people like and more with intention and soul, just like a yogi on their mat.
“My work is whatever you and I need it to be. All the parts can be extracted or combined to create a new perspective for anybody to experience in their own light for any meaning that resonates with them. We are each not just one thing, so neither should the art or what it provides you.”
What’s something you’ve enjoyed or is most rewarding about the work you do?
Two of the most rewarding parts of the work are people and my health. People, meeting them, connecting with them, learning from them, and inspiring them. You put something out into this vast space called social media, and then you think, “I hope that finds its way to the right people." Then somehow it does. I’ve met so many talented creatives through sharing my art, and that’s been the greatest gift. With regard to health, I believe that if you are a naturally creative person, it is only healthy to create as much as possible.
I was in a very restrictive day job that was limiting my ability to use my creativity as much as I needed it to. So I resurrected an old Instagram account and made something new every day. Did I know what the end game was? No. Did I have a defined style? No. Did I know everything there was to possibly know about being an illustrator online? No. But did I feel good and excited to see what I’d create and enjoy the process of doing it? Yes, yes, and yes. When you don’t feel like your best self, turn to the thing you absolutely love doing. Even if life is busy and crazy, squeeze it in as much as you can, wherever you can. Only good things can come
of it.
Is there something you’ve learned, or a word of advice, as a working creative that you’d like to share with this community?
Earlier this year, I heard this quote, and it gave me a great sense of encouragement for my creative journey. “Never start when it’s perfect, because then you start too late.” There are so many talented people, and their work can be intimidating. They make it all look so easy. Create it and put it out there anyway. The right people will find your work and cheer you along as you figure it all out. And if you need more of those people, find me on Instagram and send me a message. Supporting and nurturing talent is one of my favorite things to do in between all the things of life.
Also, first and foremost, take care of your body. We all love to be productive, be at our computers, or scroll on our phones. Try to be conscious of these learned behaviors and opt for something good for your body and mind every day. Some of my favorite tools for this are the Insight Timer App, The Elements of Ayurveda Podcast, cooking my meals, walking around botanical gardens, and, of course, keeping a sketchbook with me wherever I go.
Also, I’ve benefited from this community newsletter. Shawn provides helpful wellness gems you don’t want to miss out on.
Thank you Dena, for sharing with us! You can follow Dena at @byhand.designs and be sure to visit her website and shop.
We’d love to hear from you too! If you have questions, comments, or a story you’d like to share with this community. Hit me up!
Personalized Coaching for Creative Professionals, Entrepreneurs, and Teams
+ Empowering creatives to find self-alignment, purpose, and satisfaction in their work.
