Student Spotlight Series #4 - Brayan Montes
Overview
Welcome to my ongoing Student Spotlight Blog + Instagram Live Series.
I created this episodic adventure to:
Flex the incredible wins my students are stacking while blazing their own paths.
Reveal the adversity they’ve overcome and/or are currently navigating in their day-to-day.
Showcase how they persistently show up like creative professionals who take their shit seriously.
Below, you have 2 ways to consume this interview:
Watch the Instagram Live full interview below where students expand on the 7 questions.
Read the Blog Post 7-Questions-based interview further down this page.
Note: Scroll to the bottom of this page if you’d like to be a student I feature here in the future!
Meet BraYAN Montes-Terrazas
This session highlight’s my student making savage moves, Brayan Montes-Terrazas, a colorfully bold designer and illustrator out of Denver, CO operating under YAMZ.
We started working together back in Fall 2021, during Round 5 of my 12-Week Fall + Spring Coaching Programs.
(Learn more about 12-Week Coaching here.)
We’ve stayed in touch over the years and the growth and wins he’s tapped into are insanely inspiring.
I’m excited for you to soak up his creative genius below!
Instagram Live Interview
Click to watch the full interview.
7 Questions Interview
1. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and why we should care?
Hi there—I am Brayan Montes-Terrazas—better known by the alias YAMZ.
Under YAMZ, my unwavering identity-driven art stresses the importance of putting marginalized voices at the forefront of our conversations and the stories we tell.
I’m driven by the essential need to tell the stories of my identity as an undocumented, queer person of color.
I use art and design as vessels to show others that they are not alone in the fight toward equity justice and sound mental health.
As I continue to develop “YAMZ: World of Color” as both an art-based brand and community-driven organization…
I want to maintain the principle that when we uplift marginalized identities through art, we’re able to:
Educate others.
Provide business solutions.
Heal and bring each other up.
I truly believe representation matters and we must strive to build equity in the art and design fields.
2. Before we started working together, where were you at with your work, confidence, and direction?
I was definitely a hobbyist—someone who was constantly worried about:
Where I was headed.
Following trends.
“What people liked.”
I wasn’t focused on first vibing with what I was making/doing.
I was very ego-driven and making work that didn’t really get to the meat of what I was aiming to do…
To be honest, I didn’t know what I was aiming at in the first place.
I was accepting every job that was coming my way…
Even if it was draining or didnt align with the work I wanted to be known for while worrying IF the next job would even come.
3. What were your top 1-3 biggest hurdles you’ve had to work hardest on to overcome—and what are some lingering blind spots you’re continually improving on?
Managing a creative business requires a set of disciplines that I’m constantly working on.
More specifically in regards to creating systems that help me stay on top of:
Creating time for new personal projects I love.
Marketing myself for both client work and products.
Creating and funding new products for YAMZ World + determining what will sell best.
Managing client relationships + communication.
Only accepting client work that is truly fulfilling and I want to see through to the end.
4. What was the defining moment of getting fed up AND/OR waking up to start taking your shit seriously?
My FIRST passion project during the program went pretty viral on Instagram…
While that was a vanity metric outside of my control…
It was more an indicator that my work was connecting with people so much that they were willing to share it and spread it to more people like them.
It was also a lightbulb moment of using my art to connect to my culture and identity
5. What have been your biggest wins since we worked together?
Freelance / Client Work
I’ve gone 100% full-time working for myself…
It’s a mixture of freelance clients, personal work, and creating products for popups and wholesale.
I made $12k off one client project and used it to max out my Roth IRA at $6k in 2022!
I recently finished a national campaign with Door Dash.
I created a brand for Nestle International that highlights my culture—it was a “Hell Yes” on so many levels.
Products / Events
I created a store with well over 50+ products that connect to the community I want to create…
Which allow me to make more than enough money to intentionally fund my lifestyle.
I made 4x the amount of money I made from last year to this year with my art products…
In 2021, I made about $3k total.
In 2022, from January-August, I’ve made $12,000+ in sales.
I’m coming up on 100 popup events for my product since May 2021!
Personal Accomplishments
I’ve started an ongoing blog with 18 published articles speaking about using design + art to explore my identity of being a creative of color in the design industry.
I was awarded the 2022 Career Impact Award from my alma mater, Colorado State University.
This award is given to alumni giving back to their community throughout their career.
I was flown out to San Francisco to give a talk to all latinx creatives for a Latinx Heritage Month kick-off.
6. What was your biggest highlight/takeaway from working together this year?
Staying true to yourself is the biggest way to move forward making a creative career that meets your needs both monetarily and existentially…
While at the same time creating systems to keep yourself accountable and organized.
7. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone who’s dealing with the same struggles as your past self?
Create as much as possible and create in the public.
Build your hustle out in the open so you can grow a community around you that supports you while also keeping you accountable.
Connect With BRAYAN
Make sure to show Brayan some love and connect with him if you found this helpful:
I’m always looking for the next Brayan to make moves with, if that’s you, learn how we can work together below. 👇🏻
Let’s Work Together 🤝
Join the 3-Week Boot Camp Waitlist!
These 3-week quarterly Boot Camps (Feb., May, Aug., Nov.) provide you with step-by-step, year-round guidance, accountability, and support based on strategic topics to grow your creative biz.
You’ll experience powerful group coaching combined with challenging exercises and 2x-a-week live coaching calls!
They’re designed to be “evergreen” meaning you can continue to enroll in them and build off your previous session OR enroll in them one-off based on an agenda that tackles a specific struggle.
SCOTTY HERE 👋
I’m a full-time Coach for Web 2 + Web 3 creatives and I side hustle my own art in the rapidly evolving NFT space.
I’m also a designer, podcaster, speaker, + husband, and rad dad to 2 kids (and 3 cats), making moves out of Cedar Falls, Iowa.
After 5.5 years of side hustling outside my Corporate Cubicle, I made the full-time leap to Side Hustle Coach in January 2020.
I’ve since scaled this into a 6-figure creative business and have coached well over 1.5k students worldwide. 🤯
My mission is to put you in a position to get paid to play creating work you vibe to that impacts the people you care about the most.
I’d love the chance to work with you in a future 3-Week Boot Camp or 12-Week Coaching Program.