Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Witchard.
Hi Julia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a third culture kid, born in England and raised across Africa, Asia, and Europe. For a long time, I thought I was supposed to follow a path similar to my parents, so I studied Political Science in undergrad and International Affairs in grad school. On paper, that path meant US Diplomat, international travel, and guaranteed job security. But life has a funny way of redirecting us, and mine did when I stumbled into teaching mathematics at a high school in Florida.
I had no idea that I would spend the next five years relearning and teaching Algebra 1 and 2 to the next generation. But while I was teaching, something else was happening. I was building activities to engage and challenge my students, and those activities brought something out of me. It wasn’t long before my students were raising their hands more, leaning on one another to get through assignments, and even asking for my signature so they could move on to Geometry Honors. Seeing that growth in them meant a lot to me, but the truth is the process of creating those materials lit something up in me too.
That creative energy led me to Teachers Pay Teachers, where I started selling the resources I had made. Then a friend and teammate asked if I would design artwork for her dental office, and suddenly I found myself selling on Etsy too. Two years later, I have made 370 sales. What Etsy reminded me of is that art had actually been showing up in my life all along, long before I gave myself permission to really call it part of who I am. In high school, I sold my first painting, and our principal asked to hang my art in the main office. In undergrad, my art was hung in the Dean’s office. In grad school, I won our class t-shirt design competition with a design I made in Word. Looking back, no matter how much I tried to choose what I thought was the “right” path, art kept showing up and redirecting me.
One of the most vulnerable parts of my story is that an adult close to me once told me that art does not make money, and I believed that for a very long time. I believed it so deeply that I kept trying to build a life around what seemed practical instead of what actually made me feel alive. Now, in my mid-thirties, I look around and realize how untrue that was. Everything around us was designed by someone. Every object, advertisement, commercial, book cover, technical tool, package on our favorite snack, even the coffee cup we drink out of every morning was designed by someone. Art comes in so many different forms. It is not just a painting or a sketch. It is so much larger than that. Every time I lean into that truth, doors open and show me just how much larger it really is.
After leaving teaching, I got a corporate job, and honestly, I was bored. I had become so used to the pace, energy, and work ethic of education that I started redesigning their procedures just to keep myself busy. That eventually led me to my first client in Tysons, Virginia, where for the past two years I have designed their Operations Manual, laying out procedures for recruiting, the interview process, open enrollment, and more. I taught myself so much along the way. I bought textbooks for Adobe, watched countless YouTube videos, and signed up for courses on LinkedIn Learning. Before I knew it, I had a website and was even learning HTML, Java Script, and CSS code so I could improve its aesthetic and engagement features.
After teaching, I also realized I had so much material saved on my laptop that I decided to write and design an interactive Algebra workbook, and I already know a whole series is on the way. The workbook includes QR codes embedded with pre-recorded videos of me explaining how to solve each problem. My dental art also opened another creative door for me. It led me into designing characters, and soon I started imagining scenes of everyday items mocking human behavior. I began giving my characters names and personalities, and now I am even experimenting with animation.
Today, I work at Johns Hopkins University with an incredible mentor, boss, and friend who inspires me and pushes me to get better every day. My operations manual client has also become a mentor and friend. For the first time in my life, I feel like the different parts of me are finally making sense together. The educator, the designer, the artist, the innovator, the storyteller, they were never separate.
That does not mean the road has been easy. I have struggled with self-doubt. I have put my dreams aside more than once. I have self-sabotaged. I have tried to force myself into roles that looked right on paper but left me feeling replaceable, unseen, and dim. Those are often the times when financial struggles pile up, doors are closed, and even my social life suffered because I stop showing up as fully myself. But what I have learned is that art always finds me again. Every single time. It pulls me back, reminds me who I am, and puts me back on my path.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road. Not even close. The more I leaned into who I know I am meant to be, the smaller my circle became and the lonelier the journey felt. In many ways, the more certain I became about my path, the less support I received. Some people did not understand my choices, and some were quick to mock them. I have had a friend say, “You went to Hopkins and became a teacher? Really?” I have also had a friend openly repeat things I said in a video promoting my art just to make other people laugh. Moments like that stay with you, hurt, and for a while they made me question myself.
Being self-taught has come with its own challenges too. I have often felt like I needed to work twice as hard to prove that I am not only capable, but more than qualified. Advertising for myself has been hard. Staying motivated has been hard. Putting myself out there has been hard, especially when you are pouring your heart into your work and the response is small. You compare yourself to others all of the time.
The truth is, I am pursuing a path no one in my family has pursued before. The hardest part has been convincing myself that I am who I say I am, and that I am really good at what I do.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a digital artist, illustrator, technical writer, and entrepreneur. I specialize in clear, structured interactive manuals, stimulating educational resources, and comical art. I am known for my interactive Algebra workbook and my dental artwork.
I am most proud of the career pivot I’ve made in spite of the fear of failure, risk, and humiliation. I did not take the most traditional path, and I did not always have people around me who understood what I was building. A lot of what I know, I taught myself. A lot of what I have created came from taking what I had, using what was in front of me, and building anyway. That means a lot to me because there were many moments where it would have been easier to play it safe, stay quiet, and give up.
What sets me apart from others is that I refuse to put myself in a box. I refuse to limit myself or dim my light so as not to outshine others. I refuse to believe I am incapable of paving a path unfamiliar to others. I know what it means to build something when there is no blueprint around you. I know what it means to keep creating even when people do not fully understand the vision yet. That is what sets me apart. I bring heart, courage, and honesty into everything I create.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My advice to those who are just starting out is this: do not take advice from someone living a life you do not want to live. Stop waiting for permission to start. Read more. Write more. Buy a journal. Attend a seminar. Get quiet long enough to hear your own thoughts and not just the noise of everyone else’s opinions. We all have something beautiful we can offer the world, but too many people never explore it because they are too busy living a life someone else wanted them to live.
When I was starting out, I wish I had questioned my beliefs sooner. I wish I had asked why I thought certain paths were more valid than others. I also wish I had been more mindful of the people and environments I surrounded myself with, because those things shape how boldly or how fearfully you move through life. I wish I had explored more of what the world had to offer and trusted that there was more than one way to build a meaningful life. More than anything, I wish I had started sooner.
Pricing:
- Interactive Algebra Workbook: available for purchase online
- Custom Dental Artwork: pricing varies by size and scope
- Interactive Operations Manuals / SOP Design: custom pricing based on project needs
- Tutoring Services: starting at $60/hour
- Custom Design Projects: pricing available upon inquiry
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.juliawitchard.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thattck90/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-witchard/
- Other: https://julzdentalart.etsy.com/
