Today we’d like to introduce you to Keara Douglas.
I was first exposed to art during the first grade while attending Lewisville Elementary School in Richburg, South Carolina. My father entered my finger paintings from my art classes into a juried art exhibition during elementary school. I remember two competitions; in one, I won third place. From then on, I knew I loved art and wanted to do something with my life centered around art. By the middle school of my K-12 educational journey, I was introduced to web design and entrepreneurship classes as electives and programs throughout my school year that really caught my attention. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew it was something about art that I loved. However, when I got to high school, my life goals started to build. I was unsure about becoming a Forensic Pathologist and a Graphic Designer. I loved solving problems, especially when it comes to helping those in need, so that drove my interest in Forensics, along with my constant obsession with watching Law and Order SVU and CSI Las Vegas. But I also loved creating art as well.
By the time I got to the 11th grade, I knew I wanted to do something related to becoming an entrepreneur. I loved owning my business and service and setting my schedule, so I planned my life around that interest. As a senior in high school, I began creating these little graphics here and there for incoming college seniors to announce what school they intended to attend, and then moved on to creating event flyers for family members that would have sweet sixteen parties for example in high school. By the age of 14 years old, while attending high school and working as a cashier at Bi-Lo grocery store in Rock Hill, South Carolina, I was already designing and programming webpages on the social media site Myspace for people around the United States around my age that were jump-starting what we now know as the social media era.
As an undergrad, on December 21, 2010, I took the first step towards creating my own business and service while attending the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This was the first semester of my first year of college, and I knew I would need additional funding for living expenses, so I used my talents to obtain more money for food and gas and even college books for my classes while I was new to the area. My business took off from there and was way faster than I expected. Promotional material was designed and even printed on occasion for event planners and party promoters, which got my name out around campuses around the state of South Carolina when it came to my design work. From there, aspiring entrepreneurs would contact me about starting their graphic designs for their businesses and services for additional money as students, with logos and even business card designs. Since then, I have grown my business and service to include other art-related services including paintings, crafting, and many branding deals and partnerships among reputable companies. I’ve been in business for the last 13-14 years so far.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Overall, my journey has been good but there have been some bumps in the road along my entrepreneurial journey. The first struggle that I faced was equipment limitations. I began working from a Dell laptop and ended up crashing it so the screen would no longer display. I moved on to an HP laptop, and the hard drive failed to the point where I lost all my work. By then, I could purchase my first MacBook, which lasted about ten years before I was forced to obtain a newer version just last year in 2023.
Once I went back, everything was going great, but that mental toll of not speaking with someone after those back-to-back deaths hit home for me and took a toll on my focus on school. I had more questions than ever and again questioned whether I was making the correct decisions in life. This was around the time period where I first started taking part in mental counseling to cope with things better. Since then I’ve taken my mental health a lot more serious and often bring awareness through social media about different mental health topics.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in Graphic Design services, including digital design work and printed materials for clients remotely. This is the service that I first began during college to start my business. Around 2015, I added custom painting services where I painted portraits for people to use as home decor, business decor, events, and more. I have a collection of paintings that I am slowly growing, and I plan to host my first solo exhibition soon. During 2015, I added unique crafts for purchase in my shop such as ceramics, wood crafts, and glass art. These are mainly seasonal items that I create and sell to the public. Marketing services were also added this year through digital marketing focusing on affiliate marketing. This is where I began representing multiple brands and companies by using their products and giving reviews and much more.
After I gave birth in 2020, I decided it was a good time to publish my first line of coloring books, which I have self-published two editions so far in dedication to my daughter. Children can use my coloring and activity books to learn about Black History in the United States. This is one product that I am most proud of because it is something that I began creating while I was carrying my biggest creation, my daughter, so it means the world to me just as much as my daughter does. This is one of my products that I don’t outsource at all. I design each page including the covers, print the pages and covers, cut the covers and pages by hand, and bind each page along with the covers for the entire book in-house. I hope to gain a deal for these books soon with help in distributing them, but Amazon has been a big help to me in selling my books to the public.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
The public can collaborate with me or support me in multiple ways.
- Firstly, I offer graphic design services and allow you to bring your design ideas for your business, service, project, and events to life through my talents. In-house printing options are also available for those who wish to have printed materials to use for themselves in the person of their digital artwork I created.
- A second way is by hiring me as an Affiliate Marketer for your own company or brand, where I can try out your products and services and promote them to my audience for others to use and participate in. Other marketing services are available, such as placing your business on my website for more exposure and creating a business directory for fellow entrepreneurs. I believe in helping others, so I often use my platform to push my work and those of others. I have an artist series called #DEArTalk that is free for creatives to collaborate with me for more exposure.
- The third way is purchasing any of my paintings or crafts for your collection. They are always available on my website, whether already premade or by request.
- Last but not least, I support the growing book series that I am currently building. I would love for school-aged children to be able to use my book series to learn about things in life.
Pricing:
- Paintings = $75 – $700 USD
- Graphic Designs = $40 – $1,500 USD
- Crafts = $8 – $50 USD
- Marketing = Varies in price
- Books = $20 USD
Contact Info:
- Website: www.deluxds.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/
K_DougDE | www.instagram.com/ deluxds - Facebook: www.facebook.com/
deluxds | www.facebook.com/ deluxdesigns - Youtube: www.youtube.com/
deluxds - Other: www.tiktok.com/@deluxds
