1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,500


2
00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:04,230
My name is Uzo Njoku, and I am
a fourth-year studio art major

3
00:00:04,230 --> 00:00:06,210
at the University of Virginia.

4
00:00:06,210 --> 00:00:08,430
When I first started
painting, I would paint just

5
00:00:08,430 --> 00:00:10,890
to decorate my house, and I
would post it on Facebook.

6
00:00:10,890 --> 00:00:13,140
And people started
giving me feedback

7
00:00:13,140 --> 00:00:15,030
about how they loved
it, and I decided

8
00:00:15,030 --> 00:00:18,000
that this might be a course
I wanted to pursue further,

9
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,430
and so I changed my
major to studio art.

10
00:00:20,430 --> 00:00:24,000
I am trying to
create an experience

11
00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:25,780
based on my identity.

12
00:00:25,780 --> 00:00:26,880
I am Nigerian.

13
00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:28,380
That's my culture.

14
00:00:28,380 --> 00:00:30,330
But then I also was
raised in America,

15
00:00:30,330 --> 00:00:32,700
so it's kind of
like a blurred line.

16
00:00:32,700 --> 00:00:36,360
I've always knew that I
wanted to make a coloring

17
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,170
book because that was kind of
what interested me in colors

18
00:00:40,170 --> 00:00:41,700
and art when I was younger.

19
00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:44,760
And I felt that women of
color were not as represented

20
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:45,990
as much in a coloring books.

21
00:00:45,990 --> 00:00:49,320
So I said, I can
do this, and I can

22
00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:54,080
try to capture as many different
aspects of femininity as I can

23
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:54,780
in this book.

24
00:00:54,780 --> 00:00:57,760
I actually created it in a
month because I wasn't sleeping.

25
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,160
I was working on this coloring
book every single day.

26
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:01,350
I don't like waiting.

27
00:01:01,350 --> 00:01:03,420
I learn by experience.

28
00:01:03,420 --> 00:01:06,420
And I expected to sell only 50.

29
00:01:06,420 --> 00:01:11,490
The first orders of books
were, like, 1,200 Like,

30
00:01:11,490 --> 00:01:13,330
[INAUDIBLE] company,
they were able to print

31
00:01:13,330 --> 00:01:14,760
the many books I needed.

32
00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,700
More international people
started following my Instagram,

33
00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:21,610
and I had orders as
far as New Zealand.

34
00:01:21,610 --> 00:01:23,890
If I went through a
publishing company,

35
00:01:23,890 --> 00:01:25,320
they might have turned me away.

36
00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:26,650
If you don't do things
yourself, you're

37
00:01:26,650 --> 00:01:28,520
going to find yourself
waiting a long time,

38
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:30,510
you know, doubting yourself.

39
00:01:30,510 --> 00:01:31,410
You know yourself.

40
00:01:31,410 --> 00:01:33,120
You know what you want to do.

41
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:33,900
Go for it.

42
00:01:33,900 --> 00:01:36,912
[MUSIC PLAYING]

43
00:01:36,912 --> 00:01:37,411