11 Watercolor Instagram Accounts You Should Follow Right Now

In our series Selfmade U, we’ll tackle the most common questions and pain points that come up for business owners with tips and tricks from Selfmade, a virtual business coaching program, founded by Brit + Co founder Brit Morin and sponsored by Office Depot OfficeMax. We’ll hear from Selfmade members and business coaches on what it takes to run a successful business and make it as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship can be demanding, challenging, unpredictable, and deeply satisfying. The wins, big and small, help you rise above the challenges and there are so many perks to being your own boss (set your own schedule, do creative work you love, work from wherever, to name a few). But sometimes you can find yourself stuck on a problem – with nowhere to turn.

“I didn’t really feel like I had a community around me here in Maryland. We moved after the pandemic to be closer to my husband’s family,” says Lucia Diaz, a first-generation Colombian-American and the founder of LUCIA DIAZ, a Latina-owned business dedicated to empowering and honoring Latinas through illustration. “My artworks are a reflection of my commitment to provide cultural representation and instill pride in mujeres poderosas.” That is, powerful women like her.

Lucia turned to Selfmade, receiving an Office Depot OfficeMax scholarship to the program, to help her connect with business mentors and other female founders. “Being the first one in my family to build a business of this magnitude, it's really comforting to have mentors, especially of color or who come from first-generation immigrant families,” says Lucia. “The Selfmade Community is just an outpouring of love and just lots of great women who understand what you're going through and help put you in the right direction with the right resources.”

Lucia has had a banner year, her third in business. She has partnered with major fashion and beauty brands, like Tiffany & Co., Chanel, and Estee Lauder, and has curated a show of 100 LatinX artists at the The Oculus Center in NYC for Hispanic Heritage Month. We caught up with Lucia before she was heading out to NYC to speak at the United Nations Science Summit about the digital art exhibit.

Here’s Lucia’s day in the life!

6AM I start my day early, doing a lot of journaling, meditation, giving my cats some love and attention. My Selfmade mentor was like, “You can't just get up and go and just read emails. You have to do something for yourself first!” I've noticed that once I do my morning routine and just really focus on myself first, I tend to have a much better day.

7AM I head to the gym and listen to one of my favorite audiobooks, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi or "Wealth Warrior" by Linda Garcia, running at my own pace (AKA not super fast!). This is something that I established this year. I feel like I'm much happier now and I feel so grounded and connected to self.

9AM I record two The Art of Representation podcast interviews. Today's interviews were withAlyssa Reynoso-Morris, an Afro-Latina author, and Vero M. Estrada, a life coach. I use Zencastr to record the episode and then I'll use Canva to automate my podcast bookings. To collect guest information, I'll use Google Forms, which will help me create the blog post for fearlessyaya.com. Finally, I'll prepare the podcast links and content for social media. To save time, I'll also schedule social media reels in advance.

12PM I enjoy a lunch of my mom’s amazing beef and potato empanadas. Whenever I visit her, she'll always pack me some empanadas even though I tell her to rest now that she’s retired.:) I am from Colombia and I always feel connected to home through food.

1PM I answer emails and work on my United Nations speech for next week. I'm researching every panelist and just really digging through their history, so I can ask them specific questions.

I'm super honored that my friend Sandy Martinez selected me to be the first moderator. I remember being a little girl presenting a book report and being so nervous. Now I'm presenting to the UN and it's crazy. It's a dream. When I told my dad he teared up and my mom was bawling. She's like, “How is it that we migrated to this country and now you get to speak to delegates from not only all over the world but delegates also from Colombia.” So it's really powerful.

The main thing that I will touch on is the work that I've been doing with an orphanage in Colombia called CASA HOGAR NAZARETH. For the last seven years, I've been able to donate proceeds. Last year, I was able to donate a whole collection’s worth of proceeds to the orphanage because I had a really great year. My grandfather, Manuel, was an orphan. He raised 12 children, was a rural farmer, and became a leader in his community and made sure to take care of others. That's what he instilled in me. If there's enough for me, there's enough for everybody. We can make it work.

3PM I Zoom with some of the artists to help them upload their artwork for the exhibit. I want to make sure they can all participate. They are artists from all over Latin America, from the Caribbean, from Venezuela and Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and some don’t speak English. I want to make sure they have their chance to show in NYC, many for the first time.

4PM I edit my podcast episodes using Final Cut Pro. I have a passion for video editing. I also create eye-catching thumbnails for YouTube and social media using Adobe Photoshop. My workflow involves scheduling episodes two months in advance, which I attribute to my detail-oriented nature – perhaps it's my inner Virgo shining through!;)

6PM I have dinner with my husband. He is the one who encouraged me to take the leap and start my business. He’s been so supportive.

7PM After dinner, we like to walk by the creek. It’s something my mom and dad used to do. In Colombia, there are a lot of waterfalls and little lakes and places that you would go and reconnect with nature.

8PM I work on my artwork. Fridays are my days for my own art, where I illustrate and I draw for myself. I don't have an agenda. Sometimes it is personal illustrations. Other times it's illustrations of incredible women in the Latin community. I don't take meetings on Fridays. I'm not posting anything on Instagram. I'm not answering any phone calls or emails. I literally hide my phone in my safe and I asked my husband to change the code [laughs].

Lucia also started a stationery business and uses her printers from Office Depot to support her print business. “Aside from my services, I develop greeting cards and stationery and work on showing how through stationery we celebrate the holidays and milestones in our Latinx community.”

To learn more about growing your business, sign up for the !

Illustrated by Daniela Jordan-Villaveces

Meme. Scroll. Headline. Scroll. Dreamy video of the oceanscape. Scroll. Uplifting quote in lettering. Scroll. Sponsored ad. Scroll, scroll, scroll. And so goes the routine of the mindless social consumption that occupies, admittedly, way too much of my downtime. Just me? I didn't think so.

I don't know about you, but often when I'm in this mode, I'm on straight autopilot. So in those moments when I stumble on content that brings me to pause and reflect, I'm so grateful for the creators that breathe new life into our endless wanderings on the interwebs. If your feed is in need of some CPR, let me point your attention to the playful and thoughtful work of illustrator and storyteller, Andrea Campos, whose creations are as refreshing as her backstory.

As we dive into her journey, let's first rewind to 2020. Remember how it began? It was pre-pandemic times, back when we were still excited to be starting a new decade. 20/20 vision, we chanted and captioned, fully leaning into the apt cliche in its full glory. I mean, it felt like we all were declaring that this year would be our year, one when our lives came to attention, reinvention, and realization.

For Andrea, this sentiment was the hallmark of her mindset going into the roundness of the new decade.

At the time, she was working in marketing, insatiably craving more creativity, autonomy, and purpose. And with no insight as to how the world would soon be turned upside down, she decided to gather her savings and take a dip into the world of creative entrepreneurship... right before the fullness of COVID-19 took hold of society.

Talk about timing! Nevertheless, despite the increased uncertainty that could have complicated her pursuits, this story has the happiest of middles (because it's definitely too early to call her current juncture "the end").

Here's the CliffNotes version: a doodler at heart, Andrea started a visual diary on Instagram to draw out her inner thoughts, moods, and feelings. And what started out as more of an act of art therapy and personal expression quickly catapulted into a full-fledged business, be it creating branded content for the likes of Athleta, being commissioned to create the artwork for Jimmy Fallon and Jennifer Lopez's highly anticipated children's book, Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure, or authoring books with her own byline. Let’s just say this go-getter deserves all of the flowers.

Are you looking to find your creative calling to design the work and life you love? Check out these tips Andrea credits for bringing her dreams full circle:

1. Give yourself unstructured time and space to get clear on what you want.

The first step is always getting clear on what it is that you want. For Andrea, this clarity came through a lot of trial and error. She experimented with different mediums and styles until she finally landed on something that felt authentic to her vision and voice. Once she found her groove, the rest fell into place organically. So if you're still exploring, don't be afraid to try out new things until you find a sweet spot that feels right.

"I decided to create an artist residency for myself where I was going to do creative things that just made me feel good. The objective was not to get a piece of artwork in the MoMA or get recognition," Andrea reflected. "It was just me doing what felt good. I tried to rebuild my confidence and my creative spirit through that. So at the end of March 2020, I decided to start painting again and start drawing again. I would go on these walks and collect flowers and make portraits out of those and just kind of kept playing and playing and playing. And through that, I started illustrating and it really sparked something in me."

2. Find a community of people who will support your vision.

One of the game-changing moments was finding a tribewho related to her voice and vision. When Andrea mustered up the courage to post her artwork online, she found an outpouring of support from family, friends, and strangers alike that helped validate her talent and gave her the push to keep going.

"My doodles were helping me process all of the uncertainties that we were feeling in those early pandemic days, and somewhere along the line towards the end of March 2020, I decided I'm going to share these on Instagram because they're funny, I'm bored and I don't have a community right now. I'm just stuck by myself in an apartment," she shared. "In the process of doing that, I realized that I tapped into something really special. My feelings were so authentic and what I was putting out there was so relatable that people started following along. They were feeling how I was: stressed, overwhelmed, confused by everything that was going on in the world. And my images captured that in a really kind of positive and sometimes playful way that made people feel like: 'okay, you get it, I'm going through this too.' And over the course of the next few months, it amounted to new followers. I was like, this is wild. I never expected this to be something that took off. It was purely just for fun."

3. Seek guidance and mentorship as you find your footing.

Even if you have a clear vision of what you want, it's okay toseek out guidance from people who have been there before. These mentors can provide clarity and reassurance that you're on the right track — and more importantly, they can help save you time and energy by sharing their own experiences and hard-earned wisdom.

"I tookSelfmade and I started to realize I don't have to work for someone else. I can actually work for myself. In the community, hearing all these success stories from women who spoke to our cohort changed me. Like when I heardJustina Blakeney, it was inspiring for me to see the progression in her story from artist to business owner to full-blown entrepreneur," Andrea recalled. "It was the first time a lot of these pieces started to click: like, oh, they're not mutually exclusive. You can do it all."

4. Invest in yourself and your craft — it will pay off.

As Andrea's following continued to grow, so did the opportunities to monetize her work. But it wasn't until she started valuing her time and talent that she was able to take her business to the next level. It was a huge lightbulb moment when she started seeing her art as a product, and not just this hobby that she did on the side.

“It's so great to be able to break the cycle of being a shadow artist or 'artist on the side' ,” Andrea said. "I remember Googling and trying to find the right pricing for my work. And some of the words from Selfmade were in the back of my mind, specifically around knowing your worth, making sure that you're asking for what you deserve, and having a rate that is reflective of your skills and talents.”

5. Be open to new opportunities... you never know where they might lead.

As Andrea's artwork continued to evolve, she found herself saying yes to new opportunities, even if she wasn't quite sure where they would lead. Andrea has kept an open mind — and it's paid off in a big way.

"I think if I could go back in time and whisper into the ears of my younger self, and say, you're going to do this, she would be over the moon. It's been a really beautiful journey and I am just letting the universe guide me at this point.”

Love learning new tips for creativity? Feeling inspired to jumpstart your own creative calling? Join the waitlist for Selfmade to transform your hobby into your hustle.

For Thanksgiving entertaining, we are all in on easy appetizers – AKA finger foods – you can nosh on so you won’t be starving while you wait for the main event. These Thanksgiving finger foods are delicious, easy to make, and are sure to be crowd pleasers. Whether you choose to serve them as side dishes or starters, everyone will want a bite! Here are some Thanksgiving finger food ideas for not getting hangry as those final dishes finish cooking.

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Finger Foods

Brit + Co

Crescent-Roll Cornucopia

This board might be full of good eats, but the handmade cornucopia is definitely the main focal point. We're obsessed. (via Brit + Co)

Brit + Co

Mediterranean Chicken Skewers

Bring some summer flavor into Thanksgiving Day with these delicious skewers. We'd recommend serving it with tzatziki sauce and fresh veggies. (via Brit + Co)

Brit + Co

Bacon Pastry Twists

These savory pastry twists are super easy to make, thanks to the store-bought dough. Extra points if you make them with a coordinating cheese dip! (via Brit + Co)

Brit + Co

Easy Fig + Brie Crostini

All you really need for this delicious Thanksgiving finger food is bread + jam + cheese. Not only is it easy and delicious, but it looks way fancier than it truly is, which is always a good idea. (via Brit + Co)

Brit + Co

Sweet Potato + Goat Cheese + Honey Bites

The nuttiness of the sweet potatoes, the creamy finish of the goat cheese, and the sweet honey here make for a delicious appetizer you can make no matter the time of year. Add a dash of sea salt for an unexpected touch! (via Brit + Co)

StableDiffusion

Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip

Because everyone loves a good Buffalo dip – pair it with chips and veggie sticks to make this snack a certified Thanksgiving finger food. (via Brit + Co)

Parmigiano Reggiano

Chocolate-Covered Cheese Bites

Get a head start on dessert with a dish that brings two of our favorite foods together: chocolate and cheese. It doesn't get better than this. (via Brit + Co)

Brit + Co

Mini Baked Potatoes

Thanksgiving isn't complete without baked potatoes, but if you're maxxed out on side dishes, add the starch to your appetizers instead! Sour cream, cheese, and bacon are still definitely encouraged. (via Brit + Co)

Ron Lach / PEXELS

The Easiest Baked Brie

Baked brie is a fancy addition to any table, but unlike a lot of our favorite upscale dishes, it's easier than you might think to add to your menu. Here's how to hack it. (via Brit + Co)

The Gourmet RD

Beet Hummus

Bright and cheery, this festive dip just needs carrot sticks or pita triangles for the appetizer to truly be one of the best Thanksgiving finger foods. (via The Gourmet RD)

Healthy Maven

Rosemary Cashew Bar Nuts

Savor these cashews that can be made ahead of time, and then pulled out at the last minute. (via the Healthy Maven)

The View from Great Island

Baked Brie with Maple, Apples, and Pecans

We're suckers for baked brie, especially one that screams 'holidays' like this one that could easily double as dessert. (via The View from Great Island)

Full of Plants

Vegan Pesto Swirl Cream Cheese

This pretty dish is the kind of make-ahead appetizer that will appeal to all kinds of eaters. Swap in store-bought vegan cream cheese to save some time. (via Full of Plants)

Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Pistachio Crusted Goat Cheese Ball

Fresh herbs and toasted nuts make this goat cheese log an easy make-ahead Thanksgiving appetizer to serve with crackers. (via Chelsea’s Messy Apron)

Host the Toast

Pesto Parmesan Spinach Balls

All that these vegetarian balls need to start the party is to be speared with toothpicks. We love Thanksgiving finger foods like this for serving a crowd! (via Host the Toast)

Damn Delicious

Maple Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Snack on these sweet and savory biscuits as an appetizer on Thanksgiving. Then, slice them for leftover turkey sandwiches the next day! (via Damn Delicious)

SweetPhi

5-Ingredient Buffalo Cauliflower Nuggets

No need to worry about eating too many veggies when you make these savory bites as a starter! (via SweetPhi)

A Magical Mess

Garlic and Onion Pull-Apart Cheese Bread

We think everyone can get behind bread and cheese before a Thanksgiving feast. (via A Magical Mess)

Spicy Southern Kitchen

Warm Turnip Green Dip

Get some extra greens in (with bacon on top, of course) in a dip to scoop up with crackers before starting the big feast! (via Spicy Southern Kitchen)

Peace, Love, and Low Carb

Keto Sausage Balls

Trying to keep up with keto during the holidays? This is one easy appetizer that will set you up for success. (via Peace, Love, and Low Carb)

The Cookie Rookie

Baked Ham & Cheese Mozzarella Sticks

Bake and pull — that’s the idea behind this cheesy winning appetizer. (via The Cookie Rookie)

Completely Delicious

Pecan and Gouda Cheese Ball with Cranberries

A cheese ball is always a good idea! It'll be gone and scooped all the way up before you know it. (via Completely Delicious)

Garnish with Lemon

Candied Bacon

Okay, there's nothing nutritious about candied bacon, but it sure guarantees the meal begins with a bang. (via Garnish with Lemon)

Vanilla and Bean

Mushroom Crostini with Whipped Goat Cheese

The savory mushrooms on these crostinis work so well with the lighter, creamier goat cheese spread. (via Vanilla and Bean)

How Sweet Eats

Maple Cream & Apple Butter Brie Cheese

Maple, melty brie, and apple butter? Thanksgiving finger foods don't get more autumnal than that. (via How Sweet Eats)

Make sure to plan your Thanksgiving & holiday parties with Brit + Co on Pinterest, and check out our Easy Thanksgiving Desserts piece for even more ideas for the table!

This post has been updated.