Aldrena Hicks

Interview

Transcript 

00:00 Victoria Bartolotto

Hello everyone. My name is Victoria, and today we are talking with Aldrena Hicks. She’s a professional creative working from and within South Carolina.

As we get started, can you tell us your current career and where you’re from?

00:13 Aldrena Hicks

Yes. So, my name is Aldrena Hicks, as she said. I am a maker, artist, creative director, and founder of Only Lovely Creative. So, I’ve spent the last 20 years working across higher education, nonprofits and cultural organizations, leading design work that blends strategy, storytelling, brand, and design thinking.

My work ranges from large-scale public projects like the Briggs v. Elliott case. That’s a case that led to the big paved the way for the Brown v. Board of Education. Then to editorial work, like the stitch cover I did for Louisville Magazine, honoring Breanna Taylor.

At the core of it, I’m always making, and it’s through Only Lovely. I do design weddings and experiences that feel personal and lasting. It’s things that people actually want to keep.

So one of the things that is near and dear to my heart is also making sure I care deeply. I care deeply about who gets to be in these rooms. So, making sure the next generation of creatives, especially those that look like me, see a path forward and know that this space is a viable career.

01:32 Victoria Bartolotto

Wow, that’s awesome. That’s amazing work.

Before we go into the nitty gritty details, we have a brief section of our interview called “One Career, Sixty Seconds,” where you kind of describe your job in an elevator pitch style.

01:47 Aldrena Hicks

Oh, that’s what I just did.

01:49 Victoria Bartolotto

Oh! Oh! It’s okay. If that was your script, that’s totally fine. We can continue, but that was great. I didn’t know if you had anything else.

02:00 Aldrena Hicks

No.

02:01 Victoria Bartolotto

No, okay. That’s perfect. Thank you so much. So as a graphic designer, as a maker, is there anything about South Carolina or your region in particular that brings some uniqueness to your work?

Does it have any kind of influence on you?

02:18 Aldrena Hicks

Yeah, that’s a great question. So of course, I grew up in South Carolina, Somerville, Charleston area. Everybody knows Charleston, right?

I come from a long line of makers. So, my grandfather was a brick mason. He’s actually paved some of the walkways with brick work in some of the plantations when they’ve needed somebody to redesign some or fix it up. Then also some of the walkways in the downtown Charleston area, I remember going. My dad would take us to visit him while he was laying bricks on those special pave ways and stuff. So that was nice. My grandmother was a seamstress, very well-known and well respected. Then of course, a family of musicians. All of that I bring into the things that I do.

I’ve always been around creatives growing up. So just having that flair. What I try to do is then incorporate that identity into little nuggets here and there in the work that I do. But that’s why I’m hyper focused on when I’m doing stories, especially when I’m working with brides or organizations. I want to hear the story because that’s important, incorporating that into whatever we’re going to create for them.

03:43 Victoria Bartolotto

Definitely. I feel it really depends on who the person is in order to continue the project.

03:48 Aldrena Hicks

Yeah.

03:50 Victoria Bartolotto

Was there a defining moment in your life that had an impact on your creative journey, whether in education or just personal life? Was there anything that kind of marked that?

04:00 Aldrena Hicks

Oh, there’s so many. Which one do I choose?

04:06 Victoria Bartolotto

Any one! Any one!

04:08 Aldrena Hicks

I will probably say my experience with my graduate work. I am a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, and I majored in graphic design. That was my concentration, of course, the MFA in graphic design. When I started there, I applied sight unseen.

I was already in some other graduate programs. I bounced around a little bit, but nothing felt personal. Nothing felt like this is what I want to do. There was nothing wrong with those other programs, but I didn’t want to lean into the corporate world like that. I’ve already felt I was losing a sense of self because, as you know, when you’re designing and you’re doing work, it is about who you’re designing for. So, you kind of lose that, and I didn’t want that to happen.

When I got to VCFA, I immediately fell in love because the school focuses on the work, the creative, who you are, and then that comes through. That typically doesn’t happen in this case, in cases of grad school work.

So, the probably the pivotal moment is when, I was in a two-year track. Probably after my year and a half review, they’re like, “Aldrena, listen, girl, we love you, but we don’t see you. We don’t see, you’re giving us all the polish and that’s cute, but we’re here to discover the messy and you know, who are you?”

After that little talk, I had my little cry and all that stuff. I realized, “Okay. This is the time where I need to shine and show and dig deep into who I am, my roots, my culture, and be proud of that.”

From that came my thesis work, which has paved the way for other things that I’ve done since then. I will say that was probably the most transformative experience. I’m very proud to be a part of that legacy.

06:08 Victoria Bartolotto

That’s amazing. So, speaking of your thesis project, was that something particular that you produced that maybe showcased your creativity in a way that it never had before? What about it was different compared to previous work?

06:28 Aldrena Hicks

Yeah. So, I took the approach. I did weave in some research because that’s part of the requirements. I took the approach of creating a storytelling experience, because I told you storytelling is part of my thing. What I did was I explored how the media portrays black women and how we’ve influenced the media and culture. I wove certain pieces of history and then turned it back on to how it affected me personally, how it did as a creative.

I studied and talked about hair, respectability, politics, and then skin, colorism and all that stuff. I then found ways to remember how those things affected me growing up and how I now advocate for, especially young black women and my daughter, to be proud of who they are.

So yeah, the approach was different because I did a personal narrative, but I wove in some history and some research in that. It has won a few awards. I’ve written a children, a self-published children’s book out of that. So yeah.

07:56 Victoria Bartolotto

That’s really awesome. Especially just seeing that I’m a writer too. A lot of the times that I’m working on projects, it’s like seeing something grow from a tiny little seed into this huge thing. You have to step back and be like, “Wow. I did that. You know?”

08:14 Aldrena Hicks

Yeah.

08:16 Victoria Bartolotto

So before entering your field, maybe in your education process, did you have any fears about becoming a creative professional? If there were some fears, what inspired you to keep going beyond them?

08:30 Aldrena Hicks

I knew I wanted to do creative work. Like I said, grew up with musicians, makers and all that stuff. I never knew graphic design was an actual thing. I’ve been doing that, just didn’t know that’s what it was.

So, I was at my undergrad, working at Columbia College, SC, not Chicago. When I discovered graphic design, I was like, “People make money doing this?” They’re like, “yeah.”

So, I don’t think I was ever afraid of being a creative in this space. It was more of finding the right place to let that talent grow. Of course, through trial and error and all the careers and stuff, I quickly found out that advertising work is not my scene. I met some wonderful people and did a lot of things. But again, going back to the why behind things, the history behind things. So, then I veered into the nonprofit world. Now what’s scary now is that I’m doing this full time. So, it’s more like, “who’s going to get these invitations? Who wants to have brand work done?”

09:53 Victoria Bartolotto

Oh, wow. Do you have any advice for young adults or students who may have an interest in pursuing becoming a graphic designer? Are there any particular skills that you think someone should practice or at least have before entering the industry?

10:08 Aldrena Hicks

Yeah. One of the things I want to say is that, and I know people have different networks and all of that, all of that is great.

I read a book along, I think I might have mentioned in my pre-interview, one of the books I recommend is reading is Talent is Not Enough, because a lot of people think talent will get you all the places, but it really is the soft skills, building these connections and learning how to relate with folks. It will show up in your work. So, make as many connections as you can.

I know it’s hard because a lot of times you feel like people aren’t going to respond to you. But there are a lot of us out here who really love and want to reach back and help. I mentor. I’m still in touch with many of the students that I taught during my time as a professor.

Do not discount your people skills. I know it’s hard when folks like love the internet, love being on Chat and all that stuff. That’s great. Still learning how to write with and without AI. Learning how to write, learning how to speak, learning how to read the room, that will get you further than just having a talent because you can be the most talented person in the

world. If you don’t know how to relate to folks, you don’t know how to talk with them, get with them on a personal level or at least be professional about things; you won’t last long.

11:45 Victoria Bartolotto

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. This has been an amazing interview. Have a great day.

11:51 Aldrena Hicks

Thank you so much. You too.

11:53 Victoria Bartolotto

Bye.

11:53 Aldrena Hicks

Bye.