Heather Miller of H Miller Ink

When in life did you first realize you were creative? And what prompted you to adopt that as an identity?

I was into drawing at a young age…one of my earliest memories is scribbling with crayons on one of those small yellow and orange plastic picnic tables with my mom – I was maybe 2 years old.

It wasn’t until I was in school, around peers, that I learned that drawing didn’t come naturally for everyone and some kids didn’t really like doing it. Art gave me a point of reference to compare my skill sets to because it was something I liked a lot and felt easy for me whereas reading, math, and science never felt easy.

When I was in 8th grade, my teacher, Mrs. Sweet (Hi Mrs. Sweet 👋) told me about art school. I thought that sounded like the best thing ever and from there started telling people I was going to go to art school. I think after learning art could be more than just a 1-hour weekly class you go to I started to realize I could make this a bigger part of my life and really adopted it as an identifier. 

Tell us about a time when identifying as a creative person caused a problem or difficulty in your life.

This is a tough one because I’ve been fortunate to have teachers and family that have always encouraged me to pursue an art-related path. One challenge I’d consider is that I grew up in a small town and didn’t have access to art programs that other larger cities had (this was also pre-internet days).

Tell us about a time when being creative was a major asset in your life. 

In my life, creativity has acted as a compass for me. It’s given me direction and purpose. Everyone’s brain works differently, but in my case – I make sense of challenges with visuals. Sometimes that can be useful to others. I like that this is something I can share while I’m hanging out on this planet with people (in general) and my clients too.

How do you use your creativity to help run your business?

My business is built on my creativity – that’s what I offer to folks and what keeps it runnin’. From an operational lens though, projects and plans are all very visually mapped out, color-coded, and labeled. Organizing my workflow this way helps me stay on track with client deadlines and personal goals.