1/50 Tamara Scheiwe - 50FCD

Written By Jackie Ryder

A NOTE BEFORE YOU START:
There are two ways you can consume this series.

Prefer to listen?
Hear our conversation in full here or by pressing play on the audio below.

Prefer to read?
Scroll down for a more distilled version of our coffee date, which includes audio snippets + key takeaways.

GRAPHIC + WEB DESIGNER ARTIST, MENTOR, FACILITATOR, ALL-ROUND CREATIVE GENIUS
FIND HER: @tamara.scheiwe | villainstudio.com.au | theplantmarket.com.au

PRELUDE

I met Tamara on a chilly Wednesday morning at Nodo in Newstead. The cafe was moderately busy, so the nerves were kicking in, over-thinking about how the sound of my record would be affected, if the suits sitting in the neighbouring booth I was coveting would overhear our conversation etc. However when Tamara walked in, the nerves melted away. We caught up on life for a little, ordered our coffees (T also chose a breakfast donut). If I wasn’t unsure about how consuming food would sound on the mics, I would have ordered one too, because I gotta say, they are delicious AF.

I will preface all of this by saying it wasn’t in “the plan” for one of my ‘rogue’ guests* to kick this series off, so in a way, I feel like I kinda cheated with this one. You see, I’ve technically known T for the better part of 15 years. We were both in the wedding industry, we’re both designers and we’ve hung out and had coffee together before. With all that said - and as T so kindly reminded me - we’ve never actually got into the nitty gritty in a way like I would have wanted to, or hope to achieve with this project. It was then I realised the parameters in which I’ve set for this goal of mine don’t need to be so rigid, and as with most things in life, I can let myself off the hook, justa little.

To be honest, I couldn’t think of a more perfect person to reveal first… T is every bit the firecracker, a multi-faceted creative who always has a number of projects on the go at any given time, and I admire her tenacity and drive to pull off all of these endeavours so flawlessly (at least from ‘the outside’ - she might say otherwise!).

So, let’s get into it...

WHO IS SHE?

Jac: So T, in the spirit of this series, it would be remiss of me not to ask - what is your go-to coffee order?

T: It really depends on the day. So this morning, a mocha… I normally get a half-strength, cos’ I get all bajiggity on full strength coffee... I’m high energy already. Partial to a caramel latte also. Coffee's new for me. I'm a tea gal, just basic English breakfast. That's what I'm drinking in the studio all day, every day. I can’t have too many coffees or I’ll have a heart attack. What's yours?
Jac: I'm a soy cap.
T: Oh, classic, love it. It's on brand for you. I love that, actually. It's tidy and clean and cute.

Jac: So, tell me, you're a woman of many, many facets. Sometimes I can't keep up. I don't know when you sleep? [To package this up in a nice little bow, T is an artist, designer, type-A planner and organiser of many excellent events, host, mentor and teacher - it’s challenging for her to articulate the many hats she wears, with good reason.]

T: I know. Yeah, it's a bit heckers. So when I was working full-time, or part-time for someone else and doing my own stuff, that was a lot. I was running on fumes. But now I'm working for myself and it’s soooo good. So J (T’s husband, Jason) and I bought the house in Ipswich and that was so I could quit my job and not freak out about having to pay a mortgage in the city. We could either spend all of our money on a sh*thole that needs reno’ing, or we move 40 minutes out of the city and then I can quit my job. So that was the deal. My last employed job was Art Director of Howard Smith Wharves. I did one freelance day for them because they needed a designer to cover, and the next day I went in and they offered me a job as the Art Director, which the dream job. So I accepted that, quit my role at the time and then COVID hit. So then I had no job, which is like, you know... [pauses]

  • Jac: So this was pre-house or post house?

    T: We missed out on one house by like five grand - we were out-bid. COVID hit like two weeks later. It would have been real rough to lose my job and still have to pay a mortgage, so it worked out. I think COVID was the only thing that made me not keep working for other people because I was like, I don't need to have a part-time job on the side. I can literally do this by myself. So silver lining, because I don't think I would have quit working for someone else - the safety net was too comfy. But I kept them (Howard Smith Wharves) as a client for a year after that anyway. And then I got brought in to create The Great Artist Market for Felons Brewing Co, nearly two years ago now. And I still work for them. 

    Jac: So you had the market going on, as well as your work as a designer for your own studio... and I think at that same time, you were also hosting Creative Mornings?

    T: Oh, yeah, so that was volunteered. It was cool, but a lot of work - there’s no money. Pre-COVID, they had sponsors, but I wasn't the host then. The host at the time was a friend of mine and she was pregnant, so she was going off to have her little one. On a call one morning and she's says, I think you should put your hand up to host. And I was like, yeah, that's hilarious… like I'm an introvert. I do not like public speaking. I stay behind my computer. People knew of me, my work, but didn’t know what I look like because all of my photos were either my vans, or my face behind a shark mask or behind a bunch of flowers. I never really put myself out there. I was just like, that's crazy. I'm absolutely not doing that. Like, I don't like mornings. I’m an introvert, I don’t like public speaking. It seems dumb to me. And then I had a ‘brave day’ and I thought, well maybe this will make me better at public speaking.

    Jac: Oh, a brave day! I love that… is that a thing?

    T: I have ‘brave days’, yeah. And that’s when I end up doing crazy shit. Otherwise I’d just stay behind my computer working with cats, or just keep comfy... which is fun, but none of the good stuff comes in the comfort. So then I applied, and I was confirmed as the host... then I was like, fuck.

    Jac: It’s one thing to put your hand up and accept the job but then getting up there in front of all those people... how did you find that?

    T: I didn’t introduce myself for three months. I forgot to say who I was. I was so focused on the speaker and the volunteers, the sponsors etc. that I didn’t really think that people would notice or would give a shit who I was. I had to have a ‘hello’ slide in my presentation, just so I’d remember to introduce myself. I did it for two and a half years, and it was awesome, but a lot of work. No money, no funding, helping speakers get prepped for their presentations, because it’s a big thing to get up and talk about your work. Most of them haven’t done that before.

    Jac: Oh yeah, that’s kind of like the anti-creative, isn’t it? We don’t like to talk about ourselves.

    T: Oh yeah, when you’re talking about the work, it’s super easy. That I can talk about, talking about yourself is weird. I cannot do an elevator pitch. There’s too many things... so I just focus on one. It depends on who I’m talking to, what they’re into, because I talk to so many different people. I do programming and event creation, but I’m also a designer and web designer and I’m doing some coaching classes.

T: So Super Retail Group was probably one of my first intense design jobs, like I worked at this shitty studio retail group for BCF, Super Cheap Auto, Rebel. When I started there, there was like three brands. When I left there was about seven.

PRESS PLAY [02m:41s] - Listen as T recalls designing for (now defunct) Ray’s Outdoors and we chat general design nerd things - and our busted eyes as a result.

Jac: I've created this project because I hate networking. So at a networking event, if my name tag could talk it would say that I am ‘supremely awkward in large groups’. What would yours say?

T: Um, I would just put a stupid shit, like, ‘emo kid loves cats’.

  • I don't think I ever go to any of those things with the objective of getting a job - actually grosses me out. Like, I can't fake my face. It's very expressive, and I can't lie. So it's like, it's too hard. Creative Mornings is essentially a networking event, but I didn't really think about it like that. I'm just like, this is a cute hang, for designers and creative kids to get together and listen to someone share their story. That was the energy I put into that. Because I don't want it to be this weird, awkward thing…

    So when I was heading up design teams, I would take my team to Creative Mornings as our team building thing. I don't like those weird, you know, team building activities. When I found Creative Mornings, I realised I can take my team to this, we get coffee, we can hang out, we can take inspiration literally, and, like, get excited about stuff, and then go back to our mundane bullsh*t job where we pump out the same graphics be doing for a year. But you know what I mean? I'm like, if I can try and make them excited in other areas, because, like, I don't expect anyone to stay in one job forever. Like, that's insane for you to think that your team is not going to develop, grow and leave. That’s your job to facilitate that, not leave them in their little pockets. Your job as a manager is to help make them better.

    So I found CM, took my team and I used to set them design goals. I think they f*cking hated me for it. I had all my stuff on the side - that job didn’t fulfill me creatively, but it did pay my bills. So I used to set them challenges. Like, alright, you want to get into magazine design, show me a cover and I want you to pitch it to me, right? This is how you get better. If you can pitch to me, then you can pitch to the wider team.

PRESS PLAY [07m:47s] - Listen as T recounts her team challenging her into guest speaking at Creative Mornings and her successful passion project, The Plant Market.

On success

Jac: Tell me something that you have romanticised, then you’ve done it and it’s not been what you thought?

T: Actually, my dream job - my last employer dream job. Yeah, it was not the dream - it was a nightmare. But that’s okay.

Jac: It's funny how we kind of have this idea in our head about how something is going to play out...

T: Even what success looks like, like what I thought it looked like in my 20s compared to what I think it looks like now, is very different. I think it's all those experiences that made me go actually, that's not what I want. I don't want to, like, head up a team and be the “big dog” - I actually hate it.

Jac: And sometimes, until you try those things, you don't know what you don't know.

T: I wanted to be a designer, well, I wanted to be a vet, and then I did vet practice, horrifying. I can't do that. I wanted to save everything, not put them down. So I was like, sweet, I guess design is pretty chill then? I’m too much of a bleeding heart. Mum was like, stop bringing home random animals off the sidewalk. She’d get calls about me crawling in the drains at school, because there were kittens in there, and there's rain coming. And they’re like, Tamara is in the drain again, you need to come and get her. I was in grade 10 and did a week at a country vet. Literally the worst experience. The vet was problematic, no morality, he was revolting. It was not a good time.

PRESS PLAY [05m:29s] - T explains how she got into design plus how her career has shaped who she is today and changed her views on what she thought she wanted.

On showing up

[continued from audio above] Jac: Do you think that you, I mean, well you pulled off The Plant Market in 4 weeks, but do you think that sometimes [doing something well] stops you from launching?

T: Yeah, my own agency stuff, I wasn't going to quit that last paid job I had until I'd launched the website. I did not have a website until the council said we need to set you up as a supplier now because you've been working with us so much, you can't be a contractor. You need to be a supplier. We need your website. And I was like, can you please give me two days? So then I had to hurry up and just put something together. And it still needs so much work, but I just haven't had the time. Because I always put client [work] first - that's probably my biggest flaw. So I put clients before my own stuff constantly, so I don't really post on social. It just takes so much time. I just need to build it into the client project, which I've started to do the last two that I've got on board. Let's see if I actually follow through on it. Please hold me to that.
Jac: I will. If you looked at my instagram...

PRESS PLAY [01m:18s] - We chat showing up online after going AWOL for a bit [spoiler alert: no one notices or particularly cares] and more personal project ideas.

Jac: ...and we haven’t even spoken about your other side quest, which is Forage & Co. When do you sleep?

T: I do sleep, and I f*cking love sleep, big fan. I’m not a morning person.

Jac: So you're up late, and getting up late.

T: Yeah, late-ish, yeah. In the summer, I try and get up pretty early and then go for my dumb mental health walk. I've made friends with the crows down at the river - that sounds insane - but crows remember you, they're so cute and smart. But in winter, it's harder for me to get out of bed. I will do my emails in bed, then I'll get up. But luckily, I work from home, and I can do that. Seeing my partner leave for work... good luck to you! He’s a morning person though, whereas I’m like, don’t talk to me for an hour.

PRESS PLAY [02m:22s] - We speak about working from home, creative flow within work hours and those crazy ideas that seem to happen in the most inconvenient of times.

Jac: So circling back to your husband, it’s just the two of you and the cats. How many cats?

T: Three, but I would love a dog. I like all animals. We had two cats when we moved out there, and the owners of the house that we bought left their cat there. She was old and they said she was going to die anyway.
Jac: Oh, that’s awful, so she was just included with the sale?
T: Yeah, literally a bonus cat.
Jac: Lucky, but what if you weren’t a cat person?
T: Yeah, or if we had dogs, or many other things. It was like, living in the gutter and I thought it was the neighbour’s cat, and then the neighbour told us that it was the owners that left her behind.
Jac: So how long have you been there?
T: Four years
Jac: So they were just going to leave her there? Well, she probably wouldn’t have made it.
T: Yeah, maybe not.

On guilt

Jac: So you were saying that your partner is quite social and extroverted, so do you ever experience guilt, whether that be work guilt or relationship guilt?

T: Yeah, I work a lot too, so it’s kind of like... I’m not an easy hang, I’m an intense kid. So it can be a lot, I think. But lucky Jay is uber chill. He doesn’t think I am, so unless he’s crazy or I’m too hard on myself... that also can be a thing.
Jac: That’s probably a thing.
T: It’s high probability.

PRESS PLAY [02m:13s] - We speak more on guilt, how it shows up for her, what she needs to be creative and how that in itself leads to feelings of guilt.

Jac: So, you mentioned horror movies before, you’ve got a bit of a horror movie fetish (while we didn’t speak about this, check out T’s horror podcast called B*tch, Run!) so if you had to describe yourself, using only movie titles, what would you choose?

T: Okay [pauses] ‘Scream’. Classic. Sometimes internally, always. That’s actually a good one! It’s funny and crazy, which is my entire life. I feel like I can’t do better than that.
Jac: Yeah, that’s a good one.
T: Nailed it.

On (frivolous) joy

Jac: So what is the most frivolous thing that brings you joy. Something that’s super silly, you might even be embarrassed to tell people about it, but you’re like, f*ck it.

T: I don’t get embarrassed by too many things. I think everything has its purpose. It brings me joy, so I don’t find it frivolous. I’m a big shoe kid, buying new shoes - like a new pair of sneakers - makes me very happy and it’s probably stupid as sh*t, but I love it.
Jac: What are we up to in the collection?
T: Like number... I would be embarrassed to say. It’s quite a lot.
Jac: Where do you store them?
T: The old owners of our house built an extension with a giant wardrobe. So my sneakers line the entire top of that, yeah, and then the bottom.
Jac: Does that contribute to any decision fatigue of a morning getting ready?
T: Not really, because I like it. It’s just kind of what I’m vibing. Sometimes it’s black all the time, sometimes I will dress like a crazy idiot, so it really depends.

PRESS PLAY [02m:04s] - T delves more into what brings her joy, her fluffy green tracksuit and a thrifted puppy portrait.

On unpopular opinion

Jac: So what is a hill you will die on, no matter how unpopular opinion it is?

T: 90’s horror movies are f*cking pinnacle. They’re amazing.
Jac: They don’t make them like that anymore.
T: They don’t, yeah. A B-grade horror movie.
Jac: What’s your favourite?
T: Yeah, I feel like ‘Jennifer’s Body’ is up there. It’s a cult classic, so you’re welcome, it’s amazing. Soundtrack is so good.

On (unsolicited) advice

Jac: Have you ever been given a piece of business advice that you wholeheartedly disagree with?

T: Yeah, I still do that. I think people try and help...
Jac: I think it’s in people’s nature to help, right? Like we want to help people, but sometimes it’s unsolicited.

PRESS PLAY [03m:03s] - We discuss this in further detail and the struggles women face in the creative industry.

On expectation

Jac: So if you could say one truth to anyone who is drowning in expectation, what would you say?

T: Fuck ‘em! I think I’m a bit of a rat though, I just don’t really care about what people think of me too much.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Embrace discomfort. We all know this, but let this be a reminder to be brave enough to try something new that makes you feel uncomfortable. T’s journey shows that taking on challenging roles (like public speaking) can lead to unexpected opportunities.

  • Flexibility is a strength - A successful career doesn't always mean following a linear path. T’s journey is proof that by pivoting, trying different projects, and working for herself has been more fulfilling than a “traditional” career progression.

  • Don’t compromise on your values - it will be key to your success.

  • Recognise your limits and when downtime is essential. Know thyself.

  • Be open to treating every experience as a learning opportunity. View challenges as a chance to hone and develop skills and understand yourself better.

  • Help and uplift others to create a more supportive and collaborative professional environment.

  • Don't fear imperfection. It's okay to not have everything ‘figured out’. Working through uncertainties and being adaptable is more important than having a “perfect plan”.

  • On guilt - Almost everyone experiences it to varying levels. Don’t let it rob you of living your life.

More fun stuff

*Throughout the duration of this series, I will feature a few ‘rogue’ guests - that is, someone I find interesting with an important story to share, but I’m more familiar with on a personal level... so I’m breaking my own rules a little. As you were.

Jackie Ryder