Life Changes
Taking a Chance: How I Left Corporate Life, Found Paint Nite, and Rebuilt My Life Through Art
If you had told me years ago that my life would revolve around painting, teaching art, and building a creative business I love, I would’ve laughed. My twenties were spent in a carousel of corporate roles — climbing ladders, sitting in meetings, chasing goals that belonged to someone else. I worked hard, excelled, did all the “right” things… but I always felt something was missing.
Then one day, on a whim, I signed up to work for Paint Nite as a side gig. I thought it would be a fun creative outlet — a little colour splashed into my very beige corporate life. I had no idea it would change everything.
For years, it was just my creative escape: teaching classes, making people laugh, watching guests go from “I can’t paint” to “I actually made this!” It lit me up in ways my corporate jobs never could.
And then life forced a pause.
I suffered a severe back injury — a spinal disc issue — and ended up spending two months navigating life in a wheelchair. I had to leave my job, actually - my job left me. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t work. Everything I thought was stable suddenly wasn’t.
But that time changed me.
Recovery demanded patience, vulnerability, and a complete re-examination of what I wanted from my life. When I was finally strong enough to imagine the future again, the answer was suddenly clear:
I didn’t want to return to the corporate world.
I wanted to return to myself.
I decided to take the biggest leap of my life: I went all-in on art.
I incorporated. I expanded my classes. I built Maple City Art.
I chose creativity, freedom, joy, and purpose.
And in doing so, I became happier — and freer — than I’ve ever been.
“Sometimes life breaks you open just enough for the light to finally get in.”
Today, I spend my days painting, teaching, travelling, building something that matters to me, and growing in ways I never imagined. I’m not chasing someone else’s goals anymore — only my own. And it feels like home.
