MoaZen: a creative center fostering art and writing
Imagine a space where there’s creativity times two! That’s exactly the space twin creatives Faith and Hope Rivers have created with MoaZen Jewelry and Creative Studio. Combining Faith’s fine art skills, Hope’s creative writing abilities, and their shared love of jewelry making, the two sisters have launched their brand with the intention of increasing the accessibility of creativity to the youth of color in the Charlotte community. Located right next door to Musa Moon in uptown Charlotte, NC, the retail store is open every other Saturday to promote and allow the twins’ pursuit of their passions. The vibrant yet peaceful energy radiating from the store and the people inside drew me in to ask Hope and Faith about their business.
Faith, how did you get your start in art?
I developed my love for art while I was young. I’ve always loved art ever since I was little, but as I grew older and realized that there are so many opportunities in it. My love for art is still here, I just kept it going. I went to school for advertising and graphic design, but computer graphics just weren’t ‘me.’ I wish I had gone for fine art since that was more of my passion.
How did you come to know that art was your passion and that you wanted to start a business?
My twin sister and I were both very creative. Our father introduced stones and gems to us at a young age and as we grew, we realized that we could take our creativity to the next level and make a business. We don’t have to work for other people our whole lives, we can have our own thing. Even in teaching, as we have done in the past, other Black kids that were interested, we wanted to show them that we can pretty much do anything.
Hope, what has been your experience with writing?
It wasn’t something that I discovered early on. I always loved poetry and that kind of thing, but I didn’t realize that writing was as expansive as it is. I didn’t know that people can use writing for the stuff on the back of the cereal boxes or the hang tags on your clothes. I just didn’t know that until a couple of years ago. I decided to make writing a full-time job when I realized what copywriting and sales writing are. I was like ‘I think I’m gonna shoot my shot’ and that’s essentially what I did. First with private clients, then I built a portfolio and branched off into commercial. I wish I was born knowing more about writing.
Faith interjects and comments on her sister’s words.
We were just talking about that the other day, how when we were in school, we didn’t even realize that there’s so much you can do with writing or with art. I think in school I thought it was just graphic design, marketing, and advertising that was being pushed. We found out through a client that there is a local woman who repairs fine art. She repairs fine art for a living! If I had known that, maybe I would have ventured that way because it’s creative!
Hope adds:
I wish that adults would stop sending kids into the exact same lane over and over again. ‘You know, you should be a doctor, you should be a lawyer,’ all these cookie-cutter things, but there are so many things that you can be. Even with creative jobs, it’s like ‘Faith, you should be a graphic designer. Hope, you should be a poet.’
How is it to be working alongside your twin sister?
Faith: To be born in the world with a best friend, someone who’s just always been there, it’s like the greatest thing in the world! Then we started our business and were able to work together and it’s just awesome!
Hope: I think haing a shared vision that we can work towards and contribute to is really cool
What does your vision for the future of your business look like?
Hope: I want to say that what we’re doing now is already part of a larger vision but we’re already doing it. We might expand it but we’re already living our vision. We talked about wanting to expand accessibility to children of color, we do that already. We talked about using our creative skills and teaching to be profitable for us but in a way that allows us to live in our purpose, we do that. I imagine that years from now we would still be investing in the creative community as part of the creative community, but I just can’t say what that looks like right now.
Faith: Maybe, as we get older, it’ll get a little more relaxed. Right now, we work a lot and we put a lot into our business. Hopefully, in the future, we can still expand, but in a way that allows us to take a breather; maybe we’ll travel more. Burnout is not in the vision. I can see a creative teaching school in the future, but you really never know! Like Brea said, ‘make plans but have grace for change.’ You never know what the future has in store for you.
Hope: That’s so true. I think you have to be okay with that too. As kids, we have these plans for how we want life to go, then we get sad and stressed out when things don’t fall exactly into plan. I think it’s good to have a little space for things to not go your way, and be okay with that.
