Kirsten

I have wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember, but for much of my life, creativity was tangled up with perfectionism. As a child, I would carefully set out my paints and supplies, only to give up when the result did not match what I imagined. That pattern followed me into college and adulthood.

As I grew older, my creativity found a home in my career. My background is in brand strategy, marketing, creative operations, and art direction, and I have worked with early-stage companies, nonprofits, professional service firms, and large international events. But even though I was making things every day, I still felt disconnected from the kind of creativity I had loved as a child.

Over time, I learned to create with more curiosity and less pressure. Hosting my first small pop-up exhibit showed me how meaningful it can be to share work in a welcoming, low-barrier environment. It also made me realize how many artists and makers are looking for the same thing: space to experiment, community to grow alongside, and opportunities to take their work seriously without having everything figured out first.

That realization became Make Well, a shared studio and artist incubator in Salt Lake City. My dream is to build the kind of creative home I needed for so many years, where people can work, play, grow, and rediscover the joy of making.