From "Practical" Career to Full-Time Artist: Lacie Martinez on Motherhood, Grief, and Going For It
How do you find the courage to step off the "practical" path and fully commit to your creative calling? That question sits at the center of this week's conversation with painter and coach Lacie Martinez, and her answer is one of the most honest I've heard on the show.
When Lacie was in kindergarten, a school workbook asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she wrote "painter." Like so many creative kids, she was eventually told that artists starve and that she should choose something more reliable. So she did. Apparel design gave way to a degree in kinesiology, and painting gave way to a career as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach and later as a high school art teacher. Looking back, she describes those years as a time when she shut off a whole part of herself and lost a piece of who she was.
Painting found its way back to her during lockdown, when she started drawing with chalk on the driveway alongside her oldest daughter. That simple act reconnected her with something she had set aside for years. She bought the cheapest watercolor set she could find, took a few online courses, and began the slow work of relearning her craft. Only a few years later, she has exhibited her work, been published in books and magazines, hosted her first retreat, and recently made the leap to full-time artist and coach.
The exhibition that started it all
Lacie's debut body of work came out of the hardest stretch of new motherhood. A few months postpartum, sleep-deprived and living far from family, she had an idea to paint the most vulnerable and unfiltered moments of motherhood, the ones no one posts online. It began with a photo her oldest daughter took of her nursing on the couch. Her first instinct was to delete it, and her second was to recognize how beautiful it was. She called on the mothers in her life for similar images, narrowed the response to twelve paintings, and opened her first solo show. When she saw women standing in front of the work with tears in their eyes, she knew she had made exactly what she set out to make.
Turning grief into purpose
Only months after she began that project, Lacie lost her husband in a tragic accident. Her youngest daughter was seven months old, and she found herself navigating postpartum and grief at the same time as the only parent to two little girls. Rather than pulling away from her creative life, she leaned further into it. Painting, writing, and building toward something gave her a place to put her energy during the darkest season, and it eventually led her to create the retreat she had searched for and could never find. She wanted a space that was local and drivable for the women in her community, with yoga and journaling in the mornings, art sessions throughout the day, a personal photo shoot for every guest, and every meal prepared. She built it thinking she needed holding, and every woman who arrived turned out to be carrying something of her own.
Just take the next step
If there is one piece of advice Lacie comes back to, it is to know what you want and keep taking small steps toward it. That mindset is how she ended up walking into a new gallery that opened next to her rock climbing gym, submitting her work on a whim, and walking out with representation. It is also how she has approached the strange and exciting transition into self-employment, where she is now building a coaching practice to help other women uncover the ideas they carry inside and bring them to life.
In this episode
Reclaiming her identity as a painter after years on a "practical" career path
Working through the fear of not being "good enough"
The story behind her debut exhibition on the connective threads of motherhood
Turning grief into purpose through retreats and safe spaces for women
Making the leap into full-time art and coaching
Connect with Lacie
Website | Camp Conqueror Summer 2027 Retreat | Conquer & Crush 3 Month Challenge | Substack | She Who Conquers Podcast | Instagram
Art Is Abundance Live Coaching Program
If you're ready for your art, creativity, and other gifts to support your life, this six-week live program is for you. Together we'll work through money mindset, preparing your work for sale, selling your originals, getting seen by the right people, and building multiple income streams, then turn it all into a clear action plan. Founding pricing is open through September 30.
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