Stavroula Adameitis – better known by her creative alias, Frida Las Vegas – has been in love with everything “glamorous, trashy and fabulous” since she was four years old. The Sydney-based artist cites watching The B52’s Love Shack music video as the experience that started her love affair with garish pop culture awesomeness.

“The band’s music, clothes and visual language imprinted on my psyche in a truly seismic way,” she says. “I instinctively knew my ambition would be to create and positively impact the world through colour, style and flair.”

High aims for a toddler, perhaps, but that’s exactly what Stavroula has achieved. Her illustrations and accessories have been featured everywhere from Sydney to New York, with each and every one of her creations stamped with her unique blend of Australiana, ’80s pop-art, and humour.

We spoke to Stavroula and got her to spill her best tips for pursuing success in the ever-changing landscape of creative careers, and how underthinking things can lead to greatness.

Breaking In

Getting one’s foot in the door is one of the biggest challenges for an aspiring creative professional. Stavroula’s advice is to just do as much as possible, while honing your skills.

“The best way to do is by doing,” she says. “Skill up. Tool Up. Bar a few established professions, the concept of a career with a capital C is 100 per cent in flux right now – so stay ahead of the game with real, practical, hands-on skills that render you valuable and flexible for a changing world.”

With a Bachelor of Media and Bachelor of Arts under her belt, Stavroula is no stranger to traditional education. Nevertheless, she urges fledgling artists to take advantage of the internet. “The School of YouTube is an incredible way to brush up on skills you otherwise might feel a little bit dodgy about, like Photoshop or Excel.”

I’ve always tried to be true to myself and shy away from what’s popular in lieu of gravitating towards what I personally love

Networking is also a good way to improve on your craft. “Look out for talks and panel discussions by signing up to industry-specific Facebook pages and/or newsletters (e.g. AFTRS for film). These talks are generally amazing events to learn from wizened professionals, meet like-minded people and possibly find partners for collaboration and skill-sharing.”

Next, Stavroula advises creating “a simple, functional website using a web design platform like Squarespace to showcase your work and the thinking behind what you do.

“People hire people – not CVs!”

Prepare To Work On Your Business As Well As In It

But being a creative professional isn’t all creativity – something Stavroula knows all too well. “It’s important to be realistic,” she says, “and understand that the fun stuff like drawing and painting takes up five per cent of the overall production process.

“The other 95 per cent is spent running errands, writing emails, chasing up invoices, pitching ideas, packing Australia Post parcels, making social media content and everything in between.

“If pursuing your art full-time is your goal, be prepared to become your own marketing, PR, HR, finance and distribution departments, along with actually making your work.”

Know When The Work Is Good

When you actually get to the creative side of the business, there’s yet another critical skill you’ll have to employ – riding out doubt about your work. Underthinking it, says Stavroula, is essential in this part of the creative process.

“I ask myself a hell of a lot of questions when I’m making something,” she says. “Sometimes those questions are useful and push my thinking outside the square.”

Other times, Stavroula says she becomes caught in a “mental spider’s web” of never-ending questions. “‘Is this work bad?’” she asks herself. “’Is it good? Does the world really NEED this? Has it been done before? Hasn’t EVERYTHING already been done before? Isn’t there no such thing as a truly original work? Why should I even try? Is this bad? Is this good?’”

Trusting your gut is always a one-way ticket to expressing yourself authentically.

During such moments, Stavroula says she attempts to do “the mental equivalent of the Millennium Falcon ‘flying casual’ – gravitating towards what feels good rather than believing what my brain thinks is good.

“Trusting your gut is always a one-way ticket to expressing yourself authentically.”

And authenticity is a defining feature of the Frida Las Vegas brand. “I’ve always tried to be true to myself and shy away from what’s popular in lieu of gravitating towards what I personally love,” says Stavroula.

“Earrings of ibises sitting on wheelie bins aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they are my spirit animal!”

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Roam is all about celebrating Australian creatives. Take a page out of Roam’s playbook and #UnderthinkIt to achieve greatness. Find out more here.

(Lead image: Frida Las Vegas/supplied)