My Story

Greetings,

Welcome to my business page. Some of you are visiting for the first time and some have been following my work since the beginning, but many of you don’t know my story. I am a nanny, a masters of social work student, a future wife to the most amazing man, and an artist, but most importantly I am a child of God. There are so many different life experiences that have brought me to who I am today, so I will start where I can, bounce around a little, and then end somewhere. I make no promises that my story will be easy to follow, but I can guarantee that it is my story.

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Imani Lane. I hail all the way from the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia metro area. I am the product of a prayer mother and a family of strong, beautiful women. As a young girl I loooooooved to draw and be creative. I would keep things much after they should have been thrown away so that I could create things and use them as art projects. I'm sure my mother has thrown away her fair share of projects and doodles, because there were more than we had room to keep. I loved sketch books and trying to imitate things that I had watcher on TV, in my art work. In middle school I created my own care bears, inspired by my mom’s friends interests, talents, and characteristics. I loved watching people excited about my work and it fueled me even more. My art, whether I knew it or not was my safe space.

My grand mother passed three months before I was born so I never got to know her, but I knew her mother and I adored her. She was so beautiful and I was in awe of what she was able to make and create with little education. She was an artist and a seamstress amongst many other things and I wanted to be like her, but I didn’t realize that she was never taught to do these things in school. In high school I signed up for an AP art course after years of taking art classes that didn’t really feed my artistic hunger. I wanted a challenge and to prove to myself that I was talented enough. One day while showing my art work to my great grandmother she made a comment about teaching her what I had learned and I was shocked. I was amazed that such a great artist in my eyes would ask to learn from me. We joked and laughed about it and after that year I didn’t do much more painting.

In college, I would doodle here and there, but I was not painting much at all. I was going to school for teaching and getting wrapped up in college life that I didn’t focus on my art until my junior year. I hit a rough patch in life and was in need of an outlet and a change. I picked up a paint brush and art became my therapy. I joined my church, made new friends, and God began to work in and through me. I began posting my art work and practicing more and more. One year I was asked if I wanted to showcase my work and sell it at a women’s weekend event at my church and I said yes. I had sold a piece or two by then, but not much more. Watching my God given gift on display was life changing. To realize that God loved me enough to blessed my hands to not only help me out of a spell of depression and anxiety, but to be able to make room for me, was amazing (proverbs 18:16). After that I kept creating, looking in to art shows and vending opportunities and finding inspirations at every turn. Things were on the up and up and I, still having my own up and down battles, kept going. I can’t lie, there were times that I didn’t pick up a paint brush for months and I still have those times, but I always come back to it.

Over the years I have work many jobs, but my favorites ones always involved working with children, which is why I became a teacher today. I have also had a passions for wanting women of all ages to see their true beauty and worth. Self worth is an easy thing to let slip away if you don’t hold on to it. Knowing this, from my own experiences, I wanted to created pieces that people would see connect to and fine the most beautiful parts of themselves. As you will see, most of my paintings, jewelry, and apparel is geared towards black women. I am proud to be a black women and not just any black women, but one that is loved by God. I desire to help other women who may struggle to realize their worth or their importance to God, that He has never forgotten about them and that they are loved. I started this mission in my YMCA classroom by creating a girls group where they could be vulnerable and express their feelings. I remember needing that space as a young girl and feeling fulfilled any time I was able to have it.

My desire is to continue to inspire women of color to keep pushing as I keep pushing, to never give up and through in the towel even when you are tired of carrying it and to keep running the race, because the only requirement is to finish whether you are first or last. I want to build a safe space to share what you have been through and where God has brought you from. A place to share what you used to help you through it and to be able to learn from one another. This how I have overcome in the face of adversity and how you can as well. Oh, and I’m not writing this in a perfect place, but in a place that I am ready to grow from, so cheers to the next chapter and the next step. Lets tear down the kingdom of hell together.

If you have read this far, thank you, and if you skipped to the end, thank you as well. I hope reading this blessed you and inspired you to take this journey with me or at least to share it with some one. Thank you for visiting my page. May God continue to blessed you and wrap you in His arms. When it gets tough and you don’t feel like going any further, don’t forget to look at yourself in the mirror and say “Girl, don’t you know that you are loved by God” and don't forget I love you too!

With hope for the future,

Imani Lane