This June I lost my grandma Sylvia to pancreatic cancer - she was a second mom to me. She was such a positive force in my life, I wanted to turn my anger and sadness into something worthwhile - propelling me to take a risk - leave my 9-5 job, and scale Portraits For Good. The passion project I had been working on for two years with 7 artists, including myself, is now ArtSugar, a platform that enables emerging, underrepresented artists to market and sell their work while giving back to causes they care about. 40+ charitable organizations, and over 30 artists are launching with me today (and my plan is to bring on at least 1+ a day going forward) - these 30 are part of a massive community of artists in the US and abroad who have accumulated ginormous, passionate social media followings, however, they may struggle to build a substantial business off their artwork because of the hassle-filled effort required to sell and distribute their art at scale - or even to make a website. This is where I come in - in applying technology to remove roadblocks that prevent artists from doing what they love most, I take the work out of artwork so artists can create and anyone can pay it forward.
ArtSugar allows these artists to connect with a broader marketplace, while enabling them to incorporate a charitable element into the sale of their artwork. A big reason why they choose to sell with us. While the company name has changed into something a little sexier, the values stay the same, and I am still Portraits For Good on Instagram and am calling myself that on the new site too. Since this name is part of my story, I just couldn’t let it go!
It is kind of unbelievable that it took me thirty years to realize that life is too short to not do what you love. I am fortunate that I am able to. But, I didn’t do it alone - I have so many supportive people in my life that have advised me during this process (you know who you are!). I know I have a long way to go and a ton of work left to do, I am just so excited about relaunching with such incredible talent, and in collaboration with so many wonderful organizations, I wanted to share it with you today.
Enjoy the new site!
Love,
Alix Greenberg
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